[A trip to the moon] Bedtime story game for review

[matthijs]

Here's a little game I wrote up for a Norwegian contest. I liked it so much I decided to translate it. I'm thinking of putting it up as a cheap PDF somewhere - but first I was wondering if anyone here could take a look at it and say what you think?

A trip to the moon
A role-playing game that should be played when it's dark outside and the moon is shining down on the rooftops.

This game is like a good night story. It's about you visiting the moon, having strange adventures there, and going back to earth again when it's bedtime. It should be played with an open mind, in calm surroundings, with people who can be nice if they want to.

Flow of the game

"A trip to the moon" has a predetermined structure you should follow. It's divided into eight phases, with slightly different rules for each phase. It's good if at least one of the players has read all the rules in advance, but it's possible to learn the game as you play.

The phases are:

1. Everyone prepares the room.
2. The group elects a moon.
3. The story begins with the visitors.
4. The visitors start the trip.
5. The moon gets visitors.
6. The visitors say goodbye to the moon.
7. The visitors travel home again.
8. The visitors go to sleep.

There are three additional rules that everyone has to follow all the time.
- Listen to the others when they talk, and understand what they say.
- Accept what the others come up with and use it yourself when you're making up stuff.
- Make up things that children would like to hear about.

1. Everyone prepares the room.

You start by making everything ready to start playing. The right surroundings are important to get in the mood.

The room should be clean. It should be a nice and safe place. Remove things that only grown-ups or big kids like: Scary posters, loud music, cigarettes and alcohol. Get a pillow each to sit on, and a blanket to wrap yourself in. You also need a ball you can pass back and forth - a tennis ball or something slightly larger is good.

Turn down the lights, so you can only just see each other. Sit in a circle.

2. The group elects a moon.

The moon has a special function in the game. You have to pick someone to be the moon.

Be quiet while you're thinking. Everyone should ask themselves: "If I were little again, which of the others would I rather hear a good night story from?" When everyone's ready (show you're ready with a nod), point to the one you've picked. The person that the most fingers are pointing at is the moon. The others are the visitors.

If there's a tie, the moon is the person who looks the most like a moon.

The moon can't say or do anything before phase 5, when the visitors arrive.

3. The story begins with the visitors.

Now you're going to introduce and choose your characters.

The visitors take turns saying a descriptive sentence. Start with the player to the left of the moon and go clockwise. You'll all get several turns, but the moon isn't allowed to talk yet. You can describe whatever you like - people, houses, animals, the weather, events, things or sounds, for example.

You must pick your characters along the way. You do so by speaking in character. The first player to speak for one of the characters, controls that character for the rest of the game. You can't describe a character and speak for it on the same turn. That means you often end up playing characters that someone else has described first.

When everyone's picked a role, start the trip.

4. The visitors start the trip.

Now you'll tell how you travel from the earth to the moon.

The player to the right of the moon picks up the ball. Whoever has the ball, gets a turn, and can say one or two sentences - no more! Speak in character as much as you can, as if it's a radio play. Don't say lines for someone else's character.

While someone is talking, anyone can raise their hand to say they'd like to be next. The player holding the ball passes it on to whoever he likes after he's done. The moon can't have the ball!

You should describe why you want to go to the moon, and what happens on the way there. But as soon as someone says you've arrived, the visit begins.

5. The moon gets visitors.

This is the longest phase. Now the visitors get to talk to the moon and explore it.

The rules are like the previous phase, but now the moon can talk as well. The moon can say more than the visitors - up to four sentences at a time. It doesn't need the ball to speak; but it can only talk as a response - when someone else talks to it first, or does something with or on it.

Even though the moon can't take the initiative, it can react in exciting ways. If a visitor sits on a crater, the moon can say a guinea pig with a space helmet jumps out of the crater. If a visitor asks for directions to the Milky Way, the moon can sneeze so hard that the visitor flies up into the sky and sees the Milky Way from there.

The moon is gentle, pleasant and curious. It likes visitors, and devotes its attention fully to whoever it talks to.

During this phase you're going to have adventures. An adventure can be a strange discovery, doing exciting stuff and meeting strange creatures - all on and around the moon.

When you've had at least three adventures, you can start moving on to the next phase. Anytime a visitor has the ball, they can stretch and yawn to show they're ready to go home. (They have to pass the ball to someone else afterwards!) The next person to get the ball can also stretch and yawn, or continue this phase.

