Eric. Oh, experimental game is so
demo. Game is so rainy.
This game is sort of a sort of Reno game.
Are we playing today today, we'll do you want to explain why
we're doing this first? Sure.
Hi everybody. It's me Katie.
Sorry. Hi everybody.
It's me aigoo. I'm feeling very empowered
because I'm dressed like a spaceship.
It be kanak you really are. Also.
I feel like, I just keep looking away from the microphone to talk
to you. It's fine, you're a jewelry
here. We can well, just get it.
Oh, yeah. Look at that.
There we go, that's good. But so, hey, so, hey everybody.
Welcome to. This is gonna be a little bit of
an experimental episode because Eric and I were talking the
other day about how much we like TT RPGs and World building stuff
World, building stuff. That isn't necessarily D&D like
we liked you and Didi and he's great but There are so many
other interesting, cool games that honestly, I like I don't
want to like, shoehorn neurodiversity into it, but one
of the things that I've really been realizing is how well these
type of games sort of like scratch my brain in a way that
like, again, I loved Andy big ol fan of the Indy but it's
different. It's a different sort of
experience. And so Eric and I were talking
and we were like, hey, we don't have anything particularly
burning that we want to talk about.
Out today on the podcast. So what if instead we played one
of those world-building teacher veggies and that's and the
result was doing that and the result is that's what we're
gonna do. So we thought we would maybe
turn this into like not an all the time thing, but like in
every so often doing trying out a cool TT R PG of different
kinds and types of, there's a lot of cool up-and-coming like
to person TT refugees, no GM ones and stuff.
So yeah, I also really Games that you can one play with two
people but also the World building any kind of games where
you can't just like be straight up wrong.
Yeah. You know when you're playing D &
D and get it was like a lot of like on paper rules, there's a
million things. At any point, you're gonna
forget your modified exactly often have the plus whatever to
that or like, oh, that thing was actually out of range.
I shouldn't have been able to do that which is, you know once you
learn to navigate that, it's really fun.
But I that's sort of stresses me out knowing that like oh I gotta
make sure I'm I don't know following the rules, I see Bose,
where's games like this? You know, sure there's like game
Flow rules but like, you are literally making it up as you go
along. And there's no, like GM to get
mad at you. You know, at least not in this
particular game. We're about to play which is
called. I'm sorry.
Did you say street magic? No, I asked you what the game is
called. Yeah.
I know. It's called.
I'm sorry. Did you say street magic?
First base game? It's called, I'm sorry.
Did you say street magic by Carl assertion, which is just It's a
great name and the thing that I love about I'm sorry.
Did you say street magic? Is that?
It is just the simplest. Simplest.
Guy is d, y, s SS. M.
Yes it is. I'm just trying to give a
shorter way of saying probably just say Street.
You say street magic. Let's do that.
Well, be our cool. It's cool.
Yeah. Whatever she play SM know,
that's something very different and I will, That's a very
different question. So, okay, so the thing with, so
your city. I hope I do good.
I get to listen to them, play a teacher BG and I don't know how
to play. Well, guess what?
We're all going to learn how to play together.
Yeah, I don't know how to play. I've never played this game
before we kind of like ran through it really quickly the
other day, but I am with you, dear listener.
I also do not know how to play this game, but it's super
simple. So I'm going to explain it as we
go. And most of it.
I'm just going to read straight out of the out of the book
because it's very well written and very straightforward.
So, here we go. Ready?
I'm sorry. Did you say street?
Magic is a city building story King, we take turns, exploring
our city, by the end of the game.
We will have created a place that none of us could have
imagined alone, our agenda as players is to create a vibrant
and multifaceted City to fill that City with life and
personality and to explore expand on each other's ideas
together, unlike many tabletop games, I'm sorry, did you say
street magic is played Without a game master or facilitator.
The game goes back and forth between phases of independent
and Operative creation at times, we will decide on certain
aspects of the city as a group, or I guess just does.
I do to people count as a group. Yeah.
How much is a heap? I mean, you know, but on your
turn, each of us has complete control over what?
We add to the city. Shoutout to, oh my gosh, the the
show where the robots fight? Each other.
Battle, battle bots. Yeah, it's a complete control is
a really dope robot from BattleBots.
I was just going to Put that in there and say, like shout out to
control the battle bus but I forgot the name of the thing but
I started anyways. Anyways, back to those in the
description. Okay.
So the first part of creating our city so we're just we're
jumping it. That's it.
That's all you need to know to start.
Sweet. Let's do it.
So the first part of creating our city is establishing its
tone, the color and texture of the setting, we want to explore
as a table or a podcast. Let's decide on three adjectives
that will set the mood of our city.
We should pick at least one from the list below.
We don't have to but we don't have to limit ourselves to these
options. So we need three adjectives.
That set the mood of our city. It'll be really fun is if you
did this but you asked like a random child like Mad Libs style
to name the adjectives debut, like poopy we'd be like Philly
and so we end up like a poopy, silly Green City.
I don't know how you did that, but you spit right into my eye
glasses. I know it went around it, like
bullet bending. Around by Angelina Jolie did
from wanted you. I was incredible.
