Jonny Garcia from Brazil has translated several of the games here into Portuguese!
Links:
A Trip Through Time Seen Through the Eyes of a Fir Tree
And the text on role-playing poems, too!
Do You Want To Interact With Me At All We Are Adult Strangers Right Now !!!
These are two games with the same title. (Which I got from Jackson Tegu!)
1. First, the easy game. This is a short game for 4 players, which will take 5-15 minutes depending on your mood.
Two players will be the Commuters. They will be silent for the entire duration of the game. They will communicate with eye contact and facial expressions. As the game progresses, they may choose to become more physical, possibly touching.
Two players will be the Human Dream. They will do the talking, describing the inner life and soul of the Commuters – possibly a form of shared subconscious or dream. Sometimes, they will briefly announce stops and portray other passengers.
The game ends when one of the Commuters gets off at a stop.
The game goes like this:
- The Commuters sit facing each other on chairs. They both look down. Perhaps they have phones they’re playing with or papers they’re reading.
- At some point, their roaming eyes meet and lock. This signals the beginning of the game.
- One of the Human Dreams starts talking. They describe some image or thought that arises from the Commuters. Do NOT specify which Commuter; this might come from any of them, or both of them together. – The other Human Dream continues. This goes back and forth.
- Meanwhile, the Commuters can, if they choose, do little physical things. Put down phones, or scratch, or smile, or make facial expressions. Sometimes there are stops:
- After a while, one of the Human Dreams can announce a STOP. This means the train or bus or whatever stops and lets new passengers on. Say the name of the stop, and talk in that loud abrasive loudspeaker voice that all commuters know.
- The other Human Dream very briefly portrays one or more other passengers, saying a few words or lines that commuters might say when getting on the bus/train.
- At this point, any of the Commuters may choose to end the game by getting up and leaving. If not, the game continues, with the Human Dreams talking.
2. Then, the hard game. This is very simple, but also hugely challenging, and there’s no saying what it will lead to.
When commuting, try to find someone friendly-looking to sit next to.
Think back on your childhood, on what you used to do when you were on the bus or train.
Then start a conversation with this line: “I remember when I was a kid and rode the (bus/train), I used to…”
See what happens.
“Don’t Read the Comments!” (A new game).
A while ago, there were all these comments on Twitter about the different stretch goals for James Wallis’ “Alas Vegas” kickstarter. On a random impulse (both because I love James Wallis & his games, and because I like to make fun of all these Kickstarter campaigns that are everywhere), I wrote:
“If the KS for @JamesWallis‘ ALAS VEGAS reaches £20K, I write a completely unrelated mini game just for the hell of it and put it on the net.”
And it did.
So I did.
Oh no… you went and did it again. You’re sitting there reading the comments. The news article itself was actually pretty interesting… so why the hell didn’t you just leave it? Why did you enter this realm of trolling, strawmen, false dichotomies, badly concealed agendas, and ideological sewage?
It’s too late now. You feel yourself being drawn into it. Into the comment itself. That one, on the screen, there.
It’s not just somebody’s warped, malicious, imbecilic and ignorant idea anymore.
Now it’s reality. And you’re inside it.
Luckily, you brought your friends.
Three encounters with yourself by means of guided and alert meditations in a natural setting
I’ve got a virus, and spring is coming, so here goes the head.
The title of this game is because I tried writing something atmospheric, but it ended up being pretentious and clichéd, which would prevent people from understanding what the game was about.
The idea is simple. Do this:
- Go outside with two friends. Be sure to dress right for the climate; you need to be comfortable.
- At some point, one of you will guide one of the others in an encounter with the supernatural.
- Then go to a new place. A new person will be the guide; the previous guide will have an encounter.
Okay. So what’s an encounter?
An encounter means that you get into a headspace where you, for a while, believe in something that isn’t there. You imagine a forest creature, for instance. You talk to it. You feel its presence. As you touch the bark on the tree, you feel how it manifests itself.
At the same time, it lives inside you, because everything we see is made from something we carry within us. We’re part of a big channel of energies and modes of being, and here, you allow the expression of one of them through your imagination and interaction.
Your guide will mostly ask you questions, and encourage you to see and open up.
What’s the supernatural?
This will be some form of natural spirit or force, for instance: a water nymph, a stone spirit, Crow or Coyote, a huldre, etc.
Any more tips?
Play slow, and take it as it comes. Don’t expect anything huge or mind-blowing. You’re just letting some stuff out, some stuff in, breathing. Let the mood guide you.
“A Trip to the Moon” in Spanish!
Esteban Osorio Gallardo has translated “A Trip to the Moon” into “Un viaje a la Luna”. This is a game I wrote back in 2007, when my son was 6 years old. Time flies, ladies and gentlemen; make the most of it.
Itras By in English!
If there’s one game I want you all to check out, it’s this one.
Itras By is a surrealistic game. It started out as a piece of automatic writing by one of the authors. Together they wrote back and forth, developing a setting along the way – a setting at times coherent, at times completely unhinged.
It is yours to play with. No, really: This book is made for you to build, rearrange, cut up, mutate and do what you want with it. It is, in fact, one of the specific exercises written in there.
This is my most-loved game. And I didn’t even write it myself.
La Máscara de la Muerte Roja – an Archipelago scenario
José Carlos de Diego Guerrero has written a scenario using Archipelago. My Spanish isn’t very good, but the game seems to have an interesting take on scenario setup, with several decks of cards describing characters (Ada Lovelace, Robur el Conquistador), elements (the Babbage machine, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), locations (Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace), connections, motivations and destinies.
This looks like a very fun and interesting setup – check it out here!
Archipelago III !
Jason Morningstar contacted me a while back with the idea of revising Archipelago II. He’s done some great work on it, and we’ve tweaked it a little, removing stuff we didn’t use and adding things we liked.
L.A.R.S.
Øivind Stengrundet, designer of “Wanderer” (it’s in the Nørwegian Style book), has gone forth and designed this game – “L.A.R.S.”
L.A.R.S. is a universal roleplaying system designed to be fast and easy to use. The rules are few and flexible, making them perfect if you’re just out to play a quick adventure. But, they can also be used for campaigning, and examples are given on how to adapt the system to your own setting.
A Grail Epoch: Archipelago with miniatures & dice!
Rafael Chandler has written an Archipelago hack called “A Grail Epoch”. It looks very, very cool.
