Here are four characters for a family dinner, just to give you the feel of things:Ĭonsistency: high (she’s reliable when everyone else lets her down)Ĭapability: high (she’s the only one who can do things right)Ĭharm: high (the VC always has high charm) All of these are defined from the perspective of the VC and do not necessarily reflect reality. The three attributes are Consistency (people who are “always” or “never” something have high consistency), Capability (is this person good at things?), and Charm. Very experienced VCs can create a seamless Narrative that not only bears no resemblance to actual events, but supplants them in everyone’s memory.Ĭharacters, including Viewpoint Characters, are defined in terms of six traits: a Role, three Attributes, a Tape tagline (in the VC’s voice), and a Destiny. Note that neither the Roles nor the events of the Narrative have to map to objective reality. These Roles will define their personalities and constrain their actions in the Narrative. That’s all most VCs will allow, anyway.īefore the game starts, the VC will assign everyone (including themselves) a Role. Advanced players (like families with grown children) can play with different VCs at the same time for extra realtime conflict, but beginners should probably start with one Narrative per event. a holiday dinner) can be the subject of different Narratives from different VCs. Note that two VCs can share a Narrative if they agree on all significant points. Each Narrative has a Viewpoint Character (VC), whose opinions are to be treated as fact for the entire Narrative. The object of the game is to control the stories the family tells about itself. Do it thoroughly enough, and your kids will never really stop playing! They do say that the family that plays together, stays together. Dysfunctional Families, the Role-Playing Game