Wow anyway, okay. So three other tips.
Know I drop the marker on the floor.
Let's do. Oh no.
Huh, I don't know. I keep thinking really General,
but it also implies. Yeah.
Well I was going to say like, we're like, you don't, you don't
have to be an expert at this game yet, you know.
So I want to say, like, calm okay, no calm like a calm City
or at least it looks calm, you know, okay.
Calm down, will you got? You know what's great for
podcast is silence actually. Yeah, because that's easier to
cut up. So everything is going to think
I've immediately. Good ideas.
Yeah. Um let's say a sprawling
sprawling. Okay sprawling.
Okay. And then you pick the last.
What's like an adjective? That means gives the impression
that like something happened here.
That people don't talk about, you know, like ominous.
Maybe. Yeah, sure ominous.
Yeah. And let's just throw and poopy
there just just to be no? Okay, it's card one day.
That's correct. Okay, we use these were.
Okay. So this is coming from the so
this is next. Oh that's it.
All you got to do three adjective.
Okay good. Right.
It just it flows. I love it.
Okay so we use these words to start a brief conversation about
our city. Let's come up with a big picture
idea. Is it modern riffing on a city
that we're all familiar with? Is it set in the past or in a
strange speculative future? Do ghosts exist, do robot.
W, do talking animals. I forgot to tell you about this
part less so you can do like you can do anything you want.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, so so I'm going to let you
leave this be grillers, I've played this a lot and okay ideas
like so you are. I know I'm tempted.
I kind of wanted to be like an analog City okay, you know, sort
of like a early 1900's, okay? Like Midwestern City.
Okay, you know. Yeah, okay so we'll say It.
I'm just ready to go out some points.
Midwestern ish. Like to be like steampunker you
just me. No like actual.
So like the Industrial Revolution postal
post-industrial Revolution. Think of like the the settling
of the West kind of thing. Okay.
You know, we're like social security cards are starting to
come out and people are talking about being on grids and stuff.
So wow, brother were at though, like that era any type of stuff.
Okay so that's okay. That's very different than While
well nice. Early life is like 1800's.
Well, no. I know what I said?
Settling the West like a period after that, right?
Like like Red Dead Redemption, you know I'm thinking okay.
So you want like Western Western but like a sit like a settling
City looks like been around for you know a while now.
So think of like it's a small City but it's the biggest city
that like most of the really rural Homesteader type people,
okay? Like know about.
Okay. Okay, okay.
So basically, when like the the development of like the east of
like New York City, or whatever starts to move west in clash
with like yeah Outlaw culture and whatever suddenly like
pinkertons are around. I'm thinking very Red Dead
Redemption. Okay?
Okay. So I'm thinking like, 1914.
1914. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah.
What, major world events happened in 1914?
World War to World War? One was had will for once I was
about to start was at to, I don't know.
I was just gonna see what you came up with.
Oh, okay. Titanic sank, two years before
that. My grandfather would be born. 22
years later, okay. So Western ish.
You City ish, Western is City ish, okay?
Like is Or any, I'm going to facilitate a little bit.
Is there any type of like magic in this world?
Or is this very much like a real world 121?
Um, I think yeah, there's magic but not like big lights and
colors magic. You know?
Like Wizards are just walking around more like Like a movie
where you're like, clearly there's some Supernatural stuff
going on but it's nothing you could really Point At, You know.
So maybe like you know, there's a store and everybody you know,
or like a building and every store that opens their the owner
gets killed in you know on January 1st every other year or
whatever but like clockwork like every top like it's not deniable
like that is true. Okay?
And nobody fucking really knows why but it's just like Okay.
That's true. But like so it's not like magic.
Like you can cast spells and stuff necessarily but
Supernatural things kind of happen.
Okay. Very cool.
Okay okay. So now that we have that
established, the first thing that we need to do is establish
our or declare our compass and the basically the compass is
just the theme or subject of exploration for this round of
gameplay. So we're basically just setting
the tone, right? Yeah.
So do you want to do that or show up?
Tell you do it. Okay.
Um, I'm gonna say the compass. Okay.
And for our dear listeners at home, I've played this game a
couple of times and so I was one of the reasons why I was really
excited to share it with Eric. But the thing with the compass
is that like, most of this game, it can be as creative or as
specific as you want. So like, for instance, your
compass might be hope we're going to like explore hope so,
so the compass is like, or the direction that yeah, yeah,
exactly direction of the compass or it can be something much more
sort of, like, open-ended, and, like, Generative, which is sort
of like, how I like to do it. So I'm going to say the compass
for this first round is when light naming strikes?
Whoa, you spell lightning. It's podcast.
You spelled it. Exactly right first time zactly
nice handwriting to plow. And so that's basically it.
That's the setup for the game. So now, gameplay starts.
So the first thing that we're going to need to tell, you can
play this in like a car. You placing, you can lead you
anywhere anyplace anywhere where, as you Like something to
write down and you really don't even need that because you could
do it on your phone. Wow.
