About

What is Talecraft?

As a game, Talecraft aims to promote creative thinking through story creation. As a story-creation tool, Talecraft aims to help writers generate ideas for stories, and help combat Mental Block.

Talecraft provides the different Genres and Archetypes as cards. Since the setting is dependent on the genre of the story, Talecraft leaves the creation of the time and place to the imagination of the player. For the plot, Talecraft uses the Key cards, where a player may either be given plots, or keywords that would govern the story. Players may be required to add more characters to his cards. In this event, the player’s story would be more character-driven than plot-driven.

A player of Talecraft has to create a story using the cards he had picked. The limit the picked cards set to a player prompts the use of the player’s resourcefulness; and the need to fit all the cards into a story stretches his imagination.

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How to Play

To play the game, the cards must first be arranged into three stacks: The Genre stack, the Archetype stack, and the Key stack. The cards are facing down.

First, each player must pick one card each from the Genre Stack. That card will determine what genre the player’s story has to be. Next, each player must take two cards each from the Archetype Stack. One card will be their main protagonist, and the other card will be their main antagonist. Next, the players must pick six cards each from the Key Stack.

If the player picks a Keyword, the player must integrate that as a major factor or important item in the story, which the player will create at the end of the game. If it is a Plotline, the plot of the player’s story must follow it. If a player picks more than one Plotline, the player must decide which Plotline will be used as a main plot of the story, and which will be used as subplots. If it is an instruction that tells the player to pick, the player must follow it and pick a card from either the Genre Stack (the player’s story now has more than one genre, i.e. Romantic Fantasy) or the Archetype Stack (the player is now required to add another character). If the player picks an instruction that tells him to swap, the player is given the opportunity to discard one of his cards (any of the three types: Genre, Archetype, or Key) and pick a new card of the same type.

The players will then have five minutes to create their stories, and then take turns telling their created stories.

Cards

For Example, if I have the following cards:

Genre: Adventure
Archetypes: Siren, Vigilante, Lovable Rogue, Haunted Hero
Keys: Cat, Ship, Book, Disease

My story can go something like:

A Lady, very popular in society (Siren) approaches a Captain of a Ship (Haunted Hero). She wants to hire him and his crew to go on a quest to find this magical lake on an island somewhere in the Pacific. She had recently acquired a book containing a map to the said island from her deceased grandfather. The Captain refused at first because he had lost his wife on a Treasure hunt (his haunted past, thus Haunted Hero), but due to financial need, and for the sake of his young daughter, the Captain agrees. The Lady takes with her her bodyguard (Vigilante). The way is filled with disappointments, and the Lady and the Captain can't help but think someone or something is against them. The bodyguard seems indifferent. He doesn't believe in all that magic lake nonsense. After a while, the Captain realizes that this was no pleasure trip on the Lady's part. She has an incurable disease, and she was dying. On the way to the island, they find and take aboard their ship a good-humored wanderer (Lovable Rogue) and his cat. The cat seems to be a very lucky cat and helps them find the island. The wanderer turns out to be a deity, helping them find the lake. The bodyguard tuns out to be another deity, trying to prevent them from finding the lake. There is a battle, the Lady and her side wins, and she is cured of her sickness. But the lake will never again be accessed by man. The end.

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How to Win

It is not a requirement to appoint a winner when playing Talecraft. Since the aim of the game is to make stories, and the basis of a good story often depends on the judges's personal taste, Talecraft is often played without declaring winners. Should a winner be required, however, here is how it is done:

Each player will have a cup before him. After the player tells his story, all the other players will drop coins in the storyteller’s cup, depending on its impact on them. If a player thinks the storyteller’s story was not well made (like if there are a lot of loose ends, or if the events of the story are too scattered), the player does not drop any coin into the storyteller’s cup. If the player thinks the story is acceptable but has little impact on him, he drops a coin in the cup. If the story manages to amuse the player, he drops two coins. And if the story awes him, he drops three coins. At the end of the game, or rounds of game, the players tally the scores. The player with the most coins wins.

Another way to decide a winner for Talecraft is to appoint a non-player as a judge who would decide who the winner is to be.

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Variations

After one round, instead of reshuffling the cards to pick again for another round, the players shift places and make stories based on the cards that the player beside them had picked.
Instead of each player picking cards at the beginning of the game, only one player, designated as the representative for everyone present, picks the Genre, Archetype and Key cards, and all the players will have the same cards to build the story around.
The six Key cards are not picked in the beginning of the game, but picked one at a time in each turn, and extemporaneously added to the player’s existing story at that turn.
After picking the cards at the beginning of the game, the players swap cards with each other before creating their stories.
A representative picks a Genre and two Archetype cards and lays them on the table for all the players to see. The representative distributes six cards to each of the players. The players hold the cards so that the other players will not see their cards. The representative starts by giving a premise of a story based on the genre and archetypes. The next player, Player A, has to add to the story using the Key cards he has on hand. He puts down the Key cards he has used. He is only allowed to put down one, two or four cards per turn. If he cannot put down any Key card, he has to pick a card from the stack. After his turn, the next player, Player B, has to pick a card from Player A. Then, like Player A, he has to continue the story using the cards he has on hand. The player who first runs out of cards wins.

