Mactheterrible's Storiuum Reading List 4-27

So what am I reading on Storium this week?  Glad you asked!

Nova Sector Prime
A great, technical sci-fi adventure dealing with all kinds of cool hi-tech sci-fi themes.  Well worth a read.  Check out Mark Trumonz's writing as narrator.  REALLY good stuff.

The Lady Vanishes
Absolute gold standard for Storium.  Some of the lead designers/creators are involved in this one and it shows.  Check out Ryan Macklin's writing as Dr. William Reinhardt - classic.

The Estate
This is a tougher read and a little harder setting to get into, but it's well worth the effort.  Aleph - the narrator - really spins a fun read in this one.

As always, get out there and write!

- mactheterrible

Storium 101: Playing Your Cards

So you've backed Storium and joined the the Storium Beta and you've gotten yourself into a game or two...or three.  Maybe you're really enjoying yourself, but your still left wondering: how exactly should I use my Story Cards?  It's a fair and valid concern and one that I've observed a lot of Storium players struggling with just how to implement Story Cards in their play.  Let's take a minute to go over what they are, how they are used, and when they should be used.  Keep in mind that these tips are my opinion - some games are going to vary based on narrator and player preferences.  However, these guidelines can get you started!

Story Cards in a Nutshell
During character creation, a player makes a series of choices concerning who their character is based on a provided set and custom created Story Cards.  These cards serve as the main attributes of your player in a Storium game.  The main Story Cards that a player should be initially concerned with are Strengths, Weaknesses, Subplots, and Wilds.  Stengths represent a character's strongest attributes; weaknesses represent a character's defects that complicate things.  Subplots represent character goals the propel them forward to achieve something.

Wilds are the ways in which characters grow during the story and deserve their own mention.  Wild Cards are my favorite part of the game.  Why?  Because they allow ultimate flexibility for players on how they can change their characters on the fly.  Want your character to be an expert marksman?  Write it in on a wild Strength.  Want her to suffer from multiple personalities?  Sketch it down on a Wild Weakness.  These now become permanent options for your character.  Here's the cool part - when you get to eventually refresh your cards (discussed below), you'll be able to choose from any combination of Strengths and Weaknesses you now possess to build your Story Card suite.  Cool, huh?

Along with cards that come out of the narrator's scenes (which we'll talk about in another post), players play Story Cards in order to meet challenges set out by the narrator.  Challenges have a specific point value - anywhere from 1 or more - and when a player plays a Story Card, he or she brings a challenge closer to completion.

Using Story Cards in a Scene
Story Cards a resource that allows players to define their characters and directly affect the narrative of the game.  First, Story Cards define characters.  If you've chosen the Strength Story Card "Strong," and you play it on a challenge, you would use that guideline to write your character's action as a strong one.  You get to define precisely what strong means in the situation, and you have full control over just how that translates with your character.

Second (and maybe more importantly), if you play the "winning" Story Card on a challenge, you have the chance to win control of the narrative.  If there are more Strength cards than Weakness cards, it's a strong outcome.  If there are more Weakness cards than Strength cards, then it's a weak outcome.  (If the Strengths and Weaknesses end up tying, the outcome is "uncertain" and it's left in the narrator's hands.)  In either case, you have now earned the right through card play to narrate the outcome of that challenge.  Isn't that awesome?!?  Some people wait for the narrator to respond with the outcome - but there's really no need.  If you've spent your resources at a challenge to complete it, you get to decide the outcome.  This is how Storium is built to work!

When You Should Play Story Cards
Here's the short answer: all the time!  Seriously - play, play, play Story Cards!  You should play them because they allow you to have a mechanical say in the story.  You play them because you want to directly interact with obstacles and characters the narrator puts in front of you in a game.  You should play them so you can grow your character.  Players can play a total of 3 Story Cards in every scene - so use them every chance you get.

I want to take a second to talk about character growth.  When a character has played all three of her Stengths, Weaknesses, and written in both of her Wilds, she gets the chance to "refresh" her Story Cards.  This allows her to reset her Strengths and Weaknesses and even add in some of the wild ones she wrote into her cards in hand.  You want to refresh because it shows how your character has grown and what new skills he's gained in the process.

I hope you've found this helpful.  As always, get out there and write!

- mactheterrible

Storium 101: The Core Concept of Storium

If you're reading this blog, you're probably already a Storium Kickstarter backer.  That means you're probably already playing around on the Storium Beta.  That's awesome!  Maybe you're really starting to get behind Storium, but you still don't know quite how it works.  Fortunately, the developers have included a pretty solid "How to Play" section here.  It's got a ton of good info and comes directly from the horse's mouth, so it can be trusted.  If you find that it still hasn't clicked yet, keep reading and I'll throw in my two cents.

If you're just wondering what the heck Storium is all about this blog post might help you decide if this is something for you or not.

Pass the Story on Steroids
Have you ever played pass the story?  You know, everyone sits around a table or campfire or couches and you each tell a little bit about a story.  Then you pass it on to your buddy to keep it going.  Ring a bell?  Essentially, distilled down to its most basic elements, Storium is pass the story with a catch.  The catch is simple: narrator and players have story cards they can play to specifically influence how and where the story is headed.