But okay, so the first thing that we're going to do is we're
going there's sort of how do I want to.
I'm trying to explain this to people or not going to be
looking at the manual. So I'm trying to be like clever
about how I do it. So basically within this game,
the idea is that you're exploring a city.
So there are three things that can happen during a round.
You can place a neighborhood, you can place a Mark, or you can
place a resident. However, those things are
tiered. So, to be able to place a
landmark, a neighborhood already has to be there to place a
resident that Resident has to be in a landmark, sorry.
So residents can only be placed on existing landmarks, but you
can only be placed on existing. So, basically, you always have
to start. So, it's sort of like, you're
always zooming in, right? We're starting with like the
bigger area, the the neighborhood, and then you go.
Okay, well, what something special in this neighborhood and
then who is a person who hangs out at that special?
Right? So when it's a so you're not
playing a person in the city, you're playing like the person
playing the game of The Sims. Yes.
And because the interesting part about this game is that, when
you place a resident that is when the roleplay scenario come,
so cool, you can go as hard on it as you want, right?
So like, you can do like, let's say you build a neighborhood and
I'll just use an example. So, I'm going to place a
neighborhood and it's going to be the bars where all the bars
are in that. Neighborhood.
There's a really historic Pub where I don't know, the
Declaration of Independence was signed and in that Pub.
Worked a lovely young Maiden who fell in love, and save the city,
or something like that, right? So when I place that Resident, I
have the opportunity, I can say, okay, I'm going to play the
lovely of maiden, and you're going to be the guy who Woos me
or vice versa or I could say, hey, you're going to be a
montage of 100 years worth of customers coming in.
To this bar, you know. So you can you really have a lot
of flexibility about what you want to do?
Doesn't make sense. Yeah, I spaced out for the last
like 10 seconds. Cool.
I'm not going to repeat now. It's basically you just have the
options. Fuck about accessibility and
games and fuck? No, no.
So basically you just have the option to do like one-on-one or
you can just say, I have an idea for a scene that will involve
more than one character whatever.
So it's just a way of like Playing out exploring the things
that you want to explore cool and is there a part of the game
where we name the town? Or can we just named the town?
We can name the town now or you can say that you're going to
name the downtown and that'll be like it's there's no there's
really not a lot of rules. Sweet?
Okay. I want there to be a Springs
something you know like I a blank and then Springs but I
know. All right, maybe we'll figure
that out. Red Dead Springs registrants the
Springs. Eternal, what about Things
spring, what about leaf springs leaf springs, in support of a
car? Oh, and full disclosure.
I don't know what it does, but I know that cars have leaf
springs. I feel like that's probably it
for driving over bumps. Yeah, you know, us a task it is
because podcast. Okay, cool.
So do something springs, something springs.
But okay, so for this first part of the game, that's what we're
going to be doing. So we're going to both, go will
place a neighborhood and then an event will happen.
Let's get the neighborhood's place first, and that will be
our first round of play. Cool.
Let's do it. I hope you at home aren't
terribly lost. But we're going to say this is
when the actual gameplay starts. Yeah.
Mark that part in the yeah, in the notes.
Okay. Eric.
I'm gonna let you pick a neighborhood pick.
Place a neighborhood. So let me read the part about
exploring a neighborhood, straight from the manual.
So I know I'm going straight from the Manny.
I'm the manioc, a to Splore neighborhood take like index
card poster, we're using post, it's whatever.
So you want to give it the following three elements a
title. This is what denizens of the
city could call this neighborhood on a daily basis.
It could be named after the local geography, the history of
its residents or the types of businesses that are conducted
their to name just a few examples.
So that's the first thing you're going to do that.
You're going to give it a reputation in a couple of
sentences, describe out loud. The neighbors neighborhoods
General Vibe is it predominantly residential or commercial.
Out of the residents, think of themselves.
What do other neighborhoods, think of them?
And then a true name. And this is where the game
starts getting a little crazy to be.
Hmm. Every neighborhood has a magic,
all its own to confer a true name.
Come up with two or three descriptive, sensory images that
paint, a clear picture of the neighborhood in your mind and
that's basically it's also true name would be like the place
where people get their drugs or whatever or like good be.
Yeah. So So treat him is like, really,
what is this narratively kind of thing?
Yeah, it could be that. It could be also just like a
feeling it evokes. Like there's a lot of
flexibility. Okay.
So like and also keep in mind, there's no like, right way to do
this. Okay, so if I think, you know,
Whispers In the Shadows is the true name and you're like the
place where I buy weed, both of those things are just as fast as
sweet. So there's no you're not going
to get across. This game is like infinite.
Yes, it's just like any, any like you can really tell it's
like oh it's collaborative storytelling.
Because if we had another person here or If it was like you and
someone else that isn't me like the story, you would tell a be
completely different. Exactly.
Gotta Love Story tells a story. No.
I love them. So I'm going to create a
neighborhood called Wilkes wi L. Ke s du Village.
It's a lot of booths their booths.
Oh fuck you. And a lot of John's alive.
Its reputation is affluent. Okay.
It's like a nicer neighborhood. Not like a rich neighborhood,
like a nice different, you know, full of successful young
professionals and I guess this is 1912.
So if they're 22, that means they probably have like six or
seven kids already affluent in its true name is Status.
Okay, not necessarily just because the people who live
there think it gives them status.
But also the people who live there are interested in status
within Wilkes Village, you know, status status has to do with a
lot of stuff. Boom.
And I give you my little, my little sticky note, and you put
it on the little white board that we're playing with.
Oh, also, we're playing on a white board.
We have like a little white board in front of us, so, the
This and the other stuff are written on the Whiteboard.
Just so you can sort of help picture how we're playing this
game. So, now you do do a neighborhood
or can you all now do a landmark on.
So, for this first round you, I mean, technically, you can kind
of play it however you want, but neighborhoods, are sometimes
easier just because it gives us like sort of a couple of
launching pad. Yeah.
So I'm going to say To the far west of Wilkes Village Springs
TM TM TM, there is a mountain range.
And in those there's gold in them thar Hills and so there is
a small sort of mining. Petit like a like a shanty town
where the miners go to sort of like hang out in between shifts.
Okay, so this is definitely before child labor laws, then I
don't know because if there's a bunch of minors, running miners,
not my request. Thanks to you.
That was you really set me up for that one.
Thank you - not mine. So I'm going to say that.
It's called, you know, what is this, a, this called the mind.
That's what they call it. The children yearn for the mines
and its reputation is it's a little rough and tumble, it's a
little, you know, maybe not the greatest place to hang out, but,
you know, people are just trying to live their lives and get by
and it's true. Name is Eureka with an
exclamation point. Cool place of this.
Recovery. Hmm.
Well, I like the I like the the fact that you specified with an
exclamation point, it's making me want to like have the true
name be like a picture or something.
Yeah, symbol. Yeah.
And that's really valid to like, you can have like images or
whatever be the true name. So like a true name could be
like The Wind in the Willows or like I really want to sleep in
the dark like sketch artists. Do it?
Like my dad. Yes, he could do this whole
game. Like here's a little drawing of
the village. Let's wait.
Drawing the vibe. I think we should figure out a
way to play quietly. You're with your dad because the
quiet, your involves a map drawing component, right?
Where you like. It's helpful to have a daddy
loves drawing Maps. He did it.
His entire life, it was a graphic designer.
Okay, photograph. So that concludes the whoops
cools. So now there's an Avant.
Yeah, hold on. So, so, yes, I haven't holding
an event after a very, very everyone is wondering the city
during the current round, the player who first declared the
compass finishes, the round by creating an Event that changes
our Alters the city. In some way, your event should
be related to the compass. That you said at the beginning
of the round or to a car that was played during around events
are good way to tie up, loose ends on questions that arose
during around. However and that can also be a
chance to highlight an aspect of the compass that was unexplored
or to recontextualized other elements of the city that were
discovered during play. So those are the compass changes
every round. Yes.
Okay. Okay so at the top of Her around
the compass changes, then you wander the city, you could do
the neighborhood Landmark a resident and then after we've
both taken a turn doing that, we're going to call the rounds,
then an event happens. And so we get to say what
happens during the event and then there's one more phase
after that. But we'll do the event first
joke, just sort of contextualize, okay?
And I'm going to say that a strange Sickness starts to make
its way through Wilkes Village. People start getting sick.
They start not feeling. Well, nobody is dying.
Like this isn't like a like a dying type of plague but there
starts to be some kind of sickness and people start
worrying about the water supply about the safety of the food.
Like, what's going on? Where's this coming from?
And so, a lot of sort of ill will, and tension starts to
build in the town. Okay, that's a great sickness
and one of my favorite parts of this game.
Is they have you fold the note? I always read it one way.
They have you fold a note card in half and make like a little
tent and then the Ted sticks up so you can remember where your
events are at school. I think that's very clever.
Okay. So the last part of this is
pretty easy, but this is just a little bit more of a World
building opportunity where after the event is declared which is
just been done. And we both get an opportunity
to sort of act as voices of the town.
So we're not necessarily doing like a like a full character,
but we have three options, we can ask a rhetorical question,
so we're not going to get an answer.
But it's just a question that might be generative.
We can State an opinion, or we can State a constant show a
consequence. So there can be something that
develops as a result of the event happening.
Hmm. And that those Your options,
okay? And we both do, what is this
face called? And that is, this is the event
phase also. Like the second part of the
event. Yeah.
Is that okay? And we both do one?
Yes. Do the people of Wilkes Village
deserve the sickness. I'm going to show a consequence
and I think I said this a little bit already, I cheated, but I'm
going to say that there starts to be a little bit of tension
and dissent among the people, as they're sort of, starting to
point the fingers and figure out like, sort of, who to blame.
Hmm. Within Wilkes Village, Then
we'll fill the childlike neighbors aren't may be as
trusting of neighbors as they normally would be.
Hmm. Yeah, I like that.
I dig it. Okay.
Okay, alright, so that is, that's, that's it.
