Remove Scenes from the Mechanics of the Game
In discussion with another player last night, we were reflecting on some of the hitches we're seeing with Storium. Games lag repeatedly (and I suspect: wither and die), and often because scenes are a problem. We've seen a number of games where a single big challenge meant that the players couldn't successfully complete all the challenges in a scene (especially if one player wasn't feeling it), and games where GMs continue scenes that should have changed...
Currently, a Narrator has a challenge limit per scene, players have card play limits per scene, refreshes and bonus wilds are between scenes. I think that's all?
So: keep the idea of scenes (and chapters) but make them purely narrative. The Narrator frames a scene, and decides when it's over, but cards and challenge points aren't affected.
Specifically, I'd suggest that:
The three card player limit be changed to a 3 card lead - you cannot play more than 3 cards more than the next count of card plays.
The 3 points/per player be changed to a limit on the number of outstanding challenges. In a four player game, if I make a 4 point obstacle, those are 4 points out of my challenge pool until the challenge is completed. Once it is, I have those 4 points back.
Refreshes are a Move - when I'm out of Strength/Weakness cards, my Move can be "Refresh", with a prompt for some kind of recovery or reflection - Refresh is important to a character, and including it into the narrative would be powerful.
Bonus wild cards are received right when earned, full stop.
Judson Lester
shared this idea
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VoxDePulvis
commented
Wow, everything about this suggestion is inspired-- PARTICULARLY the refresh-as-move idea. That could really add some needed narrative umph to the Storium writing experience.
I really hope staff takes notice of this soon.
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Joel
commented
Almost exactly a month later, these are still some of my favourite suggestions on the feedback forum.
Now that I've had more time to play Storium, and have seen how co-operatively my fellow players take part in our games... I've come to find that the fixed card limit on scenes really is just an annoyance. We've slowly gotten to the point where we've completely forgotten to play the cards at all, because the rules constricting them are too bothersome to abide by (for our story). It's begun to make us wonder why we're playing on Storium at all if we're not using its mechanics.
Sure, the limit is great for new players to encourage proper balance of strengths/weaknesses. I saw that there's an argument that the card limit stops players from over-playing. It doesn't. You can post as much as you want in Storium - regardless of playing cards.
I'm not saying get rid of the card limit per scene. Some players like it. But for those who don't feel they need a card limit... they might wind up feeling they don't need Storium at all. And, I don't want Storium to lose players just because they feel they can't play their stories the way they want.
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Joel
commented
Having card limits for a scene was a great jumping off point, but I do agree that it is far too restrictive. A card lead is a fantastic alternative! I really like it!
As for challenges, I would like to have no limits on this - I have some ideas I want to explore with making dilemmas for players, which requires multiple challenges that can't all be met.
For refresh, perhaps, give the creator of the story the option to add to their game parameters whether their story has "Refresh as a move", "Refresh between scenes", or "Automatic Refresh".
I'd also like the ability to hand out Strength and Weakness cards to players.
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Anonymous
commented
The "refresh as a move" is a cool idea! Moments of reflection, inspiration, or sheer willpower that signify when a character gets her resources back -- that has powerful story potential while solving a mechanical need for some stories.
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Perey
commented
You could ask to allow the narrator to award strengths/weaknesses during a scene. This might be equivalent to a 'Refresh' and could also serve as interesting rewards, or penalties, based on player actions.
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Paynekilr
commented
I like this idea, but perhaps to a limit, maybe you have toughx3, you spend two and set up camp (sleep, rest, eat) eating may restore 1, resting another. As long as it fits with the scene or story progression. It would be difficult to regain full strength if you aren't working for it or spending a resource card (such as food)
**IDEA** have a refresh card or item that can be spent to restore something - one Advil card might give you back a physical strength card, an Alcohol card might help give you a strength/weakness card, a Pillow card might help in a few key situations
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Josh Roby
commented
I really, really want Refresh to be a kind of move, with attached character action, so that I can have moments of revelation and insight and have that mean something for my cards.