I. Make the world 1. Set down some ground rules about the world: The far future or today? Area 51? Outer space? Giant robots? Psychedelia? 2. Make the Shock/Issue grid - What matters to the players (Issue)? Through what lens are we going to look at it? (Shock) 3. Decide on the Praxis Scales - How do people solve problems in this world?II. Make Protagonists 1. Place your Protag at the crux of a Shock and an Issue. - This will define both your Protagonist and your Antagonist. 2. Decide where your Protag falls on the Praxis Scales. 3. Write down at least one and no more than three of your Traits. - e.g. "I have a gun - coersion 1" or "I'm very handsome. - commerce 2" * 4. Note at least one and no more than three Relationships. - e.g. "Alexa Duursh, my boss" or "Boku, C.S.'s Protagonist, the policeman." * 5. Put four coins down on the Protagonist side of your Player Sheet.**III. Make Antagonists 1. For each Protagonist, there is an Antagonist at the same cross-point on the Shock/Issue Grid. No one can play two Antagonists and no one can play their own. 2. The Antagonist Player now has control of this character from the basic sketch the Protagonist Player has given hir. 3. Determine at least one but no more than five Traits for the Antagonist. 4. Put five coins down on the Antagonist side of your Player Sheet.***IV. Start the story 1. The first player declares Story Stakes for hir Protagonist. A. The Antagonist Player provides opposition to the Protagonist. To be clear: the duties for producing opposition to each Protagonist fall to that Protagonist's Antagonist's Player. That player has a Protagonist of hir own, but who doesn't particularly matter in this scene. 2. Either *Tagonist can declare the stakes for a conflict.V. Moment-to-moment play 1. Declare stakes in the conflict. - what the *Tagonists want to risk, e.g. "I either go with my daughter to her meeting, or she won't talk to me again." 2. The Protag player says which end of which Praxis Scale sHe want to be a success and rolls, bidding to bring in a Trait, if desired. A. If the roll is off the scale, the Protag Player automatically wins unless the Antag Player can bid it down in one bid. 3. The Antag Player then puts as many coins down as the Protag Player has put down, then can narrate what sHe's doing and bid more coins (at least one) for a Trait to bring in to substantiate that action. A. Each Trait changes the die roll in the direction and number indicated by the Trait. 4. The Protag Player then does the same, back and forth. 5. Eventually, either one player has run out of coins or the issue has been settled to both parties' satisfaction. A. If the Protagonist succeeds, hir Player wins the Stakes of the Conflict. B. The loser of the Conflict gets all coins used in the Conflict.VI. Between Episodes 1. Take one of these: A. Take a new, or add 1 to an existing, Trait and Relationship B. Move your Praxis Scale numbers. 2. Decide if the next episode will be the last episode of the Protagonist's story, determining the fate of the Story Stakes. This shouldn't be much more than three episodes since the last story ended, and single episodes are viable as stories.VII. Between Stories 1. Take one of these A. Take a new Trait or add one to an existing Trait. B. Move either your Shock or your Issue.VIII.* These are likely to become four, rather than three. Please give feedback about this.** Likewise, the Protagonist will probably start with five, instead of four, coins.*** ... and the Antagonist will start with Six. All these numbers require a lot of playtesting, so I'd really like to know your experiences.
