a fractal role-playing game of epic histories, by Ben Robbins
Copyright © 2011 by Ben Robbins
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied in any form without the
express written permission of the author.
Written by Ben Robbins
Edited by Ping Lin & Carole Robbins
Playtested for two years by 158 of the best gamers anyone could ask for.
Published by Lame Mage Productions
www.lamemage.com
First Edition 2011 (Print & PDF)
ISBN 978-0-9832779-0-3
Dedicated to my Father, Michael Robbins,
the very first person I told about Microscope.
Table of Contents
What is Microscope?
What You Need to Play������������������������������������ 8
How To Use This Book�������������������������������������� 8
Starting a New Game
Step 1: Big Picture������������������������������������������� 10
Quick Start History Seeds������������������������������ 11
Step 2: Bookend History������������������������������� 12
Step 3: Palette–Add or Ban Ingredients��� 13
Step 4: First Pass���������������������������������������������� 15
Playing the Game
Overview of Play��������������������������������������������� 18
Picking the Focus�������������������������������������������� 19
Making History������������������������������������������������ 20
Making History: Periods�������������������������������� 22
Making History: Events��������������������������������� 24
You Build on Each Other…��������������������������� 27
… But Don’t Collaborate������������������������������� 27
Nuking Atlantis������������������������������������������������ 28
Making History: Scenes��������������������������������� 29
Scene Step 1: State the Question��������������������� 30
Scene Step 2: Set the Stage�������������������������������� 30
Scene Step 3: Choose Characters��������������������� 31
Scene Step 4: Reveal Thoughts������������������������� 32
Option: Staying in the Background����������������� 33
Option: Playing Time as a Character���������������� 33
Is That Light or Dark?�������������������������������������� 37
Playing Scenes������������������������������������������������� 38
Answering the Question������������������������������������� 38
You Can’t Change the Future����������������������������� 38
Shaping the World: What
You See Is What You Get�������������������������������� 39
Speaking Truth & Hearsay����������������������������������� 40
Thinking Out Loud������������������������������������������������ 40
Playing Secondary Characters��������������������������� 41
Doing Things To Characters������������������������������� 42
Push: Creative Conflict����������������������������������������� 43
Starting With a Push��������������������������������������������� 45
Push: Describing Things No One Can See������ 45
Push: The “You Already Knew That” Clause���� 46
Dictating Scenes��������������������������������������������� 50
Ending Scenes�������������������������������������������������� 51
Legacies������������������������������������������������������������� 52
Choose a New Legacy������������������������������������������ 52
Explore a Legacy���������������������������������������������������� 52
Style of Play: Getting in
the Microscope Mindset�������������������������������� 53
Ending the Game�������������������������������������������� 56
Storing Your History��������������������������������������������� 56
Continuing Your History�������������������������������������� 56
Discussion & Advice
History Seeds��������������������������������������������������� 58
Teaching Microscope������������������������������������� 59
Teaching Step 1: Explain the Concept������������ 59
Teaching Step 2: Game Setup��������������������������� 59
Teaching Step 3: Explain Play���������������������������� 60
Teaching Step 4: Be the First Player����������������� 60
Teaching Step 5: Playing the First Scene�������� 61
Teaching Step 6: Next Player����������������������������� 61
Onward…���������������������������������������������������������������� 62
Play Advice�������������������������������������������������������� 63
What’s a Good Idea for a History?�������������������� 63
Beware Time Travel & Immortality������������������� 64
Choosing Your Bookend Periods���������������������� 64
Number of Players������������������������������������������������ 64
How Do I Make a Good Focus?�������������������������� 65
How Do I Make a Good Question?������������������� 66
Implied Incidents: Keeping
Track of What’s Not on the Table����������������� 68
Incomplete Ideas: Blind Man’s Bluff����������������� 69
World-Building & Spawning a New Game����� 70
Afterword
How Microscope Works��������������������������������� 72
Great Power Without Great Responsibility���� 72
The Hotseat������������������������������������������������������������� 73
Independence & Interdependence������������������ 74
Fruitful Mistakes���������������������������������������������������� 75
Time Is Not So Confusing After All������������������� 76
Thanks���������������������������������������������������������������� 78
Playtesters��������������������������������������������������������� 79
Reference Sheet���������������������������������������������� 80
What is Microscope?
Microscope works differently than some other
role-playing games you might have played, so
let’s abandon some preconceptions:
You won’t have your own character.
You won’t play the game in chronological
order. You may know all about the future, but
be surprised by the past.
You’ll build the story from the outside in. You’ll
decide the big picture, the grand scheme of
history, and then burrow down and carve out
the details.
It’s fractal gaming.
So think big: you have a massive chunk of
history to play around in.
6
Humanity spreads to the stars and forges a galactic civilization…
Fledgling nations arise from the ruins of the empire…
An ancient line of dragon-kings dies out as magic fades from the realm…
These are all examples of Microscope games.
In Microscope, you build an epic history as you play. Want to play a game
that spans the entire Dune series, the Silmarillion, or the rise and fall of
Rome in an afternoon? That’s Microscope.
But you don’t play the history from start to finish, marching along in
chronological order. Instead, you build your history from the outside in. You
start off knowing the big picture, the grand scheme of what happens, then
you dive in and explore what happened in between, the how and why that
shaped events.
You are free to jump backwards or forwards, zooming in or out to look at
whatever you want, defying limits of time and space. Want to leap a thousand
years into the future and see how an institution shaped society? Want to
jump back to the childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find
out what made him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.
You have vast creative authority. You can make whole empires rise and fall
at will. Dream up a utopia or destroy one with nuclear fire. You have that
power, but remember you’re not alone: everyone else at the table can do
it too.
You create independently, but not in isolation. Each facet you add to
history builds on what other players built before you. You expand on their
ideas, and they expand on yours. History might not turn out the way you
expected. Be prepared to think on your feet.
When you zoom all the way in to a particular moment in time, all the players
share the stage and role-play together to find out something we want to
learn about the history. Did the crew of the Icarus know the aliens were on
Titan? Did the rebels really fake the government crackdown? Do the knights
remember the original meaning of their ritual vows? We role-play and see.
The more you play, the more your once simple summary becomes a detailed
tapestry, full of meaning and surprises. History snowballs.
7
What You Need to Play
Microscope is for two to five players, but three or four are best. There’s no
game prep and no GM. You can play a single session, or keep coming back
and exploring the same history over and over again.
You’ll need a stack of index cards and something to write with, along with
table space to lay everything out. Smaller cards, like blank flash cards, work
even better because they take up less space on the table.
How To Use This Book
These rules are written as step-by-step instructions that you can read aloud
as you go, but I recommend that at least one person reads the whole thing
before you sit down and play. Seeing the big picture of how the game works
will make it easier to understand how each piece of the puzzle fits.
It’s written so that (ideally) when you’re sitting at the table playing,
knee-deep in your history, you can easily flip to any section, find the rule
you’re looking for quickly, and go straight back to playing. The rules are
intentionally very terse, so you don’t have to wade through blocks of text to
find the important bits. Examples are indented and italicized, and secondary
information or commentary is in grey boxes.
I saved the discussion of how and why Microscope works for the appendix.
It’s interesting stuff, the sum of what we learned from playing this unusual
game for the last two years, but it’s not something you need to know to get
started playing.
If the rules seem dry or boring, that’s because the interesting part, the
creative spark of the game, is only going to happen when you sit down at
the table and play…
8
Starting a New Game
History starts out as a fairly blank slate, just a broad outline of what happens,
but as each player takes turns adding new elements, you’ll see more and
more detail emerge.
At the beginning you’ll collaborate and bounce ideas off each other to
make sure you are on the same page about the kind of game you want to
play, but partway through the setup that stops. From then on, the game
demands that each player contribute their own ideas about how the history
should unfold.
Sometimes you’ll make decisions without knowing exactly where the
whole thing is going, or whether what you’re creating will turn out to be
important. That’s okay. Part of the fun is not being in complete control and
being surprised by the very history you’re helping to create, rather than
planning it all out as a group.
To start a new game, follow these steps:
1)
Big Picture
2)
Bookend History
3)
Palette–Add or Ban Ingredients
4)
First Pass
Step 1: Big Picture
First, brainstorm a simple overview of the history you want to play. If you
were looking in a history book, this would be the one line that summarizes
what happens, but leaves out all the details. It should be no more than a
single sentence.
An ancient empire rises and falls.
Cavemen at the dawn of time found the first civilization.
Mankind leaves the sick Earth behind and spreads out to
the stars.
Pick something big. You want a lot of time and space to work with.
Don’t worry if your idea seems too simple or uninteresting. That’s normal at
this stage. Fleshing out the interesting details is what the rest of the game
is all about.
10
Having trouble coming up with the big picture for your history?
Just pick one of these three history seeds, answer the questions
to customize it, and you’re ready to go.
Answer the questions as minimally as possible: don’t brainstorm
more about the history, and don’t start fleshing out details. That
will come out during play.
“Three nations are united as a single empire”

What kind of nations are they? Feudal
kingdoms, primitive tribes, modern superpowers, stellar clusters, or colonies on an alien
world?

Do the people of these nations share the same
culture? Are they even the same race?
“Refugees carve out a new life in a distant land”

Where is the distant land? A continent across
the sea, a planet circling a lonely star, or a
hidden magical realm?

What are they fleeing? Religious persecution,
environmental collapse, zombie hordes, or
the oppressive hand of a dark overlord?
“A new force changes society, wiping away the old values”

What is the force? Technology, a spreading
religion, emerging superheroes, thoughtpolice?

