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I've been working on a storytelling roleplaying game of my own for some time (of which I know some of you are aware).  The premise of the game is the emulation of tribal politics, where stories, legends, and myths are told around a fire, but always subject to the approval of everyone in attendance.  As such, I've attempted to do away with objective scales and statistics, and instead adopt a wholly subjective resolution system.  Players adopt the roles of tribal storytellers, whose characters are only as successful as the tribe believes them to be.

I've rolled this set of mechanics out before on RPG.net, though in a considerably cruder form.  I've tweaked it a lot since then, and I feel its time that it be given a sound shaking to see what falls out.  If you lot would be so kind, please give it a shake for me.  The bit on stature currently irks me a bit, so pay particular attention there.

I apologise in advance for it's considerable length – I hope that it will prove to be worth the effort to read it.

Game Terminology
Before explaining the details of the game mechanics, it will prove useful to define the terminology used in the game and the roles that the players will assume during play.  For the sake of emphasis and clarity, the titles of player roles will be capitalised.

Circle:  The Circle is the gathering of all participants in the tale being told, regardless of their individual roles.  The Circle is comprised of the Ring Leader, the Storytellers, and (possibly) others merely enjoying the story.  All members of the Circle are considered "players" and act as both audience and critics of the tale being told.

Ring Leader:  The Ring Leader is generally accepted as the wisest member of the Circle, but certainly the one most familiar with the tale being told.  He guides the Storytellers through their tale by presenting them with the events and obstacles as they occurred, prompting the Storytellers to expand upon their roles and explain what happened from their perspective.  The Ring Leader also adjudicates any disagreements between players and presides over trial challenges.

Storyteller:  The Storyteller is a player who chooses to speak for a particular character in the story, whether that character is himself, a member of his band or clan, or a great legendary or mythical hero.  There is typically more than one Storyteller relating the tale at any given time, telling how their chosen characters acted together, though there exists no true limit to how many or how few Storytellers may participate (one Storyteller being an obvious minimum, of course).

Challenger:  The identity of the Challenger is variable, as no single player assumes the role of Challenger throughout the tale.  Instead, any player may opt to become the Challenger whenever he perceives forces or circumstances opposing the actions declared by any of the Storytellers and chooses to demand a trial.

Trial:  A player chooses to adopt the role of Challenger when he demands a trial of the Storyteller and the purported actions of his character.  A trial calls upon the consensus of the players in the Circle and their willingness or resistance to support the character's reputation.

Token:  To represent a character's reputation and stature, players use tokens – stones, chips, beads, whatever.  Tokens are of two distinct colors, one representing approval and good favor, the other representing disapproval and ill favor.  In these rules we will refer to the tokens as white and black, white representing approval and black representing disapproval.

Pot:  The communal collection of black and white tokens from which all players draw is known as "the pot."

Hat:  When a challenge is issued and a trial conducted, a "hat" is passed around the Circle to collect the tokens representing the collected opinion of those assembled.

Cast:  In the course of resolving a trial, players draw black or white tokens from the pot and place them in a hat (or other suitable container) to represent their opinion of the reputation of a Storyteller's character, and of the Storyteller's telling of the tale.  This process is called "casting."

Preparing a Character
The first step in creating a character for the stories to be told is to choose character reputations.  All characters are described in terms of their reputations, not necessarily any innate ability.  Do you claim that your character is very strong? Then write down "Mighty Like A Bear." Think your character is particularly clever? Write down "Wiley As A Fox." Think he's steadfast? "Stout As An Oak."  Pick three or four notable reputations for your character, including one or more faults ("Stubborn As A Camel", "Blind As A Bat" or "Dumb As A Rock").  

The exact wording of the reputation isn't particularly important, but it should clearly and simply evoke the nature and abilities of the reputation.  There's no need to assign a numerical value or a level to the reputation – that's what the other players are there to do (more on this in the mechanics section).  In theory, you may choose as many or as few reputations as you wish, but bear in mind that you can only maintain a reputation that the Circle believes.  Claim too many reputations that you can't support by way of deeds, and they will be disregarded.  Claim too few and you will find members of the Circle beginning to attribute new reputations based on your character's actions.

