The Princess Game

8/14/2019 The Princess Game

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The Princess Game

This is a game about a little girl.The only little girl in the whole wide world.The only person there is, really.

This is a game about her dreams and her imagination,about make-believe and magic, and the world ofstories. But mostly its about the girl.

You play different parts of her her love, her fear, hercuriosity, and more. Together with her Imagination,you go out to see what there is in the world, and

invent some of it yourself.


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Parts to Play

Youll need at least four people to play this game,but not more than seven. The rst four people decidewho gets to be...

* Love* Curiosity* Fear

* ImaginationLove makes the girl want to help and talk to otherpeople. Love is what makes her create the world andthe people in it.

Curiosity makes her want to investigate. The littlegirl wants to know everything and meet everyone.

Fear makes her want to run away. When shes scared,she has to nd a different way to do things. Theperson who plays Fear has a tough job, because wedont always want to be afraid, but sometimes ithappens.

Imagination has the biggest job: making the world.The person who gets to be Imagination tells everyoneelse what the rest of the world looks like, what thepeople in it are doing, and how they act. Imaginationhas to be very descriptive without using too manywords, and sometimes has to say mean things because sometimes scary things happen to the girl.But in the end, she wont be afraid forever, so itll

be ok.


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If there are more people who want to play, they can

pick one of these to be:* The Companion* The Toy* Responsibility

The Companion is the girls BEST FRIEND EVER.It could be her kid brother or sister, a cat or a

dog, a teddy bear, or even some kind of magic fairy.The companion gives the girl advice and helps herwhen things are hard. You should decide what kindof Companion you are, just so everyone knows.

The Toy is magical and powerful and wonderful,and everyone wants to play with it. Sometimes the

girl gets bored with the Toy, though. If you havesomeone who wants to play, but cant stay for thewhole game, they can be the Toy. Dolls make betterCompanions than Toys.

Responsibility is what makes the girl help even the people she doesnt want to love. Its yucky andsometimes its no fun, but Ill tell you a secret:

its what makes little girls into big girls.

Once you know whos playing what, you can turnthe page.


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Now We Can Start

Now that everyone has a part to play, we can startthe game.

We talk in a special way when we play this game.Every time Love, Curiosity, or Fear talks, they pretendtheyre the little girl talking to herself, because shedoes that a lot. The Companion and the Toy can

talk for themselves, though sometimes the Toycant talk. Responsibility talks like the girls mother,telling her what she has to do even if she doesntlike it. Imagination talks like someone reading a bookto the girl, one of the big kind with pretty storiesbut without many pictures.

The girls Imagination starts by describing a place.

It can be any kind of place, anywhere at all. Sincethis is a fantasy kind of game, it might help to havea fantasy kind of place, like a castle or an enchantedforest or the middle of the night sky.

Everyone listens carefully, because when they hearsomething that ts their part, they think out loud

about it. Curiosity starts rst, then Love, then Fear.If there are other people, they have to wait for rightnow they can talk later.

If the Imagination talks about a beautiful greenforest with an old cottage near a stream...

... Curiosity might say, I wonder who lives in that

house, or, I wonder if theres a woodchopper outback, or even, I wonder whether there are talkingsh in that stream. Curiosity makes the rst move,you see?


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And then Love might say, Oh, how old and run-down

that house is! Let me help them make it better, or,I have to keep the woodchopper from cutting downthe whole forest, or even, Dont worry little sh!Ill make sure no one catches you! The little girlwants to do things because of Love.

But then Fear talks, and Fear might say, But howcould I do that when I dont know how to build

a house? or, But the woodchopper is so big andscary! or even, But sh are gross and icky and Imafraid of them! Fear talks about what makes thingshard for the girl.

Finally, Imagination gets to bring in the rst Character.A Character is a person or a creature or even a magic

spirit. In this story, it might be an old lady wholives in the cottage, or the big ogre woodchopper,or the king of the sh. What makes Charactersspecial is that they can talk to the girl, even thoughtheyre just made-up parts of her imagination. (Didwe mention she thinks out loud a lot?) And fromthat rst Character will come the rest of the game,and many more places and Characters, until the story

comes to an end.

How does it go from here? Just turn the page...


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Talking to People

This game is all about the girl talking to Characters.Every Character, from the rst one to the last one,is part of the adventure.

The girl is still very young, and needs help often. Anycharacter could help her, but each of them needssomething in return. Shell go from one person to

another, asking for help, getting more things to dobefore she can x what needs to be xed. However,eventually, she will nd someone who needs justwhat she has. Maybe its a hand crossing the street,or a kiss on the cheek, or a little piece of her hair toremember her by. That person will help the girl helpthe last Character, who helps the one before that,and eventually the original problem will be solved!

