Who was Sal?

PSal Logo

Who was Sal? is a tabletop game focused on collaboratively determining and writing the story of Sal, a figure whose story is yet untold. Players take turns portraying Sal and various other supporting characters in conflicts of character in Sal’s life, and through this “roundtable” storytelling, Sal’s story emerges.

The full instructions, as well as PDF files for the deck, are attached below. In short, players either control Sal or a 3rd party whose job is to influence Sal along one of two poles as the story builds to a player-defined climax.


Sal Final Deck
Sal Final Sal Settings Deck

Mood Board – Who was Sal?

Mood Board

All of the tests so far have (minus the obvious jokes and distractions) tended to a somber tone. As my idea was exploring the space of projection, this is in line with what I wanted, so I’m diving further into it and taking some of the examples of funerals, orations, and otherwise existential moments from select media, preferably focusing on searches for people and explanations.

Robin Laws

Robin Laws is a professional game designer and writer. He has both worked on RPG systems and created RPG systems, most notably DramaSystem, and believes that tabletop games, though they’ve been around since the 70’s, are still a largely unexplored area and have much ground to till.

Robin Laws started off interested in writing from the early age of 4. Growing up, he became interested in theater, and made his own writing program in college based on film and theater. At the same time, through high school and college, Laws became fascinated with tabletop RPGs. He wrote settings for the various tabletop games he played, and by publishing these he became known to the game design world of the time. Through the connections he developed as assistant writers in this capacity, he eventually expanded his influence, releasing games based on his idea of telling emotional stories rather than procedural ones. As he wrote up more theory, eventually people began to ask him to collaborate on projects and ideas. This eventually culminated in DramaSystem and Hillfolk.

Taken by the idea that tabletop RPGs could be used not only to keep a persistent character (as was the original motivation), but also to jump around and play various scenes, Laws designed Hillfolk. Unlike D&D and other similar tabletops, in Hillfolk, players take turns calling scenes and inserting characters into those scenes. Character creation is informed by “poles”, which relate to his idea of Grand Argument Theory (present in much of his writings) that states that characters are primarily defined by their support or opposition to themes and positions in a story. This system is only the start, Laws feels, of the emerging tabletop tradition of more story focused gameplay.

Laws’s interest in the tabletop space stems from the idea that they tend to be more closely collaborative than video game RPGs. Especially with the recent moves away from “couch co-op”, tabletop RPGs bring a measure of closeness that is often lost in video gaming. Seeing the continued development of tabletops and emerging popularity of more niche systems, Laws is also excited to see how technology will influence the tabletop space. He’s currently attempting to plan a way to use tablets and other devices to resolve the actions that are typically settled by dice to bring even more immediacy to the acts. Such a development could also be used to bring more people into the space as it would reduce the perceived complexity of tabletops while also reducing the “undefined imagination” that is often required by such games.

Who is Sal?

Working Title: Who is Sal?

 

Description:

Who is Sal? is a tabletop exploration of the enigmatic figure Sal. In a group of three or four, players work together to try and piece together Sal’s life and history, from early childhood to late adulthood. By exploring various parts of Sal’s life, players piece together Sal’s motivations, accomplishments, and, ultimately, legacy.

 

Art/Research Statement:

I’m interested in exploring projection and the way we fill in the blanks that we see in other people. By specifying very little of Sal’s life (all the way down to Sal’s gender and era of birth), players are forced to determine what they are interested in exploring, and from there, personal identification will emerge.

Experimentally, I’m working on a time-less roleplaying system. Traditionally, tabletop games progress in a more or less linear time system, with players having an increasingly large memory base to draw from in addressing future challenges. By incorporating “stages” of Sal’s life, I aim to instead jump around from stage to stage in exploring Sal’s character, which leads to not only the past influencing the future, but the future informing the past.

 

Mock Screenshot:

A Microscope setting separating the events of the various eras – I envision a similar layout as the various time periods of Sal’s life are filled in.

 

3 Game References:

Microscope – A tabletop game that focuses on similar non-linear storytelling elements

DramaSystem – A tabletop system that codified the economy of a tabletop game in a roleplaying setting

Fat Man Down – A tabletop game focusing specifically on the exploration of one person rather than a setting or adventure path

 

3 Non-Game References:

Erikson’s stages of development – A psychological description of the eight stages of development of a person

Merlin legends (specifically, The Lost Years of Merlin and similar works) – Exploration of a character who knows and understands the future but not the past (living backwards)

The Wheel of Time – A fantasy setting focusing on the reincarnation of specific heroes, focusing on the connections that are made both forwards and backwards in time

The Valley of Light and Darkness: A Walking Simulator

After thinking about dualities (for conflict!), I’ve decided I want to explore the space of light and darkness. The character should be able to switch between a “light” persona and a “dark” persona, which would permit different interactions in a “light” and “dark” realm. I’ll be taking inspiration from games like A Link to the Past and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

The object of the game will be to reach the end of either the light realm or the dark realm – puzzles will focus on switching between light and dark states to progress through the realms. Being in a mismatched state (light persona in dark world or vice versa) will drain energy, and reaching a minimum level will transport the player back to the start of both worlds.

I intend to keep the controls fairly simple (walking and jumping), but I’d like to include ways to make the light and dark personas different. Rather than influencing the player’s movement, I want this to influence the environment, reflecting the notion that our good and bad choices are reflected most evidently in the results they have on our setting, rather than some direct impact on oneself. My current idea is that light personas draw things to you (which could attract unwarranted attention) whereas dark ones repel objects (which hurts when you’re looking for support).

The Unity mechanics for this would include either brightening or darkening the background (to reflect the respective realms), some method of switching and detecting personas (easily identifiable by a variable tied to the player character), and the reactions that has on the environment.

Kafei and Anju: Meaning in a Meaningless World

Legend of Zelda games have long been associated with open worlds and exploration, but the main appeal to me has always been the sidequests. And when I think of sidequests in the Legend of Zelda series, one springs instantly to mind.

The Kafei and Anju sidequest is perhaps the most intricate and expansive quest in Zelda history. That alone is not what makes it stand out. The context of the quest is also remarkable. It is placed in a game that pressure you to keep moving through the placement of an artificial timer. With every action not advancing the plot or progressing through some sidequest, it seems difficult to justify some of the waiting that is required. Most noticeably, the quest REQUIRES the player to allow an old lady to be robbed in the first third of the game in order to progress in the quest, an action that is fairly out of character for our hero.

With the general attitude of this game as grim as it is (the various NPC’s all believe the world is about to be crushed by the moon, a fact verifiable by the increasing proximity of the moon to the town), the Kafei and Anju sidequest also stands out for its emotional quality. No matter how many times the player warps back through time, Anju will always be waiting for Kafei. Kafei’s curse and the subsequent theft of his mask leave him in disgrace, but he gives the player his pendant to give to Anju as a promise that Kafei will return. Once the player and Kafei discover the thief’s hideout, the two storm it and retrieve the mask, and only one hour before the moon comes crashing down on the town, Kafei finally meets Anju and they exchange masks in the formal wedding ceremony, creating the Couple’s Mask for the player.

The Couple’s Mask has fairly limited use in the game, and by the time players attain it, there is roughly one minute of real time before the game ends, and so generally players will have to reset the clock, effectively erasing all of the progress in reuniting Kafei and Anju. Nevertheless, the sidequest is a reminder of the power of love. Despite the misfortune surrounding the two of them, Kafei and Anju are the only two with a happy ending, and it is only with detailed work that the player can achieve this particular sequence. Amidst all of the death and destruction present in this game, the image of Kafei and Anju together, hand in hand, facing the end of the world with a smile and a promise to greet the morning together, is one that still echoes in my mind, years and hundreds of quests later.

Most importantly, the sidequest instills the game with meaning. With the player’s ability to reset the clock an unlimited number of times without restriction, it’s difficult to attach to many of the characters. After completing each of the four dungeons, players can just warp to the end and solve most of the problems in the game. But the Kafei and Anju sidequest has no shortcuts. Players must progress through the quest from the very start of the cycle to the very end. Nothing can be skipped, every action must be performed. And since the game is so short, the quest is easy to miss. Players that don’t see it assume that every NPC is like the ones they interact with – cowardly citizens that stay in the town at first out of the promise of money and then flee, leaving the soldiers to stay in town despite advocating for the evacuation of citizenry on the first night. But Kafei and Anju, knowing that the moon is bearing down on them and with no way to combat it, choose instead to wait for each other. They put their faith in you from the start of the game and, three days later, you are the only one left to witness their exchange of vows.

To me, this was the end. With just enough speed, I ran to the Clock Tower and finished the game. But the objective was no longer getting the mask back to the Salesman. Making sure Kafei and Anju got to see that morning was the true ending for me.