Until We Sink; a different roleplaying game, from norway.

[fluency]

I wasnt sure where to post this, but it was too interesting to pass up!

This is a translation of the norwegian rolaplaying game Until We Sink. Its very different from what the Forge indie community produces, and the norwegian design community is definately moving in this same direction. Collaboration (as opposed to competition) seems to be the key word in norwegian game design trends.

[Noclue]

This is interesting. I'm trying to decide if it would be fun. I have a hard time groking games like this.

Essentially, its improv theater games with event cards to randomize the plot. You make offers about each others characters and react to events. Fine.

The social contract seems to be our characters are going to sit on this sinking island with dead people and wierd stuff and just have conversations and get to know one another. We cant get off the island. We have to invent explanations for event cards (why? Because it says you can't end the game until they're all explained). You can't lie about event card explanations (this seems very important, but I can't see why).

The mechanics are bare bones. There's a scene ending mechanic (two people leave the patio). There is a set number of scenes. There's an endgame condition.

My problem is that the design seems lazy to me. Need to keep the characters together? Inescapable island. Need an ending? Island is sinking. What do they do on the island? Give em some spooky events to keep em busy. Done.

This all sounds so free, but then they say I can't lie about certain things (who says?). The expectation is that I'm gonna take part in all this sitting on the patio talking when my first thought would be "find a way off this damn island!" My second thought would be "I can't get off the island. Gather weapons and supplies and stay safe until help arrives." But then I become that crazy player that isn't contributing to the roleplaying and is off on his own...

I contrast this to something like Polaris (which I haven't played, but have listened to and read AP sessions). Here there is character motivation, you are trying to save a dying world; conflict resolution, if I want to go hide in a room, the other players also have control of the narrative and we get to determine who wins. The story is interesting because its full of conflict. And, my character actually suffers consequences from these conflicts. I can die. I can hurt.

This is a very personal rant, but I would be interested in hearing where I'm off base.

[fluency]

Motivation isnt a factor, because this game is not about people with different motivations.

Until We Sink shares many common carachteristics with the Baron Münchausen rpg. It is a game where layers collaborate to tell a story. But the game removes the competitive element from Münchausen, leaving only the cooperation.

[fluency]

Apparently the game has been nominated for the Indie RPG Awards!

[Jason Morningstar]

I didn't realize it was so recent or I would have nominated it myself.  Until We Sink seems like a very accessible window on an RPG culture quite different from the one we're used to around here ("here" being US/UK for the most part).  I'm definitely going to try it out.

[Magnus Jakobsson]

I'm definitely going to try it out.

Thanks for the kind words. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Until We Sink seems like a very accessible window on an RPG culture quite different from the one we're used to around here ("here" being US/UK for the most part).

For another such window, take a look at the new design blog for We all had names. The project's not nearly finished but looks very exciting. I got to playtest a very early version of "Kristallnacht" this february, and I'm looking forward to playing the finished version at the ARCON convention in Oslo in June.

Although the three games in We all had names are going to be very different from Until we sink, they have the traits described in blogpost "Basic design philosophy" in common (the only exception being a few instances of dice-use as a randomizer in Until we sink.) If there is such a thing as a "norwegian vibe" *, maybe this is part of it.

* If there is, it's limited to a relatively small group of gamedesigners, but notably including the authors of the only two professionally published and widely distributed norwegian roleplaying games. *

* Draug (2004) and Fabula (1999), both of them fairly traditional games.

[Noclue]

I just read your We All Had Names website and thought "Wow! This is something I have got to play!" I can't wait to try these games. I did not have that same feeling with Until We Sink.

I think my strong reaction is primarily because given the setting, player choices really matter, even the smallest choice matters in such a highly charged environment. Play may be entirely cooperative, but the setting is providing conflict for the story to move forward (at least in my imagination of it). Of the three, "How Not To Care" seems the most unusual. I'm not sure how the game will play, focused as it is on passive characters, but I am eager to find out.

James

[Magnus Jakobsson]

Oops, sorry, I made it sound like We all had names is my project. It's actually written by Matthijs Holter. I'm still glad you like it, though.