Mad Biographers Brain Dump
Facts are but the Play-things of lawyers, Tops and Hoops, forever a-spin… Alas, the Historian may indulge no such idle Rotating. History is not Chronology, for that is left to lawyers, nor is it Remembrance, for Remembrance belongs to the People. History can as little pretend to the Veracity of the one, as claim the Power of another, her Practitioners, to survive, must soon learn the arts of the quidnunc, spy, and Taproom Wit, that there may ever continue more than one life-line back into a Past we risk, each day, losing our forebears in forever, not a Chain of single Links, for one broken Link could lose us All, rather a great disorderly Tangle of Lines, long and short, weak and strong, vanishing into the Mnemonick Deep, with only their Destination in common.
- Mason and Dixon, p. 349
A few months ago I wrote a post about viewing narrative in tabletop as a historiographic process. That is, the stories we tell during a tabletop RPG session, adventure, or campaign can be described as a history of events that are experienced at the table. History is a narrative which is assembled from facts which are created, assembled, retrieved, and eventually looked back on with retrospective significance.
In that post, I sketched out an idea for a game which actively centers the different steps of this process as the gameplay itself, The Mad Biographers. I haven't posted much more about this game due to my varying madnesses, primarily 18th century surveying and tactical ballroom dancing, but I have done some more development on this idea that I wanted to blog about to make it feel more real.
As a brief refresher, our core idea here is that players are Personal Chroniclers, sort of middlebrow authors vying to interview an adventurer and turn the record of their adventure into a genre story. I have since learned that this is almost verbatim the premise of Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, but I have never read that book and to my understanding there is a 1:1 ratio of authors to adventurers in it so this is completely novel.
10,000 Foot View
My vision of the gameplay is that the GM portrays the adventurer and narrates their experience of an adventure in first person. Meanwhile, the Personal Chroniclers ask questions to guide the "vision cone" of the adventurer through the scene and create facts. Personal Chroniclers are all trying to create facts while managing Tone and Tension during "scenes" so that the subsequent fact assembly and fact retrieval may allow them to ascribe a retrospective significance to the events of the adventure that is congruent with their chosen genre. They must also avoid accruing Plot Holes, which may damage their credibility.
At the end of an adventure, each player literally takes facts that have been created through play and writes out a (short) retelling of the events through the lens of their preferred genre. This retelling is then judged against a set of evaluation criteria to assess whether they are able to produce a bestseller or not.
1,000 Foot View
I think we'll do something simple like a d6 dice pool. I'm veering dangerously close to a full FITD system, but I'm not sure how mechanically complex I want to get with it. I do think that there would be a cumulative "character sheet" for the Adventurer that would function like the Crew Sheet in Blades in the Dark. This "Character Sheet" would represent basic known capabilities of the adventurer to structure the types of leading questions that PCs could ask the adventurer about during play.
This opens the door for advancement between sessions as the adventurer gains reputation and ability. Additionally, the Character Sheet could also structure the types of adventures that the group plays out. A Fighter/Magician/Thief Character Sheet could be used for playing through classic OSR modules while a Paranormal Investigator Character Sheet could be used for playing through Delta Green or Call of Cthulhu modules.
In addition to the shared Character Sheet, players would manage slim playbooks like any other FITD-lite or PBTA-like. These playbooks would correspond to the player's preferred genre, such as:
- Romantasy/Gossip Columnist
- Thriller/Investigative Reporter
- Surrealist/Postmodernist
- Essayist/Explainer/Listicle
- Historian/Documentarian
Each playbook would explain the overall goal of the genre author, the primary Tropes that they lean on for their books, and Sales Metrics. Sales Metrics are an evaluation condition for the end of an adventure which sort of function like experience points in similar games. Players are trying to bend the story of the adventure into their genre with minimal Plot Holes in order to hit their Sales Metrics and make it out of the hell of "airport novelist".
100 Foot View
Each author also has some level of ability with various Literary Flourishes, which function as their stats. The four Literary Flourishes are Dialogue, Technical Writing, Metaphor, and Narration. As Personal Chroniclers try to shape a scene, the Adventurer may ask for a Literary Flourish check, which demands that the PC roll some number of d6 and look for the highest value.
The goal of each Literary Flourish is to, in some way, create a Fact that will be useful for that PC to later retrieve and assemble into their narrative. When the PC is not able to cleanly execute the Literary Flourish, they may take a redline which is an editorial consequence that may eventually lead to a Plot Hole.
Dialogue
Used to steer conversations or interactions with other subjects in the adventure. A successful Dialogue check allows the PC to set the tone of a conversation. A failed Dialogue check may lead to a fizzled, unproductive conversation or it may lead to a conversation that is useful but completely incompatible with your genre style. Dialog checks are used to Characterize your adventurer, Lore Dump about the adventure/setting, Change the Tone of a scene, or Manage Conflict with other subjects.
