Bullshit in Storytelling

[Dracos]

This is a game I threw together for a final game mechanics project.  Pasted here unmodified.  =p

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Bullshit in Storytelling

Abstract:

Bullshit in storytelling is a game about telling stories and impromptu speaking.  Particularly, a game about telling interesting stories on the spot with whatever is currently around, and usually making shit  up about such.  It is a two player game played with index cards, tokens, a scoring sheet, a word sheet, and optionally a quarter for use in selecting who goes first.  Each player competes to continue a consistent, if not necessarily sensible, story off the cuff without stumbling.

Players: 2

Rules:

The game is played in sets, each player alternating off starting the set.  The players can decide themselves who goes first, with the suggested mechanism of one flipping a quarter and the other calling it for quick resolution.  The players sit opposite themselves with a deck of 200 index cards faced down and pre-shuffled inbetween them.  Each index card contains on it a noun/phrase, an adjective, and a verb, clearly written.  Each player also starts with at least 50 tokens.  On the scoring sheet (a blank piece of paper), each player's name is written down.  

The player who goes first begins the set by drawing a card from the pile and, without showing it to the other player, reads it.  From this, he decides how to start the bet and the story.  The three terms on the card are added to his unrevealed words.  He then bets how many terms he can add to the story from this list in tokens (i.e. 1-3 at this point), which are placed in a pile in the center next to the cards.  The player is given a minute (60 seconds) to think before starting.  For each token he bet, he must use one of the words in starting to tell a story, at least as many sentences as he bet, and must get to the end of the sentence in which he finishes using them without stuttering/stalling.  If he stalls or notably stutters (a 1-2 second delay before reaching the end of his lines), the set is over and the other player adds the tokens in the pile up and then adds them to his score.  If he succeeds, he must reveal which words he used and keeping the card he drew in a personal stack.  The revealed words are written down under his name on the word sheet for easy reference.  It is now player 2s turn.

Player 2 proceeds in a similar fashion, drawing a card from the deck and reading it privately.  This time though, player 2 must continue the story player 1 started with the unrevealed terms still in his hand and half (rounding up) of the terms used in the last round by the other player.  He can bet up to his unrevealed words in tokens and faces the same challenge as player 1 did.  Assuming he does not stall, player 1 takes his turn next.

Each turn the player draws a card, keeping it secret and adding the words to ones they haven't used.  After drawing, they can bet as many tokens as words in their personal unrevealed words set.  This can be as few as one or possibly over a dozen if saved up over several turns.  Large turns both raise the bet significantly and provide a challenge to do, but also can return such to your opponent alongside making a challenging story to follow up on.  It continues back and forth in this manner until a player stalls out, which ends the set.

At the end of a set, the player who did not stall out, collects the tokens in the center, adds them up and adds them to his score.  If he's passed 30, he wins the game.  Otherwise, they begin a new set, lead by the player who did not start the previous set.  Before beginning the new set, the cards in use are gathered up, put in a pile, reshuffled, and added to bottom of the deck.

Quick/Shorthand Turn Explanation from start to finish
Player draws card
Player bets number of words to use (max=number of unrevealed words in hand)
Player takes at most a minute to think.
Player begins/continues story ending on a sentence ender.
Player declares what words they used to match their bet and writes them on the word sheet.
End of turn.

Stacking Words Clarification:
If, in the last turn, the opponent used "Blue", You must use "Blue" somehow.
If in the last turn, the opponent used "Red", "Blue", You must use either "red or "blue" somehow.
If in the last turn, the opponent uses "Red", "Blue", "Green", "Yellow", "Cyan", "Watermelon", "Bobba Fett", you must use any four of those words, as 7/2 equals 3.5 which rounds up to 4.

Time Keeping:

   On a non serious playing of this game, it's likely idea not to actually keep track of time.  It's easier to do and in general, the intent is more playing swiftly than strict time limit.  If the player is notably taking a very long time to start their move, they should be urged to move.  If they continue, they forfeit the round.  For serious play when every second of prep-time could count, please refer to the serious play rule expansion.