If it’s technology, what kind? Steam, gunpowder, industrialization, nanotech, warp
gates, Atlantean alchemy, or the alphabet?
After you’ve answered the questions, rephrase the summary to
match and you’ve got the big picture of your history.
Religious refugees carve out a new life in the
fertile land beyond the wastes.
You can use these same starting points over and over again and
wind up with a completely different history each time, but if you
need more, there’s a longer list of History Seeds later on.
11
SETUP
Quick Start History Seeds
Step 2: Bookend History
Your history will be divided into Periods. Each Period is a very large chunk
of time, probably decades or centuries.
Describe how your history begins and ends. These are your starting and
ending Periods, the bookends of your history. You’ll add more Periods later
on, but everything will be between these points.
1)
Agree on a short description for each Period, just a
few sentences or a paragraph at most, painting a clear
picture of what happens during that time.
2)
Decide whether each description is Light or Dark,
whether what happens during that Period is generally
happy or tragic. This is the Tone of each Period. The Tone
of the starting and ending Period do not have to match.
You can describe either Period first, as you prefer. Sometimes it’s easier to
pick Light or Dark for each Period, then see what ideas emerge.
Our concept is “mankind leaves the sick Earth behind
and spreads out into the stars.” We decide to have a Light
starting Period and a Dark ending Period.
Start Period (Light): Earth is in sad shape, but mankind
unites to face the challenge and make a new life among
the stars. It’s not easy, but it’s a time of hope and unity.
End Period (Dark): Humanity is scattered across a myriad
of star systems with no central connection or core identity.
Isolated and alone, humanity fades into stagnation.
Write each Period on a card, with an empty or filled circle for Light or Dark
respectively. Orient the card tall, not wide. You don’t have to write the whole
description, just a short note to define the Period. Write start and end at the
bottom of the cards to show that these are the boundaries of your history.
Put your starting Period on the left and the ending Period on the right.
MANKIND MAKES
NEW LIFE AMONG
STARS
HUMANITY
STAGNATES
ISOLATED & ALONE
(START)
(END)
We now know how the history begins and how it ends, but we have no idea
what happens in between. Finding out what happens in the middle, how
history got from point A to point B, is what we do in the rest of the game.
12
Next you take a step back and create your history’s Palette. The Palette is a
list of things the players agree to reserve the right to include or, conversely,
outright ban. It gets everyone on the same page about what belongs in the
history and what doesn’t.
Make two columns, one for Yes and one for No:
1)
Each player can add one thing, either a Yes or No.
Add something to the Yes column if you think the other
players would not expect it to be in the history, but you
want to be able to include it.
Add something to the No column if you think the other
players would expect it to be in the history, but you don’t
want it included.
Players can go in any order. You don’t have to add
anything to the Palette if you don’t want to.
2)
If every player did add something (either a Yes or No),
repeat step 1: each player has the option to go again. If
someone opted not to add something, stop: your Palette
is done. In the end, no player will have added two things
more than anyone else.
Feel free to discuss and negotiate. No one should be unhappy about what
winds up added or banned on the Palette.

If something is in the Yes column, then during the rest of
the game it’s okay to introduce it into the history even if
it doesn’t seem like it fits. You’ve all agreed it belongs.

If something is in the No column, it’s never okay to bring
into the game, no matter what. You’ve all agreed it’s not
part of the history.
Even if something is in the Yes column, it doesn’t exist in the history until
someone introduces it in play. Something might be in the Yes column, but
never get used at all.
13
SETUP
Step 3: Palette–Add or Ban
Ingredients
The Palette is not an exhaustive list of what will be in the history: it’s a list
of exceptions. If something fits the setting (like wizards in a fantasy world),
you probably don’t need to add it to the Yes column because the other
players already expect it. Likewise if something seems really out of place
(like wizards in a science fiction history), you probably do not need to add
it to the No column unless you think other players want to include it. When
in doubt, discuss.
One players puts “habitable worlds” in the No column.
People have to live in artificial habitats, biodomes, space
stations, or ships. Another player asks if terraformed
worlds would be okay, but the first player doesn’t want
that either. The other players decide to go along with it.
Another player adds “aliens” to the Yes column; she’s not
sure the other players want aliens in this setting, so she
wants to find out now. Other players want to keep space
mysterious, so after some discussion a different player
adds “communication with aliens” to the No column.
There may turn out to be aliens in the game, but there will
be no way to talk to them.
The Palette is your last chance to freely negotiate and build group consensus
about your history. Your choices tell the other players what kind of game
you want to play, helping you avoid bad surprises and misunderstandings
later on. If there’s a big disagreement about the kind of things you want in
your history, now’s the time to find out and talk about it.
14
Step 4: First Pass
Each player now gets to add more detail to the history, creating either a
new Period or Event. Players can go in any order they want.

To add a Period, place it between any two adjacent
Periods, then give a short description of what happens
during that time. Say if the Tone is Light or Dark.

An Event is a specific thing that happens inside a Period,
like a prince seizing the throne or a colony ship arriving
on a new world. To add a new Event, decide what Period
the Event is in. If there are already other Events in that
Period, place it before or after one of them. An Event
must be inside an existing Period. Tell the other players
what happens during the Event. Say if the Tone is Light
or Dark.
Write each Period and Event on a separate index card as you create them.
Orient Event cards wide instead of tall (so you can tell them apart from
Periods) and place them below the Period they are in. Cards are laid out
in chronological order, with time flowing to the right for Period cards, and
downward for Event cards within each Period. So each Period happens
sometime after the Period to its left, and each Event happens sometime
after the Event above it in the same Period.
MANKIND MAKES
NEW LIFE AMONG
STARS
“UNIFIERS”
CONQUER
MULTIPLE STAR
SYSTEMS
MASS SETTLEMENT
OF ALIEN
DYSON-SPHERE
(START)
HUMANITY
STAGNATES
ISOLATED & ALONE
(END)
SURVEY SHIP “MEADOWLARK”
DISCOVERS SPHERE
SOLAR FLARES
DESTROY HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
15
SETUP
Group decisions are now over. For the rest of the game, each player makes
decisions individually and has vast power to shape history.
What you write on the card is just a placeholder for the description you give
the other players. What you say is more important than what is on the card.
Always speak first, make sure the other players hear and understand you,
then write.
Making Events and Periods is covered in more detail later on.
You now know a lot more about your history than you did when you started,
and you’re ready to start regular play.
16
Playing the Game
Overview of Play
You should have already followed the steps in “Starting a New Game” to
build the foundation of your history.
Decide which player will start: that player becomes the first Lens. If someone
is teaching the game, they should be the first Lens. You can give the Lens a
large and visible object to remind everyone at the table who it is.
1)
Declare the Focus: The Lens declares the current Focus
of the game, the part of history you’re going to explore
right now.
2)
Make History: Each player takes a turn creating either
a Period, Event or Scene. The Lens goes first, then go
around the table to the left. What you create must relate
to the current Focus.
The Lens can choose to create two things on her turn, so
long as they are nested inside each other: either a new
Event plus a Scene inside that Event, or a new Period
plus an Event inside that Period. This gives the Lens more
power to get the Focus going.
3)
Lens Finishes the Focus: After each player has taken a
turn, the Lens gets to go again and add another Period,
Event or Scene (or two nested things). This lets the Lens
have the last word about the Focus.
After all players have addressed the Focus, we take a step back and examine
Legacies, elements of the history we want to remember to explore later
on:
4)
Choose a New Legacy: The player to the right of the Lens
picks something from play during this last Focus and
makes it a Legacy.
5)
Explore a Legacy: The same player creates an Event or
dictated Scene that relates to one of the Legacies, either
the one just created or one already in play.
6)
New Lens: The player to the left of the Lens then becomes
the new Lens and picks a new Focus. Repeat.
Before the new Lens starts, you may want to take a quick intermission and
talk about how the game is going. Talk about what you’ve liked or what
intrigues you, but don’t plan what’s going to happen next.
That’s the whole game in a nutshell. Each step is described in more detail
in the rest of the book.
18
Picking the Focus
The Focus can be anything: a person, a place, a thing, an institution, an
Event, a Period, a concept–anything you want. The Lens can use something
that already came up in play or make up something new on the spot. If
you’re making something new, you’ll usually declare the Focus, then make
a Period, Event or Scene to show what you’re talking about.
“The new Focus is going to be the ‘sinking of the Gabriel
Dora.’ It’s a luxury liner that goes down mysteriously, so
first I’m making a new Event where the ship sinks in the
North Atlantic, with no known survivors…”
Write down each Focus and who chose it on a card so that, as the history
unfolds, you can look back and see how you explored it. If a new Lens is
interested in a previous Focus, they could pick the same Focus again or pick
a related Focus that looks at things from a different angle.
The old Focus was President Galveston, patriarch of the
Lone Star Republic. During play we found out he died
in office, eaten away by illness. The new Lens wants to
explore that, so she makes the new Focus “the last days of
Galveston’s presidency.”
Picking the Focus is powerful. It lets you set the direction of the game. Don’t
hesitate to make up a Focus even if you don’t have a clear idea why it’s
interesting. Those details will emerge as you play.
When in doubt
Pick a small, concrete Focus, like a particular person or an
incident, rather than a broad or vague one. The narrower
the Focus, the more detailed and personal the history
will be to play.
19
PLAY
Play can jump backwards and forwards in time, all across the history. To
keep everyone playing the same game, the Lens picks a Focus, a unifying
theme that ties the story together, at least until the next Lens picks a new
one.
Making History
On your turn, you can create either a Period, an Event, or a Scene (or two
nested things if you’re the Lens). These are the building blocks that outline
your history: Periods show us the big picture, the broad sweep of history,
Events zoom in closer and explore specific incidents within a Period, and
Scenes zoom all the way in and reveal what happens moment-by-moment
within an Event.
When you make a Period or an Event, you have vast power to shape history.
You can add anything you want as part of your description, spontaneously
creating–or destroying–people, places, or things.
A player adds a new Event “the King’s army destroys the
secret stronghold of the Moon Cultists, who are trying
to unite the seven pieces of the sacred sword, Invictus.”
Neither the king, the cult or the sword had been mentioned
before. The current player just made them all up.
If you choose to play a Scene instead, you give up absolute control and
invite the other players to role-play and decide what happens together.
No one owns anything in the history. It doesn’t matter who created
something: when it’s your turn you can do anything you want with it. The
only limits to your creativity are:

Don’t contradict what’s already been said.

Make sure what you add relates to the current Focus.

