So in the car today, I was listening to Narrative Control when all of a sudden, a fix occurred to me for a problem I wasn’t until then aware I had. In Survival Stage, the players are trying on the lieutenant role and playing with lieutenants as you play your ideogogue. Also in Survival Stage, full-blown incident creation is introduced. My original thinking was that incident creation, with its attendant declaring of participants, was necessary for lieutenants. However, I was mistaken. What is necessary for lieutenants is lieutenants.

So the ‘fix’ — move the introduction of declaring participants to Synthesis Stage. In Survival Stage, you just pick an obstacle player (as you do in Descent, so nothing new there) and everybody else starts the incident as audience members. This nicely introduces audience members and what they do (turn into ideogogue, obstacle, or lieutenant players) before you have to actually decide on who to make an audience member. Basically, it allows players to understand their choices before they start making them — which is, in general, a good thing.

So there it is: a simple procedural shift that smooths both gameplay and the learning curve. One less hurdle to getting some fun play. Rockin!

This is a roleplaying game where players will take on roles to tell a story. In Quoth the Raven, there are four roles to play: the Raven Lord, the Crow Maiden, the Boy, and the Chorus. You must have one Raven Lord, one Crow Maiden, and one the Boy; you may have any number of Chorus members, from one to ten to fifteen.

Turns and Lines

The game is best played in a circle, standing, so that the players can move around. The course of the game goes ‘around’ the circle, with the player on your left taking their turn after yours. To start, intersperse the Chorus players between the other players as evenly as possible.

Players take turns telling the story by saying one line and one line only. A line may be as short as a word or as long as a complex sentence, and can even be two short sentences, but should never take more than a single breath or a moment’s thought. The pace of play should be quick; don’t think too hard about your line, just blurt out what comes naturally.

The game always begins with a Chorus player.

The Roles and Their Lines

The different roles in Quoth the Raven constrain how they contribute to the story.

Chorus members are the least restricted, but subject to strong veto power. Their primary job is to paint the setting and world the story takes place in, so their lines may concern just about anything in the story. Their lines can also involve the Raven Lord, Crow Maiden, and the Boy; however, each of those roles have means to respond when Chorus lines involve them. Chorus members may not respond to other players’ lines at all.

The Raven Lord plays the eponymous pseudo-mythical symbolic force of disorder and perversity, often personified as a wild-eyed young man with jet-black hair. He is the chief source of adversity in the game, and confounds the actions of the Crow Maiden and the Boy. In fact, his lines must confound the actions of the Crow Maiden or the Boy, otherwise they must feature the Raven Lord in person.
Responding: While the Raven Lord does have a turn every round, he may abandon his place in the circle and add a line after any other player adds theirs. He then stays in his new place in the circle. When the Raven Lord responds to another player’s line, he must respond in a “Yes, but…” fashion.

The Crow Maiden plays a character, often female, who has one foot in the mystical world and one foot in the mundane. She is always on a quest to which she has dedicated her life. The Crow Maiden’s lines may concern the actions and speech of the Crow Maiden, and they may introduce new elements of the setting, but never the actions or speech of elements of the setting.
Responding: The Crow Maiden may respond to the Raven Lord or the Boy, but cannot respond to the Chorus. When she responds, she raises her hand, which shows the other players they should listen, and adds a line. Her place in the circle does not change. When the Crow Maiden responds to the Raven Lord, she must respond in a “Yes, but…” fashion; when she responds to the Boy, she must respond in a “Yes, and…” fashion. She may not respond to the Chorus.

The Boy plays a character, often male, who is wholly mundane and oblivious, at the start of the story, of the existence of the Raven Lord or the supernatural nature of the Crow Maiden. The Boy’s lines may only detail the actions and speech of the Boy, but never their effects. Additionally, the Boy may only interact fictionally with the Raven Lord if the Raven Lord has appeared in person.
Responding: The Boy may respond to any other player, but only when he is mentioned (explicitly or implicitly) in that players’ line. When he responds, he holds up his hand to signal that he is responding, adds a line, and then moves to stand after the next player in the circle. The Raven Lord may not respond to the Boy’s response or the lines of the next two players (the second of which will be the Boy). When the Boy responds to another player’s line, he must respond in a “Yes, and…” fashion.

Yes, And… and Yes, But…

Players need not explicitly use the words “Yes, and…” and “Yes, but…” the whole game. At the start, they may be useful as you get the hang of the game, but once you get the rhythm down, feel free to abandon them.

Character Death and Ending the Game

If any of the Raven Lord, the Crow Maiden, or the Boy are killed in the story, go around the circle one more time until you reach the player whose narration involved the killing. Everyone should try to wrap up the story with their lines. This ends the game, and is the only way to end the game.

