Since Universalis rules can be developed in play, has anyone devised a rule that would allow a player to "win" a game of Universalis?

My wife enjoyed The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen but when I presented her with Universalis, she didn't see the point in playing if there was no way to win, even if it was just declaring who told the best story like in Baron Munchausen.

So, does anyone have any winning ideas?

Interesting. I don't know that I'd personally want to play in a game with such a rule, but setting that aside, here's my initial thought on where I'd go.

First, I'd avoid any rule that equates winning with having the most Coins...I think that would explode the economy in a very bad way.

I think what I'd try is something along the lines of Once Upon a Time. In that game players were given a Happy Ending Card and in order to win they had to maneuver the story such that they could use up the last of their cards in a way that led to that Ending.

So a rule I'd try might go like this.
1) at some point in the game each player has to write a 100 word conclusion to the story which is kept secret.
2) the player cannot get any Coin refreshment until they write this ending. Thus, the longer they wait the more of a sense of where the story they will have to judge how to write the ending, but the fewer Coins they will get (no refreshment) to get it there.

The idea would be to get the story to end in the way you described. There's probably some additional details that would need to be worked out, but that's the direction I'd go if I were trying to declare a "winner".

I take it your wife is not usually a roleplayer and thus hasn't been inundated with the concept of "there is no winner in an RPG".

You are right. My wife isn't a roleplayer although she did try it twice but was unsatisfied. I think she primarily sees games as a competitive activity. She really likes the story aspect of RPGs but isn't too keen on the killing sprees which provide the competitive atmosphere in most RPGs. So competitive storytelling games are what I'm looking for now. Your idea should work great but please, if anyone has more ideas, please keep them coming!

When Mike Holmes pitched Universalis to me at GenCon, I kept saying “This is a lot like something I’m working on.” Well, that idea has just been taking up space on my hard drive since then, but it does have competitive elements that could work, I think. Here it is in the rough. It capitalizes on the fact that a cohesive story must have an Introduction, some Development, and a Climax

Step 1: Between the Setting Creation Phase and the actual narration phase, everyone gets 25 Coins to create Components. They must create 2 Settings, 3 Characters, and 1 Prop (numbers & categories are arbitrary.) They then reveal these Components to the group.

Step 2: Each Player then fills out one scorecard for Introduction, one scorecard for Development, and one for Climax. Each scorecard has spaces for: 1 Setting, 3 Characters, 1 Prop, 2 Events, 1 Tagline (numbers and categories are, again, arbitrary). These scorecards are kept hidden, and normal play begins by bidding for the first scene.

At the end of any scene, a player may reveal one of his scorecards (they must, of course, be revealed in proper order). For each item on the scorecard that appeared in the just-finished scene, the player scores 1 point. There may be a bonus if the player was not Scene-Framer for the scene. The game continues until all players have revealed all their scorecards. Most points wins.

This has not been playtested, and I haven’t played enough Universalis to sense whether it would really work or not. Let me know if you actually play it.

Michael S. Miller wrote: Each Player then fills out one scorecard for Introduction, one scorecard for Development, and one for Climax. Each scorecard has spaces for: 1 Setting, 3 Characters, 1 Prop, 2 Events, 1 Tagline (numbers and categories are, again, arbitrary). These scorecards are kept hidden, and normal play begins by bidding for the first scene.

Hi, Jon.

I figured that the three cards would allow the player creating them to kinda say: "This is the story I want to tell." They also impose a sort of structure (with a set ending) for what otherwise can be chronology events, unrelated by anything other than using the same components.

In my most ambitious ideas, I thought I could explore different story structures, like TV's 7-Act structure and even all 12 stages of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. But as it stands now, I don't even know if the 3-act structure would work with Universalis. Play at your own risk.

Michael S. Miller wrote: They also impose a sort of structure (with a set ending) for what otherwise can be chronology events, unrelated by anything other than using the same components.