That's a rat's, the whole, that's the hose just that until
we built a thing, okay? And then basically and then it,
you know, you just get faster at it.
So it's going to be your turn to set.
Also don't move your chair because you're going to run
over. This is right there and it's
adorable. So your is going to be your turn
to set the compass. Okay.
This is sort of the vibe. Of the round.
Okay, the compass shall be zero. Some peace.
Yeah. Okay.
Which I vowed not to just like, be elitist or whatever, but
zero-sum to, those of you who I know, is just basically, there's
a fixed amount from which we all take.
So like, you know, if you put out like a pie on a table, does
a zero sum amount of pie and like you all get to choose.
So if one person has more, that means another person has less.
So like some of the worst people you'll ever meet assume that
like everything is zero sum and they need to get there as and
that means other people not getting.
So it's a very Charged word or phrase, but I always thought,
zero-sum means really like that at least in my head.
Um, okay. So now you have a couple of
different options one, you can explore the city and you can
place a another neighborhood, or you also have the opportunity to
place a landmark in either, Wilkes Village or down by the
mines. And might, a landmark does not
have to be like, oh, that's where the George Washington
Monument is, it can be like the mail.
Mailbox where a guy sent up sad postcard.
It can be like the tree that my dog pees on it like a more
specific location with him. Yeah, you're basically zooming
into the neighborhood and you're highlighting one, facet of that
that like interests you or excites you.
This is fun. Okay.
All right. Yeah, it or we go this is like
one of those games where I've loved playing games like this
but it's so quickly becomes like, oh, holy shit.
I really can. Do any like, you know, I can
really focus and focus and focus.
I mean feasibly you can play. This is me like ADHD building
Castles in the Sky here, but you could play one game of this.
Yeah, for 40 years? Yeah.
And just make like this epic fucking City.
And yeah, ever. There's a, there's another
version of this game called microscope.
That's a little bit more expansive where it's, there's a
little bit more to it, but it's sort of that same fundamental of
you. Start begging, then you zoom in,
and then you zoom in and to zoom in, And so hashtags surprise
announcement, haha, but she didn't know this was going to
happen. Today, I'm going to be dming at
D3 at Sea and that's what we're going to do.
We're going to do because I'm there's going to be three rounds
of play. And so we're going to play a
microscope for the first one. And then for the second one, I
am trying to decide what I want to do.
And then on the third one, we're going to play 10 candles, we're
going to destroy the city that we built.
It's going to be a three-phase thing.
Cool. So if you want to go to D3 at
Sea in October, sign up to be at my table.
That's really cool. I didn't know you're doing out
there. That's awesome.
We're going to be there too. Why do I mean?
I know that's awesome. I didn't know that.
I couldn't not do d and e and then I asked.
And they were like, yeah, absolutely.
So nice. So I'm really stoked about that.
Okay. I'm going to say I'm going to do
another neighborhood. Okay?
Just because I wanted to be like an East and West Egg type
situation going on you know. Okay I'm going to say there's no
town. It's on the very west side of
Only closest to the mines like is not close to the mines
because they're in the friggin mountains but like you know it's
on the very western side of like the city proper and it's going
to be called trench for it. I don't know why but those that
series of sounds sounded like the name of the town.
So it's trench for it. Its reputation is Scrappy.
Okay, I'll say we'll say Scrappy Okay.
I'm going to do a couple. Yeah, sure Scrappy resilient and
harsh. Can you tell me a little bit
about what? Somebody might see.
Well, they were like walking on just like the street.
Yeah, a lot of things that people have fixed themselves.
Like people. They don't have the money to,
like buying you stuff, nor do they have the money to get stuff
like properly fixed. So, there's a lot of like, you
know, clothes lines that are made of like several smaller
ropes that they tied into a longer one.
The trash is sort of dealt with internally because we have a
resilient like there was Source full but they don't have a lot.
And so trash is like taking care of variably, you know?
So this is it, like the streets are littered in trash but it's
more like the trash only gets cleaned up if like people decide
to do it, you know, they don't have like a system in place,
it's more just like, you know, people individually taking their
trash to like the landfill or the whatever.
They did or burning it more likely, actually, the time
streets aren't paved very well, quieter than you'd expect
because most of the people who live there work very long, long
days, usually in the mines. So during the day, there's not
really anybody there and if they are there, they're like inside.
Because why would you be outside?
You know, it's disgusting. So basically anybody who's old
enough and Whatever like works in the mines in this town.
So during the day it's surprisingly quiet at night it's
loud and full of like cheap fun, you know.
So there's not necessarily like a bar but there is a lot of
drinking so they're probably like places where people go, but
they're not like official places.
It's just like a stoop. That's good for sitting and it
was really like it's full of criminals and stuff.
It's not I mean it kind of but it's more just people who are
very used to things being really hard and having Do whatever they
have to do for basically for their families.
Essentially if somebody their needs $40 and their best way of
getting it is robbing somebody they're going to do that but
they'll probably go somewhere else to do that because that's
where the money is but either way.