The Imagination talks for all the Characters.Usually theres just one or two around at a time.The Imagination tries to use the Characters voiceand do things that Character would do.

When the girl talks, the different parts of her cant

talk all at once that would sound silly! Instead,they have to take turns. Everyone will get some pennies,and when you spend a penny, you get a short turn attalking for the girl. (If you dont have pennies, youcan use other things, like buttons or toy blocks.Well tell you how many you get later on.)

The rst part of the girl that talks is always the

part that the Character brings out. Some Charactersbring out Love, some bring out Fear, some bringout Curiosity. That part of the girl talks to the


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Imagination, and they have a conversation, as if theywere the girl and the Character.

If a different player wants to have the girl saysomething, or even just make the girl think hard aboutsomething, they pay a penny. Once everyone is donetalking, and no one wants to use any more pennies,gure out who spent the most pennies. That personled the conversation, and gets to describe what thegirl does next. If theres a tie, the kind of Character

it was is who wins.

If Love led the conversation, the girl gets the Characterto help, in exchange for something. Love gets tosay what help the girl asks for, but Imagination(speaking for the Character) says what the girl hasto do in return.

If Curiosity led the conversation, the girl asked toomany questions! The Character is insulted, or tiredof talking to her. The girl will nd out what needsto be done next (and Curiosity gets to say what thatis), but the Character wont help.

If Fear led the conversation, the girl has to run away.

She cant talk to this person any more, and has tond a different way to do things. Fear describes thegirl running away, and where she runs to. Imaginationsays who she nds there.

Love, Curiosity, and Fear should never just say, Ilove you, or, Im curious, or, Im scared. They

should always say WHY.


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The Companion, Toy, and Responsibility talk in specialcases.

The Companion only talks after you nd out wholed the conversation. If the Companion doesnt likewhat happened, he or she pays TWO pennies to makethings go differently. The Companion might talk tothe girl and change her mind, or talk to Charactersand convince them to help, or even just refuse to runaway, making the girl turn around and stay instead of

running in fear. She can have someone else talk next,without that person spending any more pennies, orjust say who ends up leading and why. The Companiondoesnt get many pennies, but theyre very powerfulpennies. Remember: TWO pennies.

The Toy doesnt talk, but can give pennies to other

people, saying how the Toy helps. Sometimes peoplewill help the girl just to play with the Toy. Othertimes the Toy itself is magical. The Toy has a BIGstack of pennies in the beginning of the game, butdoesnt get any more later on once people are tiredof the Toy, it doesnt work any more.

Responsibility has a special role. When the girl

meets someone that she really should help, but shedoesnt, Responsibility can spend TWO pennies tostep in. Responsibility talks to the rest of the girland makes her help, even if she doesnt love thatperson. When Responsibility acts, its as if Love ledthe conversation. Like the Companion, Responsibilitydoesnt get very many pennies, but is very powerful

when she speaks. Remember: TWO pennies.


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Exploring Her World

The girl often travels from one part of the world toanother. The Imagination always decides who the girlruns into, but other parts of her can decide whereto go.

The part of the girl who led the conversation candecide where the girl goes whether its into a

forest, or up a mountain, or across a huge desert.Because the girl is a magical princess, she can goanywhere, even up into the sky.

If the last leader doesnt know where to go next, theImagination takes over, as the girl wanders acrossthe world of her creation, looking for someone whomight help.

No matter where she goes, what matters most iswho the girl talks to. The things she wants can onlybe found from other people.


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Numbers and Stuff

Heres how many pennies everyone gets to use.

At the beginning of each game, give out this manypennies to each person:

* Give Love, Fear and Curiosity ve pennieseach.

* The Companion and Responsibility get twopennies each.* The Toy gets 30 pennies.* Imagination doesnt need pennies.

At the beginning of each Conversationafter the rstone, give out this many pennies to each person:

* Love, Fear and Curiosity get three more pennieseach.

* The Companion and Responsibility get onemore penny each.

* The Toy doesnt get any more pennies. Whenthe game starts, the Toy gets 30 pennies,

but no more.Love, Fear, and Curiosity spend one penny every timethey talk. The Companion and Responsibility spendtwo pennies. The Toy gives pennies to other people.

Everyone keeps any pennies that they dont spend,until the end of the game.


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Secrets

Here are some secrets for playing this game.

You dont want to spend all your pennies every time.Because you cant win every time, you should saveyour pennies for the times when you think its moreimportant.

Heres a Secret for the Imagination: Charactersshould always have something to do with whathappened at the start of the game, even if its only alittle bit.

