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 So what is Storium? Storium is dubbed an "online storytelling game" where a narrator creates a the basic framework of a story and lets a group of players loose to write the rest of it with them in a play-by-post format. It's the result of a very successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014, and is currently in gamma. Eventually the site plans to transition to an annual subscription model, but for now it's possible to get an account for free by being invited to a game. The Narrator  The Narrator is analogous to the GM of a game. In general the Narrator creates the world the story will be taking place in. Besides basic worldbuilding, this consists of creating small decks of cards. These cards will represent Locations the game will take place in, the various character cards that the players will use to build characters for the story, and Challenges which represent things (NPCs or more abstract obstacles) that the players will interact with to make the story. The Players  The Players build characters by selected cards that are either created by the Narrator or, in some cases, by the players themselves. Each starting character consists of a "Nature" which represents their core concept and isn't playable during the story, a "Strength" and "Weakness" which represent both positive and negative ways the character will interact with the obstacles in the story, and a "Goal" which represents something the character is hoping to accomplish in the story. Playing all of your Goal cards earns you a new "Wild" Strength card which you can use to further refine and develop your character and is analogous to leveling up in other games. As the story progresses, Players will end up picking up "Assets" which are things the character possess (a sword, a secret code, a friendly NPC, etc) and can be used to overcome challenges, and "Subplots" which are short term goals which can also earn a character an extra Wild Strength when they're all played. So how does it all work?  Primarily, the "game" portion of Storium revolves around gaining narrative control of a scene through players playing cards from their hand. The Narrator creates a scene using their Location and Challenge cards. Challenges have a point value assigned to them, and represent the amount of cards that the players need to commit to that challenge to "overcome" it and move the story forward. Additionally, the Narrator sets the general guidance on "Strong" and "Weak" outcomes to the Challenges.  Strong and Weak outcomes are determined by what cards the Players play from their hands. Each Strength they play earns a +1 for the challenge, each Weakness a -1, and Assets, Goals, and Subplots a +0. When all of the cards are played for a Challenge if it has a positive score it earns a Strong Outcome, and if it's negative it earns a Weak Outcome with the last player playing the last card winning control of the challenge and getting to dictate what exactly happens within the guidelines set by the Narrator for outcomes. If the score ends up at 0 it ends up as an "Uncertain" outcome and the Narrator gains narrative control and decides the challenge's outcome.  Still confused? Then watch this helpful video! So What? Storium is not without its weaknesses. Even with its simplicity of play, it still suffers from the traditional plight of the play-by-post format which is players and narrators just up and quitting on a game. Additionally, the player base is not huge, and it's doubtful that the site going full pay to play sometime later this year will help matters and its unclear if the free to play invite system will survive the final cut. That said the game is incredibly lightweight to play, and can be done just about anywhere (I primarily play from my phone during short breaks during the day). It's relatively easy to start a game as a Narrator, as there are a 9 premade "worlds" each with an easy to modify card deck and building your own from scratch is pretty simple as well as well. Additionally, thanks to the Kickstarter reaching a ton of stretch goals, a bunch of relative industry celebrities are creating a bunch more premade worlds to work with at launch. (They're all listed at the bottom of this link.) This thread is people curious about the whole thing to come ask questions, and for those already on the site to share their experiences as well as tips and tricks they've seen in good games and stuff that didn't work out in bad one.
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Jun 28, 2015 02:52
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Saw this a little while ago. Agree with the idea but, in practice? I dunno how much I would be willing to spend, especially on a per month basis.
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Jun 28, 2015 22:28
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Josef bugman posted:Saw this a little while ago. Agree with the idea but, in practice? I dunno how much I would be willing to spend, especially on a per month basis. Yeah, I tend to agree with you. I've had fun with it, but I don't think I've had enough to justify paying for it. Especially given the relatively low rate at which new games open up publicly. The fact that you have to pay more for the specialty game worlds from the stretch goals bugs me too. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some free copy cats pop up in the near future.
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Jun 28, 2015 23:31
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So, for those who are curious I've posted a recruitment thread for a Storium game. Check it out if you want to get access and at least get a shot to read some of the other games on the site and see what it can do.
