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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Annalise is the second of Nathan Paoletta’s games I’ve had the pleasure to read. I read World Wide Wrestling almost a year ago and have played the game several time. Annalise is the first of Paoletta’s game texts that I have read that uses his own system. I was eager to read it after seeing it referred to several times by designers I admired, and I wanted to see how the game adapted Vincent Baker’s “Otherkind” dice mechanic. Recently Paoletta made the game available as a print-on-demand book through DriveThruRPG, so I ordered myself a copy that same day.
As with my other RPG book reviews, I am reviewing the text itself and not the game that results from it. I have not played the game or watched any actual plays about it.
The game is designed to create stories with 2-5 players that focus on characters surrounding a vampire—victims, hunters, minions, etc. The game is GMless (or GMful), and the players take turns spotlighting their protagonist and her struggles against the vampire. The vampire can be literal or metaphorical, and at the start of the game, the identity of the vampire is a mystery to all the players. Only through gameplay will the nature and presence of the vampire appear. The game’s mechanics and rules set focus heavily on how the story unfolds.
The game is divided into 4 phases. In the opening phase, the characters are introduced and we learn how they are vulnerable and how that vulnerability is attractive to the vampire. Characters are connected within the narrative, and the players begin to create a collection of “claims” that will become recurring motifs, characters, and events throughout the story. The second phase leads players to dive into who each character is, revealing the characters’ traits one at a time through a series of “Moments.” The vampire lurks around the edges of this phase. In the third phase, the characters confront the vampire in an attempt to free themselves or succumb fully to the vampire’s desires. If it hasn’t been revealed yet, each character will reveal the secret at the core of their being. The final phase is a mere aftermath or epilogue that points to the characters’ fates.
Paoletta is a solid writer, and he does a great job explaining not only how the mechanics work, but what they are striving to achieve and why they are there. The text is full or examples that clarify how the rules look in action. On a first read, there seemed to be a lot of rules, especially surrounding the “coins” that affect claims, traits, and Moments. I found myself vaguely confused several times. On a second read (I always read game texts twice), everything was very clear and simple. What this tells me is that the game’s economy of coins is a streamlined system, but a difficult one to present. It’s clear when you know how, but it’s one of those puzzles for the writer since it seems like you have to know everything at once to fully get it. I don’t know if or how it could have been done more clearly. Be patient with the text if you are intrigued by the gameplay the book promises.
The game design is very tight, and there are a few aspects that I absolutely love. The first thing I love is the “claims” system. Claims are a fantastic way to create recurring motifs and imagery fueled by what excites the individual players at the table. Do you love the theme or reflections or moonlit scenes, lay a claim and work it into a scene whenever you want. In fact, look for ways to work them into the scene. It’s a brilliant and simple way to ensure a stylistic continuity throughout the narrative. Claims can have a mechanical impact as well, affecting the dice results, which is just smart and thorough design, but I am primarily in love with them for their narrative potential.
The other thing I really admired about the structure of the game is how the game gives the players everything they need to negotiate a shared fiction and imagery in the opening phase with practically no work up front. There is no discussion that has to take place to get moving. The first player declares some things to be true and everyone can modify and add to it as they go along. Characters have barely any heft to them when they first hit the narrative, and we only discover the depth of their character as play unfolds. It’s a masterful design for creating exciting narratives without turning to watered-down group consensus. By the end of the first phase, practically everything has been agreed to and consented to. There is plenty of give and take and agreement, but it all happens practically without the players ever really needing to even think about it.
Oh, and one other thing. Having the vampire as a productive black hole at the center of the narrative is really neat. He will come into focus through play, but he’s a known unknown, as it were, an invisible force played against and slowly brought into focus.
All the elements of play serve multiple purposes and have different import in each phase of play. It’s a clever way to keep everything knew and to keep the thematic force of each phase in the fore. Play is highly structured by the rules, but never in a way that intends to pinch the players’ imaginations. They are there to shepherd the conversation and the story in a particular direction.
I’d be interested to see how the outcome discussion plays out in real play. It looks like it could bring things to a real slow-down having to first create a list and then write them down and then play with the coins to affect the dice, create rerolls, and finally bring things to a conclusion. This looks like at times it would be a thrilling part of the conversation and at other times it would be a drag and work. The other thing I can’t tell from reading the game is how rapidly the economy of coins cycles down to zero, creating floating claims and empty traits. They are a built in pacing mechanic, but I can’t tell if they put a pressure on play or if they are loose enough to let play go on and on if players wish.
