Nano RPG - Story

Check out my Substack to see my other nano RPGs and designer's note on them.

"I’m coming back once more to this idea that causality is a key feature of any narrative. We tend to think of stories through the lens of the 3 act structures, or the hero’s journey. I think this simple chain of “But” and “Therefore” that are commonly referred to as “conflict” and “resolution” is a more elegant representation. You add unequal variation of intensity to those two components and end up with an infinite number of tales to tell. As an example, try to conclude on a conflict and on a resolution to get how different it feels.

It’s also with that second entry that the rules of the Jam start to shine. I initially had a version with timers to put pressure on players. It probably makes it more like a game, but the 12-word constraint forced me to distill it further down. All those layers of friction and win condition can be factored in later… or not. That’s why we jam, to get a sharable result, a chance to stop there, or a new starting point to make something deeper."