Roughly a year ago I published Premise: Setting, Character, Plot which you can now buy via Itch.io. I did very little promotion of it back then and didn’t write about it on this blog (blame the pandemic) so here’s a bit about the game and how it can be used.
Premise is a light collaborative worldbuilding game inspired by Exquisite Corpse and Mad Libs. 2-7 players simultaneously fill out and pass around templates and build on each others ideas. When the templates are complete, you take turns sharing the results.
It’s very beginner friendly and is fun for kids and adults. You can play it in 30-90 minutes and easily integrate it into another storytelling game (e.g. play the Setting section to build out a map, play the Character setting to create NPCs). In addition to a print-at-home PDF, the game also has Google Slides for easy Remote play.
I’m providing unlimited free community copies on Itch so don’t let your budget get in the way of checking it out.
Ways to use Premise
I recently used Premise as part of a sci-fi writing workshop – players collaboratively built settings and then used them as inspiration for solo writing. It worked really well!
I think Premise would also be a great for use in schools. For example, teachers could use it to generate creative writing prompts, create characters in historic specific period, or to explore minor characters and settings in famous literature.
I’m super happy to chat with teachers about incorporating Premise into lesson plans. If you know any that might be interested – please send Premise their way!