Game Play
The Ring Leader initiates play by framing the story, asking the Storytellers to relate the roles of their characters in the story's resolution.  The Ring Leader then places a number of tokens equal to the number of Storytellers into the hat, one of which is white, the rest of which are all black.  All Storytellers draw a token from the hat – the player who draws the white token begins play and will be the first to relate the actions of his character.  All tokens are then discarded to the pot.

The Ring Leader guides the Storytellers through the story by framing the tale and providing interesting plot hooks, whereupon the Storytellers begin to describe their characters' actions in relation to the story.  The Storytellers have great latitude in determining the details of the setting, though practically limited by the consensus of the Circle.  When the Ring Leader wishes to guide the story along the planned framework, he can interject by reminding the players of new events or obstacles and asking them how their characters dealt with them.

Trial – When a Storyteller declares an action for his character that the other players don't believe, or to which they object, any player may assume the role of Challenger and demand a trial of the character's reputation.  At this point, the challenged Storyteller may either reconsider his account of the event or accept a trial of his character's reputation.

In the event that the Storyteller reconsiders his account due to the expressed disbelief of any member of the Circle and voluntarily revises his account of the event, the story resumes as usual.

If the Storyteller opts for a trial, he states his case in favor of his character, citing all of the applicable reputations he can bring to bear on the situation, and any circumstances that happen to work in his favor as well.  He then casts one white token into the hat for each such reputation and circumstance.  In response to the Storyteller's defense, the Challenger may now cite any faults, circumstances or opposition that would work against the Storyteller and cast a black token for each one.  Once both the Storyteller and the Challenger have made all of their cases, play passes around the Circle.  All players – even the Ring Leader and all members of the audience – are given the opportunity to cite and cast either a white token for each of the character's reputations or circumstances in which they believe, or a black token for each that they doubt.  Upon completion of all casting of tokens, the challenged Storyteller then reaches into the hat, drawing forth a token.  A white indicates the character's success, a black token indicates failure.

Degrees of Fate – After determining success or failure, either white or black respectively, the Storyteller keeps drawing tokens until he draws a token of the opposite color.  When done drawing tokens, the last token drawn (the one of the opposite color from the first drawn) is discarded to the general pot, and the remaining extra tokens are collected in front of that character's Storyteller for all to see.

The number of tokens drawn of the initial color represents the relative degree of success or failure.  With them, the Storyteller must purchase a specific degree of success or failure.  The varying degrees are as follows:

One token – Passing
Two tokens – Notable
Three tokens – Significant
Four tokens – Decisive
Five tokens – Famous

The Storyteller may choose to spend as many or as few of these tokens as he wishes.  However, after buying a given degree of success or failure, any remaining tokens become that character's (and that Storyteller's) stature.

Stature – The ongoing measure of a character's success or failure, and perhaps more importantly his credibility, is represented by the accumulation of either white or black tokens as a result of challenge resolution.

Whenever extra tokens are accumulated as a result of a trial, they are matched against those already held.  If the tokens are of matching color, they are added to those already held – the current reputation for success or failure gains in stature.  If the tokens are of the opposite color, they are matched one-for-one with those already held and each two-color pair discarded until only tokens of one color remain – thus does a change in fortune build upon, diminish, or even reverse one's current stature.

Spending Stature Tokens – Sometimes the result of a trial resolution fails to satisfy the gathered Circle.  If, at the conclusion of a trial, either a successful Storyteller's claim still seems spurious or a failed trial seems inappropriate or unfair, the verdict of the trial may be further challenged, in which case a Challenger may call the Storyteller's stature into question.

If the Storyteller's stature is currently represented by black tokens:

• Any player may call the Storyteller's poor reputation into play by drawing one of his accumulated black tokens to the middle of the Circle and demanding that he revise his account to the character's disadvantage.  If the Storyteller revises the account to suit the Challenger, the black token is discarded to the pot.  Any player may further challenge the account by drawing out another black token, if any remain, and the process repeats.[/list:u]If the Storyteller's stature is currently represented by white tokens:
  • Any player may pit his own good reputation (i.e. white stature tokens) against the Storyteller's by bidding his own white tokens against those of the Storyteller.  For each bid, the Storyteller must attempt to revise his account to the Challenger's approval; if the Storyteller revises the account to suit the Challenger, both tokens are discarded.[/list:u]A challenge of a Storyteller's stature ends when the Storyteller either revises his story to suit the Challenger, the Storyteller runs out of white stature tokens (in which case the Challenger dictates the actual account of the story), or the Challenger runs out of white stature tokens.
    
