Write the Fictionalized Experience of Playing a Tabletop RPG or Storygame You Don't Think You'd Otherwise Ever Get To Play.

It's been a big year for new  tabletop RPGs and storygames from differently inspired designers. But a challenge is a lot of folks can't envision themselves playing them. Me too for lots of games. It's been on my mind for months. With some games it's hard to think how they're playable. Or you can't imagine any group of friends agreeing to play them. Or you worry that suggesting a certain game to your play group, or trying it would be embarrassing, or triggering, or just wouldn't happen, because of your own circumstances or for any number of reasons.

So how about a jam? A stories of storyplay jam. A fiction about playing games jam. Write the fictionalized experience of playing a game you don't think you'd otherwise ever get to play. Imagine the circumstances and players that would make it possible, and write about playing the game.

I just did one. I wrote about playing Maria Mison's Forgetting Your Touch for my patrons. Here's an excerpt:

Here's my best advice from what I learned:

• Limit yourself to maybe three players at most, if you can. Every additional player will increase the length of your story and make your dialogue sequences exponentially more unwieldy. I wrote about playing Forgetting Your Touch with just two players and it was still ten pages long.
  

• Include yourself as a player, but don't hesitate to give your fictional self anything they might need to possibly play the game. Even don't resist unlikely or supernatural means — a spell or something that compensates for circumstances maybe.

• Do as much up front set-up of the play circumstances and other fictional players as you need. Let yourself know why the other players are believably committed to the game. And again, don't resist the unlikely or supernatural. My account of playing Forgetting Your Touch takes place in a pocket dimension where there could be no unexpected interruption.

• Don't hesitate to summarize some events of play, so the parts of the story that you spend the most time on are those that show why the game is compelling to you, and the drama of player interactions.

• Consider having a character discussion, even just a small one, about the play experience at the end. We all do this when we play new games.

And here's some rules:

• Don't disrespect people, and don't disrespect people's games.

• Include content and trigger warnings with your submission, if warranted.

• Include a good link with your submission to where people can find out more about the game you write about playing.

The Stories of Storyplay Jam is hosted by Paul Czege (@PaulCzege / https://paulczege.itch.io/ ).

Feel free to contact me with your questions!

Please use the #AStoryofStoryplay hashtag to find other people talking about the jam on Twitter and to share the game you choose to write about playing, your thoughts and process.