Player & Character Exits
Story Endings
These are tips about creating a new Character for submission to play a Storium game Narrated by one of us:
Read the story description carefully. If the story is public, read the story so far. This will help inform your character creation and may include specific instructions from the Narrator.
Read other characters that have already been accepted and look for opportunities to add variety, be different, and/or to build relationships with other characters. They will also give you an idea of the level of completeness and detail that the Narrator is looking for.
Write a character you will enjoy playing. You are going to be in their shoes a lot.
Write a character that is not you. Fiction is an opportunity to step out and be someone or something different.
The cards selected are an important part of your character creation. Remember you will have to PLAY these cards out in moves during the story so be thoughtful. Leave yourself some room and open ends to negotiate.
Avoid choosing contradictory strength and weakness cards (e.g. the Character can’t be both poor for a weakness and rich as a strength.
Choose a real weakness, not a strength stated another way. Choose an unexpected or unusual weakness. Character’s flaws make them interesting. They provide fodder for drama and conflict or comedy in the story.
You can edit the Narrator’s example cards or create new cards as part of your character development within what ever boundaries are specified in the game description and on the cards themselves.
You can add images to cards provided by the Narrator or to cards you create to make them your own.
The character sketch should address any specific directions, requirements, or instructions in the game write up. Please read carefully.
Your Character sketch must address all the cards you chose.
Your bio should also include something about how the character looks, their age, background, etc. There should be enough, but not too much here. Leave room for development in the course of the story line.
If your character has a secret or things about them the other characters won’t know, but the Narrator needs to know, please do include it in the sketch! Players will observe separation of information in Player and Character realities.
The Narrator will review your cards and character sketch and may request revisions to them if…
Not all Characters submitted will be accepted. Each Storium game will accommodate a limited number of players and sometimes a story is looking for a particular character assortment to play well.
This is where you will find some of the biggest differences in Narrator approach and Player comfort levels in the universe of possible ways to play Storium.
It is also important to build relationship with the other Player in order to write for their character.
Player – a Human being. The human being knows everything they have read in the Character descriptions, Narrator writings and Character moves. They may know things communicated to them by the Narrator through back-channels. The Player is responsible to keep their layers of reality appropriately sequestered when writing. Players get to make up new stuff and by writing it make it true as long as it is consistent and cohesive with other things that have already been written.
Character – a fictional construct of a ‘person’ who starts with a bio sketch and develops within the story. The Character only knows what they have seen, heard or experienced in the writing. If something was whispered to another Character or said in a room they weren’t present in, they do not know it. If there is a fact or secret written up in another Character’s bio which has not been revealed in the story, they do not know it. They do not know everything the Player knows. They may be endowed with knowledge through history or relationship with other characters written for them by the Player, but this should be explicitly brought out in the character bio or move narrative. Characters cannot act upon things they do not know. New information about Characters can and should be invented by the Player in the course of the story as long as it makes sense and is cohesive with other facts and behavior already established about the character.
Narrator – a Human being. A leading player who has a specific role in the game. The Narrator knows everything that has been written by themselves and all the players. They may also know things the Player has communicated to them through back-channels. They will also make new things up. The Narrator is responsible to create opportunities for things known by Players but not Characters to be brought forward in the story.
NPC – A non-player-character written by the Narrator. Like a Character, an NPC only knows what they have seen, heard, or experienced. Interaction with an NPC can be written by Players or the Narrator. Players may at times take some control of the story by writing for an NPC. The Narrator may reserve some NPC for their writing only. (Read the ‘Person’ card for clarity on the Narrator’s intent to reserve an NPC’s reactions to their own writing.)