Narrators and Players Work Together to Influence the Story
Through the clever story card mechanic, narrators and players get to work together to build the story they're writing.  Even though the narrator is in charge of creating and maintaining the space the story takes place in, the players have a whole lot of stake in where the story gets to go.  This is important, because realizing that the rules of the game don't just allow for - but actually demand - that players narrate outcomes can curb "story control issues" from narrators from the very beginning.  We'll talk more about this relationship in later blog posts.

Story Cards are Maps and Compasses
A lot of new players and narrators get kind of "stuck" on story cards.  Though they can be difficult to grasp at first, experienced Storium-ers (I guess that's what we're called?!?) eventually come to learn that story cards are the best overall resource in the game.  Feeling like you've got a case of writer's block?  Go back through your story cards to get a renewed look at your character.  Don't know where to take the scene?  Check with your story cards - or narrate some new ones if you're the narrator - and get some new inspiration.  Genuinely not sure how your character should respond?  Lean on his or her story cards to influence your own thinking in the situation.

If you play every single game of Storium with the understanding that it is a collective storytelling game where both narrators and players have control of the story at different points, you're going to really enjoy it.  This is exactly how it's meant to be played.

As always, get out there and write!

- mactheterrible

Storium 101: To Play or To Narrate?

...that is the question!  But seriously.  When it comes to Storium, we all probably joined because the premise of a creative storytelling game caught our eye.  And rightly so - Storium is entirely unique in that way.  The first time I logged in I wanted to immediately jump into world creation and narrate a story.  I'm glad I didn't in a lot of ways, but primarily because I may have embarrassed myself a bit.  Don't get me wrong; I think Storium offers people the freedom to play virtually however they want.  Truly using the mechanics, however, takes a bit of practice.  Here are a few pieces of advice.

Don't go into Storium alone.
If at all possible, bring a friend with you.  A good buddy of mine is responsible for turning me on to Storium in the first place and we've played together pretty much every step of the way.  My first piece of advice is to explore Storium in private games with someone you can actually talk to - in person, texting, Skyping, whatever.  This allows you the flexibility to use trial and error to get a knack for the system and then have a chance to deconstruct it and analyze how it's coming out.  This has been immeasurably useful for me and instrumental in shaping my understanding of how the system works.

If you don't have a friend who's playing with you, try to connect with someone via the Storium Kickstarter page or even the Storium Subreddit.  Ask someone who might kind of know what's going on to help you understand the way the game works, the anatomy of a move in practice, and a little bit of Storium etiquette.  A little bit of companionship will go a long way.

Read, read, READ!
Make sure you read the tutorial pages.  All of them.  Trust me.  Then, take the opportunity to browse games that are currently going on to see what kind of game you'd like to play and what kind of story you want to tell.  If you have no idea where to start, click on "Browse Games" in your dashboard and then order them by "Most Favorited."  This should give you a list of games the Storium community has rated as the best reads thus far.  It's not perfect and doesn't mean these are the only games worth reading, but it's a start.

Reading never hurt anyone and you'll see how people interact using the Storium interface.  Characters, cards, scenes - all the crunchy bits will really come together if you pair that with an understanding of the tutorial.

Play first.
This one is pretty much my answer to this post's headline.  Now, if you came in with a buddy like I suggested up top and you both took turns narrating a game for each other, than you've already narrated.  I get that.  But when you get out into the Storium community and are playing publicly with people you don't have direct contact with, you should play first.  There are two reasons for this.

First, playing under good narration will give you good ideas and create good habits for when you narrate in the future.  Plain and simple.  You'll get to see how narrators do a good job...and how they do things terribly.  You'll learn a lot about pacing and challenges and goals and everything else a narrator gets to control.  Seeing it from the other side of the table will give you an incredibly helpful perspective.

Second, play to get a handle on the base mechanics and to make good stories.  This is what Storium is all about: good stories!  We need good players out there with compelling characters doing interesting things.  Playing as a character will help you hone your skills with the system's mechanics and get the creative juices flowing.

As always, get out there and write!

- mactheterrible

Welcome to Storium HQ!

Hi there.  I'm mactheterrible and this is my blog dedicated to something I've just recently become extremely passionate about called Storium.  It's an online storytelling game which mixes creative writing with some interesting card mechanics to create the most unique writing/role-playing experience I've ever had.  The Kickstarter campaign for Storium is only in its infancy, but it's been blowing through stretch goals and shattering expectations.

I'm not going to spend any time getting into the specific mechanics of Storium in this post, but you can watch a neat intro video to give you an idea how Storium plays here.  It's a short watch and it's worth it to judge wether or not this is the kind of thing you'd like to get yourself into.

So what is Storium HQ?  It's one part fan page, one part Storium advice page, and one smaller part a resource for Storium material.  I do plan to share information on the Kickstarter itself as well as what else might be going on in the world of Storium.

However, the real meat and potatoes of this blog will be devoted to playing Storium.  I plan to create a few different advice categories and to regularly post my thoughts about each one.  Of course, mine aren't the only thoughts, and I'd encourage you to chime in when you'd like.

Thanks for reading and let's have fun!

- mactheterrible