MICROSCOPE - Collaborative Epic History

[Arawak]

Humanity spreads to the stars and forges a galactic civilization…

Fledgling nations arise from the ruins of the empire…

An ancient line of dragon-kings dies out as magic fades from the realm…

These are all examples of Microscope games. Want to explore an epic history of your own creation, hundreds or thousands of years long, all in an afternoon? That's Microscope.

You won't play the game in chronological order. You can defy the limits of time and space, jumping backward or forward to explore the parts of the history that interest you. Want to leap a thousand years into the future and see how an institution shaped society? Want to jump back to the childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find out what made him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.

You have vast power to create... and to destroy. Build beautiful, tranquil jewels of civilization and then consume them with nuclear fire. Zoom out to watch the majestic tide of history wash across empires, then zoom in and explore the lives of the people who endured it.

Mock chronological order.
Defy time and space.
Build worlds and destroy them.

-Ben Robbins, the creator of Microscope.

I came across this game a week back:

lamemage.com/microscope

I bought the PDF (I know it can be found for free online, but i'm too honor bound in that regard) and am looking for people to play it with. 3 other people is the max I am going for this game and I want it to be a concentrated session that I will host on Discord.

From 3-6 PM Pacific Standard time (I live in California) on Saturday for the first session and depending on how things go follow up sessions may be scheduled.

The chosen genre is sci-fi with the following seed.

Humankind colonizes the galaxy- and happens upon disturbing revelations about the nature of existence.

I have left this deliberately vague, for this is just the seed for which the history shall sprout. However, there will be a need to make a beginning event and a ending event to the timeline along with multiple time periods where each event sprouts from.

Every player has god power in this NRP as it's more a history making game than a actual NRP. However, the more world building oriented NRPers I figure will enjoy this. You can make everything up as you go without any order- you can go to the end times and the beginning and everything in-between. You can focus on one era in particular or make tons of seperate peoples.

I chose sci-fi as the genre, but all that means is it's in space. You can change the motif of what this sci-fi entails by stating what must and what can't exist in this world before moving forward.

You do not need a app sheet, instead just show interest by answering the following in this thread:

What must exist in this world?

-

What cannot exist in this world?

-

Make a period/era of time (While I make the starting period, someone else can make the end period). Label your period as [Light] or [Dark] in tone.

-

Each player (including myself) makes a first choice on this now and a second choice on Friday if there is a desire to add more periods or creative limits. You can pass on a second choice. What you are making is what Microscope refers to as the "Palette"- which is a set of creative limitations everyone must agree on.

Here is what i've chosen myself for the palette and period:

What must exist in this world?

-Intelligent Alien life

What cannot exist in this world?

-Anything fandom related. (In other words, original content only)

Make a Period/Era of Time. Than declare if the time period is a Light or Dark period.

- (Start) FTL is invented and early colonization efforts under a united world government begin. [Light]

Limits

There's a several rules Microscope follows I should warn of off the bat-

1. Do not give suggestions to other players on what to add or collaborate out of turn. Build on what other players establish.

2. Do not contradict established events.

3. Do not use anything that is expressed as something that cannot exist.

----------
The Focus and Lens

Microscope is effectively a multiplayer history/world building game. The obvious problem is how do you keep things focused on any one time period? Microscope addresses this in the way turns are handled.

Each turn, there is a player who is the Lens who declares the current focus of the timeline. The Lens does this by writing out a focus event that each player must build on. The lens chooses the first and last event for their focus before moving onto the next Lens who declares what the new focus of history shall be on.

I'll explain more later, time is running out on my end

[Flagg]

Love this idea!

What must exist in this world?

- individuals possessed of psionic powers

What cannot exist in this world?

- real history or really existing earth governments, religions or institutions (eg, no USA or the Catholic Church in space)

Period/Era of Time

The Burning of Terra after terrorists detonate an FTL engine within the planetary atmosphere [Dark]

[KremeSupreme]

Id be interested, if I had the book.

[Arawak]

You can find the PDF for free online. I will not specify where. However since I am trying to play a game that is meant to be played with index cards, there is a few things I am saying that will translate to the needs of text.

