Game Mechanism: Storytelling

In storytelling games, players are provided with conceptual, written, or pictorial stimuli which must be incorporated into a story of the players creation. Once Upon a Time uses a selection of words while Rorys Story Cubes include ambiguous symbols. Some games like Snake Oil and Big Idea prompt players to pitch a product, which frequently takes the form of a brief story or vignette.

Other storytelling games include titles such as Tales of the Arabian Nights and Above and Below, game designs in which players dont create their own stories, but instead experience a story from the inside as one of the participants. Games along those lines might present players with a particular narrative situation, after which the player will make a choice that affects which end to the narrative is told — with the results of this narrative affecting the players standing in the game.