So it's not necessarily like a bad part of town or a good part
of, but it's a part of town that does what it needs to do to
continue surviving which at times can be seem like immoral,
but it's just people trying to survive.
Yeah. And so it's true.
Name shall be whatever the cost. Nice.
Boom. Transport on the map baby.
Nice. Okay.
Um I'm also going to place another neighborhood because I
feel like we need some options. Um I'm going to say that at the
heart of our yet, unnamed town there is a park.
It's a small little green space with a couple of trees and like
a little fence and it's kind of the place that people go to
like, you know, on Sundays. They'll go and like they'll walk
in the park and, you know, if you're meet a special lady, you
take her on a picnic in the park and we're going to say that it's
called Arden Meadows, because I'm not feeling creative and
Arden Meadow is kind of the, it's like, verdant, it's calm,
and it's, it's kind of a place that people really respect
because Green Space is not super easy to come by.
Like it's not I'm not picturing the town being like in a desert
but you know, it's a little scraggly.
It's a little scrub at you. And so having this like place
where it's just like natural beauty that like we work with,
and we get along with like, people, take that really
seriously. What's the park like at night?
The park is one of the only places in town that has
streetlights cool during during the night time.
So it's fairly. Well, illuminated gas were like,
yes, gasps streetlights. And there is a church that is
sort of like, just down the block and so the park is
actually really. I used to sit at night because
you'll hear like the choir kind of practicing out the windows of
the church and you know, there's a lady who teaches piano lessons
across the street. And so sometimes there's like
just kind of like free music concert that type of thing.
And during the Summers when the days are longer it's a place
where people stay out quite late but it's with their families,
you know? It's not like a like there's not
crimes happening. It's oh, this is a place where
we can sit and and share Community for, you know.
No a while before. You know we have to go anywhere
um and it's true. Name is the Gathering Place.
Cool cool. Okay.
And now my friends that is that round because browser fast
depending on how many people you have, and how?
Yeah, descriptive. Yes, because I'll go forever.
I was going to say, I could definitely just kept going.
I'm just grabbing transport for but okay.
So you get to choose an event, something happens.
Oh yeah. Child labor laws coming to a
final, right? Jesus.
Let's say um funds are diverted from managing Arden Meadow Park,
okay? In like up keeping our total
getting water to people and Wilkes Village, okay, we'll say
half. So like the button, the budget
for maintaining Our tomato gets cut in half to go towards
allocating. Money to get water to Wilkes
Village. I'm gonna put budget cuts, is
that okay? Sure.
I said, then we both get to ask a question State.
An opinion or show a consequence.
Um, how, okay, I'm gonna ask question, where will I go?
If Arden Meadow goes away. I suppose, I will say it a
consequence which is that the people of trench Fort grows
resentment towards the people of Wilkes Village because Arden
Meadow was one of the only like nice places that was free to go
to. This is a public park and so and
they've been drinking fucking dirty water forever so they're
like Mad, they're growing resentment towards the people
who looks Village because you know fuck them and when they're
taking our public park. Exactly.
Okay. And that's it.
That's around cool surround. You want to make a compass.
Yeah, my compass is going to be. I lost the marker.
My canvas is going to be the choices we make, okay?
And I'm gonna place this round, I'm going to place our first
Landmark um and I'm going to have In Wilkes Village, I'm
going to say that there is a house that sort of functions as
the seat of government Wilkes Village was kind of like though,
the older part of the city were like most people sort of like
started building when the town was first built.
And so they're sort of just became sort of these like
organic gathering places and so the Landmark of the mayor's
house, mayor's house is a place where a lot of things happened,
not necessarily all official government business.
There's poker games. And, you know, his wife plays
the piano and, you know, people will gather there.
And so it's kind of this this place that is seen as The seat
of government. But what it really is is like a
place to have your influence felt and so it's true.
Name is the seat. No, the table.
Yeah, cool. It's better.
I don't know. And it's nice.
It's a nice house calculon opulent.
Yeah, it's pretty opulent for the area and there's There's
like poker tables and shit fussy.
We're going to say that that is in Wilkes Village and that's
where that goes, okay? It's your turn.
Um, I think I think I'm gonna go for, I'm going to go ahead and
do a resident in the mayor's house and the mayor's house.
Okay. You also don't we don't have to
use those colors. Those are hard to read.
Do they are doing she's yellow again?
Yes, thank you. It's fine.
I lost my lavender. Post it so don't really want.
Oh, okay, just some lavender poses.
I lost almost all the post. He's um, so the resident.
So when you saw the way, the way the pair, I'm gonna read it off
of thinks I'm gonna Biff it, boop-boop-boop-boop meeting
residents resident, our residents are the individual
characters, and people who inhabit, the city and are nested
inside of landmark cards. A landmark can contain multiple
residents to meet a new Resident.
Take a card re are Rouge that like a neighborhood and
landmark. Each resident needs a title, a
common name, known to all let a residence title in four.
And their personality and vice versa, right there title at the
top of the card, and write their pronouns next to that describe
this resonant, briefly to the table.