If the moon gets a turn after someone's startet yawning, it can say it's bedtime for the children, and that it has to go out and shine on the rooftops. Then all the visitors have to stretch and yawn at the same time - it's time to go.

When all visitors are ready to leave, go on to the goodbyes. Put down the ball.

6. The visitors say goodbye to the moon.

This is the shortest phase. Now the visitors and the moon say goodbye to eachother.

The visitors wave at the moon and say: "Goodbye, moon!" The moon waves back and says "Goodbye, all of you! Come back soon!"

7. The visitors go home.

Now you briefly describe the trip home.

Each of you says a sentence each about the trip home. Start with the player to the moon's left. Now you shouldn't speak in character, but you can say what the characters are thinking and feeling if you want to. The moon finishes by describing how everyone's back on earth and goes home to their own house.

8. The visitors go to sleep.

This is the game's closure.

The visitors take turns telling how they go to sleep. Start with the player to the left of the moon. You can say up to five sentences each if you like.

Then it's the moon's turn. If it likes, it can tie up loose ends from the story. Then it ends the game by describing how it shines down on them all.

And it can use all the time it wants.

[Bill Masek]

matthijs,

I really like your game.  I think the emphasis on environment (clean room, no 'adult' stuff, etc) will really help with the whole experience.  It strikes me like the players are not only roleplaying the characters on the moon, they are roleplaying children on an imaginative adventure.  It also strikes me as a great game to play with actual children.  I like your use of sentence limitations.  I only have three minor recommendations.

First, mention in the rules that the sentences should be simple and strait forward.  No compound sentences or any of that stuff.  Something like "And I, in my rocket, blasting all the asteroid creatures, passing all the lights, shooting through the belly of star dragon, finally reach the moon." should take four sentences, not one, to complete.  It would also hurt the atmosphere.

Second, I don't see why you need a sentence restriction on any of the final statements.  While five sentences is a decent number (especially for this game) it is the last opportunity players will have to make a contribution in the game.  I think it might be more fun if they had as many sentences as they want here.

Finally I recommend you change your ball-passing system ever so slightly.  Instead of passing it to any player with their hand up, only pass it to players with their hand up who have talked the least thus far this phase.  That way you won't have two players just passing it back and forth.

Over all this looks like a very cute game that should bring out the inner 5 year old inside gamers everywhere.

Best,
       Bill

[matthijs]

Yup, I agree with both your points on sentences. WRT the ball, in playtest it wasn't really a problem, but perhaps I should just add a rule that you can't give the ball back to the player who gave it to you unless he's the only one with his hand up.

I think I should probably add a bit about what kind of characters to play - children, talking animals, funny robots and other protagonist from childrens' stories. In playtest, I played a grown-up while the other two played children. That didn't work too well; either he had to be some sort of Wise Mentor for the children, or he ended up as a superfluous tag-along on their adventures.

[Bill Masek]

matthijs,

If I were you I would restrict the non-moon players to playing children.  It will be hard to capture the theme of the blissful/innocent in the wondrous and new world if you let players play things which are themselves wondrous (such as talking teddy bears).

If you want a fantastic guide to lead them up to the moon I would let the PCs make a fantastic NPC who they all control.

Best,
      Bill

[Bill_White]

I think this game is charming.  I was rather reminded of Puppetland.

When my wife and I were preparing our daughter's nursery before she was born, we painted a little poem on the wall:  "I see the moon and the moon sees me; God bless the moon and God bless me."  There's something very sweet about the notion of a child imagining a visit to the moon, perhaps in the company of one of her own teddy bears.  It could be a Winnie the Pooh story.

So it may be okay for players to take on the role of characters who are not themselves children, but which would be unremarkable for a child to have invested with life and emotional significance:  a toy, a stuffed animal, a blankie.  I agree that grown-ups should be beyond the pale, though.

Bill

[Doctor Xero]

Actually, I would like to make an argument for including the possibility of playing adults as well, based on my experiences with college students -- but only if everyone is playing adults this particular time.

There are a number of times in our lives when we are open to mystery and magic.  I suspect the most common time is when we are small children, such as the five year olds.  However, I've noticed that there are other times when people will briefly let themselves be open.  I've seen this happen most often during transition periods in one's life, such as the first few years of life in the dorms away from one's parents, when a person is dealing with the chaos of changing from dependent teenager into self-responsible adult.  In college, for a brief time, we often forget to disbelieve in Santa Claus.  I've even seen this openness happen with middle-aged men and women, although admittedly these were middle-aged artists and teachers and other people who have not yet killed often the childlike capacity for wonder.