    Teamwork – The reputations and circumstances of all those participating in an action may be considered applicable to a trial.  When casting tokens, the Storytellers of all cooperating characters may cite their relevant and pertinent reputations and circumstances.  Likewise, other players may cast tokens for or against any member of the cooperating group or the group as a whole (don't be surprised if someone cites inter-clan animosity as a flaw in your teamwork).
    
    Opposed Efforts – Where one or more characters oppose the actions of other characters, play is resolved effectively like any other trial.  The only significant difference is that the Challenger is represented directly by his character.
    
    Wounding – Wounds (both physical and emotional – it's very likely that failure may "wound" the pride or reputation of your character) are represented in the form of temporary reputations.  The degree of failure in a contest will indicate the severity of the physical injury or the social stigma incurred.  For the duration of the temporary reputation, each one may incur a cast token in future challenges should any player be so inclined.  
    
    In this game, wounds aren't really physical or psychological impediments as such to the being of a character, so they don't need to be tracked on a scale or pool.  Instead, a "wound" is a temporary reputation that reflects others' opinion that your character will be hampered or impeded in the future.  Their duration and effect are essentially arbitrary, lasting until other players stop casting tokens for or against the temporary reputation – once they cease to believe that it should be affecting the character, they can stop casting in response to it.
    
    Wounds are adopted by the Storyteller as appropriate to the result of a failed trial.  In situations where the members of the Circle would reasonably expect the Storyteller's character to experience a lasting effect from his failure (such as being clubbed over the head, or gored by a wild beast, or shamed by breaking taboo), the Storyteller will accept a temporary reputation to that effect.  The temporary reputation should be in proportion to the degree of failure.  Should the Storyteller decline to adopt a reasonable wound, other players will likely line up to challenge his decision.
    
    As odd as it may seem, under some circumstances, suffering from a wound may actually bolster a character's reputation in the eyes of the Circle.  Particularly in the heat of battle, characters with a reputation for fierceness or anger may find that the expectation of the Circle is that a wound received under dire circumstances will spur him on to feats of great rage or heroism.  The character's player may find the Circle casting in favor of the character ignoring the effects of the injury, or even exceeding his normal capabilities.
    
    Death and Dying – As you may see, wounds in this game are accepted at the discretion of the individual Storyteller, though strongly influenced by the expectations of the Circle.  As such, a character's death need only occur when the players of the game consider it both reasonable and desirable.

Quote from: Ian YoungI've been working on a storytelling roleplaying game of my own for some time (of which I know some of you are aware).  The premise of the game is the emulation of tribal politics, where stories, legends, and myths are told around a fire, but always subject to the approval of everyone in attendance.  

Why?  I mean, why the  consent of the audience?  I'm not sure whether you are referring to tribal politics ort some sort of stroy-telling comeptition.

I'm also a bit confused as to what this is aimed at achieving; it appears to be constructing a rationale for an almost RP-like activity to be happening in the game world.  Is competition intended to appear between participants?  Are the players expected to narrate about their character, or actually identify with the character?

I think there's some potential confusion here. Do the player's comprise the ring, ringleader, and storytellers, or do the players play characters who are the ringleader, and storytellers comprising a ring?

Mike

I believe the source of confusion reflected in the first two responses here is that I lavished far less attention to the brief introduction than I did upon the mechanics themselves.  It also doesn't help that I've largely removed the mechanics from the detailed context of the setting (which I'd be happy to discuss, but it simply didn't seem pertinent or appropriate to this particular forum).  Let me attempt to clarify the goal of the game.

The goal of the game is to tell stories, legends, and myths about the heroes of a primitive (read: "Stone Age") tribe.  The players, with the exception of the Ring Leader, all assume the narrative of one of the characters involved in the story -- they are all the Storytellers.  The Ring Leader assumes a loose control of the narrative, guiding it along by presenting new situations for the Storytellers to expand upon.  Thus, the players identify with the characters they are portraying in the story being told, but in a somewhat removed sense they are also playing the storytellers telling the story of the characters.