You can never lose the game the fun comes frompretending to be the girl, and talking to the differentCharacters.

The game is all about starting with one sort ofCharacter, and realizing that theyre different fromhow they looked at rst. This will happen a lot.

Every Character is an important person. A lot ofthem are kings and queens, princes and princesses,

but even the ones who arent are very important.The little girl cant hurt anyone, except with herwords. Even if she is very cross, she can only yell atsomeone or storm off.

I think the little girl might be a little lonely.


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People, Places, Things

Characters who are unusual, funny, or interestingbring out Curiosity. If you talk to them long enough,they could become either lovable or scary, but if youask too many questions theyll stop talking to you.

Characters who are creepy, scary-looking, or whoact mean create Fear. If the girl overcomes her fear,

some of these are really good people, or are justmisunderstood. However, if she stays afraid of them,she has to go away from them.

Characters that are cuddly, beautiful, or sad bringout Love. Characters who love the girl back will helpher, but sometimes even people you love turn out tobe scary or weird in the end.

Heres a list of Characters you might want to use.Its just their names; you get to make up moreabout them.

STRANGE CharactersThe Storm Crow Father Time

Grandfather Clock The Old MarinerThe Schooleroo The Hopping FlockThe Fisher Boy The Clock KingThe Sporting Lad The Turtle QueenPibbitybop the Gnome KingThe Captain of the Toy Soldiers

SCARY Characters


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The Great Dragon Grandmother OgreThe Three Trolls The Spider Queen

The Scorpion Horde Slug Colony FourThe Fire Breather The Night PeopleLord Elk The Beast

LOVABLE CharactersThe Phoenix Queen The Nameless PrinceThe Princess of Stars The Whale KingThe Singer of Stones The Silver Unicorn

Piggy Bear Green MaiaLady Ermine The Buttery WomanThe Sad Loon

Here are some places the girl might go:

The Jungle of Danger The Dark ForestThe Starlit Realm Fairy VillageGnome Home The Lantern CourtThe Misty Mountains The High SeasBeyond the Stars The Unicorn Forest

Here are some toys she might carry:

The Robe of Feathers The Wand of StarsThe Vanishing Cloak Grandmothers ScarfA Paper Lantern A Singing SwordAn Umbrella A Heart RingThe Girls Secret DiaryThe Wicked Witchs Amulet

The Good Witchs Broom


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A Taste of a Game

Starting the Game:This is a short game with ve people.Love, Curiosity, and Fear start with ve pennies each,and Imagination gets none. The Companion gets two.

In this section, we use letters to abbreviate things.I = Imagination, F = Fear, C = Curiosity, L = Love. The

companion (a little sea urchin) is CO, but doesnttalk often.

I: I bet theres a place where you can swim forever,with mermaids and seahorses. It has castles madefrom snail shells -C: And look at them with their pretty spirals! Iwonder who lives in there?

L: Its a lot of people, who need more homes! Icould help them nd another shell.F: But the shells are SO BIG. A snail that big couldeat me right up...

The First Character:

(L, C, and F still have ve pennies each. CO hastwo pennies.)I: Along comes the Queen of the Mermen! Shesgreen all over, with strange squiggles on her arms andlegs. Funny bubbles come up from her mouth whenshe talks. She says, Oh, if only... and gazes sadlyinto the sea.

(This is a Strange Character.)

C (spends a penny): If only what?I: If only we had a new shell for our people, sothey could have somewhere to live! There are toomany people who have no place to come home to.


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L (spends a penny): I can nd one for you! Ill goout and get you a new shell.

F (spends a penny): But should I? This queen is alittle creepy...C (spends a penny): Yeah, whats with thosesquiggles?L (spends a penny): But she seems to care about herpeople. I should really help.C (spends a penny): Hey lady! What are thosesquiggles from?

(No one else spends a penny. Curiosity wins.)C: Hey, what are those squiggles? I asked, and shesaid Im not cool enough to know! So now Im goingto the Snail Trails to get a really big shell to showher how cool I am. The Snail Trails are underwater,on a huge rock, with hundreds of em everywhere!

The Second Character(L, C, and F get three more pennies each, and COgets one. That means L has 6, C has 5, and Fhas 7. CO has 3 pennies.)

I: The girl swims along until she comes to anunderwater cliff. She can see the Snail Trails in thedistance, when suddenly up the cliff came a Gigantic

Snail! Its huge and slimy and gross! It has bigfeelers and its looking right at the girl, saying, Whatare you doin here?

(This is a Scary Character.)F (spends a penny): AHHHHHHH!L (spends a penny): Maybe hes not so bad? Maybehes so strong he doesnt even need his shell?