Don’t use anything from the No column of the Palette.
Only the current player gets to contribute. Other players should not give
suggestions or ideas, and the current player cannot ask for input either.
Other players can and should ask for clarification if they can’t visualize what
the current player is describing.
WARP GATES
UNITE DISTANT
COLONY WORLDS
VIGILANTE "THE OWL"
GUNS DOWN MOB BOSS
SEGRETTI AT HIS TRIAL
WHY DID THE MACHINES
STOP BEFORE THEY
ERADICATED
HUMANITY?
PILGRIMS TRAVEL TO
MOUNTAIN OF THE
WORLD-AI
STUDYING HUMANITY
GAVE THEM PURPOSE
PERIOD
CARD
EVENT
CARD
20
SCENE
CARD
You must show how what you are creating relates to the Focus. If it isn’t
clear, the other players should ask how it relates.
Paint a clear picture. Particularly with Events, the other players should be
able to visualize what physically happens. Other players don’t get input,
but they should ask questions if there’s something they need to know to
understand what you’re creating.
“Tarsus colony is destroyed” is a good starting point for
an Event, but it’s too vague. If we were watching from a
birds-eye view, we would probably see how the colony
was destroyed. Did it blow up? Was it invaded? “A reactor
accident destroys the Tarsus biodome” or “killer machines
demolish the colony” paint a more complete picture.
How much detail should you include? A good rule of thumb is to describe
what would be visible from a birds-eye view at the level of history you’re
creating. If you’re making a Period, your description should include the
broad sweeps of history, but not specific details that would emerge during
an Event or Scene. If you’re making an Event, zoom in closer and describe
what happens, but not the moment-by-moment detail of a Scene.
Remember to declare the outcome. There’s a natural tendency to describe
a starting situation, but not the conclusion. But in Microscope we already
know how it ends. You always see the big picture before you zoom in and
explore the details. Even if we never examine this part of history further, we
should have a clear (but perhaps simplistic) sense of what happened.
“The President runs for re-election” is a bad Event, because
it doesn’t tell us the outcome. Does he win? Does he lose?
The result is something we could easily see, so it should
be part of the description. Without that information, the
description is a cliffhanger, not a summary.
There’s always room between two items in the history. If you have two
Periods, you can always add another Period in the middle, provided you
describe it in a way that doesn’t contradict what’s already known.
21
PLAY
The Lens declared the Focus to be “the fall of the capitol
city” during an ongoing war and made an Event for
it. A player could add a Scene in that Event (a battle to
hold the gate), create a separate Event (an army seeking
vengeance against the invaders), or even make a distant
Scene in a totally different Period (archaeologists sifting
through the ruins of the city a thousand years later).
Making History: Periods
A Period is the largest subdivision of the history. It is a very large chunk of
time, usually decades or centuries depending on your history, like an era of
feudal wars or stellar colonization.
To make a new Period:
1)
Decide when it is: Place the new Period between any two
adjacent Periods–the Period to the left is earlier, the one
to the right is later.
2)
Describe the Period: Give the other players a grand
summary of what happens during this time or what
things are like. Describe how it is different from other
Periods around it, as appropriate.
3)
Say whether it is Light or Dark: Explain how that Tone
fits your description. You’re never wrong about Tone, but
you do have to justify your choice to the other players.
Write your Period description on an index card, oriented tall, with an empty
or filled circle to show Light or Dark respectively. You don’t have to write
the whole description, just a short note to define the Period. Put your card
where you indicated it goes in the history.
Your world can change drastically from Period to Period. Kingdoms can rise
and fall, and whole technologies or schools of thought can be discovered
or lost. Be sure to describe how the Period you are making is different from
other Periods around it, as appropriate.
“This is before the colonies build the warp-net, but they
have developed faster star drives, so you can travel between
worlds in a few weeks rather than years. Interstellar
commerce and travel is now commonplace. The New Sun
faith from the ‘Crusades’ Period is everywhere, but it’s
not a fervent belief anymore, just customs and traditions
everyone shares without thinking about it.”
Your description can include how the new Period relates to the Periods
around it. But even if you visualize your Period as coming right before or
after another Period, someone else could add a Period in between them
later on, so long as their description of their Period doesn’t contradict what
was already said.
There’s already a “the gods curse the world with endless
winter” Period, and you make a new Period right before it:
“A golden age of prosperity, the calm before the accursed
winter.” You visualize the golden age leading right up to
the winter Period, but later another player adds a Period
22
between them where the clans become proud and turn
away from the sacred rituals, angering the gods. You
didn’t expect it, but it doesn’t violate anything in the
description of either Period, so it’s okay.
Another player asks for clarification about how that
relates to something from earlier in the game: “Does
that include the descendents of High King Ulrix? I assume
they’d have the power to resist that kind of thing.” The
player making the Period won’t say because she thinks
that much detail wouldn’t be visible at the Period level.
To find out, someone will have to zoom in and make an
Event in this Period.
After she’s finished speaking, she writes ‘Lords of Shadow,
nobles possessed’ on a card, draws a Dark circle, then
places it in the history. Her turn is over.
LORDS OF
SHADOW,
NOBLES
POSSESSED
23
PERIODS
example: Making a Period
On a player’s turn, she says: “I’m making a new Period
after the ‘Peace of Ulrix’ and before the ‘Coming of the
Western Kings.’ It’s a time of great terror, with evil wraithspirits possessing and corrupting the lords of the realms,
from the king on down. There’s oppression and terrible
deeds, and the people live in terror of their once-noble
lords. The gleaming courts of chivalry become places of
nightmare. And yes, it’s Dark.”
PLAY
Note that you don’t specify exactly how long a Period is. Your description
may include a broad sense of how much time is passing (“it’s a war that
rages for generations” or “this is decades after the revolution”), but we never
count years or worry about exactly how long something is.
Making History: Events
An Event is something specific that happens during a Period, like a great
battle or a festival. While a Period encompasses everything that happens
across a large span of time, an Event describes what happens at a particular
time and place. Just like Periods, the literal length of an Event is not
important. Some Events may seem long, others very short.
To make a new Event:
1)
Decide when it is: Place the Event in an existing Period.
You cannot have an Event outside a Period. If there are
already other Events in that Period, place it before or
after one of them chronologically.
2)
Describe the Event: Tell the other players what happens.
Your description should be specific enough that the
other players have a clear picture of what physically
takes place. Make sure to include the outcome, not just
the start.
3)
Say whether it is Light or Dark: Explain how that Tone
fits your description. You’re never wrong about Tone, but
you do have to justify your choice to the other players.
Write your Event description on an index card, oriented wide instead of tall,
with an empty or filled circle to show Light or Dark respectively. You don’t
have to write the whole description, just enough to remind everyone what
the Event is. Put your card where you indicated it goes in the history.
As play continues, each Event could wind up with multiple Scenes inside it,
each one showing us more detail about what happened during that Event.
If you start to make an Event that describes something that is part of an
existing Event, make a Scene inside of that Event instead. Anything that
builds up to or describes the aftermath of what was described in an Event
(like a meeting planning an upcoming attack, or the survivors escaping
after that attack) is probably a Scene in that Event, not a separate Event.
Avoiding split Events helps keeps your history manageable and easier to
grasp: instead of having several Event cards that really just describe one
thing, you’ll have a single Event card summarizing the core concept, with
all the related Scene cards tucked neatly beneath it.
There’s already an Event, “The Owl guns down mob boss
Segretti at his trial.” A player wants to make an Event
where the vigilante hero gets caught by police for the
shooting, but the other players point out that if it happens
soon after, not years later, it’s really a Scene inside that
same Event.
24
He has described a situation, but not the outcome, so
another player asks him to declare the visible outcome.
“Oh, right. The prince tries valiantly, but he’s discovered
and slain. His sister does not escape. Hence the Dark.”
PLAY
Example: Making an Event
On the next player’s turn, he says “I’ll make an Event in
this ‘Lords of Shadow’ Period. A warrior-prince who’s
a direct descendent of High King Ulrix sneaks into the
castle of a shadow-tainted Duke to rescue his sister, who
the Duke has captured and plans to wed. The prince and
princess had both been in hiding, and they had escaped
corruption. The Event is totally Dark.”
He writes ‘Prince, heir of Ulrix, slain trying to save sister
from marriage to shadow Duke’ on a card, draws a filled
in circle for Dark, then puts the card beneath the ‘Lords of
Shadow’ Period. His turn is done.
EVENTS
LORDS OF
SHADOW,
NOBLES
POSSESSED
PRINCE, HEIR OF ULRIX,
SLAIN TRYING TO SAVE SISTER
FROM MARRIAGE TO
SHADOW DUKE
Later on, a different player decides to spend her turn
exploring some of what led up to the princess’s abduction.
She says “I’m interested in this Duke who abducted the
princess. I don’t think he was always such a bad guy.”
“I’m making an Event earlier in the Period, before this Duke
was tainted by the wraith-spirits. He’s much younger, and
he’s not the Duke yet. His father still rules. He’s just a young
noble knight. We didn’t name him before, but I’m going to
give one now. Let’s call him Colliard.”
“The Event is that the same princess from the other Event
is sent to the Duke’s domain for the summer to keep her
safe from some potential danger at the court, and the
25
Duke makes his son her guardian and knight-protector.
She’s only a girl back then, but despite their age difference
Colliard and the princess become fast friends. She even
has a childish crush on her protector. It’s Light, a pleasant
summer of youth.”
Another player asks “So wait, years earlier she’s a welcome
guest in the same castle she gets abducted to later on? By
her childhood friend / guardian?”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“Dude. I can’t decide if that’s better or worse…”
As the other players mull the new light this casts on what
they already know happens in the future, the current
player writes ‘Princess spends summer as ward of Duke,
Colliard’s father’ on a card, draws an empty circle for
Light, and puts it beneath the ‘Lords of Shadow’ Period,
but above the ‘Warrior-prince tries to free sister’ Event. For
good measure she also jots Duke Colliard’s name on that
Event card, so it’s clear they’re the same person. Her turn
is done.
LORDS OF
SHADOW,
NOBLES
POSSESSED
PRINCESS SPENDS SUMMER
AS WARD OF DUKE,
COLLIARD’S FATHER
PRINCE, HEIR OF ULRIX,
SLAIN TRYING TO SAVE SISTER
FROM MARRIAGE TO
SHADOW DUKE
D)
R
LLIA
(CO
26
You Build on Each Other…
Sometimes it works the other way: you’ll create something you
think is dull or obvious, but it inspires another player to build on
it in a way you didn’t foresee. Your “boring” idea can snowball
into something unexpected and wonderful. So don’t be afraid
to create something simple: you may be providing a valuable
foundation for someone else.
… But Don’t Collaborate
Nothing will kill your game faster than playing by committee.
When it’s someone else’s turn, don’t coach. Explaining the rules is
fine, but don’t suggest ideas. Even if another player wants ideas,
don’t give them. Let them come up with something.
Be interested in what other players create. Ask questions,
demand clarification. If there are contradictions, point them out,
but resist the urge to make suggestions, even tiny ones. You’ve
already inspired them with your contributions to the history.
Now wait and see what they do with it. Keep your poker face.
If you collaborate and discuss ideas as a group, you’ll get a very
smooth and very boring history. But if you wait and let people
come up with their own ideas, they may take the history in
surprising and fascinating directions. It can be hard to sit silently
and watch someone think, but the results can be awesome. You’ll
get a chance to interact more fluidly when you role-play Scenes.
27
EVENTS
Microscope is all about building on each other’s ideas. Every
player has immense creative power and can invent whole chunks
of history all by themselves, but they’re also dependent on each
other. Even if you’re the Lens, you can’t create a Scene along
with an Event and Period to contain it all in one swoop. More
likely you’ll build an Event in a Period someone else made, or a
Scene in someone else’s Event. To make what you want, you have
to listen to what other people have made and think of how to
expand on it.
PLAY
When you describe a Period, Event or the setup for a Scene, sell
it. Pitch your vision to the other players. Paint a picture in vivid
colors. Breathe life into it. Other players can’t veto, but if they
aren’t interested or don’t understand your idea, they won’t build
on it. In traditional game terms, for the moment you are the
GM, making the other players believe in your world. Speak with
authority, like you’re describing a real thing you can see.
Nuking Atlantis
Or “Can I just say that guy is dead?”
It doesn’t matter who created that gleaming city on the hill or
who played that character in the last Scene: if it’s your turn,
you can do whatever you want. No one owns anything in the
history. You can make an Event and say “this is when the Prophet
gets assassinated” or “this is when that awesome city you guys
have been going on about gets nuked. Boom!” You have nigh
unlimited power, so long as you don’t contradict what’s already
been established.
Don’t pull your punches. Killing a character or nuking a city
doesn’t remove it from the game because you can always go
back in time and explore what it was like when it was still around.
No matter what you do, other players can still go back and use
it, so don’t be afraid to wipe things out. Nothing is ever removed
from the history. The past is never closed.
28
Making History: Scenes
To create a Scene, you first pose a Question, something you want to find
out about the history. The goal of the Scene is to decide the answer to that
Question. We start off the Scene without an answer and discover it through
play. The Question can tell us something crucial to history (“why did the
king betray his country?”), it can give us a window into what life was like
in that time and place (“are the asteroid miners happy with their rugged
frontier lives?”), or just examine something that isn’t important in the grand
scheme of things, but is interesting to the players (“did the soldier get to
marry his hometown sweetheart?”).
PLAY
Scenes are the smallest units of history. They show us exactly what happens
at a specific place, at a specific time, with specific people. Scenes are also