Is that still confusing?  Perhaps the most ready model that comes to mind, though from a different medium, is the movie "The Princess Bride".  The story is about the love between a handsome young farmboy-pirate and a beautiful princess, and all the adventures that pivot upon their love.  But the story is told by an old man and his grandson.  The movie itself is about both, though its primary focus is upon the characters in the fairytale.  The old man and the boy don't affect the story until a dispute occurs regarding a pivotal moment in the narrative, when the audience is reminded of the give-and-take play between them as they cooperate in presenting the story.

So, to address Mike's question directly, the players comprise the Circle, taking on the roles of Ring Leader and Storytellers.  However, in a slight shift of context, there exist a set of intermediary characters, who are themmselves the Ring Leader and Storytellers of the tribe.  To address contracycle's concerns, the players are intended to identify with the characters of the story until a moment of conflict occurs, whereupon they may step out a little and identify with the Storyteller who is defending his account of the character's actions.

Does that help?  Too post-modern?

!i!

If I'm readin this right, are you angling at something like Baron Munchausen?  Like this:

Wise Old Man: "Tell us about the time, Little Bear, that you stole apples from the Garden of the goddess of love."

Little Bear: "I was young and foolish, and my heart was given to fair Elaine, who spurned me, and so I resolved to steal from the goddess one of her golden apples, and offer it to my beloved."

Dancing Bird: "But Little Bear, how did you cross the great Chasm of Despair?"

Something like that?  Ok its getting a little Pilgrims Progress at the end, but is that then kind of thing you mean?

Quote from: contracycleIf I'm readin this right, are you angling at something like Baron Munchausen?

Very much so.  In fact, in the interest of fair disclosure, The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen was a significant inspiration for the format of the game.  I was looking about for a means to escape the dull thud of simulationist caveman RPGs.  It occurred to me that what is exciting about tribal life isn't a documentary about day-to-day survival, but the interpretation of their lives through legend and myth.  Yeah, archaeological firepit excavations are fascinating, but the cave paintings at Lascaux or Chauvet take your breath away.  I want this game to bring the cave paintings to life, not the bones in the ground.

!i!

Edit:  So the question I pose is, do these mechanics succeed at, or even approach, that goal?

Still thinkin.

BTW, this reminds me of something. At first I was thinking that maybe it was the Tala (IIRC) mechanic from Orcworld. But that's not it. Did you post this in an earlier form?

Mike

Aha! Yes, this is Cold Mountain! Found the link off of Elliot's "Totem" page. Why didn't you just link us to the page, Ian? Looks great.

Back to the rules. I think they're pretty good so far. One question that I do have is what effect does the level of a success ourchased during a Trial mean? Does the player have to attempt to match the description to the level of success? Or what?

Mike

Quote from: Mike HolmesAha! Yes, this is Cold Mountain! Found the link off of Elliot's "Totem" page. Why didn't you just link us to the page, Ian? Looks great.

Mostly, I wanted to present a tidier, condensed version of the mechanics that would be free of distraction from the setting.  Also, figured I might get more immediate responses if I didn't send readers off to another website.  Finally, the website is still a work-in-progress, due for some rather major revision soon (including a number of significant changes I've made to the rules).  That said, if anyone wants a look, here is the link to Cold Mountain (http://pages.prodigy.net/idyoung/newland.htm).

QuoteBack to the rules. I think they're pretty good so far. One question that I do have is what effect does the level of a success ourchased during a Trial mean? Does the player have to attempt to match the description to the level of success? Or what?

This is a recent addition to the rules, and still feels a little bumpy to me.  The intent of the rule is that, with the number of either white or black tokens that the Storyteller has just drawn, he must purchase a level of success (with white tokens) or failure (with black).  He must spend at least one of the tokens, but may spend as many as he wishes, up to the total number drawn during this challenge.

The intended strategy is for Storytellers to either minimise their immediate success and thereby build up a positive stature upon which they can relay later, or to minimise an immediate failure by incurring a negative stature that may affect later challenges.

As I indicated in the original post, the stature rules feel funny right now, and these "levels of success" rules are part and parcel of that funniness.  It seems like the right thing to do, but that it doesn't quite handle properly yet.

!i!

The problem is that you have no mechanic for the enforcement of the level of success. Lets say I wanted to get rid of a lot of Black stones, and I narrated a hangnail. No, a "Colossal" hangnail. And then said that this was a legendary level of failure, and paid five black for it. Would that be allowed to stand? Could it trigger a new Trial? How is this metered?

Mike