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Jun 29, 2015 12:44
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I'm tempted to drop  to take a look around their site, but I can't help but feel it would be wasted money because I'd never use it for anything. If they allowed people to read existing games in progress it would do a lot to sell me, I think.
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Jun 29, 2015 13:36
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I'm a little unclear on how the pricing is going to work post launch. The website says you will have to pay $25 a year after your third game. Does that mean you have to pay $25 a year to play more than 3 games, or just if you want to host more than 3 games? If I have a regular $25 account post launch and I run 5 games next year, would the players be able to join all those for free if I invite them directly? I couldn't find the answer easily on their site and I figured you knew already.
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Jun 30, 2015 23:13
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I have no idea to be frank. Their final pricing plan is pretty opaque at this point which implies to me that I don't think they've figured it out themselves.
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Jul 1, 2015 01:01
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ManMythLegend posted:I have no idea to be frank. Their final pricing plan is pretty opaque at this point which implies to me that I don't think they've figured it out themselves. Seems very possible. I guess it is still in the early phases after all. I sent them a ticket to try and get a bit of clarity. Edit: "Hi there — Thanks for the note! We're still finalizing our pricing, but the general idea is that paid memberships will be required in order to *start* (narrate) games, but not to play in them. So in your example, if you invite friends to join your games, they won't have to become paid members themselves. Hope that helps!" Fumaofthelake fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Jul 1, 2015 |
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Jul 1, 2015 16:20
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So, Storium went free to the public last week. The free plan gives you the ability to run unlimited amounts of Short Stories with three players max and a single narrator, and to play in up to three games at a time. You can also now read games without a log in. I've made an account, but I haven't taken the plunge quite yet. On the surface, the free plan sounds a little constricting on the host's side, but maybe it'll feel different in play.
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Mar 6, 2016 08:33
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Still hoping for someone to do like a worked example to show how it's meant to be usef.
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Mar 6, 2016 18:03
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inklesspen posted:Still hoping for someone to do like a worked example to show how it's meant to be usef. I figure that's the purpose of the featured games on the "browse games" list, but I agree. The tutorial video and help page are useful but I'm still having a tough time trying to grasp the game. An example game I could browse that breaks down the post to post play would be really helpful.
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Mar 6, 2016 21:33
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So I made an account to take a look, I'd be willing to try this out as a player I'd someone is making a game. Ign is Hypnofist.
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Mar 7, 2016 04:39
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Alright, I've set up a super-basic cyberpunk game and set the whole thing to public so it should also serve as a bit of a worked example for people (I hope). I've sent an invite to Hypnofist, and anyone else who wants in can post their Storium ID here and I'll invite them too. I'm limited to three players mind you, because I'm too cheap to subscribe right now. The free plan does feel really restrictive -- mostly because you're limited to six scenes per story -- but we'll see how it plays out.
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Mar 7, 2016 10:12
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Just made my character. I'm a private investigator, and this looks pretty fun already. Though I will say, I was very tempted to make a cyber samurai, and just cut people down while trying to solve a murder mystery.
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Mar 7, 2016 16:05
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I'm inklesspen there; send me an invite and i'll poke at it.
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Mar 7, 2016 16:23
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Elblanco posted:Just made my character. I'm a private investigator, and this looks pretty fun already. Though I will say, I was very tempted to make a cyber samurai, and just cut people down while trying to solve a murder mystery. I was assuming someone would play a cyber samurai, but a private detective works too. I've got it in mind to approach this with a certain degree of flexibility, to account for any extras the players bring in. I'd do rotating narration too but as a non-payer I don't have that option.
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Mar 7, 2016 20:37
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I'm reviving the dead. Has anybody given this a chance since March? I just signed up for it and it seems pretty interesting. Are there any goons running stories on it right now?
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Oct 14, 2016 16:11
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N. Senada posted:I'm reviving the dead. Has anybody given this a chance since March? I just signed up for it and it seems pretty interesting. Are there any goons running stories on it right now? I'm in two at the moment. In Sunder, which is wrapping up, and Out of the Blackness.
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Oct 28, 2016 00:52
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