different because, instead of creating them unilaterally, all the players join
in and role-play to determine what happens. You give up absolute control,
but in return you get to decide what everyone is going to role-play about,
turning everyone’s attention to a part of the history that interests you.
If you want to make a Scene, but you want to answer the Question yourself
instead of letting the other players participate, you can choose to dictate
the Scene instead. When you dictate a Scene, you describe what happens
and narrate the answer to your own Question, just like making a Period or
Event. Making dictated Scenes is covered later.
1)
State the Question
2)
Set the Stage
3)
Choose Characters ()
4)
Reveal Thoughts ()
SCENES
To make a played Scene, don’t say anything about what you have in mind,
just follow these steps:
The  symbol indicates choices made by each player, going around the
table to the right (the opposite direction of normal play). All other decisions
are made by the player making the Scene.
29
Scene Step 1: State the Question
State the Question this Scene will answer. The Question is why we are
looking at the Scene in the first place, and the Scene isn’t complete until we
find the answer. A Question can be a simple yes/no or it can require a more
detailed answer.
Are the rebels driven by vengeance or a desire for freedom?
Can the World-AI recreate the long-dead human race?
What do all mages have to sacrifice to learn sorcery?
What’s the one thing that can harm the god of beauty?
A Question can establish facts or stack the deck. If something is declared
in the Question, it’s going to happen. There’s no avoiding it. Craft your
Question carefully to push the Scene in the direction you want to explore.
If the Question is “why does the king betray his country?”,
we know the king is going to do it. Nothing can prevent it.
You would get totally different Scenes if you asked “Does
the king betray his country?” or “What did the warlord pay
the king to betray his country?”
Write your Question in the top third of an index card, oriented tall (opposite
of the way you write Events, so you can tell them apart). Keep the card out
so everyone can look at the Question while playing the Scene.
Scene Step 2: Set the Stage
When does the Scene happen?: Decide which Event the Scene is in. If there
are already Scenes in that Event, put it before or after one.
Review established facts: Refresh everyone’s memory about things we
already know that bear on this Scene. Don’t create anything new at this
point, just review what already happened and what we know is going to
happen in the future. Other players can help out if they think of things.
“He hasn’t done it yet, but we know from the description
of the Event that the hero is going to win the Sword of
Storms and defeat the Colossus.”
Where? Why? What Just Happened or What’s Next?: Describe where the
Scene physically takes place and what is going on. Are the characters
here for a reason? Is there something they intend to do? What happened
just before the Scene? If there are specific incidents implied in the Event
description or the Question, say whether this is before or after.
“It’s night-shift on the bridge of the Icarus, and the captain
should be asleep but he’s checking on his green crew. We
know the ship is going to discover the ghost planet, but
that hasn’t happened yet. It’s a normal cruise so far.”
30
Scene Step 3: Choose Characters
You can require or ban categories of people (like police, nobles, or children),
instead of specific individuals. You cannot ban groups by what they are not
(such as banning anyone who is not a soldier), since that would create a
requirement for all characters.
“I require the king and a secret heretic, and I ban the king’s
son and anyone from the neighboring kingdom.”
PLAY
Require and ban characters: Player making the Scene may specify one
or two characters someone must play in this Scene. That player can also
name one or two characters no one can play in this Scene. These can be
characters already introduced, or just descriptions of roles or relationships
(“the doctor’s son”). Banning seemingly essential characters can lead to
very different Scenes.
Pick characters: (all players ) Each player picks a character to play in the
Scene. The person to the right of the player making the Scene picks first,
then continue around to the right (opposite the direction of normal play).
The player making the scene picks last. All required characters must be
played, so if you’re one of the last two players to pick you may be forced to
choose a required character if they haven’t already been taken.
A down-and-out miner, the king’s lover, the lieutenant to
the commander of the invasion force: each of those is all
the detail you need to create a character.
Your goal is to answer the Question, so pick a character that helps you do
that. With some Questions certain characters may have a lot more power
to decide the answer than others. Even if you can’t pick a character who
decides the answer, your choice may tell the other players where you want
the Scene to go.
If the Question is “why does the gunslinger refuse to draw?”
and you choose to play the gunslinger, the answer hinges
on your decision. You’re in control. Or you could choose a
character that adds new details to influence the answer,
like “the gunslinger’s kidnapped girlfriend” or “his pacifist
father.” Is the gunslinger being blackmailed with the life
of his girl? Did his father tell him to hang up his gun? We
haven’t even started the Scene yet, but the pot’s brewing.
There could be a lot of possible reasons, but in the end it’s
up to the person playing the gunslinger to show us what
really made him refuse.
31
SCENES
You can invent a completely new person on the spot, or pick someone who
has already appeared in the game, even if it’s a character someone else
played previously. All you need is a few words to describe the character,
including any relationships they have to other characters.
Scene Step 4: Reveal Thoughts
Each player states one thing their character is thinking about the upcoming
Scene. Start to the right of the player making the Scene and continue to the
right (all players , the same order as picking characters).
Your thought could reveal what your character is going to do or highlight
what your character expects to happen. Revealed thoughts are a powerful
tool for influencing the Scene. They let you give the other players hints
about where you want the Scene to go.
Don’t reveal thoughts that answer the Question before the Scene even
starts–you can hint or stack the deck, but don’t give a definite answer.
“The navigator wonders why they’re really being sent to
Korvis IV. He can’t believe they’d send a ship all the way
out here just to take spectrographic readings.”
Your thoughts can be about other players’ characters, but you’re only saying
what your character thinks or believes. The other player gets to say what
their character really did or is doing.
“The navigator thinks the Lieutenant sold them out to the
Hegemony.” Did the Lieutenant do it, or is the navigator
barking up the wrong tree? The Lieutenant’s player gets
to decide. We’ll see in play, or maybe when the Lieutenant
reveals his thoughts.
You’re now ready to play the Scene. The player making the Scene can
choose to say who is present when the Scene starts. Players can have other
characters enter the Scene whenever they want.
32
Option: Staying in the Background
Some Scenes are better with fewer characters. The player making the Scene
cannot require fewer characters, but any player can choose to play someone
they consider a minor character and just stay in the background during the
Scene, leaving the critical interactions to the important characters. Make
sure to tell the other players that’s your intention.
Instead of playing a normal character, one player in a Scene can choose to
play Time, a special type of character. Time represents forces or groups of
people who are pushing the situation to some conclusion, for good or ill.
The barbarians at the gates, the cavalry come to the rescue, the angry mob,
the black plague, the tanking economy–these could all be Time.
PLAY
Option: Playing Time as a Character
A player decides to play the court nobility as Time. They
are eager for the king to make a decision. If he doesn’t stop
waffling, they may take matters into their own hands.
Time makes more sense in some Scenes than others. One of Time’s jobs
is to put pressure on the Scene. If the Scene is going slow, it is up to Time
to step in and push for a resolution, which may force the other players to
hurry up and answer the Question. It’s a little like being a GM in a traditional
game: you can nudge the other players if they aren’t getting anywhere, but
if they are rolling, you should sit back and let things unfold. Playing Time is
also useful when there are a lot of players at the table and more characters
within the Scene would not improve anything.
33
SCENES
Time can be a required character, but the current player must define Time
as something specific (angry senators, the barbarians, etc.) instead of just
requiring “Time.” When Time reveals thoughts, it should always be about
how or why it wants to hurry things along.
Example: Making a Played Scene
There are four players: Addie, Bors, Cat, and Dennis.
They’re conveniently sitting in alphabetical order
clockwise around the table, just like the normal order of
play (A-B-C-D).
They’re playing a history where martial arts legends
have passed down their teachings from generation to
generation. Bors just went, so this is Cat’s turn. She says
“Let’s play a Scene. The Question is ‘why is the Master
hesitant to trust this particular monk to save the secrets
of the temple?’ This is in the Event ‘Temple on Seven Eagle
Mountain destroyed by Emperor’s troops’ during the
‘Emperors oppress the people’ Period. I’m going to put it
before the Scene where the Imperial general ordered his
men to take no prisoners.”
(established facts) “We already know the temple is going
to be destroyed, but we saw in the ‘War of Quiet Rivers’
Period that the Seven Eagle martial arts style survived,
even though it was thought lost for generations.”
(what, where, why) “The Scene is taking place in one of the
high-walled practice courtyards of the temple. The Master
has kept the apprentice monk ‘after class’ and is putting
him through grueling exercises, apparently in punishment
for some failing. It’s midday and the sun is beating down
mercilessly, but in the background the snowy peak of the
mountain seems to float, serene and cool.”
“Oh, and we know the attack is going to happen later in the
Event, but this is before the monastery has been alerted to
the approaching soldiers. There’s tension because of the
trouble across the land, but otherwise it’s just another day
in the temple as far as most people are concerned, but the
Masters can see the writing on the wall. They’ve discussed
sending away promising disciples to ensure their school
survives, but haven’t told any of the students yet.”
(banned & required) “For characters, I’m requiring the
monk and his Master from the Question. They’re the
characters from the Scene description, in case that wasn’t
obvious. Hmm, I was going to ban the Emperor’s soldiers
but I don’t think I will. I am going to ban the monk’s
brother, which implies that, yeah, he has a brother, but his
brother can’t be in this Scene. Not sure if that will have an
impact, but it seems interesting. Time to pick characters.”
34
Scene choices go in the opposite direction of normal play,
so Bors goes first because it was his turn last. Cat will go
after everyone else because she’s making the Scene.
Addie: “I’ll play the monk’s good-for-nothing best friend.
He washed out of training, so now he’s a menial
servant / laborer in the temple.” She picked this
character to raise doubts about whether the monk is
a good student.
Dennis: “I’ll be the apprentice monk.”
PLAY
Bors: “I’ll be the Master. It seems like he’s got final word
over the Question. He’s relatively young, probably in
his fifties.”
Cat: “All the required characters have been taken already,
so I’ll be another Master at the temple. I’m the
ancient, blind, wise-but-enigmatic-parable guy,
tottering along with my walking stick.”
Bors asks Dennis to name the monk since he’s going to be
coming up a lot. Dennis asks for help, so they kick around
ideas and decide to call him Wen.
Bors: “Wen’s teacher is not sure Wen is disciplined enough.
His head always seems to be in the clouds.” The other
players ask whether he just answered the Question,
which is forbidden before play starts. “Hmm, maybe.
Okay, scratch that. The Master is afraid for the school
because he knows in his heart that only the strong
survive in this world.”
Addie: “The good-for-nothing best friend thinks Wen is
wasting his time tricking his teachers into thinking
he’s so diligent. He’d be better off just taking it easy
like me.” This is what the friend thinks, but it doesn’t
mean it’s what Wen is really doing.
Dennis: “Okay, Wen is secretly ashamed that he’s broken
his vow of chastity. Zinger!”
Cat: “Yow! Nice one. That gives me a lot of ideas, but I
think I’ll stick with being the straight man for now.
The blind master wonders why Wen’s teacher delays
sending him into the wilds. The choice has been
made. It’s time to act. He fears time is running out.
Now let’s play.”
35
SCENES
Players reveal thoughts in the same order they picked
characters.
Cat writes the Question on the top of the card, oriented
tall, then writes the setting in the middle. For now they
keep the card out where everyone can see the Question,
but when the Scene is done, she’ll write the answer on
the bottom, draw a circle for Light or Dark, and then put
it underneath the Event card, on top of the Scene that
comes after it.
IMPERIAL
INJUSTICE,
COMMON FOLK
OPPRESSED
IS THE GENERAL
INTERESTED IN A
PEACEFUL
TEMPLE ON SEVEN EAGLE
MOUNTAIN DESTROYED
BY EMPEROR’S TROOPS
NO.
TAKE NO PRISONERS
WHY IS THE MASTER
HESITANT TO TRUST
THIS MONK TO SAVE
THE SECRETS OF THE
TEMPLE?
PRACTICE YARD,
MONK KEPT AFTER
LESSONS
36
Is That Light or Dark?
Raiders sack a thriving port city. Do you think the people in the
city are basically good people? If so, then you probably would
think it was Dark that they were wiped them out. But what if
those same citizens were despicable tyrants, oppressing their
neighbors with fear and military might? Now those raiders look
more like the purging hand of justice, come to wipe out evil and
bring justice, and you might consider it Light.
There is no right or wrong answer. The important thing is to
explain to the other players why you think something is Light
or Dark.
PLAY
Here’s a secret: Light or Dark are entirely subjective. They depend
on who you’re rooting for.
When you’re judging Tone at the end of a Scene, it’s a rare
chance for the whole table to freely discuss what just happened
and what you think it means. You’ll disagree. You’ll go back and
forth. You’ll think it’s Dark, but then someone else will make an
argument that makes you change your mind. That’s good. You’re
establishing a shared sense of what it all means, what the point
of this whole history is.
When in doubt:
Go with your gut. You’re never wrong about
Tone, so long as you can explain your choice.
If you’re judging a Scene and it doesn’t seem
strongly Light or Dark, make it the opposite
Tone of the Event it’s in.
37
SCENES
When you’re making history, you’ve already described what
physically happens, what we would see if we watched history
from the birds-eye view (“raiders sack the city,” “the President
calls for reform”). When you’re picking Tone, you’re deciding what
you think it means. You’re judging the history, applying your own
sense of right and wrong, and explaining your thinking to the
other players.
Playing Scenes
Each player controls a character in the Scene and uses that character to try
to answer the Question. There is no GM. During a Scene, you can:

Role-play what your character does and thinks. If
someone tries to do something to your character, you
describe the outcome.

Shape the world by describing what your character
perceives and how they react to it.

Introduce and play secondary characters, as needed.
During the Scene, everyone should be trying to answer the Question.
Keep looking at the Question as you play. The Scene ends when the players
know the answer to the Question. After the Scene is over, you will look at
what happened and decide whether it was Light or Dark.
If another player makes something happen in the world outside their
character, but you have a different idea of where the Scene should go
or how the world should be, you can Push to change it: you suggest an
alternative, and all the players vote to decide which one happens.
Those are all the rules for playing a Scene. Each part is described in more
detail below.
Answering the Question
The Scene ends when the players know the answer to the Question. It
doesn’t matter if the characters know the answer or not. If you think the
Question has been answered, just say “Hey, I think that answered the
Question.” If the other players agree, you’re done with the Scene.
A player may answer the Question by having a character perceive
something, do something, say something, or even just think something–it
all depends what the Question was. Do you have an answer to the Question,
but can’t think of how to make your character blurt it out? Just say what
your character is thinking instead. An internal monologue that reveals the
answer to the players is good enough.
You Can’t Change the Future
Playing Microscope is different than many games because we often know
what is going to happen in the future: we know the kingdom is going to lose
the war, we know the colony is going to be overrun. The Question may even
declare that certain things are going to happen. The action within a Scene
cannot change the facts that have been established, but they can change
38
our assumptions about how or why things happened. Seeing exactly how
things happened is the interesting part of the story.
Shaping the World: What You See Is What You Get
You want an alien fleet to appear, so you describe your
character watching a sensor array and seeing the blips
appear as they warp in. It’s an alien fleet!
PLAY
If you want to describe something about the world outside your character
during the Scene, just describe your character perceiving it. You can make
up anything you want this way, so long as it obeys the usual rules for making
history (don’t contradict what we already know, don’t use anything banned
by the Palette). You can make new things happen or reveal facts about the
environment or world.
You want the President (a character no one is playing) to
be an android, so right after another player shoots him
you describe examining the body and seeing sparking
circuits and wires in the wound. Boom, he’s an android.
You must also describe your character reacting to what he or she perceives.
You’re role-playing in the moment, not just narrating a story.
“My secret service agent looks up from the President’s
android body, and he can’t believe his eyes. He says: ‘I
don’t understand… How can this be possible?!?’”
When someone describes something they see, don’t ignore it. Work with
it. Build on what other people add during the Scene. Another option is to
intentionally introduce something incomplete and then pass the ball to
another player and let them fill in the details.
You describe your character noticing strange runes on the
floor of the tomb, then ask another player “Doc, do you
think that writing explains what happened here? I can’t
make heads or tails of it. Can you read it?”
39
SCENES
Don’t describe things you perceive about a character someone else is
playing, unless it’s a secondary character (someone introduced during the
Scene, not picked during setup). That’s for the other player to decide.
Speaking Truth & Hearsay
Sometimes you’ll just have your character say things about the world to
establish that they’re true. Generally this isn’t any different than describing
what you perceive: you’re just describing something that your character
knows because they perceived it in the past.
“The soldier says “No one is coming to save you. The 7th
Legion was slaughtered in the passes. We’re on our own.’
He looks out over the parapet, grimly ready for the final
battle.”
Sometimes the opposite is true: you’re not trying to establish a fact, you’re
just having your character express an opinion. You may even expect your
character to turn out to be totally wrong. A character can be extremely
confident but still be incorrect, because they’re basing their beliefs on
rumors, hearsay, or bad information. It’s critical to communicate to the
other players whether you are establishing facts or just expressing your
character’s opinion.
If you can’t explain how your character perceived what you’re describing,
you can’t establish it as true. It can only be opinion.
“My soldier character says ‘There is no way the Corsairs
can break the blockade. By the time our message reaches
them, it will be too late.’ But I’m not saying that’s fact. That’s
just the soldier’s glum opinion. He could be wrong.”
“The aliens are friendly, I tell you! They’re thousands
of years beyond our understanding!” But the Scene is
set before anyone has made contact, so despite good
intentions, the scientist’s player has no way of showing
how the character could know what the aliens are actually
like. It must be opinion, not fact. In the long run, it may
turn out to be true, or it may not.
Thinking Out Loud
If you want to establish something but don’t want your character to say
it, just say what they’re thinking. Maybe it wouldn’t make sense for the
character to blurt something out, or you just can’t think of why they would
bring it up right now. Just like Revealing Thoughts during Scene setup,
describing a character’s thoughts during play is a great way to show other
players where you want to go in the Scene–even if you’re hiding it from the
characters. Telling the other players what you want in the Scene lets them
help you get there. Characters can come and go quickly, so don’t be shy
about broadcasting their agendas.
40
“Trooper Cobb yells ‘We can’t leave Lansky behind! I don’t
care if none of you come. I’ll do it alone!’ But he’s really just
bluffing. He’s being gung-ho to cover for the fact that this
screw up was his fault in the first place.”
Each player has a main character they chose during Scene setup, but
any player can also introduce and play secondary characters, as needed.
Secondary characters might be people from previous Scenes or Events, or
they might be characters made up on the spot. They can be used to bring
background action to life or explore role-playing opportunities you didn’t
foresee during Scene setup. A secondary character isn’t necessarily less
important in the world; they’re just someone who wasn’t picked at the
beginning of the Scene.
PLAY
Playing Secondary Characters
“You said your son’s one of the other warrior-knights,
right? Well, I think now’s a good time for the hostages to
be brought out. Hey, guess who?”
You can never introduce secondary characters banned during Scene
setup.
Unlike a main character, another player can Push to change anything about
a secondary character, including what they do or think. You don’t have the
same unique authority over a secondary character as you do over your
main character.
If you want to describe someone unimportant doing something and you
don’t have any reason to keep role-playing that character, it’s often easier to
just describe the action as something your character perceives, rather than
introducing a secondary character.
I want peasants to throw rocks at the witch as she’s led
to the stake. I could introduce a peasant as a secondary
character, but instead I just say “My merchant watches as
peasants pick up rocks and hurl them at the condemned
witch. He’s disgusted, but he knows the Faith demands it.”
Done.
41
SCENES
You play the secondary character in addition to your main character for the
rest of the Scene, or until you decide to hand the secondary character off to
someone else. Avoid talking to yourself: if your main character is interacting
meaningfully with a secondary character you control, give the secondary
character to someone else to play.
Doing Things To Characters
Each player controls the fate of the character they chose during Scene
setup. If you want to do something to someone else’s character, describe
what you are trying to do and your intended effect. It’s up to the other
player to decide the result.
A player says the gladiator character he controls tries to
stab the Emperor and kill him. The Emperor’s player gets
to say if the Emperor is slain, wounded, or escapes the
attack entirely.
If you do something to a secondary character (anyone not picked during
Scene setup), you get to declare the outcome, no matter who is playing
the secondary character. That’s true even if you are controlling a secondary
character and having them do something to another secondary character:
the actor decides the result.
The Emperor is protected by a pair of Praetorian guards,
secondary characters introduced during the Scene. The
player controlling the gladiator describes his character
springing on the unwary soldiers and killing them before
they can react. They’re secondary characters, so it doesn’t
matter that another player controls them: the gladiator’s
player gets to decide what happens.
Sometimes it’s the other way around: you want another character to do
something to your character. If no one is playing that character or it’s a
secondary character you control, just describe perceiving it and it happens.
If it’s a character someone else is playing, you can tell the other player what
you want the character to do, but it’s up to them to decide if they want to
go along with it. If it’s a secondary character someone else controls, you can
Push for them to do something.
The player controlling the Emperor says that rioting
peasants surge into the throne room and cut him down.
The Emperor dies cursing the fickle masses.
42
Push: Creative Conflict
If, while playing a Scene, someone describes something about the world
outside their character and you have a different idea you like better, you
can Push to substitute your idea for theirs. You are potentially winding back
the clock and replacing what the other player said.