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About What is Talecraft? How to Play How to Win Variations	About What is Talecraft? As a game, Talecraft aims to promote creative thinking through story creation. As a story-creation tool, Talecraft aims to help writers generate ideas for stories, and help combat Mental Block. Talecraft provides the different Genres and Archetypes as cards. Since the setting is dependent on the genre of the story, Talecraft leaves the creation of the time and place to the imagination of the player. For the plot, Talecraft uses the Key cards, where a player may either be given plots, or keywords that would govern the story. Players may be required to add more characters to his cards. In this event, the player’s story would be more character-driven than plot-driven. A player of Talecraft has to create a story using the cards he had picked. The limit the picked cards set to a player prompts the use of the player’s resourcefulness; and the need to fit all the cards into a story stretches his imagination. Top How to Play To play the game, the cards must first be arranged into three stacks: The Genre stack, the Archetype stack, and the Key stack. The cards are facing down. First, each player must pick one card each from the Genre Stack. That card will determine what genre the player’s story has to be. Next, each player must take two cards each from the Archetype Stack. One card will be their main protagonist, and the other card will be their main antagonist. Next, the players must pick six cards each from the Key Stack. If the player picks a Keyword, the player must integrate that as a major factor or important item in the story, which the player will create at the end of the game. If it is a Plotline, the plot of the player’s story must follow it. If a player picks more than one Plotline, the player must decide which Plotline will be used as a main plot of the story, and which will be used as subplots. If it is an instruction that tells the player to pick, the player must follow it and pick a card from either the Genre Stack (the player’s story now has more than one genre, i.e. Romantic Fantasy) or the Archetype Stack (the player is now required to add another character). If the player picks an instruction that tells him to swap, the player is given the opportunity to discard one of his cards (any of the three types: Genre, Archetype, or Key) and pick a new card of the same type. The players will then have five minutes to create their stories, and then take turns telling their created stories. For Example, if I have the following cards: Genre: Adventure Archetypes: Siren, Vigilante, Lovable Rogue, Haunted Hero Keys: Cat, Ship, Book, Disease My story can go something like: A Lady, very popular in society (Siren) approaches a Captain of a Ship (Haunted Hero). She wants to hire him and his crew to go on a quest to find this magical lake on an island somewhere in the Pacific. She had recently acquired a book containing a map to the said island from her deceased grandfather. The Captain refused at first because he had lost his wife on a Treasure hunt (his haunted past, thus Haunted Hero), but due to financial need, and for the sake of his young daughter, the Captain agrees. The Lady takes with her her bodyguard (Vigilante). The way is filled with disappointments, and the Lady and the Captain can't help but think someone or something is against them. The bodyguard seems indifferent. He doesn't believe in all that magic lake nonsense. After a while, the Captain realizes that this was no pleasure trip on the Lady's part. She has an incurable disease, and she was dying. On the way to the island, they find and take aboard their ship a good-humored wanderer (Lovable Rogue) and his cat. The cat seems to be a very lucky cat and helps them find the island. The wanderer turns out to be a deity, helping them find the lake. The bodyguard tuns out to be another deity, trying to prevent them from finding the lake. There is a battle, the Lady and her side wins, and she is cured of her sickness. But the lake will never again be accessed by man. The end. Top How to Win It is not a requirement to appoint a winner when playing Talecraft. Since the aim of the game is to make stories, and the basis of a good story often depends on the judges's personal taste, Talecraft is often played without declaring winners. Should a winner be required, however, here is how it is done: Each player will have a cup before him. After the player tells his story, all the other players will drop coins in the storyteller’s cup, depending on its impact on them. If a player thinks the storyteller’s story was not well made (like if there are a lot of loose ends, or if the events of the story are too scattered), the player does not drop any coin into the storyteller’s cup. If the player thinks the story is acceptable but has little impact on him, he drops a coin in the cup. If the story manages to amuse the player, he drops two coins. And if the story awes him, he drops three coins. At the end of the game, or rounds of game, the players tally the scores. The player with the most coins wins. Another way to decide a winner for Talecraft is to appoint a non-player as a judge who would decide who the winner is to be. Top Variations After one round, instead of reshuffling the cards to pick again for another round, the players shift places and make stories based on the cards that the player beside them had picked. Instead of each player picking cards at the beginning of the game, only one player, designated as the representative for everyone present, picks the Genre, Archetype and Key cards, and all the players will have the same cards to build the story around. The six Key cards are not picked in the beginning of the game, but picked one at a time in each turn, and extemporaneously added to the player’s existing story at that turn. After picking the cards at the beginning of the game, the players swap cards with each other before creating their stories. A representative picks a Genre and two Archetype cards and lays them on the table for all the players to see. The representative distributes six cards to each of the players. The players hold the cards so that the other players will not see their cards. The representative starts by giving a premise of a story based on the genre and archetypes. The next player, Player A, has to add to the story using the Key cards he has on hand. He puts down the Key cards he has used. He is only allowed to put down one, two or four cards per turn. If he cannot put down any Key card, he has to pick a card from the stack. After his turn, the next player, Player B, has to pick a card from Player A. Then, like Player A, he has to continue the story using the cards he has on hand. The player who first runs out of cards wins. Top


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