Various Games posted here

Nanofic: I don't feel like killing this, and have found the requisite files on the requisite datastick to resurrect. Need to have some idea of what everyone's last turn was, however. Contact me, Otto, JR, Allan and Jason.

(apologies for the stall-- my day job is a bitch...)

BPD: A new game starts this week! The categories will be historical subjects! Email me at hussar (at) hotmail (dot) com if you have an interest.

Zendo: Do you have the Buddha nature? I'm think of starting a relaxed session of this excellent logic game by Looney Labs shortly. I've discovered a great new PBW site called SUPERDUPERGAMES that runs versions of Zendo using the classic pyramids, but also with numbers and words. I prefer the pyramids, myself. I'm not sure if a game could be started on there and just run by me, the other people interested in playing may need to register, too. Realistically three weeks to a month out, as I need to play a game on their site to see how it works. Zendo is entirely dependent on how rigorous the demands of COLD WARS are, however.



References:

http://superdupergames.org/ (website)

http://wiki.superdupergames.org/games/zen (SD's Zendo Wikki, with their house rules)

http://www.wunderland.com/icehouse/Zendo/ (Zendo Home page)

http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Kory/Games/Zendo/HowToPlay.html (Original Zendo Rules by LL)

http://www.sholing.force9.co.uk/bypop.htm (*BPD RULES*)

http://mrnizz.blogspot.com/2006/10/nanofictionary-by-email.html (NanoFIC via PBeM)

That's how it's done!

I was pleased to find dozens of examples of nanofict on the Looney Labs website.

Here's one:

The two knights lay bleeding,
having just hacked each other to pieces.
White snow fell, covering their broken bodies.
They each thought proudly of their fight,
then of their loved ones who would never find them,
and all the things they'd given up
for the honor of dying there.
Then, like candles, they were extinguished.

To view more examples, try this link or perhaps this one, or maybe even this one...

C'mon.. let's get a story going!

(click to enlarge)

Allan: Discards these cards

Resolutions: Statue built in their honor, they were finally rescued, they were never seen again.
Problem: A vehicle in Collision
Action: Brainstorm (not usuable now, out of the game)

and is given five new cards (unseen).

Jason: Plays Character: Evil Twin

Otto: Discards Char: Hippie with really long hair, Resolution: they were really in love. And draws back up to five, the replacements being hidden to everyone but Otto.

J.R. Plays an ACTION-UNCRUMPLE card to remove Setting: Polynesian Tiki Lounge from the discard pile into his story.

DISCARD STATUS-- the following cards are in the discard pile, with new ones highlighted by asterisk. Cards affected by Action cards have "--" in front of them.

The Discard Pile now holds:

-- means a card was affected by an Action card,
* means a card is new to the discard pile this turn

SETTINGS:
Underground Secret Hideout
-- Polynesian Tiki Lounge (removed by J.R.'s UNCRUMPLE ACTION card)
Dangerous Objects Factory

PROBLEMS:
Bungled Robbery Attempt
Terrible Storm
Who Ate My Brownies?
* A Vehicle in Collision

CHARACTERS:
Household of Three
Alien Disguised as a Human
The Millionaire
The Dude who always says "Dude"
Mischevious Children
* Hippie with really long hair (Otto)

RESOLUTIONS:
They were given a handsome Reward..
* Statue built in their honor
* They were finally rescued (Allan)
* They were never seen again (Allan)
* They were really in love (Otto)

ACTIONS (once discarded, don't come back)
* Brainstorm (Allan)
* Uncrumple (JR played)

JR plays an action card this turn..

Nobody has submitted a "legal" story yet.

NanoFic PBeM Status

Allan wants to discard all and get new cards.

Jason has sent me his orders

Otto has actually already written a lengthy fascinating story, which doesn't work (in a strict game sense) because he hasn't played a conclusion or problem card yet.

So what do you want to do, J.R.? Get in touch with me.

BPD Reminder

We're in Round 10, the Mark Twain round. If you want the game to end by Thanskgiving, you're about out of time!

Status

Allan wants to discard all and get new cards.

