[1001 Nights] A good ending to a good day

[GreatWolf]

i]1001 Nights <<Melia the seamstress<Rashid the Captain of the Guard<<perception<The Unfolding Stories

Actual game play was a hoot. Next time, I would like to start earlier to allow for more time spent in the Court. As it was, we probably spent half of our time playing out Court scenes and the other half playing through stories.  This was actually a bit different from what I was expecting. I was thinking that this would be more like Baron Munchausen, where the noble storytellers are really just an excuse for the stories to exist. In 1001 Nights<<Roleplaying games as party games<1001 Nights<A Penny for My Thoughts<Conclusion

1001 Nights<Melia the seamstress<Rashid the Captain of the Guard<<perception<The Unfolding Stories

Actual game play was a hoot. Next time, I would like to start earlier to allow for more time spent in the Court. As it was, we probably spent half of our time playing out Court scenes and the other half playing through stories.  This was actually a bit different from what I was expecting. I was thinking that this would be more like Baron Munchausen, where the noble storytellers are really just an excuse for the stories to exist. In 1001 Nights<<Roleplaying games as party games<1001 Nights<A Penny for My Thoughts<Conclusion

1001 Nights

[Christoph Boeckle]

It has been a long time since I last played (it was with the beta rules) and you're perfectly right, there was this "we had great fun! no point talking more about it" feeling.
There was a little controversial tone to play, as one of the characters at court was an imprisoned homosexual crusader. We had an obscene scene or the other, but we never really did anything about the issues of religion, polygamy and homosexuality that we would have been confronted with if we had played Dogs or Dirty Secrets for example. The player of the crusader was quite successful though, if I recall correctly. Maybe controversy can be played upon to attract player attention and make a bit of easy slapstick humour.

I need to play 1001 Nights again soon, thanks for the lovely and inspiring write-up!


For party games, try out Eero's Zombeja! Ovella! My brother and I have successfully played it in under two hours (definitely in under three) on a few accounts and it's great for 4-6 players. You can even give a die to additional "spectators" without main characters, who lend it to whoever they feel should have it and do some little narration from time to time. You can easily organize a zombie or horror night around a game of this and perhaps a movie or a halloween party.

[Meguey]

I have the same response: wow, that sounds great! Next time I write a game, I'll try to make it hard to play and controversial and all that.

Two quick things I want to highlight, though.

As it was, we probably spent half of our time playing out Court scenes and the other half playing through stories.  This was actually a bit different from what I was expecting.

Yes! Don't skimp on or skip over the Court scenes! If you do, you're missing a big chunk of the game. The opening Court scenes establish the Courtiers relationships, and if you're stingy with them, there's not nearly as much to go on in terms of pointed attacks in the Story level.

I also liked the gamey nature of storytelling. I liked how the GM could pay to interrupt the story as a tactical move. In fact, of the three stories that we told, two of them were interrupted in this way: one because the GM had gotten really far ahead, and the other because the GM was getting left in the dust. This played well in the larger fiction as well.

Excellent. That last part, about the interruptions feeding into the fiction, is a big part of how the fiction can move forward. We've had games where weeks and months pass between Stories, because the interruptions have moved the fiction forward into increasingly tense political situations in Court.

For other party games, don't miss Psi Run by Chris Moore, and Julia Ellingboe's got a new one in the works that's really a doozy. Look for hers at GenCon 08, and hopefully Chris's too.

[Gabrielle]

We played Psi Run once and it was a ridiculous amount of fun. I'd definitely put 1001 Nights in the same category.

I truly enjoyed how the stories the Courtiers told ended up being metaphors for what was going on in court. In one story Amira's character kept trying to form an alliance with Melia's character against Rashid's character. In another story Rashid's character, the Desert Jackal, and Amira's character, the Grandmother, were fighting over the Melika's character, the Red-Veiled Girl. Crystal intentionally slipped at one point and Melika said something totally out of character to Amira.

I would love to play this game again. I only figured out the Gems about half-way through and I think I could do way better next time.

Seth- No, we didn't deal with anything controversial, but the story still revolved around marriage, sex and babies. We still couldn't break free from our common role-playing orbit, but I blame Crystal for that :-)