True, sometimes people try to "justify" opening up to mystery and magic through alcohol, psychological workshops, mysticism, or immersion style roleplaying gaming.  But they do it.

For a time of only children characters, there's a recreation of the childlike sense of wonder.

For a time of only adult characters, there is an added poignancy, since each of the characters would also know that this time of magic and mystery will be only a brief respite from adult rationality -- it has the extra energy of quite possibly being their last chance to see the moon.

After all, in a very real sense, isn't that what the adult players playing the children are doing when they play this game anyway?

Doctor Xero

[matthijs]

I'm not sure exactly when people go to college in the US - I'm Norwegian - but I guess we're talking early/mid-teens, right? I work as a temp teacher, so I know what Doctor Xero's talking about.

But here's a turning upside-down of the whole concept: Instead of playing innocent children, what if you played the teenage kids that don't fit in? The f'ed up kids that hate school, that the teachers hate and fear and worry about. And they're dumped in this place where adventures actually happen and talking badgers exist and there's no grown-ups and nobody to tell them what to do.

It could be beautiful. Or it could be worse than Lord of the Flies. But it would be great to try it.

[Doctor Xero]

I'm not sure exactly when people go to college in the US - I'm Norwegian - but I guess we're talking early/mid-teens, right?

The average university undergrad student in the United States is between 18 and 22 years old (although there are growing number of university students in their 30s and 40s).  Of course, Americans also have one of the longest adolescences in the world . . . *grin*

But here's a turning upside-down of the whole concept: Instead of playing innocent children, what if you played the teenage kids that don't fit in? The f'ed up kids that hate school, that the teachers hate and fear and worry about. And they're dumped in this place where adventures actually happen and talking badgers exist and there's no grown-ups and nobody to tell them what to do.

It could be beautiful. Or it could be worse than Lord of the Flies. But it would be great to try it.

I LOVE THIS IDEA!

But never instead of, simply in addition to the notion of roleplaying children.

I think I could have a wildly fun and insightful month using all three ideas with the same group of roleplayers : first Saturday of the month we all roleplay the wonder of five year old children going to the moon, second Saturday of the month we all roleplay the poignant naivete of university freshmen and sophomores going to the moon, third Saturday of the month we all roleplay the anger and angst of violently misfit teenagers finding themselves going to the moon, and the final Saturday of the month we talk about those three very different expeditions!

Doctor Xero

[daMoose_Neo]

Very very cool, and very sweet ^_^

I might be one to recommend the playability of non-children characters, within reason. Myself, I wrote stories about me and my pets going on various adventures (including my animals talking).
Doesn't help, I imagine, growing up on Teddy Ruxpin (which is STILL a part of my life! From keeping my good ol' Bear by my nedside every night to trying for a lisencing agreement for a Ruxpin game...actually...mind if I borrowed some of these ideas??)

[matthijs]

actually...mind if I borrowed some of these ideas??)

I'd be flattered :)

[daMoose_Neo]

Awesome ^_^
What I'm looking at for the Ruxpin game is a "storybook" type approach and using several, simple, "mini games" as oppsed to an actual system, and when writing up that message I was suddenly reminded of Teddy Ruxpin's Lullaby book, which was quite sweet as well ^_^ So I really think this could fit in neat.

[matthijs]

If you decide to use some ideas from "A trip to the moon", just make sure you mention the game somewhere in there as well!

[Doctor Xero]

When is the PDF version, pretty pictures and all, coming out?  I think you have something good here, and I look forward to seeing its final version!

Doctor Xero

[matthijs]

Thanks for asking :) I'm working on it on and off, but have to get some art for it. I'm in touch with an artist who's very good, but also completely sets his own schedule, so it's hard to say when it'll be finished!

[Bergjylt]

Thanks for asking :) I'm working on it on and off, but have to get some art for it. I'm in touch with an artist who's very good, but also completely sets his own schedule, so it's hard to say when it'll be finished!

Ouch. That'd be me. Thanks for the undeserved praise, though :)

Just to prove you wrong, let's say a deadline at 1st of Aprilish? Alas, my photoshop pc, as I keep bitching about, is in a coma. I expect some nice techmonkies will do magical stuff to it and bring it back to the world of the living very soon.

Could we do it like a children's book, with one big colour picture on each page, and one phase per page?