Short Example of Play

Chorus One: “Once upon a time, when the earth was still young…”
The Boy: “A young man named Anatol went hunting for deer.”
Chorus Two: “But all he found was trouble.”
Raven Lord (jumps in front of the Crow Maiden, who would have been next): “A flock of pitch-black birds feasted on a fallen deer before his very eyes.”
Crow Maiden: “But beyond the crows feasting on carrion, he saw a strong-boned young woman dressed in buckskin.”
Chorus One: “She was travel-worn from many days in the wilderness, and very hungry.”
The Boy: “The Boy was immediately smitten with her, and offered her jerky from his supplies.”
Crow Maiden (raises her finger): “She accepted the gift, and asked him where his tribe could be found.”
Chorus Two: “As she drew close, Anatol saw that she bore the marks of his tribe’s enemies, the Blackfoot.”
The Boy (raises finger): “And he drew his knife and demanded she leave the hunting grounds.” (The Boy goes to stand after the Raven Lord, who would go next.)
Crow Maiden (raises her finger): “She fled from him, covering her cheeks where the marks were, and told him that she had been enslaved.”
Raven Lord: “Then the slavers who had chased her over hill and dale sprang into the clearing, shouting and waving spears.”
The Boy: “But Anatol strode forward and slew their champion with a single blow.”
Crow Maiden: “And that night, the woman told him her secret name, Baasti.”

And so on.

Judson’s Descent, Start to Finish
Now it’s Judson’s turn to play his Descent incident. To his left sits Colin, who will be running the obstacle. Judson decides to play his character, Admiral Wargrave, through the Battle Above Agora.

He sets the stage: “Wargrave’s battle group, a handful of destroyers clustered around the command carrier Kingsrook, is laying waste to the ranks of Diamond and Uprising warships over the north pole of Agora. The battlegroup operates with pure military precision, with each part doing its job and every soldier putting Wargrave’s commands into effect. We have the last Alliance carrier in our sights when the transmission about the Peace comes in.”

Judson also rolls in his ideals and resources. First his 3d8 Legionnaire ideal, which rolls 2, 4, and 6, then his 2d10 Hierarchy ideal, ending up with 3, two 6s, 7, and an 8. By rolling in so many ideals, he’s making sure he’ll get to write the incident’s opportunity. He then rolls in the Kingsrook itself at 5d6, rolling a 1 as well as 3, two 4s, and a 6. He could narrate a bit more to represent these two ideals and one resource, but he’s pretty much covered all that with his opening narration.

He has, however, rolled a 1, which he must place immediately. Since he does have the largest ideals pool (his five versus Colin’s zero), he can define the opportunity now. He writes his goal, “Maintain command over Hierarchy forces post-landfall.”

He also needs spoils. Since Colin hasn’t assigned any of his dice, Judson may do so for him. He spends 2d4 of Colin’s unassigned dice and makes the spoils, “Blackfoot Mercenaries 2d4.” Colin immediately rolls 2d4 into his resource pool (a 1 and a 4).

Now Colin writes the opposing goal, and decides on “Kingsrook fusion core is destabilized in the aftermath of the fighting.”

Judson places his 1 on his side of the opportunity and narrates Wargrave putting out a broadcast to the entire system, simultaneously accepting the cease-fire and demanding all Hierarchy ships report to him.
Colin gets a chance to counter, and rolls in his only ideal, “Civilization deserves to destroy itself.” He rolls a 1, a 2, and a 3. He places his 1 on top of Judson’s 1 and narrates, “…but that Alliance carrier is jamming your signal. Whatcha gonna do about it, blow it out of the sky?” Since Judson doesn’t have another 1 in resources, the two dice are removed from the card.

But Colin also rolled a 1 when he rolled in the opportunity’s spoils, so he must also place that die immediately. He puts it on his side of the opportunity and narrates, “Oh, and you’re drifting into a minefield left by the Alliance forces. Explosions are bursting yellow fire all up and down the Kingsrook.”
Judson may now counter. He has already rolled in two ideals, so Colin will already get two credits out of this incident. Judson decides not to roll in another ideal. He rolls what he’s got and comes up with three 3s, a 4, and a 10. He narrates, “The damage control teams scatter, but there isn’t any direction from the bridge, since Wargrave is broadcasting his ultimatum, I mean, rallying call.”

Now it is finally Colin’s first turn. Since he already has resources rolled in, he elects to place instead of position. He drops the 4 on his goal of the opportunity and narrates, “And that’s when the damage control techs find the bomb the Blackfoots left. On your fusion drive.”

That sounds pretty bad, so Judson rolls his ideals to counter. He gets two 1s, a 3, and two 8s, but no 4s. He removes the two 1s (a d8 and a d10) from his ideals pool and makes a tallymark on the fallout diamond (for the d8) and fallout lozenge (for the d10). He explains that Wargrave is too busy taking aim at the Alliance warship to pay attention to panicking techs.

On Judson’s turn, he places one of his two 4s on his side of the goal. “We open fire on the Alliance warship to clear our communications channels,” he explains. Colin sees that Judson has another 4 to place if the first is countered, so he wisely lets this one pass. No need to waste both of his remaining ideals dice to prevent one die from being placed. He nods and adds, “And the Alliance ship just goes up like a fireball.”