If they have a noteworthy profession or other important
qualities, feel free to write that information down, but don't
spend too much time writing, just use a few words.
What you say aloud is always more important than what you
write like neighborhoods and landmarks every resident.
Also needs a true name, unlike neighborhoods and landmarks
however a residents true name is established through
collaboration during a vignette. So that's what we're going to
do. So a vignette is a brief glimpse
into a residence daily life to begin of a vignette, the current
player decides where the scene takes place.
So the location should be connected in some way.
To the landmark, the current player in bodies.
The resident other players play, various aspects of the setting,
the weather music, local flora and fauna site.
Smells tastes the passage of time or other characters in this
scene. You can literally do whatever
you want your player embodying. The resident make a broad seen
request their co-players could someone play A one of my family
members or less frame, this is a montage of my regular customers.
Or I'd like this to be a solo scene.
Place only be abstract elements in the space and then you
basically do that. And then the scene is over when
the current player knows the residents, true name in its
entirety. So the last part of the scene
ends when the player when you decide on the, on the residents
true name, based on the information that you've gathered
in the vignette. Cool.
And so, Resident. Like let's say the landmark was
like mr. Johnson's mail box or something?
The resident doesn't have to be mr.
Johnson. It's just something like a kid
walked by and hit it with a base.
Yeah, but you know, you communicated with me.
It's alright, if you leave, mr. Johnson.
You be mrs. Johnson waiting for a letter
from him to come home from the war.
Could be the mailman. You could even, hypothetically,
be the letter. Cool, you know what I mean?
You got. You got options options, then.
I will say if I sit back here, will they be able to hear me?
Yeah, just my back. I'm sorry bubs.
We all stick right to for what we should take a break.
Maybe after this round? Sure.
Okay. Let's say I'm going to make, I'm
going to introduce the resident of Henry, Ford Henry Cahill the
second, the second, or the third I suppose, if there was it would
be junior, right? Yeah I think s are always knows
just Juniors Juniors. Yeah, great because yeah, there
is a just your first would be because if Sir Henry and then
I'm Henry, I'm Henry Junior so that when my kid be Henry, the
third or had me the second, the third, the third.
Yeah, okay. Yeah.
Is it because there's no zero Henry?
Yeah, that would just be Henry. Okay, Henry, Henry the first,
and once I guess once they had jr.
He would be Henry senior. Yeah, you know, I don't know why
I got so hung up on that. I don't want some, it's
fascinating because it wasn't always the case.
It's like remember I took Russian lit in high school was
fucking awesome. And all like a lot of the czar's
of Russia has had the same name. Yeah.
And so is just so you would say Ivan the first because there's
so fucking many of them. So you feel like I'm in the
first and second there's at least eight Henry's.
Got it. I don't really.
Oh Henry. Okay.
Shakespeare those good. Okay.
Sounds good. So I'll say Henry Cahill the
third. Aw.
Well And Henry Cahill is a frequent visitor of the mayor's
Mansion. Okay, he's friends with, I mean,
you could say friends but he's sort of the wormtongue to the to
the mayor. Oh wow, that he's known the
mayor only once it became useful.
But once it became useful to know, the mayor, he like cozy
real. He's a grifter basically.
Okay. But he's like a really
successful grifter like a You know, he has the ear of the
mayor of town do we just have to be doing anything specific in
this context. It's just, um, hurry kale.
So we'll say first, let's see, what does he look like?
What do you say when Henry go? He's tall but sort of ghoulish.
So he's skinny a very long gaunt face, avian knows, you know very
pointy, pointy features, he's probably 64 will say very into a
Appearances. He makes sure that all of his
clothes are things that he could be, like caught it, but he's
never wearing something that would be, you know, even when
he's alone in his house like going to bed, it's like a nice
nightgown or something like that, just in case somebody were
to see him. So like, appearances are
everything to him. I mean, his appearance, so he's
wears on most days, he's wearing either a black gray or blue suit
on hotter days. He went Where's just like the
two pieces. So like just the vest and the
the nice shirt French cuffs for sure.
Is he actually a third or does he use that as an effect?
A Shinto sound fancier than he actually is much quicker.
Nobody knows, nobody knows, nobody knows.
I mean, you know, I guess why would you assume he's lying?
But like maybe not. Yeah, no, he's not from here.
Also, he sort of moved here at some point.
For vague reasons, he never really explain to anybody
because it could be like a Joker's scars situation, where
you just sort of, gives random different answers to whoever
whatever he feels. Like you told George featured, a
mustache wireframe like circle, glasses and a pocket.
Watch that he checks way too much.
Like there's no reason why he would have to keep checking his
pocket watch. That's like I don't want to like
force it but like a suspicious amount of.
Okay, we're like. What is he waiting?
Why does he have to know the time so precisely all the time?
I know and he's never really like nobody's really seen him
without the pocket watch like which is not to say.
I mean, everybody, fucking head pocket.
Will everybody sir? So it's not like strange that he
would always have it but he always has like, always answer.
Okay, so we go now to Henry Cahill the third.
What is he doing? And what is our vignette going
to be Henry Cahill? Let's see.
Keep wanting to say Henry Cavill I know I think that's probably
where it came from. Hmm you think well you're
thinking I need to write con something okay I forgot to stop
so when we place a landmark you place like the name of it so the
mayor's house but you also need to give it an address location.
So I'm going to say that it's on the corner of Main Main Street
and Broadway Court Street. Court Street, just Broadway.
Cool. Um so he's going into the
mayor's House unannounced but it's not unusual so it's like
he's kind of shows up and they'll say like mr.
Cahill's here for you or whatever you know so he's
walking up the Sort of opulent marble steps of the mayor's
house. The mayor's Mansion about to
ring the doorbell and he hmm. And he has on his person, a
brief case in which there's sort of a set of papers that are
pitching privatizing, the water. And I'm going to say Senoia
Springs signal. We answering okay.
Because the water comes from Springs in the mountains.
Cool. So yeah, in that briefcase, he
has plans or like a pitch to The Mayor to privatize.
Yeah. The water.
Okay. In tonight's rights.
And as hear of any up again, okay, feeling we need Foley
work. I know I was, I was gonna knock
on something and power to end. The scene.
What do you feel? Like you figured out his true
name so we can go for like as long or as short as you okay?
Okay, okay. Feel like, you have to be like a
now. A half hour improper cool.
What? You know, you'll see ya.
I'm sorry. All right, so he's walking up
the steps. Can you be the butler who opens
the door? Yes, mr.
K. He's an old Butler, he's an old
but mr. Cahill mr.
Cahill. Hello hello.
I'm here to see the mayor please.
I'm so sorry sound. He's not here right now.
Oh, do you know when he'll be back?
I heard that he was going down to trudge for for the day.
Something about some trouble with the water, something like
that, there's trouble with water and Transport to the well, I,
you know, I don't I don't want to speak out of turn, but I've
heard a few things. He rumors as I says that Cahill
gets sort of not a smile but like his the corner of his mouth
wants to smile and you can see his, his eyes squint a little
bit and he says all right and he looks down his briefcase and
debates like dropping it off. But he's been.
Carrying this pitch on him for a while waiting for The exact
right moment to to insert it into the mayor's, like life.
And so, he debates leaving the pitch and ultimately decides to
give it to him. He says, she could you deliver a
package for him to him when he returns?
Of course you have a message or anything that you'd like me to
put along with it. Yes, hold on.
And he lifts up his briefcase into one hand.
So he's like as if he's been doing this for a billion years,
he like, Uses sort of his left hand is like a table, like holds
up the briefcase, click click opens it and just Immaculate on
the inside and he pulls out, just the crispest fucking
folder, boy. It's got one of those cool like
little twine ties, then keeping a shot.
You just give this to him. Please.
Of course, thank you very much and returns to leave a note or
no just telling mr. Cahill's here to see Kate was
here. And shall I tell him?
What time will be returning? Tell him.
I'll return to see him at 5:15. I will do.
So thank you very much. Welcome have a great day and as
he turns you guys look so sorry, what was your name Jenkins?
That's goes fine. That's good, isn't it Jenkins?
Thank you very much. Yeah and then he turns I've
worked here for 40 years. We've met many times before it's
fine that's I'm just gonna go cry in my butler said goodbye.
As I guess as mr. Cahill walks down the steps, he
reaches the end of sort of like the path, you know, walkway up
to the house. So he's officially sort of left
the property and he looks and he stands for a second and he sort
of looked at the ground and squint soon.
Shifts his eyes from side to side like calculating and then
very quickly sort of finishes thinking and smiles and watched
on the street. Knows, who knows?
What is your name? His true name is my first.
That was the king of leeches. That's great.
That's really good. Cool.
Let's do that. They're kind of leeches King
because he's a leech and that he like grabs onto people in like
sucks there. Whatever ever his own basil
parasite. Yeah I love that.
That's really good. But leach into an implied low
status. Yeah but he's not like all this
guy's a pro. This guy Is the best leat.
Yeah, so the kids really, really good.
Thanks, that's great. Okay.
So now it's time for an event oh and I guess you set the compass.
So that's that's all you I'm learning.
I have a really interesting idea with your permission short
please. That night Henry Cahill's, Third
Return to the mayor's house at 5:15.
They have a Shannon about the context of the envelope.
And the mayor is, you know, kind of gives him a like what we need
to talk about this more length. I'm not prepared to make any
more decisions and as they step out there, they're a little
confused because it's, it's much brighter than it would normally
be there for several hours and it's early spring.
So, you know, it's still not light out super late but that
night, it is I'm Lee bright and the two men look up at the sky
and there's this big sort of, maybe it's a comet, maybe it's a
star, maybe it's a planet in some strange alignment, but
there is a bright light in the sky where there is never been
one before. It's not moving.
It's just yeah. It's just like, it's just there.
And as Henry Cahill goes to compulsively, check his watch.
He looks down and his watch has stopped bro, and it is here that
we will take a break. Yeah, high-five stopwatches.
Twilight Zone. It was time.
Now, the way that's different one.