Hotel

Write microfiction with the help of several short games. Write. Invite others to play a short-game . Edit. Write. Play another game with, etc . . .  

The microfiction structure. 

Situation, Goal, Obstacle, Disaster, Reaction, Dilemma, Decision, (repeat). 

These are fictional beats. A paragraph or two for each beat. 

The beats have associated games. Generate notes, ideas and possibilities from each game. The games act as creative seeds and randomizer. 

The Situation

Writer +1 player, 3x5cards. 

Give a hotel history, characters, events, etc…

On one card write: Where. 
On two cards write: When
	Card 1 … it was built.
Card 2 … it was destroyed. 
On 7 cards write: Who (Any guest or employee of the Hotel)
On 10 cards write: What  (Any non-person event significant to the hotel’s history.)
On 4 cards write: Emotion. 

Take turns drawing and playing cards. (See special rules for emotion card.)

Place cards, chronologically if possible, and write the answer to the question with just a few words. Example
Where: Austin, Tx in a neighborhood on the cusp of urban decay.
When Built: (1967)

After a player places a card, the other player may ask one of the following: 

And it invokes a memory of . . . . 
The related sensations included the smells and sounds of . . . 
And it was unusual because . . . 

If the other player decides to answer, summarize their brief answer on the card.
Or, the other player can draw and hold an Emotion card, then turn the question around “I don’t know. What do you say?” 

To play an emotion card, write an emotion on the card and place it above any other non-emotion card. 

The game ends when placing the last emotion card or no more Who and What cards. 
Collaborate to place remaining emotion cards.  

Take all your cards, your notes, thank your player. Chat about the game, let your mind wander. 
Then later, alone, find some time to write the first beat: situation. Distill your hotel to a paragraph at most. 

Goal

Writer+ 3-6 players. 

Writer describes the Hotel.
Place the THINGS to be WARY OF list on the table. 

Ghosts
The Law
Famine
Crime
Malaise
Frantic
Spies
Decay
Exuberance
Hatred
Love
The past
The future
Loathing
Obsession
Genius
Poverty

Place all the Who cards from the previous game on the table. Take turns selecting. Writer also plays. 

Going clockwise take turns. On a player’s turn chose two of the following:
Circle one WARY,
Cross out a WARY
Add a WARY

Then write a trait or sentence on one on their Who cards explaining why the WARY applied(circled, added) or did not apply (crossed out). 

When you have as many items circled as you have players the cocktails phase begins. 

Writer describes the hotel during cocktail hour.

Going around the table, alternating, every-other player starts a conversation as one of their Who cards (characters) to the Who card or cards of the player to their right. In odd number games the last player introduces one of their characters to the remaining characters.

The player should introduce their Who card in-character. They are allowed minor out-of-character flourishes. 

These conversations should run simultaneously. 

Once the first awkward moments of the conversations are over, and you’re just starting to feel in-character, someone should start a timer (just pull out your phone. Set it to 12 minutes).

As the timer alarms cocktail hour ends and dinner is served. 
 
Writer, set the scene. Describe a delicious conversations ending meal. 

Go around the table, each person picking a Who card and revealing some of their thoughts and describing their behaviors at the table that reflect them. Players should take short turns. Try to go around at least twice. Let the behavior of the characters inform each other. After the second round set a timer, 2 min/player. When the timer goes off begin the Night Phase.

Night Phase. 
Each player selects two of the circled WARYS and writes them on the Who card to the player on their Left. 
All players are given 2 Intensity coins and 2 Causality coins per Who card in play. 
Go around the table. Players describe the sleep and dreams of their who cards. 
Then the table can assign as many coins next to one or both of the WARYS listed on that card. 

Future Phase
The number and ratio of Intensity and Causality influence the amount of impact that WARY had on that character’s life, and just how direct the causality was. 

Someone with no coins on a WARY would have little to no impact on their life and it was not at all causally related. 
Someone with many Intensity coins might have had their life forever changed by the WARY, but it may not have been directly caused by it. 

Someone with both high stacks in the same WARY had their life directly impacted by that WARY. 

Collect the cards. 
Thank your players. Make notes. Chat about the game.  

Try to sleep between this sub-game and writing the beat. 

Disaster, reaction, dilemma, decision 

2 players, 1d4 dice
Randomly reveal.
2 Who,
2 What 
1 emotion 

From the cards pick two words. 
Draw on a piece of paper an XY axis grid. label each axis with a these words.
. 
Each axis represents a good-to-bad interpretation of that element. 0 being bad, higher numbers being good.
Draw lines bisecting each axis to form a quadrant grid ( I, II, III, IV). 
Each token represents a Who card. 

Each player rolls the 1d4 once for each Who card. Secretly writes the result as quadrant locations. 
Give each player 30 coins or tokens. 
Take turns. Set a scene. Add a tilt. Make a possibility statement on how the scene develops then puts a secret amount of coins in hand. 
Responder, makes an “only if,” or other contingency phrase, puts an amount of coins in hand. 
Reveal coins. high hand narrates consequences and moves a token on the grid, then puts coins cup.  
Play until all coins are gone. If tokens match secret locations you win. 

When writing the Beats of disaster,reaction, etc .. . 

High drama, intensity of writing takes place in:
both tokens in II:  Disaster
both tokens in IV: Decision
one token in II: Reaction

one token in III: Dilemma
No tokens in II: Dilemma
No tokens In III: Disaster

Repeat games as needed. 
Send a copy of your finished microfiction to all your fellow players and the authors of this game.