I ♥ Unicorns
The best Microscope game ever might have happened at GeekGirlCon this weekend. I wasn’t even in the game. Didn’t even see it. But from what I’ve heard it’s now my favorite session ever. Two sessions, actually.
A very small and very brave girl came up to our table. One of our expert facilitators leaned down (way down — Xander is pretty tall and she was maybe eight or nine years old) and patiently explained how all these games helped us make stories. Fun stories. Together.
Her mind was made up. She wanted to play and make a story. A story with elves. Xander nodded sagely and told her about Microscope, then sat her down with some folks to play.
There were unicorns. There were goblins. There were crystal apples. Moths trumped fireflies. I am told there were many Princesses, along with Princesses’s sisters (who I think are also technically Princesses but let’s not spoil the moment).
Did she rock the table with tiny power? I have sworn affidavits that she did. And then she came back the next morning and did it again. Shuo and Caroline, her gaming compadres, decided that she deserved to go home with a Microscope book of her very own. I could not agree more. Of course then they had to think of the perfect inscription to capture the magical adventures they had shared with their new friend. That took awhile. Magic is hard!
Will there ever be a more awesome game of Microscope? Ever? I do not know. But what I am sure of is that somewhere a small girl has reaffirmed my faith in the future of gaming. I sleep easy.
Leave a reply to OhMyGosh
I also want to hear more!
Also, I really want to thank you for this amazing game. A friend and I recently concluded our first game of Microscope, and it was a blast! The game had all sorts of emergent properties that we never in a thousand years could have planned ahead of time. Here it is if you’re interested:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1UNBYhVPLGL1WyNpys89NFD9ooR-B7NtCK8kNQoE9yZM
Note that we misunderstood the rules in the first couple turns, and had to go back and fill in some further details later.
Feel more than welcome to fix the grammar in the 4th sentence I just posted. *headdesk*
More details. Please please please! Play report? Photo of the game’s history laid out on a table?
In my experience, the least experienced RPGs are the most exciting Microscope players – what player could have a fresher approach than a child?! This might well have been the best game ever.
+1 billion to Shuo and Caroline!