When a player shapes the world by describing their
character perceiving something, you can substitute
what you describe instead. The character’s reaction is
still up to the other player.

You cannot change someone else’s main character,
including what they do or think. The exception is that
you can change what happens to them (such as Pushing
that a character dodges a bullet rather than getting hit).

You can change anything about secondary characters
someone else controls: what they do or think, facts or
details about them, or what happens to them.
You can only Push to change something someone just said. You can’t go
back and alter something from earlier in the Scene. You can only make
changes while playing Scenes (not during Scene setup and not during
dictated Scenes).
To Push your alternative, follow these steps:
1)
Proposal: State your alternative simply and concisely
(summarize, don’t play it out). Be clear what you want
to replace. Don’t negotiate or discuss. Other players can
ask for clarification if they’re confused, but they cannot
add or change details.
2)
Additional Proposals: There are now two ideas: what the
original player described during play, and the alternative
put forward by a second player. The remaining players
can propose their own alternatives, if they want. Each
player states his or her idea, one at a time, in any order.
Again, keep it concise, and don’t negotiate or discuss.
43
SCENES
You may or may not get what you want. After the other players hear your
idea, they may put forward proposals of their own. Once all the options are
on the table, everyone votes to decide which one actually happens.
PLAY
A player describes their astronaut character sweeping his
flashlight across the interior of the drifting space hulk and
seeing smashed consoles and wreckage. You propose that
instead the ship is in perfect condition, and the crew are
still standing at their posts, frozen in time…
All proposals must be alternatives to the original idea, not
something unrelated. You can propose something that’s
a variation or refinement of someone else’s proposal, so
long as there is a meaningful difference.
No one can retract or change their proposal once it has
been stated, including the original idea from play. Even
if you like another idea more than the one you proposed,
someone else may like your idea and want to vote for it.
There can be as many proposals as there are players.
3)
Vote: All players vote to decide which idea happens.
Everybody votes simultaneously without discussion.
Point one hand towards the person who proposed the
idea you prefer (including yourself ). Point from one to
five fingers–the more fingers you point the more you
want that thing to happen.
You can vote for two different proposals. Use a different
hand for each. You can’t use both hands for one. If you
support all ideas equally, just hold up the Fist of Solidarity
(aka the Rock or “those ideas all rock”). The rock is always
positive because if you hated the ideas you would have
proposed something different.
4)
Determine the winner: Count fingers. Highest number
wins. That proposal happens, the others don’t. If there’s
a tie, the player who went first during Scene setup wins.
5)
Play the results: The winner of the vote decides how
to play out the result. You can Narrate, taking over
the Scene temporarily and describing how what you
proposed happens or is seen, or you can Play and let
everyone role-play normally with the understanding
that the winning proposal must occur and the players
will work together to make it happen.
If the vote decided what a main character perceived,
that player’s character describes how they react. You
can’t Push to describe someone else’s reaction.
After the Proposal is resolved, continue playing the Scene unless the
Question has been answered. You can Push multiple times within a single
Scene.
44
Starting With a Push
A player describes his character getting ready for bed.
You Push and say you want the character to find a bloody
knife on the floor. Another player could counter propose
the character seeing something different or there not
being anything unusual at all. If you win the vote, then the
knife is there and the character sees it, but the character’s
player gets to describe how they react.
You have to declare that you’re Pushing, so the other players know that
they can suggest their own alternatives if they want. Follow the same
procedure for an initial proposal: describe it succinctly, and don’t discuss
or negotiate.
PLAY
You don’t have to wait for someone else to create something to Push your
own idea. You can start a Push to describe something someone else’s
character perceives (but not their reaction) or to describe anything about a
secondary character someone else controls.
If there are no counter proposals, you don’t even need to vote: you win
automatically.
Push: Describing Things No One Can See
“Just after everyone falls into cryo-sleep, an indicator
light on the control panel starts winking. It’s a sensor alert
showing that some foreign organism is aboard the ship.
It’s something no one can perceive, so I have to Push to
make it happen. Anyone have a counter proposal?”
Establishing something unseen doesn’t mean a character can’t perceive
it later on. Any player could describe their character perceiving it. If you
wanted it to remain unseen, you could Push to describe their character not
perceiving it.
If you want to describe a person or creature taking action, just introduce
that secondary character and describe what they’re doing, as normal. You
don’t need to Push.
“I’m introducing a new secondary character. There’s a
ninja assassin hidden in the trees outside the temple. She’s
drawing back her bow, trying to identify her target from
a mob of identically robed monks, but she can’t spot him.
She is determined to complete her mission at all costs.”
45
SCENES
In some cases, you may want to describe something without having any
character perceive it (at least not yet). You must Push to do it, and you can
only describe things that are relevant to the current Scene.
Push: The “You Already Knew That” Clause
During a Scene, you may want to describe something that retroactively
changes what another player’s character knows. Effectively, you are saying
to the other player “you didn’t know this until just now, but your character
knew this all along.”
This is a special case because you are changing the meaning of the roleplaying that already happened in this Scene, recasting what was said and
done in a potentially very different light. You may be completely altering
the motivations of the characters. It can be confusing and disruptive for the
other players.
The rule is: if you want to describe something that another player’s
character would already know, but it’s news to the player, you must declare
that’s what you’re doing and Push to make it true, even if it’s something that
would normally be within your power to describe. You are required to make
it clear that this is what’s happening, and the other players get to decide if
they’re okay with it.
Your character is talking with the Captain about the
mission, and you want to say that, before the Scene
started, the ship got a distress signal, and that’s why it
landed on this asteroid. That’s news to the other players,
but their characters would already know it–they received
the distress signal and chose to land their ship. You have
to declare this is something “the characters already would
have known” and Push to make it true.
On the other hand, if you said there was a secret mission
that only your character knew about, you would not be
required to Push at all, because you’re only establishing
things about your own character.
You only need to invoke this rule when someone describes something
that meaningfully changes what we thought the characters knew. Trivial
changes, or facts that don’t have an impact on current play, don’t count.
It’s the responsibility of the player making the change to declare that they
are revising what the players knew and Push, but other players can and
should point it out if that player doesn’t.
46
PLAY
Example: playing a scene and pushing
It’s a later Scene during the “destruction of the Temple on
Seven Eagle Mountain” Event. The Question is “does Wen
obey his Master and flee, or does he refuse to abandon his
comrades?” Imperial soldiers have broken down the gates
and are putting the monks to the sword. This time Addie is
playing the Master and Cat is playing Wen. Bors is playing
Time in the form of the encroaching soldiers and Dennis
(who made the Scene) is playing another apprentice who’s
supposed to lead Wen off the mountain. They’ve been
role-playing and the Master has just sent a reluctant Wen
down a hidden tunnel out of the temple while he stays
behind to hold off the soldiers, but Wen is dithering.
Dennis (guide monk): “The other apprentice monk is
terrified. ‘You heard the Master! If we do not flee now
we suffer the same fate as the rest!’”
Cat (Wen): “Wen is torn: ‘We can’t just leave them! We have
to help!’ But he can’t decide, so the Question isn’t
answered yet. He’s not sure that even if he did stay
he’d be strong enough to do any good. Poor Wen.”
Addie (Master): “Not so fast! The lone Master steps out,
blocking the soldiers from going farther. With fierce
concentration he stretches his arms into the Seven
Eagle Mountain stance. He knows he can’t defeat the
whole army, but they are going to rue the day they
stepped into his temple! Rue the day! Whoop-ass
unleashed! Soldiers go flying!”
Dennis (guide monk): “Remember, the soldiers as Time
are Bors’ main character, not secondary characters,
so you state intent and he states results.”
Addie (Master): “Oh right. The Master attacks the soldiers,
with the intent to kick them out of the temple.”
Bors (Soldiers as Time): “I think that’s awesome and I’m
fine with it, for now. The soldiers have been driving
lowly monks like sheep, but now that they’re up
47
SCENES
Bors (Soldiers as Time):“All very touching, but meanwhile
the soldiers are storming through the temple, putting
it to torch. Their excited yells draw closer to where the
monks are hiding, so they’ll be discovered soon…”
against a kung fu master, the shoe’s on the other foot
and they crumble.”
Dennis (guide monk): “The other monk is peering back
around the corner and sees this whirlwind of fists
and feet. He brightens and grabs Wen. ‘See, they are
no match for our Master! He’ll kick them right off the
mountain!’”
Addie (Master): “Hell yeah!”
Dennis (guide monk): “But then he sees a tall figure
wearing the robes of a Yellow Snake adept making
his way through the soldiers. He’s coming forward to
face the Master. The apprentice is terrified because
Yellow Snake is a powerful kung fu school and the
Master could have met his match.”
Bors (Soldiers as Time): “Wait, are you saying a martial
arts school is serving the Emperor?”
Dennis (guide monk): “My guy has no way to know, so I
can’t establish it, but it sure looks that way.”
Bors (Soldiers as Time): “I want to Push. My counter
proposal is that the figure is using the fighting style
of a Yellow Snake disciple, but he is wearing fancy
court garb instead of the traditional robes of his
order, so he’s probably an outcast or renegade in the
pay of the Emperor.”
Addie (Master): “So you’re saying the Yellow Snake order
isn’t associated with the Emperor?”
Bors (Soldiers as Time): “Well, I can’t say they aren’t, but
nothing here would indicate they are, if that makes
sense. That’s me and Dennis: any other proposals?”
No one else has a proposal, so everybody votes. Bors wins.
It was Dennis’ character whose perception was changed
by the Push (even though other characters can perceive
this as well), so he describes his revised reaction.
Dennis (guide monk): “Hmm, the apprentice is thinking
he’s a renegade and, if anything, that makes him even
more worried for his Master because a despicable
outcast wouldn’t be bound by any code of his order.”
Addie (Master): “Ha! Bring it on yellow-belly! I mean, the
Master sees him and prepares for battle.“
48
Bors (Soldiers as Time): “Hey, can I play the renegade as a
secondary character? You made him up Dennis, so if
you’d rather I’d give you first dibs.”
Dennis (guide monk): “That’s cool, go ahead.”
Addie (Master): “Oh, you’re getting whoop-ass for that!
Hey, you’re a secondary character, so I get to describe
the outcome! The Master crushes the Yellow Snake!
Insert dramatic kung fu fighting montage.”
PLAY
Bors (Soldiers as Time): “The Yellow Snake renegade
sneers confidently. ‘At last, a monk who chooses to
fight rather than run away. So much the better. The
Emperor’s gold will not be nearly so great a reward as
this chance to show how weak Seven Eagle Mountain
style really is!”
Dennis (guide monk): “Not so fast. I want to Push to
control the Master’s fate. The renegade is at least as
good as the Master, and the renegade is fresh. The
Master is losing the fight.”
Addie (Master): “Damn! Okay, the Master is weary, and
gets thrown to the ground after a particularly brutal
flurry. It looks like he might be finished. Then slowly,
painfully, he gets back up and deliberately faces off
against the renegade. He’s knows he’s staring death
in the face, but he’s going to go down fighting. He’s
thinking that the old blind monk was right and
takes consolation from the fact that at least Wen
escaped…”
Cat (Wen): “Yeah, Wen is watching all of this from the
shadows with the other monk, and he can see his
Master is in trouble. He can’t just leave him. Wen’s
going back.”
Dennis (guide monk): “And that answers the Question.
End of Scene.”
Addie (Master): “Hey, I want to clobber that guy! Don’t we
get to say how the fight turns out?”
Dennis (guide monk): “Nope. If we want to see more of this
Event, someone needs to make another Scene.”
49
SCENES
Dennis wins the vote.
Dictating Scenes
Instead of playing a Scene, the current player can choose to dictate what
happens during the Scene. Dictating a Scene is useful when you want total
control over what happens or when playing out the Scene would not be
interesting. Other players cannot affect dictated Scenes.
Skip all the rules for making and playing Scenes and do the following
instead:
1)
State the Question
2)
Decide where to put the Scene in history & review what
