The Orc in the Well

This role-playing poem is playable in many forms – including two-player and forum variants.

There’s an orc sitting in a well. It can’t get out. The orc looks up at the sky. A bird flies past.

You, the players, will take turns telling this orc’s story, from different points of view. The game lasts 15 minutes. It covers approximately the same amount of time in the orc’s life.

When it’s your turn, you narrate something. You can do a short or long narration, whichever you like. You have to choose between narrating the EXTERNAL, the INTERNAL, or something from the PAST. External narration is about stuff that happens to or around the orc. Internal narration is about the creature’s thoughts and emotions. Narrating the past, you can narrate anything you like.

Note that none of these modes focus on what the orc does. It can be about what the orc has done in the past, or what’s being done to the orc, or how the orc reacts mentally… but action isn’t the main thing, really.

Players take turns, starting with the player to the left of whoever explains the rules. The first narration should be external.

After fifteen minutes the game is over. The last narration should be external, too.

Author: Matthijs Holter