F (spends a penny): No, hes ferocious and horribleand I d-d-dont want to be here!C (spends a penny): How did he get so big?


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F (spends a penny): I dont care! Its time to go! Hecould eat me whole!

(No one else spends a penny. Fear wins.)F: She swims swims swims away as fast as shecan! She goes into a little hole in the sand nearby tohide until the Giant Snail cant nd her.

The Third Character(Pennies are handed out. That means L has 8, C

has 7, and F has 7. CO has 4 pennies.)I: Eventually, inside the hole, she sees two lightsoating around. They turn out to be the eyes of ahuge Hermit Crab, hiding in the hole. He stares at thegirl silently, moving his big pinchers back and forth.

(This is a Scary character.)F (spends a penny): Oh no... its worse than the

snail...L (spends a penny): But hes hiding too. Hey, MisterCrab. Why are you hiding?I: Its Miss Crab, and Im hiding because Im aboutto change my shell.C (spends a penny): Why?I: Im getting older and bigger, and Im going to needa new shell because this ones getting smaller. Oh,

if only I knew where one was...L (spends a penny): I know! I know! Miss Crab, Ican show you where theres a really big shell, buttheres a catch...I: Is is that big snail? Oh, that would t perfectly,but I cant ght him.C (spends a penny): Why not?

L (spends a penny): Because youre not mean,right?


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I: Oh, I could be mean if I wanted, and theres noone who deserves it as much as he does. But my

claws cant cut through the shell.(No one else spends a penny. Love wins.)L: I didnt know what to do next! I wandered for awhile, trying to think of something...CO (spends two pennies): When suddenly, I thoughtof something! Princess, I said, theres a placewhere there are sunken Pirate Ships. Pirates hadswords, and they must have kept them sharp - so

we can take whatever they used to make the swordssharp, and sharpen Miss Crabs Claws! And so wewent to Shipwreck Reef to nd the sunken ships.

The Fourth Character(Pennies are handed out. That means L has 8, C

has 8, and F has 9. CO has 3 pennies.)I: But instead of nding a pirate, the little girl founda strange thing: the ghost of a young woman, sad andbeautiful. She was drifting around the sunken ship,playing with the things she found there.

(This is a Lovable character.)F (spends a penny): Im scared of ghosts. She mightturn out to be a bad ghost.

C (spends a penny): Why is she going around playingwith everything?F (spends a penny): I bet its because she took thetoys away from the children!L (spends a penny): No, that cant be. See how niceand friendly she looks?F (spends a penny): But looks arent everything.

(No one else spends a penny. Fear wins. But...)CO (spends two pennies): While the girl hesitated, Iknew the ghost couldnt hurt me. I went right upto her and said, Hi there. Why are you sad?


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I: Because theres no one here to be my friend. Idied in a shipwreck long ago. Even the mean old pirate

ghosts are gone.CO: I think I know someone who could be yourfriend, if you gave her a helping hand. But you haveto be careful: shes afraid of ghosts. And I wantLove to talk now.I: The beautiful ghost smiled and oated up towardsthe Girl. Hello!L: Um... Hi. Nice to meet you.

I: I hear you need some help. I could use a friend.Will you be my friend, even though Im a ghost?L: The little girl nods.

I: And from there, the ghost showed the girl thestones that the pirates had used to sharpen theirswords. They brought the stones to the crab, who

used them to sharpen her claws to ght the GiantSnail and take his shell. The girl showed the MermanQueen the crabs old shell, and the Queen loved it!It was big enough to hold a lot of mermen, whowere so happy that they made a little home in theshell just for the Beautiful Ghost.

What about the girl?

She went off to have more stories, andeach one was different.

Now its your turn.


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The Last Page

My name is Colin Fredericks, and I wrote this whilethinking about the Childlike Empress and the Never-Ending Story. I made the background and did the layouton my Macintosh. The font is Dakota Handwriting,with the titles inHarrington.

I found the little girl pictures on iStockPhoto.com,

and she was drawn by KOSON.Thank you for reading my game! I hope you enjoy itand play it with lots of people.

http://www.valentgames.com/


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The Princess GameA game of childlike storytelling and make-believe.

IIIII The Princess Game is a really charmingstorytelling game about a magical little girl exploringa wondrous world of her own creation. First off,the games non-confrontational nature gives the girlsadventure a fun and innocent aspect absent in most

other games... Secondly, the game is very mechanicallylight... Thirdly, and I know I said this before; thegame is just charming to read. I felt like I wanted tohug it. ...I have trouble imagining a group of friendswho couldnt be playing this game in just a fewminutes.

--Jake Richmond, RPG.net

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The Princess Game