we already know
3)
Narrate what happens to answer that Question
You can include any characters you like and narrate whatever you want, but
keep it short and to the point. When you’re finished, follow the normal rules
for ending a Scene.
example: Making a Dictated scene
“I’m making a dictated Scene. The Question is ‘what is the
killer-machines’ goal?’ This Scene is in the Event when the
robotic killing machines overrun the colony, before that
Scene we played of Larsen escaping. The battle’s over,
and there are hunter-seekers roaming around rooting
out survivors, but in the middle of the carnage we can
see some more elaborate machines carefully harvesting
tissue samples from the fallen colonists. It’s clear they
weren’t really interested in destroying the unimportant
colony. They’re collecting genetic samples to analyze
human physiology.”
The player writes down the Question, the setting, and the
answer on a Scene card, and then all the players discuss
whether the Scene is Light or Dark.
50
Ending Scenes
After any Scene ends, whether it’s played or dictated, do the following:
Judge the Tone: All players discuss what happened and
decide on the Scene’s Tone. Was the outcome generally
Light or Dark? Don’t consider future consequences, just
look at what happened during the Scene.
PLAY
A Scene ends when the players know the answer to the Question. If you
think the Question has been answered, just say so. Don’t get distracted by
action in the Scene. You may be really curious to find out how something
else in the Scene turns out, like whether the hero gets vengeance on the
villain who murdered his father, but don’t prolong the Scene to find out; just
play another Scene later focused on that. If the Scene is going nowhere, the
players can agree to call it moot and end without answering the Question
(failure!).
If the Scene doesn’t seem particularly Light or Dark, judge
the Scene to be the opposite Tone of the surrounding
Event–the Scene failed to live up to the expected Tone
of the Event.
SCENES
Write the answer at the bottom of the Scene card, along with a Light or
Dark circle, then put the card beneath the Event it was in. Scene cards are
stacked with the earliest on the top and the latest on the bottom. So if there
are other Scenes in the Event, put this card beneath the Scene that comes
before it, or on top of the Scene that comes after it.
51
Legacies
Legacies are common threads that may stretch through time and influence
history. A Legacy can take many forms–an object, a person, a place, a blood
line, an organization, or even a philosophical ideal.
The ideals of the founding fathers, a code of laws, a noble
order of knights, an ancestral curse, or a sword fallen from
the heavens–these are all Legacies.
You make Legacies to identify things you think are interesting and want to
keep in the spotlight. Legacies are explored during a special phase of play
between one Focus and the next. Because you aren’t restricted by a Focus
during the Legacy phase, it is a broad opportunity to explore something
that interests you. Just like anything in the history, a Legacy can also be
brought into play or explored during normal play.
Choose a New Legacy
The player to the right of the Lens looks back over what happened during
this Focus and picks something to be a Legacy. It has to be something that
appeared in play this round, either for the first time or reappearing from
earlier in the game. You are not making something new, just singling out
something already in the history. Choose something you are interested in
and want to explore more. It has to be something specific from the history,
not a broad concept or idea.
‘Betrayal’ is not a valid Legacy because it’s a generic
concept. ‘The Betrayal of the Sea Tribes’ works because it’s
something specific that happened in the history.
Write the Legacy on a card along with the name of the player. Fold the card
in half and stand it up so it doesn’t get mixed up with other history cards.
If you already have a Legacy, you can only make a new one if you remove
your old one. There can only be as many Legacies as there are players. That
thing still exists in the history; it just isn’t a Legacy. If another player wants
to keep your old Legacy, they can choose to immediately drop their own
Legacy and replace it with the one being discarded. Repeat as needed.
Having your name on a Legacy gives you no special authority except to
decide whether to keep or replace that Legacy.
Explore a Legacy
The same player picks a Legacy and makes an Event or dictated Scene about
it (not a Period or played Scene). It does not have to be the Legacy they just
created. Since this is between Lenses, there is no required Focus, just the
Legacy itself. When that is done the Legacy phase ends and the next player
becomes the new Lens.
52
Style of Play: Getting in the Microscope
Mindset
No player owns anything in the history. Another player can take a
beautiful metropolis you lovingly introduced and destroy it with
nuclear fire, but they can’t change what’s already happened.
Even if something is destroyed, it is never removed from play
because you can always jump back in time and explore when it
was still around. The past is never closed.
When it’s your turn to add to the history, don’t negotiate or
discuss what you are making. Don’t take a poll. It’s your decision.
You have absolute power. Likewise, do not ask a player to change
something just because you don’t like it. Outside Scenes, you
have no power to veto or reject what other players create (unless
their addition breaks the rules). Inside Scenes, you can Push you
own ideas, but you can’t change theirs.
Speak first, then write. The cards will help you remember your
history, but what the other players hear and remember is more
important than what you write down.
When someone else is making something and you don’t have a
clear picture or you don’t understand how it fits into the history,
ask questions. Ask for clarification. Everyone must have a clear
picture of what is being added to the history so that they can
build on it later.
53
PLAY
The history will not turn out the way you expected. Abandon
your preconceptions. What other players add will surprise you,
but what you add will probably surprise them too. That’s good.
The history you arrive at will be far more interesting than if you
planned it out by committee and consensus.
Microscope in Play: Doom of the Gods
THE LAST
FLAME
SWORD OF
STORMS
DWARVES
ENSLAVED
(BORS)
(CAT)
(ADDIE)
ALLFATHER
CREATES
MORTAL
WORLD
GODS WAR
AGAINST
THE COLOSSI
CENTURY OF
WINTER
(START)
WHAT DID THE
KING GET IN
PAYMENT?
DWARVEN KING
SELLS HIS PEOPLE INTO
SLAVERY TO GODS
DARK ELVES CAST OUT,
WANDER IN WINTER
SECRET OF
CRAFT, WHICH
HE TAUGHT
TO HIS PEOPLE
CROW DISCOVERS
THE WELL OF FATE
DO MEN KNOW
WHY THE
ALLFATHER
ALLFATHER
CREATES
MADE THEM?
MEN TO FIGHT COLOSSI
NO
54
DWARVES TEACH DARK
ELVES, DEFYING GODS
PALETTE
FOCUS
YES
- GODS CAN BE KILLED
- ALL WORLDS
PHYSICALLY
CONNECTED
- INTELLIGENT
SWORDS
1) ROMANCE OF
GOORASH AND
SVETKA
2) WELL OF FATE
3) DARK ELVES
HEROES OF
THE SEVEN
KINGS
FLOURISHING
KINGDOMS
OF MEN
DEATH OF
THE GODS
(END)
GOORASH SAVES SVETKA
FROM BLACK BEAST
WHAT DOES THE
OUTCAST LEARN
FROMT HE WELL
DWARVEN OUTCAST
VISITS WELL OF FATE
THE SECRET TO
KILL THE GODS
WHAT DOWRY
DOES SVETKA’S
FATHER
DEMAND
MARRIAGE OF SVETKA
INTERRUPTED
SWORD OF
STORMS
GOORASH WINS
SWORD OF STORMS
SVETKA MOURNS DEATH
OF GOORASH
55
WHY DID THE
ALLFATHER
BREATHHIDES
ALLFATHER
LAST FLAME, REVEALS
PLANS TO CROW
THEY WOULD
CARRY THEIR
OWN FATE
PLAY
NO
- RAISING THE DEAD
- MORTAL WIZARDS
Ending the Game
Given that the game is all about delving deeper and deeper, it may not
surprise you that Microscope has no defined ending. There are no victory
conditions, no goal except to create something that interests you. Play for
as long as you want, then stop.
If you’re nearing your time to stop playing, it’s good to agree before you
start a Focus that it’s going to be your last for the session. That way everyone
has fair warning the game is going to end and can play towards a satisfying
conclusion. Always end by playing the Legacy phase since it can provide a
nice epilogue for the session.
Storing Your History
When you’re done playing, you can keep your history intact by just stacking
your cards in order. First, pick up the starting Period card, and then take
the first Event beneath it along with its Scene cards and put them beneath
the Period in the stack. Pick up each remaining Event and its Scenes in that
Period. Then pick up the next Period card and repeat. So long as you go in
order and always put the cards on the bottom of the stack, you’ll have your
entire history in chronological order when you’re done.
When you want to play again, just lay out the cards, starting from the first
Period on the top of the deck. Whenever the orientation of a card changes,
you know it’s a new Event or Period. Just make sure not to shuffle your
cards.
Continuing Your History
Still fascinated with the history you played? You probably left the table with
more ideas than you started with. You can easily return to a history and
keep exploring it, session after session.
The one caveat is that you can’t add new players to an existing game. Playing
Microscope requires a strong understanding of what has already happened
and a confidence in your creative authority. No matter how much you brief
players who weren’t in the history at the start, they may unintentionally
contradict established facts (leading you to correct them, which is no fun
for anyone) or they may feel unsure about what fits “your” history.
56
Discussion & Advice
History Seeds
Need a nudge to get going? Try using one of these as the one-line summary
of your history. Pick one that looks interesting or just choose randomly.
Long-separated branches of humanity stumble upon each
other again in the depths of space
Explorers settle a new land, displacing the native people
Secret societies carefully steer the course of civilization
Primitives leave their caves and found the first cities
Superheroes protect society, undermining the rule of law
A race of machines unearth their organic origins
How the West was won (alternate history America)
Gods play with heroes’ fates until Doom takes them all
The teachings of the Prophet are embraced by many, but
bitterly rejected by others
Technology brings humanity into a golden age
The ancient Enemy spreads its dark hand across the land
Battle of the Planets
Renaissance: society shakes off the shackles of ignorance
and embraces art and learning
Colonists tame a new world, but are cut off from the old
The health of the kingdom is bound to the life of the king
Atlantis sinks and her secrets are lost with her
Evolution of a species
Captains of Industry: corporations dominate society
A brilliant world-conqueror leaves behind a fractured and
feuding empire
Scattered refugees struggle to rebuild after the
Apocalypse
The last Magic passes from the world
Don’t worry if it doesn’t look terribly interesting: a simple start is okay. Your
history will blossom into something unique as you play. Even if you use the
same seed again, you will wind up with a very different history each time.
58
Teaching Microscope
So you’ve read or played Microscope, and now you want to show other
people how to play. You may be starting a game with your regular group, or
you might be sitting down with total strangers at a con or a game meetup
group.
This script will help you walk people through the game for the first time. It
isn’t a complete recap of the rules, just advice on how to explain them. It’s
presumed you already understand the rules. Read the italics sections out
loud.
Teaching Step 1: Explain the Concept
First, read the “What Is Microscope?” section out loud. Instead of reading it
all yourself, have the other players take turns. Then say:
“The author of the game says I should read this part to you
because it’s really important: All of us sitting at this table
have equal creative power. At times we’ll have different
roles and authority, but we’re all equal participants and
authors.
“It may sound like I’m running the game because I’m going
to be explaining a lot about the rules, and I may interrupt
and jump in to clarify how the game is played. But I don’t
have any more authority than anyone else when it comes
to actually playing the game -- there’s no GM.
“Now that we know what the game’s about, we’re ready
to get started.”
Teaching Step 2: Game Setup
Players new to Microscope may try to brainstorm too much detail about the
history during the setup. Don’t hesitate to jump in and tell players to save
those ideas for later. Follow the steps rigorously.
“Microscope is a little like Poker: you want to keep your
cool ideas close to your vest until you use them. If the rest
of us know what you’re going to do ahead of time, it’s not
as interesting.”
59
ADVICE
Follow the steps in “Starting a New Game.” You can read the first one or two
paragraphs of each step out loud or just summarize, as you prefer.
Teaching Step 3: Explain Play
“Now that setup is done, we’re ready to start play. We
already know more about our history than we did when
we came up with the single sentence idea, and as we play
we’ll find out more and more.
“The basic structure of the game is that we keep going
around the table adding to the history, making either a
Period, an Event or a Scene. For each rotation there’s going
to be one player called the Lens, and that player is going
to pick a particular Focus that everything we create has
to relate to. So if the Focus is a city, each player is going to
get to add something to the history that somehow relates
to that city. It’s a topic to keep us all on the same page.
“If you make a Period or Event, just describe what happens
as though we’re seeing it from a birds-eye view. You’re in
charge, and the rest of us are eagerly listening to hear
what you have to say. If you make a Scene, we all pick
characters and role-play to find out what really happened
in that moment of history.”
Teaching Step 4: Be the First Player
“I’ll go first to show how it works, so I’ll be the first Lens
and I’ll pick the first Focus for our history.”
This is the critical bit. You’re setting the example of how the game is played.
If you do it right the first time, the game will go much better.