Colin is out of resources dice, so he needs to position. He adds a resource to his sheet, “Diamond fighters out for revenge, 2d6” and rolls them in: a 3 and a 4. He also writes “Saboteurs on board! 3d8,” adds three d8s to his resource pool, and rolls the whole thing again. He gets two 1s, a 3, and two 5s.

Colin has rolled two 1s, so he must place them immediately. He puts one on his goal and narrates, “That Alliance carrier you blew out of the sky still had fighters out on sortie, and now they have nowhere to land, and nowhere to get more air. So they have nothing to lose as they turn and attack the Kingsrook.”

Now Judson has a hard choice to make. If he doesn’t counter, Colin will complete his side of the opportunity and Wargrave will not get his Blackfoot Mercenaries. He’s only got three dice in his ideals pool — he can add his 4d6 “Admiral” ideal, but that would give Colin another credit.

Judson decides to roll in his “Always take the high ground, 4d6” ideal, adding the dice to his current ideals pool and rolling the whole thing. He gets a 1, which he places on top of Colin’s die. “The point-defense cannons turn from shooting the mines out of the local space and start taking out those fighters.”

But Colin has another 1. He places that on his goal, as well. He knows this is probably the end of the incident, win or lose, so he goes for the throat: “That’s when the bomb strapped to your fusion core detonates.”

Judson picks up his ideals pool to counter. He needs a 1. He rolls… and doesn’t get one. He narrates, “The fusion core explodes, and that sets off secondary explosions too, most likely. So we jettison the ship’s core and start emergency damage control, but we’re already spinning out of control and the planet’s gravity is sucking us in. Wargrave commands all hands to prepare for atmospheric entry. And the Kingsrook goes down.”

Since he did not complete his goal, it doesn’t happen. Wargrave will have no command over Hierarchy forces beyond his own battlegroup. Judson also does not win the spoils on the opportunity.

Judson has 1d6 marked in burnout, so he rolls that. He gets a 2, which means he loses a die off of the Kingsrook. Since the carrier is crash-landing and has lost its fusion drive, he elects to rewrite the resource from “Command Carrier Kingsrook 3d6 + XO Henken 2d10” to “Crashed CC Kingsrook, 2d6 + XO Henken 2d10.”

He’s also got 1d8 and 1d10 in fallout, which he rolls and gets a 2 and a 3. He must change two words in his ideals. He rewrites “Life is a battlefield of winners and losers” to “Agora is a battlefield of refugees and losers.”

He writes his Descent ideal as “Always watch your back; there are saboteurs everywhere. 3d4.”

And lastly, since Judson rolled in three ideals, Colin picks up a cool three credits.

You can read the full article here.

hypermacklin - (verb) to macklin a game a great deal in a short amount of time. “He asked, ‘Were you at work?’ and I responded, ‘Yes, and I hadn’t had a day off in three hundred years.’”

overmacklin - (verb) to macklin a game in such a way that the change created gains more prominence than the themes, premise, or motifs of the game. “We overmacklinned our Zombie Cinema game by setting it in a dystopian, bureaucratic future with an underground resistence of sexual deviants.”

Mostly I’m posting this for comparison once I finish writing the examples…

Sixteen sessions, over twenty years of fiction. Forty-nine opportunities came and went. We saw the rise and fall of empires, the foundation of new religions, and the establishment of the rule of law and representative democracy — won after many hard-fought battles. One character went from a refugee with fifteen resource dice to a world power of ninety dice.

I need to put out a special thanks to my stalwart playtesters: to Meg, Alex, and Seth, who weathered through the entire thing, and to Joshua, Judson, Andrew, and Joel who poked their heads in for a session or two. This was a fantastically successful playtest, with loads of valuable feedback. The many changes that we made did not change the nature of the game, but refined and improved it, and there’s no better thing that you can say about a playtest.

I have perhaps two more pages of rules to write, and then about twenty pages of examples, and then Agora 3.0 will be ready for beta playtest. I am incredibly satisfied with the design and the play that it produces, and am really looking forward to seeing how it plays out on other folks’ tables. If you’re interested in giving the big A a spin, watch this space for details!

This is, depending on how you want to look at it, a step forward or a step back, but it is, at the very least, a turning point. When I started this crazy mess, I set up all sorts of gee-whiz-bang stuff here at this website: forums, shopping cart, I even had some plans for user-contributed material and so on and so forth. This site was going to be, I told myself, a gaming mecca for all things Kallisti Press.

Yeah. It didn’t really work out, and after seeing the titanic hobo fight that was the GenCon exhibitor floor, I’ve decided to stop trying.

I’ve pumped time and energy and resources into promotion and sales and community building, and at the end of the day I’m looking back and I’m not seeing much return on any of that investment. This is especially the case when I compare all that with what I could have been doing instead. I’d rather cook, write, and spend time with family. That’s a far sight better than making myself a forgettable asshole.

This is what I do: I make games. So I’m going to continue doing that, and stop doing all the other crap.

You’ll still be able to get Kallisti Press games at Indie Press Revolution and Lulu, and perhaps even some others in the near future — just not here.

You have no idea how good this change feels.