Jason has sent me his orders

Otto has actually already written a lengthy fascinating story, which doesn't work (in a strict game sense) because he hasn't played a conclusion or problem card yet.

So what do you want to do, J.R.? Get in touch with me.

Nanofictionary

Here's what was seen:


Otto plays: CHARACTER: The Superhero with Unhelpful Powers


J.R. Discards three and gets three


Allan: plays a CHARACTER: The Pizza Delivery Guy


Jason: plays a CHARACTER: The Time Traveling visitor from 1888


The Discard Pile now holds:


SETTINGS:

Underground Secret Hideout

Polynesian Tiki Lounge

Dangerous Objects Factory



PROBLEMS:

Bungled Robbery Attempt

Terrible Storm

Who Ate My Brownies?


CHARACTERS:

Household of Three

Alien Disguised as a Human

The Millionaire

The Dude who always says "Dude"

Mischevious Children


RESOLUTIONS:

They were given a handsome Reward..


Nobody has played an Action Card yet.


Nobody has submitted a story yet.


Please start Card Phase 4; I have already heard from Jason.

No Stories yet

Our stories are building but we don't have a first turn done yet.

Turn 1, Card Phase 2, is over. Card Phase 3 commences.

Here is your table picture.

Otto - NW
Allan - NE
Jason - SE
JR - SW

That is what you can SEE.. what you KNOW has been played last Card Phase.

No possible way for any of you to do a tell yet.

THE DISCARD DECK is also something you ALL KNOW:

PROBLEM/COMPLICATION: Who Stole My Brownies?
PROBLEM/COMPLICATION: Bungled Robbery Attempt
RESOLUTION: They were given a handsome reward
SETTING: The Dangerous Objects Factory
CHARACTER: Alien disguised as a human
CHARACTER: The Dude who Always says "Dude"
CHARACTER: Mischevious Children

Turn 1, Card Phase 3 commences. Awaiting orders.

Hmmmm

Blogger's having a problem today. It seems to be emptying out messages when you post things. We'll see how this does.

Nanofic was delayed by my attendance at FALL IN this weekend, but we will resuming the next card phase today. Allan is the closest to finishing a story.

Allan 2/5 done setting up his first story, everyone else draws cards

The current Discard Pile contains:

PROBLEM: Bungled Robbery Attempt
RESOLUTION: They Were all Given A Nice Reward
CHARACTER: The Alien Disguised As Human
PROBLEM: Who Ate My Brownies??
CHARACTER: The Guy who Always Says "Dude"

If you have an "Uncrumple" action card in your hand you may bring something in the discard pile into your story.

Now that's succinct

FROM WIRED MAGAZINE...

Dozens of our favorite auteurs put their words to paper, and five master graphic designers took them to the drawing board. Sure, Arthur C. Clarke refused to trim his ("God said, 'Cancel Program GENESIS.' The universe ceased to exist."), but the rest are concise masterpieces.

Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.
- William Shatner

Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?
- Eileen Gunn

Vacuum collision. Orbits diverge. Farewell, love.
- David Brin

Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
- Joss Whedon

Automobile warranty expires. So does engine.
- Stan Lee

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore

Longed for him. Got him. Shit.
- Margaret Atwood

His penis snapped off; he’s pregnant!
- Rudy Rucker

From torched skyscrapers, men grew wings.
- Gregory Maguire

Internet “wakes up?” Ridicu -
no carrier.
- Charles Stross

With bloody hands, I say good-bye.
- Frank Miller

Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please.
- Steven Meretzky

“Cellar?” “Gate to, uh … hell, actually.”
- Ronald D. Moore

Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth.
- Vernor Vinge

It cost too much, staying human.
- Bruce Sterling

We kissed. She melted. Mop please!
- James Patrick Kelly

It’s behind you! Hurry before it
- Rockne S. O’Bannon

I’m your future, child. Don’t cry.
- Stephen Baxter

1940: Young Hitler! Such a cantor!
- Michael Moorcock

Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.
- Richard Powers

I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss … ?
- Neil Gaiman

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
- Orson Scott Card

Kirby had never eaten toes before.
- Kevin Smith

Rained, rained, rained, and never stopped.
- Howard Waldrop

To save humankind he died again.
- Ben Bova

We went solar; sun went nova.
- Ken MacLeod

Husband, transgenic mistress; wife: “You cow!”
- Paul Di Filippo

“I couldn’t believe she’d shoot me.”
- Howard Chaykin

Don’t marry her. Buy a house.
- Stephen R. Donaldson

Broken heart, 45, WLTM disabled man.
- Mark Millar

TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
- Harry Harrison

Tick tock tick tock tick tick.
- Neal Stephenson

Easy. Just touch the match to
- Ursula K. Le Guin

Special Web-only edition: We were unable to include these 59 stories in the print magazine.

New genes demand expression -- third eye.
- Greg Bear

K.I.A. Baghdad, Aged 18 - Closed Casket
- Richard K. Morgan

WORLD'S END. Sic transit gloria Monday.
- Gregory Benford

Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it.
- Brian Herbert

Batman Sues Batsignal: Demands Trademark Royalties.
- Cory Doctorow

Heaven falls. Details at eleven.
- Robert Jordan

Bush told the truth. Hell froze.
- William Gibson

whorl. Help! I'm caught in a time
- Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel

Nevertheless, he tried a third time.
- James P. Blaylock

God to Earth: “Cry more, noobs!”
- Marc Laidlaw

Help! Trapped in a text adventure!
- Marc Laidlaw

Thought I was right. I wasn't.
- Graeme Gibson

Lost, then found. Too bad.
- Graeme Gibson

Three to Iraq. One came back.
- Graeme Gibson

Rapture postponed. Ark demanded! Which one?
- David Brin

Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
- David Brin

Bang postponed. Not Big enough. Reboot.
- David Brin

Temporal recursion. I'm dad and mom?
- David Brin

Time Avenger's mistaken! It wasn't me...
- David Brin

Democracy postponed. Whence franchise? Ask Diebold...
- David Brin

Cyborg seeks egg donor, object ___.
- David Brin

Deadline postponed. Five words enough...?
- David Brin

Metrosexuals notwithstanding, quiche still lacks something.
- David Brin

Brevity’s virtue? Wired saves adspace. Subscribe!
- David Brin

Death postponed. Metastasized cells got organized.
- David Brin

Microsoft gave us Word. Fiat lux?
- David Brin

Mind of its own. Damn lawnmower.
- David Brin

Singularity postponed. Datum missing. Query Godoogle?
- David Brin

Please, this is everything, I swear.
- Orson Scott Card

I saw, darling, but do lie.
- Orson Scott Card

Osama’s time machine: President Gore concerned.
- Charles Stross

Sum of all fears: AND patented.
- Charles Stross

Ships fire; princess weeps, between stars.
- Charles Stross

Mozilla devastates Redmond, Google’s nuke implicated.
- Charles Stross

Will this do (lazy writer asked)?
- Ken MacLeod

Cryonics: Disney thawed. Mickey gnawed. Omigawd.
- Eileen Gunn

WIRED stimulates the planet: Utopia blossoms!
- Paul Di Filippo

Clones demand rights: second Emancipation Proclamation.
- Paul Di Filippo

MUD avatars rebel: virtual Independence Day.
- Paul Di Filippo

We crossed the border; they killed us.
- Howard Waldrop

H-bombs dropped; we all died.
- Howard Waldrop

Your house is mine: soft revolution.
- Howard Waldrop

Warskiing; log; prop in face.
- Howard Waldrop

The Axis in WWII: haiku! Gesundheit.
- Howard Waldrop

Salinger story: three koans in fountain.
- Howard Waldrop

Finally, he had no more words.
- Gregory Maguire

There were only six words left.
- Gregory Maguire

In the beginning was the word.
- Gregory Maguire

Commas, see, add, like, nada, okay?
- Gregory Maguire

Weeping, Bush misheard Cheney’s deathbed advice.
- Gregory Maguire

Corpse parts missing. Doctor buys yacht.
- Margaret Atwood

Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved.
- Margaret Atwood

He read his obituary with confusion.
- Steven Meretzky

Time traveler's thought: "What's the password?"
- Steven Meretzky

I win lottery. Sun goes nova.
- Steven Meretzky

Steve ignores editor's word limit and
- Steven Meretzky

Leia: "Baby's yours." Luke: "Bad news…"
- Steven Meretzky

Parallel universe. Bush, destitute, joins army.
- Steven Meretzky

Dorothy: "Fuck it, I'll stay here."
- Steven Meretzky

And we're off and running

The PBeM Version of Nanofic starts with a card played. Here is a picture of the game table as the players see it right at this moment.