A Thought on Game Premise:

   Notably, there's nothing in the game to prevent doing a lame sentence with all the words at the beginning and then complete randomness for the next two.  This is not an idea winning strategy, but there's nothing in the rules blocking it.  It's suggested that you do go with the theme of the game though and actually try and tell stories or have conversations because the game will be more fun and you'll have a better chance at winning at it.

Type/Tense Clarification:

Terms that are on cards may be modified into any valid tense as needed to continue the story.  It is not necessary to use the exact tense provided in a card as long as it is effectively 'the same word'.  Similarly, the card definitions are meant as guaranteed ways of using the word, but if a given word such as 'free' has multiple forms (verb and adjective) it can be used in any of these forms provided that the form is a legitimate one.  Naturally, words can not be shifted into a proper noun if they did not begin as such.

Examples:
Adjective: Free.  :  Valid use:  "I freed the slaves." Modifying it to its verb form and changing its tense.

Authority:

   If rule resolution needs to occur, the cards are the first and foremost authority.  Anything written on them used in the manner defined on the card is a valid usage.  Secondly, a dictionary can provide an affirming resolution.  If there is a disagreement that a usage of a word exists, an agreed upon dictionary can provide affirmation that it does.  If neither of these can validate the word used, then for the purpose of the game, it was an illegal usage.  This can be used to quickly settle any dispute regarding tense/type.

Cheating Rule:

   Notably, the game demands a certain level of trust in gameplay.  The cards drawn are not generally flipped to the other player over the course of the game.  As such, it's entirely possible that an unscrupulous player could lie about what words he has on his card.  Nominally, the assumption that players will play by the rules should handle this, but as an addendum, if one player believes the other has cheated in this fashion, they can request the player reveal their cards and show that each of the words used so far were on a card.  If they aren't, the first player is instantly awarded the round as a penalty to the cheater (Who, you probably shouldn't continue to play with anyway!).  To prevent abuse of this though, if the words are all there, the accused player is awarded the round (This isn't to be used to get free information about your opponent's future moves).  In any case, this rule should come into play sparingly and is simply provided to provide a mechanism to deal with this scenario happening during the game.

Alternative Card Rules:

Take the first forty cards from the deck and put them aside.  From here, each player takes twenty cards and writes new ones based on what they see around them, from socks on the floor to squirrels in the trees to what's playing on the television.  Add these into the deck, shuffle, and play as normal.



Serious Play Rules:

   To play this game in a more serious and competitive sense, a 3rd person can assist as judge, using a timer to ensure precisely 1 minute intervals between start and also providing dispute resolution as needed.  This way in a competitive environment, there's a better way of ensuring that the rules are specifically held to and time is strictly enforced.

Mechanic Considerations Involved:

Risk/Reward: Each turn involves making a decision on how much to risk, both in tokens in the center and in words you think you can successfully integrate into the story.  The more tokens you place in, the greater probability of failing and the greater risk of increasing your opponents score significantly.  Similarly, though, the fewer tokens you put in, the lesser chance of stumbling your opponent into defeat and less chance of ensuring a good reward when you win.

Partial and Hidden Information: All players, at any time, know what words have been used already in the story and how many words the opponent might have on hand to add and the current pot.  Each player individually holds hidden, what actually are the words they've got that they can work into the story for points at later turns.  This means as players collect cards they may control the flow of the story in certain directions in preparation for utilizing the information they know while trying to guess what information is known by their opponent to make it difficult for them to do the same.

Example cards:

Noun/Phrase: Rabbit
Verb: to burn
Adjective: Furry

Noun/Phrase: Hamster Tunnel
Verb: Dancing
Adjective: Illustrious

[Rift120]

Huh... kind of reminds me of a old card game I picked up way back in my freshman year of HIghschool called 'once upon a time'.

http://www.panix.com/~sos/bc/ouat.html if your curious.

[Dracos]

Heh, cute.  And you're right, it is kind of similar.

Dracos