Drama

I Wish I Were the Moon is another experiment in ludic Flash storytelling from Dan Benmergui, creator of Storyteller.

UI is simple; click on the scene to 'take a picture' of an element, then move it somewhere else and click again to place it. There are five potential endings, and to the degree that there is gameplay, it's a puzzle of a sort, working to uncover all five. It's also rather sweet, in a vaguely romantic sort of way. Not a deep game, but certainly an original one.

Interactive Storytelling is a tough nut to crack, so the rule there is keep your experiments to rapid prototypes. Some have spent years building monolithic engines, complete with editor and web-service, before providing playable demonstrations of a particular algorithm, and god bless them. Den Benmergui has done with his Storyteller experiment.

Most RPGs are all about the characters: who they fight, how they advance, what they can do. Primetime Adventures in the antithesis of this: the characters only matter in their place in the story.

Matt Wilson's game can be a challenge for gamers who cut their teeth on classic roleplaying games. A character's strength depends on only two things: how much the story is focused on that character and how much the player has contributed to the story. Everything else is just description. Characters are based around an issue, which guides sessions where that character is the focus, but has no mechanical effect on the game. The system is clean and simple, but its effect is to bring out a story from those playing it.

Out on the frontier, a group of religious pioneers struggles to make lives for themselves. The Faith faces freezing winters and blazing summers, but the greatest threat to their survival comes from within. You play one of God’s Watchdogs, tasked with holding the faith together in the face of sin, heresy, and demonic influence. The Dogs ride from town to town rooting out pridefullness and false doctrine, exorcising demons, dispensing justice, and keeping the Faith together. Their word is both law and gospel, but with ultimate authority comes ultimate responsibility.