> Storyteller: Write a sentence about your pilgrim getting herself out of trouble. Remove your trouble token. Using a goal word does not count. > Troublemakers: Write a sentence about this pilgrim getting into trouble. You may use one goal word. Put the storyteller’s trouble token back on her passport.
So you get out of trouble and then right back into trouble, and getting into trouble uses a goal word.
Hokay! We are orphans raised by a temple of flying monks in a world which consists of great empty sky populated by tiny planetoids.
We are coming of age, and that means it's time to decide whether we want to become monks in the Flying Temple, or if we want to start lives somewhere else in the world.
People write letters to the Flying Temple asking for help, and the monks send kids like us out into the world to try and fix peoples' problems, and along the way we discover our place in the world.
As you may imagine, this means that the people who write letters are usually desperate and have tried everything else before they ask some sheltered kids to come help.
The setting's aesthetic is a kind of Last Airbender meets The Little Prince thing, but each world may be drastically different from its neighbors.
As pilgrims of the Flying Temple, you can fly.
This means that when the story is over, you simply leave the world and move on to the next one.
There is no main character death in Do. You will get in trouble, and you may be threatened with death, but Pilgrims do not die in this game.
Whether you get a wonderful sendoff with fireworks and a parade, or you are run off by a screaming mob with torches and pitchforks for "helping," you fly away.
Normally a session would start with us choosing a letter to answer, but since this is a quick demo I've chosen one for you.
Here is the drawing on the back:
The goal words on the side of the letter are what determines whether you get a "parades" or "pitchforks" ending.
Each turn results in one or two sentences being written, and although you can always use the goal words in those sentences, sometimes their use will "count" toward the ending. If you use all the goal words before the story ends (when anyone has 8 or more stones), the ending is happy.
Instead of drawing stones from a bag, we will be rolling 3d6. 1-3 counts as white stones, 4-6 counts as black stones.
I will put back black, leaving me with two white stones.
(I write that on my sheet.)
I get to write a sentence about helping someone, and use one goal word. Then the Troublemakers (all the other players whose turn it isn't) write a sentence about me getting into trouble, and use one goal word.
> Flying up to the air WHALE, Pilgrim Tangled Scarf sees that it is feeling sick, so he starts telling it jokes to make it laugh.
Now the Troublemakers work together to write a sentence in which Pilgrim Tangled Scarf gets in trouble by tripping over something, and they can use a goal word if they like.
Tangled Scarf, having to come quite close in order to be heard, finds that the CAT has already climbed out of the creature's ear canal and is rather testy; he finds himself tripping over the enraged kitty and tumbling into the WHALE's ear!
That's the end of my turn. I check to see if all the goal words are crossed off or if it's the end of a round. It's not, so I "pass the bag" to the player on my "left."
(On my turn, I established that the whale was sick; we have a lot of creative leeway in this.)
But remember, although whenever the stones say you help, you automatically succeed at helping, you have to do it in accordance with your "helps people by" statement.
Immanentizing Eschaton, faster than you can say her name (a low hurdle to leap), catches MELANIE's cat before it can spiral out into the void, carefully placing it just behind the whale's ear, and murmurs, "Maybe you'd be happier out here anyway--there's lots more room to play."
> Pilgrim Immanentizing Eschaton, worried that the cape won't hold against the force of a whale's sneeze, reinforces it with leafy branches from the TREES growing around the whale's blowhole.
@Metamaterialgirl true, this should trigger the whale's sneeze, putting Eschaton in the path of falling house
Pilgrim Immanentizing Eschaton, worried that the cape won't hold against the force of a whale's sneeze, reinforces it with leafy branches from the TREES growing around the whale's blowhole, this triggers the whale's giant sneeze, which causes the house to fly from his blowhole, heading straight for Eschaton.
> Pilgrim Immanentizing Eschaton reinforces the cape/hanky with leafy branches from the TREES growing around the whale's blowhole, but the whale's allergies cause the ensuing sneeze to send Melanie's house flying from his blowhole straight toward Eschaton.
Immamentizing Eschaton, really wondering if she should have stayed in her comfy (if monastic) cell in the temple, finds herself smacked in the face with the architectural goober; fortunately, the door was open, and she lands safely in Melanie's kitchen just in time to catch a jar of COOKIES that was falling off the shelf in the chaos.
Hm. Maybe Ascendant Cape got caught by the house also, finding Melanie and having her latch onto him in a panic-stricken clutch, "You came to save me finally!"?
@Stizzle84 If you want to watch, you're welcome to, but it's polite to avoid interrupting a game with commentary. If you want to just chat, try the main room.
Eschaton, for some reason still clutching the jar of cookies, starts exploring the house, eventually finding Melanie huddled in her bedroom, and hands her a cookie, telling her, "It's okay, you're out of the whale and all the whale snot will make great fertilizer for your trees!"
@Metamaterialgirl but they aren't as good as they could be. She should anger melanie by suggesting a new recipe. Melanie can't think about baking at a time like this
> Pilgrim Immanentizing Eschaton quickly snatches the cookie back from Melanie, enraging the girl by lecturing her on proper cookie seasoning techniques.
> If all the goal words are crossed out, you get a “parades” ending. Write a sentence in the journal about your pilgrims being appreciated and praised for their efforts. Even if your pilgrim was in trouble at the end of the story, all is forgiven.
Ascending Cape, having made friends with the whale via the caperchief, suggests a nice cold remedy and scolds hims for consuming planetoids, they have way too many germs, then he bravely flys away.
@Stizzle84 I'm sorry that you weren't able to be part of this game session, but we've just spent an hour and a half telling the story of three pilgrims and all that's left is to conclude the story with a satisfactory epilogue. This isn't a good time to add a new player. Maybe if there's another game the timing will work out better for you.
> Pilgrim Tangled Scarf tries to teach Melanie how to earwax-surf, but her cat doesn't like it so he bids them goodbye and flies away with a scarf-ful of cookies.
"There you are!" says Immanentizing Eschaton, coming out of the house and flying away with the others, "Melanie's baked us fresh cookies to take back to the temple with us, this new recipe should go over really well there!"
Now, check which colour of stone you kept more of in this particular session (yes, for us it's the same).
If you kept more black stones, change the first part of your name (the bit that describes how you get in trouble) and the accompanying "Gets into trouble by" line.
If you kept more white stones, change the second part and the accompanying "helps people by" line.
Now, if instead of continuing on their pilgrimage you wanted your pilgrim to choose their destiny, you look at the World and Temple destiny values; the higher one shows which life the pilgrim choses and you write a sentence about that.
If your destiny scores are tied, your pilgrim transcends and chooses their own destiny.
And that's it! If your pilgrim chose her destiny, you need to make a new pilgrim the next time you play the game. Otherwise, your pilgrim is continuing on her journey having been changed by her adventure.
The fact that it's perfectly possible (probably nearly guaranteed) to complete a story arc in one sitting is a mixed blessing--on the one hand, no ending on cliffhangers; on the other hand, no ending on cliffhangers.
Very much mimics an MLP episode, as a matter of fact.
Princess Celestia has a young group of promising Canterlot ponies assigned to traveling Equestria and helping the ponies of other cities with their problems. The final resolution involves a collaborative 'letter to Celestia' ending with all players participating?
And the non-pegasi get carried off in a royal chariot ;)
Anypony who wants to retire describes the life they make for themselves in the city they settle down in (probably the one in which they spent their final adventure, but can be anywhere for transcending characters).
The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games
The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games