NOTEWORTHY: A blogger's roleplaying game

Posted by Neel Krishnaswami on October 10, 2004 at 05:22 PM

Allen Varney (of Paranoia XP fame) sent me an email with the draft for a blog-based roleplaying game. I'm posting the full text here. I'd be interested in trying this game out -- the limitations and strengths of different media make for fascinating variations in how roleplaying game play!

[Draft 1.0 -- October 9, 2004 -- A. Varney]

REQUIREMENTS

One referee and 6-24 players; playing time: weeks or months. Each player
requires an online weblog with a "Mood:" line for each entry. RSS feeds help
too. The referee should keep a central blog or Wiki to coordinate the game.

OVERVIEW

In "Noteworthy" each player maintains his or her own blog as by one invented
game character in a shared setting. All player characters (PCs) should be
contentious, ambitious, combative, and eager to advance their own situation at
the expense of other player characters. All PCs' entries chronicle remarkable
developments in this setting, as witnessed or directly experienced by the
characters. The blogs are themselves part of the setting, and all PCs can read
each other's blogs.

A nonplayer referee periodically describes these noteworthy events to
players in general terms. The PCs' entries, and their notes on each other's
entries, elaborate and embroider the referee's description. The events inevitably
draw PCs into conflict. Inter-character conflicts are handled by challenge
entries and by other PCs' support of these challenges. Losing PCs become
outsiders, unaffected by ongoing events, though they can still post entries normally.
The last PC left wins.

TURNS AND ENTRIES

The game proceeds in turns, held daily or at scheduled intervals decided by
the referee. In a turn, you post at least one in-character entry on your blog
and may also add any number of in-character comments (notes) to entries
posted on any players' blogs (including your own). Obviously you cannot post
entries yourself on other PCs' blogs, only notes on their entries -- and all
notes you post must be in the persona of your own character. After a turn ends,
no PC may post notes on entries from past turns; notes are permitted only on
the current turn's entries.

Each blog entry you post must have a "Mood:" line beneath the title. By
describing your mood as "Challenging," you issue a challenge to another PC. The
challenge is resolved as described below under "Challenges."

A new turn begins when the referee describes a new event. The referee might
post this announcement on the central blog, or could send notification as
simultaneous e-mails to all players. The referee may describe the same event to
all players, or may tailor different events to specific PCs, as long as they
all receive notification at the same time.

The event description is purposely general, such as "Your character sees
another player character commit what appears to be a crime, and you take
unorthodox action." As conflicts develop among the PCs, the referee may name
specific characters and situations, but should always leave ample room for players
to embroider.

At least one of your own blog entries in that turn must embroider or reflect
on the specified noteworthy event. Your entry must add novel details not
included in the referee's description. Each player's additions must be treated
as fact! In their own entries and notes, other players must accept your
additions as gospel truth, though they can reinterpret the additions by adding
further novel details and amplifications.

CHALLENGES

PCs advance in the setting through challenges to other PCs. A blog entry
with the "Mood:" line "Challenging" constitutes a challenge. The challenger's
entry must name exactly one target PC as the target of the challenge.
Optionally, the entry may also describe the fate the challenger desires should befall
the target. You cannot issue a challenge in a note to another PC's entry,
only on your own blog.

No challenges are permitted in the first two turns of the game. Thereafter,
you may challenge one PC per turn, and you may be challenged by others any
number of times per turn. You cannot challenge yourself. You may withdraw your
challenge before the end of a turn, but that still counts as your challenge
for that turn. A withdrawn challenge has no effect.

The challenge is resolved through notes added to the challenge entry. Each
PC still in the game (except the challenger and target) may, if he or she
wishes, note clear support or opposition to the challenge. Optionally, the note
may also describe a desired fate for the challenger, the target, the note's
writer, or any other PC in the game, so long as these fates are plausible
consequences of the challenge's success or failure. (Exception: A note cannot
describe a fate that would remove any PC other than the target from the game.) If
two PCs are challenging each other, you cannot support both sides.

If a PC notes both support and opposition to the challenge, the PC's most
recent note holds sway. If a PC's position is ambiguous, the referee's
interpretation is final.

At the end of each turn, or after a fair interval specified by the referee,
the referee reviews each PCs' challenge and tabulates the notes supporting or
opposing it. The majority wins; ties favor the target. The winner of the
challenge advances in the setting in a way specified by the referee. The loser
becomes an outsider and is no longer able to advance. An outsider still posts
entries and notes normally, but cannot support or oppose challenges.

In deciding a challenge's consequences, the referee is not obligated to
accept any player's suggested fate, but may at his discretion incorporate none,
some, or all of the suggestions as influences on later events.

After the first two turns, if no PC makes a challenge in a turn, the referee
should use the next turn's event to provoke a direct conflict and consequent
challenges among at least two named PCs.

The referee may define other game actions appropriate to the setting, along
with an identifying "Mood:" line that indicates an entry is executing the
action.

ENDNOTES

When only two PCs are still active (that is, are not outsiders), the
referee's final event sets up a conflict between the two characters. Each of the
involved PCs posts an entry detailing his desired outcome of this conflict; the
two entries need not agree on details, nor need they accept the rival's
details as fact.

Each outsider may now post a note supporting one side or the other (but not
both sides). Post the note to the entry of the PC you support. After a fair
interval the referee totals the votes and resolves the challenge normally; the
winner of the challenge wins the game. The referee then posts a final notice
describing the fate of any or all PCs.