This is what ALL PLAYERS know, other than the contents of their hands.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Otto played a blue SETTING card, "A Remote Tropical Island".
Allan played a blue SETTING card, "Up in the Sky"
J.R. played a green CHARACTER card, "The Bleary Eyed Waitress"
Jason played an orange PROBLEM card, "A Dead Body"

Presuming they have no COMPLICATE action cards (purple) in their hands, Otto and Allan have played their ONE setting requirement for a story. Ditto for Jason and his ONE problem. J.R. has played a character and may play any number of additional characters.

JUDGES: Nothing to judge quite yet.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Our first official CARDS PHASE, starting with a replacement of the card played (I'll handle this for you) and the players telling me what card or action they wish to take.

Emails to follow.

Ready to try Nanofic out

.. as of Monday

Please post the email you wish to have your "hand" notice sent to.

Table Locations (see the graphic for what this means)

NW Player: Otto Schmidt

NE Player: Allan Rothberg

SW Player: J.R. Tracy

SE Player: Jason Schmidt


I will send a hand to all of you this weekend. You may choose ONE card for initial placement on the "Game Table" and I will post the table picture for all to see after that.

Judges:

You shouldn't have to do anything, but contact me via IM or email to get the home page I plan to post the polling applet to. All you have to do is to vote 1-10 on stories as they get posted.

I have the following people as judges:

Gary Christiansen
Charles Vassey
Matt Foster
Ian Wedge

I'll handle all the coding and cyberboard stuff.

A Modest Proposal

I love storytelling, and I love games, so you would think that storytelling games are a natural. I find that they are a hard sell to any gaming group, because, frankly, many gamers are shy and don't like being "out there" in front of a group, telling stories. So the following proposal is my attempt at bringing one of my favorite storytelling games to the realm of email.

PLAYING NANOFICTIONARY BY EMAIL OR ONLINE: FOUR PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
Original Rules by Andy Looney
PBeM Revision by Walt O'Hara

Using Cyberboard for email games and/or VASSAL for real time games (eventually).

NANOFICTIONARY is a game of telling tiny stories published by the good folks at LOONEY LABS. Cyberboard is a free Windows based utility that can facilitate playing games by email.

References:
Nanofictionary- http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2895
Cyberboard- http://cyberboard.brainiac.com

This Cyberboard gamebox and these instructions are provided as a free service to facilitate story telling games over the medium of email with a little help
from the web.

DISCLAIMER: NANOFICTIONARY remains the copyright and intellectual property of Looney Labs. It is assumed that the player(s) own an actual, physical copy of Nanofictionary before using and downloading this utility. This utility does not copy any of the artwork of the original game (beyond the logo) and you are depriving yourself of half the fun of the game without the real cards. See your local hobby shop, online retailer or go to http://www.looneylabs.com/OurStores/LooneyLabs.html to purchase a game. Nanofictionary is quite reasonably priced.

What is needed:

Four players (will expand to six if this approach playtests well)
Four Judges
A Cyberboard Savvy Referee
Someplace to post results and manage voting (like a blog or bulletin board)

Nanofictionary is primarily a story telling and judging game that uses a nice little card deck to facilitate common story telling elements (called Plot Devices) in the following five card categories:

ACTIONS: a meta-card that affects card play (purple)

and four types of color themed PLOT DEVICE CARDS:

CHARACTERS: A perons or persons that have a role in the story being told (green)
PROBLEMS: A complication to the current plot adding more depth to the plotline (orange)
SETTINGS: A place that has some impact on the story (blue)
RESOLUTION: A card that can end the story (yellow)

The rules to Nanofictionary are here: http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Nanofictionary/Rules.html

Email Nanofictionary works pretty much like that for card handling and story writing, only the game will be refereed by a gamemaster (who might also play or judge) who will use Cyberboard to deal out cards and assign cards to players. MOST of the game will be handled with simple email notifications of what card players will be adding to their storytelling decks. The Judging phase might make use of some form of collaborative web technology to judge with. Scoring will be handled with a slight modification of the printed rules.