For instance how to translate the non-linearity of this game to forum posting.

A player during each turn makes a event that they place in of the periods of time established. The Lens makes a focus event each turn and each player makes a scene in said event, with the turn ending when the Lens makes a scene of their own. Events and periods, even scenes can be revisited at any point as this is not a linear game! When you are the lens, you can go to the start and end of the time line as you please. I should warn that there is nothing stopping people from wiping out anything you put in the world- however the rule against contradiction means you still can expand on any civilization you introduce before the death point as periods of time can be really of any length.

I should note that I will be the first lens to show an example of how to start things.

What a Lens does is put focus on a event or period of time for a turn. Players during said focus must work within the focus, making scenes and events within the time the lens has chosen to focus on.

Scenes are the smallest unit- You start one my posing a question. Another player must answer the question. The person who makes the scene specifies the characters in said scene. When setting up a scene, you can require and ban groups of people or specific people. For instance, requiring the dictator of a country and the general Valerion but banning the dictator's wife from play in the scene. Other players can take the role of a character in said scene, stay in the background of things or play "time". Playing time means you play as a force or group of people pushing the situation involved.

Should a creative conflict arise in a event someone brings up, you can Push to substitute a event with a proposal that other players must agree on. Other players may also make their own proposals in the event of a creative conflict. You can only Push immediately after a scene/period/event is established by another player. You cannot retcon a event multiple turns after it has been established. You cannot retract your proposal once it has been stated. A vote is carried out- if deadlock happens a dice will be rolled. The number you are correlates to the order you joined the game. (So I would be 1 while Flagg is 2)

Also here is a important snippet from the manual to consider going into this game:

Style of Play: Getting in the Microscope

Mindset

The history will not turn out the way you expected. Abandon your preconceptions. What other players add will surprise you, but what you add will probably surprise them too. That’s good. The history you arrive at will be far more interesting than if you planned it out by committee and consensus.
No player owns anything in the history. Another player can take a beautiful metropolis you lovingly introduced and destroy it with nuclear hellfire, but they can’t change what’s already happened. Even if something is destroyed, it is never removed from play because you can always jump back in time and explore when it was still around. The past is never closed.

When it’s your turn to add to the history, don’t negotiate or discuss what you are making. Don’t take a poll. It’s your decision. You have absolute power. Likewise, do not ask a player to change something just because you don’t like it. Outside Scenes, you have no power to veto or reject what other players create (unless their addition breaks the rules). Inside Scenes, you can Push you own ideas, but you can’t change theirs.

Speak first, then write. The cards will help you remember your history, but what the other players hear and remember is more important than what you write down.

When someone else is making something and you don’t have a clear picture or you don’t understand how it into the history, ask questions. Ask for clarification. Everyone must have a clear picture of what is being added to the history so that they can build on it later.

-Ben Robbins

On the subject of book end periods anyone have proposals on the ending period?

[Polybius]

It's a shame this is over Discord, as I would be interested otherwise. No time for a 3-hour session on Saturdays.

[Flagg]

It's a shame this is over Discord, as I would be interested otherwise. No time for a 3-hour session on Saturdays.

@Polybius

Oh damn, I overlooked that. Sadly, I can't do that either.

[Arawak]

Time blocks are important since id rather have everyone who is interested online at the same time due to the turn based nature of things. If Saturday can't work than what about Sunday?

And if Discord is bad (for what reason?), than whatever I'll reconfigure to work in the forum.

[Polybius]

Time blocks are important since id rather have everyone who is interested online at the same time due to the turn based nature of things. If Saturday can't work than what about Sunday?

And if Discord is bad (for what reason?), than whatever I'll reconfigure to work in the forum.

@Arawak

Nothing wrong with Discord, I just literally can't sit down and play a game for 3-hours straight due to IRL things. I do think this is a great idea and hope something can be worked out for the forums. Maybe some modification to the game rules. I think I actually tried this at some point on the guild forums. Can't find the thread right now but admittedly was difficult to get set up.

[Arawak]

@Polybius@Flagg
If 3 hours straight is too much it can be cut down to 90 minutes (Assuming 30 minute turns). I am much more concerned about the synchronization of all players than when the time we play is.

As for difficulty as someone who just picked this up the game seems pretty simple to learn compared to some other rule books i've seen out there. Or perhaps I am saying that due to the lack of number stats involved. Translating it to a forum medium is what the main challenge will be. But I don't see that as a impossibility.

On a forum Microscope could play out like this for each pass:

Post 1: The current Lens picks the Focus (which is a Period or Event)
Post 2-5: Other players build on said focus. The general pattern is if the focus picked a period, everyone makes events, if the focus picked a event, everyone makes scenes.
Post 6: Lens makes last event/scene (Which has to be within the Period or Event the focus him/herself has made)
Post 7: A legacy is made by the player who was lens last. (a legacy is essentially the consequences of an event)
Post 8: A new lens selected. (The next player becomes the new Lens)
Post 9: The new lens picks the Focus.
Etc.

If player 2 is lens, player 3 will be the next lens while player 1 makes the legacy.

The player order as mentioned before is defined by order of interest. On the first turn for instance, I would be the lens while Polybius would make the legacy and Flagg would be the next lens. (assuming only 3 players).

Pushes can be handled on OOC or in Discord.

[Polybius]

However since I am trying to play a game that is meant to be played with index cards, there is a few things I am saying that will translate to the needs of text.

For instance how to translate the non-linearity of this game to forum posting.

@Arawak

Maybe a designated historian with a separate thread where events/scenes could be reposted in order? Just placehold a dozen replies and edit as needed.

[Flagg]

I'm afraid I can't promise to be on at designated times, so unless there's a way around doing this live in person I dont think I can swing it.

[Arawak]

<Snipped quote by Arawak>

Maybe a designated historian with a separate thread where events/scenes could be reposted in order? Just placehold a dozen replies and edit as needed.

@Polybius

That could work, although I don't see why you would need a separate thread entirely. The character tab may be a good place for it.

In regards to revising the timing it may be better to have players declare times they are willing to play at and go with the times that align most.

[babbysama]

I am extremely interested in this but I agree with the others in that I doubt I could do it over Discord or in the format cited in the OP.

I think that this format:

Post 1: The current Lens picks the Focus (which is a Period or Event)
Post 2-5: Other players build on said focus. The general pattern is if the focus picked a period, everyone makes events, if the focus picked a event, everyone makes scenes.
Post 6: Lens makes last event/scene (Which has to be within the Period or Event the focus him/herself has made)
Post 7: A legacy is made by the player who was lens last. (a legacy is essentially the consequences of an event)
Post 8: A new lens selected. (The next player becomes the new Lens)
Post 9: The new lens picks the Focus.

would work much better for me, and probably most people.

That said I really hope this happens because the concept is fascinating. I will be looking checking out the book online and giving it a look through, because I can imagine all kinds of games and settings where it could work. It's an interesting way to worldbuild and engage with history.

Here's my additions:

What must exist in this world?

Lifeforms of which human beings have no rational comprehension and which are truly alien in a nature, contradicting our own notions of time, thought, and biology.

What cannot exist in this world?

Borg imitators or grimdark 40k-like races (e.g. concepts for aliens and factions should be unique)

Period/Era of Time

The colonization of the world of Vektri, commencing an era of relative peace between the human settlers and the exot races of the Mane. [Light]

[Bluetommy]

Interested as hell, and the suggested forum format sounds like it could work well.

What must exist in this world?

- Beings beyond this physical plane whose servants walk among us, manipulating the world in subtle ways but never appearing themselves.

What cannot exist in this world?

- The traditional concept of gods or creators as we know them, rather, this world was spawned from something truly beyond our comprehension.

Period/era of time

- The Cabal

A group of intelligent men in high standing joined forces and through political machinations, took control of the united world government, establishing what would become known as the Cabal. [dark]

[babbysama]

So any word @Arawak?

[Arawak]

I've started setting up the OP.

[Arawak]

And it is complete