Jay Dragon (& Friends)

JD Essentials

Added 2024-03-11 16:19:11 +0000 UTC

Here's a game I whipped up, a rules-lite experiment based on conversations I've had over the past few months about the nature of games. I'll post it on Itch.io soon enough, I just wanted to share it now with all of you.

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These are the essential social norms I use when I play make-believe with my friends.

Play Culture

This is a game about establishing and exploring Truths. Decide at the beginning who will be the arbitrator of what is True? Perhaps it is one player, a set of players, or all players. One way to decide is to grant different players authority over different kinds of Truths, or to grant all authority to a single player.

Additionally, decide who will be responsible for the actions of the World, building upon what is True? Perhaps it is one player (either the same, or different from, the one who knows what is True), or a set of players, or all players. Perhaps different players wield authority over different portions of the World.

Establish each player's goal. Are you here to…

Have fun?
Feel deep emotions?
Tell a story?

Or another goal entirely?

The World

Establish your Inspirations. Your Inspiration is composed of any fictional works which you've agreed will inspire your make-believe, and an authoritative source of information on how the real world works (this can just be Wikipedia). Your fictional works can be a single book (if you wish to play inside a pre-existing world) or a collection of different stories, if you want something more do-it-yourself. Your Inspiration can also include specific guides on activities, adventure modules from other games, the writing of one particular player, or books of poetry.

Everything within your Inspiration is deemed True, unless anyone chooses to dispute it.

Establish the goal of the World in your play. Are you here to…

Explore a specific part of the World?
Demonstrate mastery over the World?
Watch the World fall apart?

Or another goal entirely?

The Character

Invent your Character. Give them any number of Truths. Each Truth is a strong statement about that Character, which may or may not include:

Where they're from, what they look like, or how they're built.
A field they've studied in or an area they have knowledge of.
A skill they're especially good at, or wish they were good at.
A lucky break, divine favor, or some other knack beyond their knowledge.
An object they possess, a language they speak, or a community they know.

You have Authority over all Truths about your Character, and you may add to it freely. Write these all down on a piece of paper in front of you. Draw whatever else you wish on that paper.

With each Character, discuss how they feel about each other Character. You may make more Characters whenever you want. Establish the goal of your Character in relationship with the other Characters. Are you here to…

Earn the love of another Character?
Get revenge on a Character who spurned you?
Make a ton of money with the help of another Character?

Or another goal entirely?

Playing With Truths

Describe what your Character does. The World, or other Characters, reacts. Whenever something happens which reveals some new Truth about anyone, write it down.

If you describe yourself doing something, and anyone else claims you're unable to do that, you may prove your ability to do so by finding and invoking a Truth. If there is no relevant Truth, you will fail to accomplish what you're trying to do.

Through invoking a Truth, you may establish a new Truth, or add a note to the currently-existing Truth. Each Truth builds on one previous, and the more Truths any particular construction is built upon, the sturdier it is.

Example: I have the Truth "I know the secret name of Fire, and may use that to command all flames." With this Truth, I declare that I boil the blood of a gang of goblins until they die before me. The table agrees, and I add a note to my Truth about one possible application of this previous Truth, and the Goblins gain a new (although irrelevant) Truth: They are dead.

Mediation

If someone disagrees with a Truth which you claim, or they provide a contradictory Truth, you must find a way to Mediate. This may be done through conversation, or randomization, or some other method of settling which Truth is right.

The more a Truth has been previously invoked, the sturdier it is.

This process of Mediation may result in one or both Truths changing to reflect the conclusions drawn by the players. Truths cannot be changed in such a way that contradicts previous Truths during play.

Example: I declare that I strike and kill the dragon. The dragon's player claims the dragon's scales are hard enough to withstand any blade. I claim my Truth — the sword is sharp enough to pierce anything. We mediate by rolling a 20-sided die, and I get an 11, which is inconclusive. I change my Truth to clarify that the sword is sharp enough to damage anything, and we decide that while my blade could pierce the dragon's scales, it was not able to kill the beast.

Eliding Play

This process of establishing and exploring Truths is only relevant if both the process and the outcome of any particular activity is uncertain, and we wish to discuss how we approach it and what happens.

If we are interested in the outcome of an event, but don't want to spend time discussing the process of this event, we may abstract it using a simple mechanic of our choice.

Example: We're traveling from one city to another, and we don't care about creating a realistic weather model or using our truths to determine the weather, but want the weather to surprise us anyway. One player will go and find rules for modeling weather from some other game, a random table perhaps, and use that while we travel.

The use of the mechanic for this function is itself a Truth, and the results it creates may be challenged and mediated through Truths.

Ritualizing Play

If a Truth leaves us uncertain as to the results of some action, and we're interested in the tactile sensation of how we arrive at the outcome of an event, we may call upon a Ritual to represent this event.

A Ritual may include mechanics from another game, engagement with a particular work of art, or a physical action. At the conclusion of the Ritual, we interpret the events of it back into the fictional world as Truths, although as Truths they may be similarly mediated and challenged.

Example: I want to cast a spell, and I think it would be more interesting as a Ritual. Maybe we find a puzzle game to model the casting process, or we draw three Tarot cards, or we go outside and gather mud into a potion. At the conclusion of the process, we look at what has been done and determine the nature of the spell in question.

Rituals may be used when the outcome is certain. In these instances, there is no needed interpretation, but rather they are present to indulge in the beauty of the world.

Example: The last great king is dying. We know it to be True. Someone recites Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. At the conclusion of the poem, the last great king is dead.

Changing Truths

There are three main ways in which Truths may change:

Within the fiction, a Truth may change another Truth when it is appropriate. Example: You have the Truth: "I am the greatest swordsman in the land." I cut off your hand as punishment, and you change your Truth to "I am learning to once again be the greatest swordsman after the trauma of my lost hand."
Through rituals, mechanics, and mediation, we may produce and change Truths. Example: The path to the city has the Truth: "It is quick and easy." Through mechanics, we determine a great rainstorm has eroded the road. The path now has the Truth: "It is treacherous and muddy."
Through player conversation and comfort, we may change Truths, including retroactively. Example: I have the Truth: "I may speak to spiders." and have used it in the past. A player has severe arachnophobia, and they realized the Truth is making them nauseous. After discussion, I change it to "I may speak to vermin." While I used it for spiders in the past, from here on out I'll use it mostly on rats

Death

Death is yet another Truth, and Characters may die frequently in response to the Truths of the world around them. If a Character Dies, make a new one if you please, or focus more on tending to the World as a reactive force. You may take a Character someone else made, if they offer it.

When any Character dies, spare a sentence to honor them, before setting them aside.