SEQUENCE:

1) CARD PHASE

The GM uses Cyberboard to "Deal" (pull five cards out of the .Draw Deck) for each of the players. The .Draw Deck is set to produce random pieces when tiles are dragged out of the "tray" in Cyberboard. The "random drag" feature of Cyberboard simulates a card deck reasonably well, as it was meant to do.

The players are sent an email of the cards they start with. Chances are they will *not* have enough cards to write a story immediately, as Nanofictionary states that You may have as many Characters in your story as you want; however, your story can only have one Problem, one Setting, and one Resolution. EXCEPTION: if the player states that a COMPLICATION Action Card (Purple) is being played. If that is played, then a second Problem, Setting, OR Resolution may be added from their hand.

Before the FIRST TURN ONLY, the players state what STORY ELEMENT CARD (green, blue, yellow, orange only, no purple) they wish to start their story with. As Cyberboard maintains a "map" graphic with tile overlays to represent pieces, the referee can send the players a picture of the "card table" graphic in Cyberboard, to illustrate what cards are in play at the start of the turn.


Figure 1: The Game Table as Depicted in Cyberboard


During the Card Phase, the players must email the GM that they are going to do one of the following:
1.) Add a Plot Device (Character, Setting, Problem, or Resolution) to your story, specifying WHICH of the cards in their hand they will add. Note that the plot devices you add to the story will be communicated to the other players UNLESS it is a RESOLUTION (yellow) card. That is always played "face down" in real NanoFic, and will not be revealed in email NanoFic.

Here is an example of a Character Card, a Problem Card and a Resolution Card:



2.) Use an Action card by discarding it and following its instructions
See Action Cards, below.

3.) Discard as many cards as you wish, and draw back to 5

ACTION CARDS in the PBeM game



Complication: Adds a second Setting, Problem, or Resolution to your Story from your current hand, then draw one card from the .Draw deck. Specify in email which card you wish to play.

Brainstorm: All active players draw a card from the .Draw, then give a card of their choice to you. You also draw an extra card for each inactive player. Then you play one card, and discard down to 5. The GM draws from the .Draw deck for each player and lets them know what it is via email. The player specifies which of their cards they will donate (by email) to the GM. The player using Brainstorm (there are only two in the game, btw) emails the GM which cards will go to the Discard deck.

Plagiarize: Steal a plot device from another player's story, by swapping it with a card from your hand that is of the same type. The Purple Action card is "played" by sending the GM an email saying "I am swapping my card X for player n card's Y". The card gets sent to the Discard bin, its job is done.

Uncrumple: Take any card out of the discard pile (except action cards), add it to your hand, then play one card. The Action card is discarded and the new (old) story element is back in your hand. The contents of the Discard pile are sent at the beginning of the turn. If you something you desire gets discarded in the current turn, you will simply have to pay attention.

Thus ends the CARD PHASE.

2. The WRITING PHASE

If the player has the minimal elements for a story in Nanofic terms (at least one character and only one setting, problem, and resolution per story), he/she might elect to "do a tell" (put together a story and allow the other players to hear/see it).

If we were all playing face to face (my favorite way of playing Nanofic), this would be done in the grand old style of the oral tradition. Alas, the Internet can't provide that sensation (yet?) and we can only weakly imitate with the written word. Given the restrictions of the written word, this is the Player's chance to excel. Nanofic's definition of a nanofiction is any story that encompasses every story element that has come into play for the player. Telling a NanoFic story is something more than writing a long run on sentence that mentions every term written on the cards. HUMANS read and score your NanoFic for this very reason.