The text is set up as a learning tool first and not at all as a reference tool. Tables and rules are not collected in any one place for easy reference, but there may be downloadable references making the book unnecessary after learning the game.
I really enjoyed reading and thinking about the game. I’m looking forward to reading my copies of Carry and Timestream soon.
As with my other RPG book reviews, I am reviewing the text itself and not the game that results from it. I have not played the game or watched any actual plays about it.
The game is designed to create stories with 2-5 players that focus on characters surrounding a vampire—victims, hunters, minions, etc. The game is GMless (or GMful), and the players take turns spotlighting their protagonist and her struggles against the vampire. The vampire can be literal or metaphorical, and at the start of the game, the identity of the vampire is a mystery to all the players. Only through gameplay will the nature and presence of the vampire appear. The game’s mechanics and rules set focus heavily on how the story unfolds.
The game is divided into 4 phases. In the opening phase, the characters are introduced and we learn how they are vulnerable and how that vulnerability is attractive to the vampire. Characters are connected within the narrative, and the players begin to create a collection of “claims” that will become recurring motifs, characters, and events throughout the story. The second phase leads players to dive into who each character is, revealing the characters’ traits one at a time through a series of “Moments.” The vampire lurks around the edges of this phase. In the third phase, the characters confront the vampire in an attempt to free themselves or succumb fully to the vampire’s desires. If it hasn’t been revealed yet, each character will reveal the secret at the core of their being. The final phase is a mere aftermath or epilogue that points to the characters’ fates.
Paoletta is a solid writer, and he does a great job explaining not only how the mechanics work, but what they are striving to achieve and why they are there. The text is full or examples that clarify how the rules look in action. On a first read, there seemed to be a lot of rules, especially surrounding the “coins” that affect claims, traits, and Moments. I found myself vaguely confused several times. On a second read (I always read game texts twice), everything was very clear and simple. What this tells me is that the game’s economy of coins is a streamlined system, but a difficult one to present. It’s clear when you know how, but it’s one of those puzzles for the writer since it seems like you have to know everything at once to fully get it. I don’t know if or how it could have been done more clearly. Be patient with the text if you are intrigued by the gameplay the book promises.
The game design is very tight, and there are a few aspects that I absolutely love. The first thing I love is the “claims” system. Claims are a fantastic way to create recurring motifs and imagery fueled by what excites the individual players at the table. Do you love the theme or reflections or moonlit scenes, lay a claim and work it into a scene whenever you want. In fact, look for ways to work them into the scene. It’s a brilliant and simple way to ensure a stylistic continuity throughout the narrative. Claims can have a mechanical impact as well, affecting the dice results, which is just smart and thorough design, but I am primarily in love with them for their narrative potential.
The other thing I really admired about the structure of the game is how the game gives the players everything they need to negotiate a shared fiction and imagery in the opening phase with practically no work up front. There is no discussion that has to take place to get moving. The first player declares some things to be true and everyone can modify and add to it as they go along. Characters have barely any heft to them when they first hit the narrative, and we only discover the depth of their character as play unfolds. It’s a masterful design for creating exciting narratives without turning to watered-down group consensus. By the end of the first phase, practically everything has been agreed to and consented to. There is plenty of give and take and agreement, but it all happens practically without the players ever really needing to even think about it.
Oh, and one other thing. Having the vampire as a productive black hole at the center of the narrative is really neat. He will come into focus through play, but he’s a known unknown, as it were, an invisible force played against and slowly brought into focus.
All the elements of play serve multiple purposes and have different import in each phase of play. It’s a clever way to keep everything knew and to keep the thematic force of each phase in the fore. Play is highly structured by the rules, but never in a way that intends to pinch the players’ imaginations. They are there to shepherd the conversation and the story in a particular direction.
I’d be interested to see how the outcome discussion plays out in real play. It looks like it could bring things to a real slow-down having to first create a list and then write them down and then play with the coins to affect the dice, create rerolls, and finally bring things to a conclusion. This looks like at times it would be a thrilling part of the conversation and at other times it would be a drag and work. The other thing I can’t tell from reading the game is how rapidly the economy of coins cycles down to zero, creating floating claims and empty traits. They are a built in pacing mechanic, but I can’t tell if they put a pressure on play or if they are loose enough to let play go on and on if players wish.
The text is set up as a learning tool first and not at all as a reference tool. Tables and rules are not collected in any one place for easy reference, but there may be downloadable references making the book unnecessary after learning the game.
I really enjoyed reading and thinking about the game. I’m looking forward to reading my copies of Carry and Timestream soon.