I’d love some advice on getting Premise: Setting, Character, and Plot in front of a larger audience!

I’ve been refining Premise – a collaborative storytelling / worldbuliding game – for the better part of a year and the draft is pretty polished. I received lots of positive feedback from playtests (including at Metatopia) and would love to get the game out to a wider audience. I’m interested in maximizing the number of folks playing it, not profiting – though if I can make a little money, all the better.

A photo of all three parts of Premise laid out next to each other

About Premise

Premise is a collaborative storytelling game where players build on each other’s ideas to create settings, characters, and plots. The core of the game involves players simultaneously filling out templates and passing them around – building up narrative elements one step at a time. When the templates are full, the players narrate their shared creations. You can play the three parts (setting, character, plot) independently or chain them together to first create a world, then populate it with characters, and finally create adventures for those characters.

The current draft is here, and I’d love to hear any feedback. I’d also love tips on how to improve the above pitch.

Next Steps

I’d love help figuring out who the ideal market is and how I should publish it. Premise doesn’t fit into a clear category of game (it’s probably closest to Microscope or Story Cubes) and I’m not sure who the core audience might be or how I would target them. I’ve run this game with kids as young as 4, non-gamers, board gamers, and RPG lovers and each of the groups had a great time. Any tips for figuring out who the ideal market is and how to reach them?

Edutainment

I think Premise might work well in classrooms, paired with lessons that teach the elements of storytelling. They could also work well to generate creative writing prompts or to have students explore a setting they’re studying (in literature or history). Are there educational games publishers / companies that might be a good fit?

Kickstarter

I’m happy making the digital version free, as my goal is to get it to as many players as possible. I could do a Kickstarter for a physical version in which the templates are on easy tear-off notepads. If I went down this route, I could easily expand the game to include templates for different genres, character archetypes, and plot structures. Do you think there’s a market? Should I pursue a traditional publisher instead?

In summary my main questions are:

  • Do you think there’s a market for this game?
  • What’s the best way to reach that market?

Thanks for reading this far and feel free to share this post around – I’ll take all the advice I can get!

You can always email me at [email protected]

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