Archipelago

Author

Matthijs Holter

Description

Archipelago is a story/role-playing game where each player controls a major character. Player take turns telling a part of their character’s story, leading them towards their selected point of destiny, while other players interact with and influence that story.

Inspired by Ursula K. LeGuin’s storytelling techniques, this game is designed to help players create living settings and experience grand destinies.

(The designer wishes to comment that the rules for Ownership are lifted wholesale from Dirty Secrets‘ Jurisdiction rules).

Player comments

“I tried Archipelago today with a good friend. The setting was Middle Earth a century after the fall of the North to the Witch King of Angmar. We found it an incredibly satisfying experience. It was really easy to get into a narrative flow and we enjoyed the game. The destiny points are an excellent way of keeping the story focused. We certainly intend to run this again.” – Harry, RPGnet

“We had a lot of fun! The fun started pretty much right away. (…) Archipelago stands as a good example of “just enough” rules. I really like it. It won’t create party play, but rather each player has a separate storyline that creates a kind of “walkabout” journey story, much like in LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. (…) all of that time we spent involved in the game, with minimal side-comments and tangents. We pretty much told a story for four straight hours” – Willem, Story Games

“Archipelago plays like a dream. I think it’s one of my favourite “collective storytelling” type games ever.” – Ole Peder, Story Games

Download

Rules – NOTE: These are the old 1. edition rules. The newest version can be found here!