Editing SGA 2002 Archive (section)

=Universalis=
; Game System
: [http://universalis.actionroll.com/ Universalis]
; Pitch
: Universalis - a hybrid story-telling/rpg. It's a lot of fun. Joe, Laura and I tried it out last month and player out a murder mystery/ghost story western in three hours.
; Game Master
: Alan Barclay
; Players
: Alan, Clinton, Mike (Kamikaze), Laura, Wilhelm, and Kerri
; Characters
: 6
; Date
: December 2, 2002
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: Universalis is a story telling game with strong relationship to rpgs. Players take turns adding elements to the story, spending "coins" for each fact added or removed. We used file cards to record characters, places, and things created. The game actually starts with a Introduction phase where players take turns spending coins to define what kind of story they're going to tell, any genre or element restrictions, any rules about behavior around the table (no Monty Python jokes FREX), and almost anything else. Once everyone thinks everything is set, the second phase begins: weaving the story. The coins used to make changes and additions are earned in small amounts at the end of each scene, and by dicing out Complications in the story (fights, character arguments, environment threats, etc.) Complications are by far the most lucrative.

: Everyone caught onto the rules quickly and made contributions to the story. Control of characters and things shifts from player to player so no one has a true player character, but people got involved with the characters in general. The interesting thing I noticed was that it was the drive to develop the narrative drove the players. There really wasn't much player competition per se.

: Our story was set in a prison mining dome set on Mars, with characters like the mine boss, the new Warden, rebel miners and a spy infiltrating the rebels. As it turned out, addictive gas from the mine was infecting people with an alien virus that produced zombies from the dead. In the climax, an "Inquisitor" showed up from Earth with a battle fleet, ready to flatten the dome, while at the same time a gas leak exploded causing chaos on the surface. The mine boss, doctor, and some miners escaped in the Warden's private ship, after recovering the ship's control nexus from the spy and zapping the exo-skeleton-enhanced Warden. We had a lot of fun.
; Player Thoughts
: '''Laura:''' Clinton made a rule that Allan has to post the story we made on the Forge. I'm looking forward to reading it.  We even talked about doing a sequel because the Doctor character was infected with the virus. They suggested she might become the alien Queen like in the "Alien" movies. Could be fun.
: '''Wilhelm:''' Me too! The world must know of the general badassness of Leslie, and the heroic exploits of Denver Ghurken. Not to mention the tragic fate of Willis, the zombie miner with a heart of gold.
; Additional GM Thoughts
: