[Think Fast] 5 minutes, 3 players, a dragon and a timestopper

[matteosuppo]

This morning I was veeeeeeeeeeeery bored. I was thinking about some issues I talked about with my friends back in Lucca: portable games, focus on the system rather than on the situation, and the fact that some players think too much before talking.

So I came up with this simple game: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VzYEiRg5l2s1Xlv24iXHSUp_vNWiqQKU48EtVcU0fCI/edit

Actually the core mechanic is pretty much stolen from improvisational theater, and it works pretty well.

We played it three times this evening, over a Google Hangout. The first two game were a bit slow because we were playing in english and it's not out mother language, the third was played in italian and was really fast.

5 minutes are more than enough to tell a story, even if it's only a fraction of a bigger story (like in the first two games that were about the combat between the hero and the dragon).

When the people are talking fast is funny to BEEP them (we used a Gong, actually) and watch them trying to change the fiction on the spot.

I actually used the BEEP multiple times in a row:

Captain Dragon: the princess jumps on to you, impressed
Heroman: Lady, please, this is not the time
BEEEEP
Heroman: Lady, I'm touched by your grace but
BEEEEP
Heroman: I kiss her passionately forgetting about the dragon.

Yes, I was shamelessly pushing him into acting recklessly. Out of your comfort zone, go!

[matteosuppo]

Appaently timestopper doesn't mean stopwatch. Damn you english.

[Ron Edwards]

The more of these little playable and useful things we have around, the better - see the points in Drills from 2006.

I would love for someone to amass an archive of them for easy access, even if it's composed merely of links.

Best, Ron