- 6+: Add 1 Tension
- 6: Snappy, engaging dialog. The PC succeeds and a new Fact is created.
- 4-5: Slightly sloppy; the PC achieves their goal but author takes a redline
- 1-3: The PC fails and the Tone of the scene changes to their detriment
Technical Writing
Used to capture details about mechanisms, science, alchemy, and magic in a way that is legible to a reader. A successful Technical Writing check demonstrates that the PC understands the processes at play and can bend them to their narrative. A failed Technical Writing check betrays a worse-than-surface-level understanding of the situation at hand, leading to disastrous narrative consequences. Technical Writing checks are used to Lore Dump about the adventure/setting or Clarify an element in the scene by reducing it to a digestible problem.
- 6+: Gain 1 Tension
- 6: Elegant and refined prose. The PC succeeds and a new Fact is created
- 4-5: Slightly sloppy; the PC achieves their goal but author takes a redline
- 1-3: The process or mechanism is more complicated than you have the faculties or knowledge to describe; the adventurer fails to interact with it until circumstances change.
Metaphor
Used to translate between the literal and the figurative. A successful Metaphor check interprets an object in a scene as an allegorical figure or a stand-in for some deeper or less-threatening truth. An unsuccessful Metaphor check fails to grapple with the dire reality of the situation. Metaphor checks are used to Elevate the scene, Characterize your adventurer, or Clarify the otherwise unexplainable.
- 6+: Gain 1 Tension
- 6: Such beautiful prose that it is reflected by reality. The object you were comparing to something else In Fact becomes that.
- 4-5: Slightly sloppy; the PC contextualizes the scene element but author takes a redline
- 1-3: A new negative or threatening Fact is created based on the attempted metaphor.
Narration
Used to guide a reader through complicated sequence of actions over a reasonable timescale. Whether the narrator is zoomed in to a 20 second duel or a four day trek, a successful Narration check keeps the reader focused and engaged on the relevant action. An unsuccessful Narration check is confusing or boring. Narration checks are used to Manage Conflict in a scene or Advance Time within the story.
- 6+ Gain 1 Tension
- 6: Flavorful and engaging prose that guides the reader through a dynamic series of events. The PC succeeds and a new Fact is created
- 4-5: Slightly sloppy; the PC succeeds but author takes a redline
- 1-3: A new negative or embarrassing Fact is created based on the attempted narration
10 Foot View
With all of that, let's take a look at a few example playbooks and see if things make sense. There are a couple of holes in the mechanics here that I am working through, but I think that there is some sort of metacurrency at play during scenes called Tension which accentuates facts at the point of creation, but can also be cashed in to create a dice pool for employing Tropes. For now, let's say that "on a success" means "on a 5-6".
Romantasy/Gossip Columnist
The goal of the romance author is to produce a sultry, sexy narrative that can be sold to a broad audience without risking censorship. The romance author uses Tension to accentuate relationships between the adventurer and the other subjects in the adventure.
Romantasy Tropes:
- Enemies to Lovers: On a success, the adventurer shares a look with a foe, revealing a soft and vulnerable side. If appropriate, the foe becomes an ally.
- Second Chance: Triggered upon a failed Dialogue check. Spend 1 [TBR] Tension for a PC to immediately attempt another Dialogue check, where the subject in the scene views the adventurer with Pity. Spend 3 [TBR] Tension to attempt the check with a normal Disposition.
- Forced Proximity: Create a reason for the adventurer to be physically close or attached to an ally. Gain 1 extra Tension per scene that this closeness is maintained.
Romantasy Sales Metrics:
- Hot and Heavy: +1 die for each scene resolved with at least 5 [TBR] Tension while the tone is Romantic or Action-Packed
- Three for the Price of Two: +1 die for successfully constructing a Love Triangle using Facts created during the adventure
Pop History/Documentary
The goal of the historian is to produce a factual narrative that challenges the popular conception of the subject matter. The historian uses Tension to advance an argument about the historical value or function of the adventure itself.
Pop History Tropes:
- Primary Sources: For each success, the Historian learns or creates a new fact about the setting of the adventure
- Recently Uncovered Letters: For each success, the Historian learns or creates a new motivation about a subject of the adventure
- Celebrity Voiceover: For each success, the Historian calls in a favor from a famous person to lend extra gravitas to a scene, either increasing the Tension or mending a Plot Hole
Pop History Sales Metrics
- Ahead of their Time: +1 die when the Historian successfully ascribes an advanced social belief or technical feat to a subject in the adventure
- Counterfactuals: +1 die if the Historian is able to challenge the preconceived notions of the adventurer or popular society with respect to the adventure setting
Next Steps
I need to do a little more work to nail down how Tension is generated, it seems like something that should ebb and flow naturally during scenes as players generate facts and exercise tropes. I have Trope ideas for all of the genres, but I'd like to refine them some more and make sure that everyone has good Sales Metrics before I take this to a playtest. Let me know what you think!