This instruction can't tell you how to be creative; that part is up to you. Try to make stories brief (this IS *NanoFictionary* after all), approximately a para or two long (and not a long paragraph). Submit stories to the GM in text format, with Line Feeds and very basic formatting. The stories will be posted to a central point of access (a website, blog, bulletin board, etc.) so, please use some common sense about the content, as your name attachs to it.

Guidelines for writing are loose and easy-- as long as the judges can recognize the story elements you were dealt, you can make some contextual changes. You may change sex from male to female if you like, or plurals to singular and/or back again. Follow the guidelines that Andy Looney wrote for creating nanofictions, they still apply to the email game. Think of writing NanoFic as creating a Mad Lib in reverse. In Mad Libs, you are given the structure and asked to fill in variable terms. In NanoFic, you are given some specific terms and are asked to create the surrounding structure!

Examples taken from Figure 1:

North-West Player: "A Team of Super Scientists were plagued by terrible weather fluctuations all over the West Coast. By their prediction, a terrible super-storm was imminent and they had to come up with a solution, pronto! Just as things looked hopeless, their corrupt lab assistant, Benito, tipped them off about a weather-changing mcguffin that was stored in the Bus Depot, near locker 17. When they manged to jimmy the locker open, all they found were several plastic baggies filled with a strange white powder. Despite their strenuous objections, they each spent two years in jail for possession with intent to distribute. The irony was lost on them."

North-East Player: "The Bleary Eyed Waitress, Flo, went to the World's Fair in a vain attempt to lift her spirits. Each bright and shiny innovation on display at the Fair was a poignant reminder of stuff she would never own or a home she would never live in. Suddenly Flo's depressed reverie was shattered by screams! Up in the Sky loomed a menacing Circular object.. an Alien transport ship! A Hush fell over the crowd as the unseen speakers on the outside of the alien craft emitted: "PEOPLE OF EARTH-- WE ARE YOUR NEW MASTERS. WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY TO RIGHT AN INPONDERABLE WRONG! WE HAVE ARRIVED TO DISCOVER ... WHO STOLE MY BROWNIESSSSSSS????". No answer was forthcoming from the crowd, so a villainous death ray lashed over the planet, and the Earth was destroyed".

3. The JUDGING PHASE

If the GM is web-savvy, he will have set up a polling application on a website somewhere, facilitating voting for the current NanoFics. At the bare minimum try to have as many judge volunteers as you have players. Each judge reads the NanoFics for every submission, and gives it a score of 1 through 10. This is communicated to the GM in secret by each judge.

SCORING

Read this part carefully, as the Nanofictionary scoring system is somewhat different to streamline the process for email play.

Stories are scored in the following fashion:

Games are played in ROUNDS. The Game ENDS when the .Draw deck is empty.

A ROUND is complete once all four players submit stories. A player gets a COMPLETION BONUS AWARD for the order in which they complete their stories.

This is a Completion Bonus Marker in the Cyberboard gamebox:


There is a Completion Bonus Marker in the gamebox (1-6 for a maximum of six players, you only use as many as you have players). They are awarded in descending order, thus, the first person to submit a story receives the #4 Completion Bonus (and Four Points). The second person to submit a story gets the #3 completion Bonus (and Three points, etc.).

The first points a player gets is a completion bonus, per round. 4, 3, 2 or 1 points. More with more players.

Next, average the scores given by the (at least 4) judges. Add that to the player's score.

Next, add points for Action Cards played, per this table:

0 points per extra CHARACTER CARDS
1 point per extra PROBLEM CARD
2 points per extra SETTING CARD
3 points per extra RESOLUTION CARD

Total these points. In the unlikely event of a tie, dice off or flip a coin. Award First, Second and Third Awards per ROUND.

A Round Award looks like this:



FINAL GAME SCORE: Total Round Awards, as per this schedule

For every first place ROUND AWARD: 10 points
For every second place ROUND AWARD: 7 points
For every third place ROUND AWARD: 5 points

HIGHEST SCORE AT GAME END WINS THE GAME