Plan to make a Scene on your first turn. Playing a Scene
right off the bat shows everyone where role-playing fits
into the game. You’ll have to plan backwards, deciding
on a Scene before you make your Focus and Event.

Build on something someone else came up with during
setup to show how players build on each other’s ideas. If
someone else created an Event, make a Scene inside it.
Otherwise make an Event in someone else’s Period and
make a Scene in it. Take their idea and run with it.

Pick a Focus that is extremely concrete and specific: a
person is best. Think about the Event you’re going to
build in to decide what will work. Don’t worry if your
Focus is pretty much a blank slate: what’s interesting
about it will emerge in play. Be very assertive describing
obvious details (who this person is, their name, their
position), so everyone can visualize the character and
60
they seem real. More details will come out in play, but
start with a solid concept.

If you’re making an Event, describe it clearly, so players
can visualize what happens. Include the outcome of
whatever situation you create, and point out to the other
players that you’re doing this intentionally because we
can see how Events end, not just how they start.

Make something big happen. Create or destroy
something, so it’s clear to everyone that the current
player has that power. Sack a city or narrate the existence
of a big institution.

Ask a very loaded Question even if you have no idea
where it’s going. Introduce a blatant contradiction: “why
did this person do the thing they should not have done?”
You want to get the other players thinking their own
ideas about what the answer could be and where the
Scene might go.
If anyone starts to discuss possible answers or character ideas, cut them
off: tell them to save that for play. Being very strict about the process will
lead to much better creative play. If the players understand when they are
supposed to contribute, they’ll be comfortable. If they don’t, they’ll be
confused and uncertain.
Teaching Step 5: Playing the First Scene
Demonstrate shaping the world by having your character perceive
something. Introduce a secondary character if the situation allows. Don’t
introduce the Push rules unless it seems clear that someone disagrees with
a description of the world–save that for a later Scene.
Teaching Step 6: Next Player
When your turn is done, remind the player on your left that they can make
a Period, an Event, or a Scene (only one) and that what they create has to
relate to the Focus you’ve set.

If they describe something vague, ask for clarification.
Be clear that you’re not vetoing what they make–in
fact, no one can veto their creation unless it breaks the
61
ADVICE
During the Scene, remind the players that the goal is to answer the
Question, nothing else. End the Scene as soon as it is answered, even if it’s
in the middle of exciting action. If the players balk, remind them that they
are welcome to jump right back in and make another Scene to explore what
happens next.
rules–but it’s important for all the players to be able to
clearly visualize what happens in the history, so you can
build on it later. Ask them to describe what we would see
from a birds-eye view of the action.

If they describe a starting situation but leave out what
actually happens (“the invaders attack the city,” but they
don’t describe who wins the fight), remind them that we
would probably see the outcome.
Don’t let them collaborate or take a poll, and don’t let other players give
them suggestions. It’s their turn, no one else’s. They get to make what they
want to make.
Onward…
By now the ball should pretty much be rolling. You’ll have to explain more
details as you go, like how to Push or make Legacies, but you’ll be over the
starting hurdle.
The most important thing is to make it clear to the players how much
authority each of them has to create (and destroy). If your game devolves
into brainstorming or chatting about what might happen next, stop the
game:
“Here’s another thing the author wants me to tell you: Part
of the heart and soul of Microscope is to have each person
contribute their own unique ideas, and then see how those
ideas intertwine and grow on each other. If we plan things
out as a group instead of contributing individually–if we
collaborate rather than discover & experience–we’ll lose
that magic. The game will work, but it won’t be nearly as
interesting.
“Resist the urge to coach, criticize, or make suggestions
to other players. Helping explain the rules is great, but
suggesting creative content is not. People may add things
you don’t like–that’s okay. The game is designed to deal
with that.”
Strictly following the order of play should help.
62
Play Advice
These are some lessons we’ve learned from playing Microscope: things that
work, things that don’t, and ways to get the most out of your game.
What’s a Good Idea for a History?
Here are a few things to check to be sure your starting idea will make a
good Microscope game:
Lots of room: Microscope is more fun when you have a lot of time and
space to explore. If you have a concept that spans a very short of period
of time or encompasses a very small physical area (like a single city), then
the players are more limited in what they can create. Lots of room, in both
space and time, is also a creative safety valve. If a player isn’t interested in
what’s being explored here and now, they can jump to somewhere else.
In a smaller history you lose that freedom. If the entire history takes place
in one city, anything that happens to that city impacts the entire history:
there’s no escaping it.
No preconceptions: If you have an idea in your head of how the history is
supposed to turn out, you are going to be frustrated when people create
things that don’t match your preconceptions. It’s a core premise of the
game that the players have the power to make whatever they want, not to
be stuck trying to follow someone else’s vision.
No one owns the history: This is another facet of “no preconceptions.”
Sometimes a player comes to the table with a particular idea for a history
they want to try. That’s great, but it doesn’t give them any special authority
in the game. They don’t get to say “But wait, that’s not how I imagined it
would be!” There’s a danger that, even if the person who came up with the
idea does nothing, other players may still defer to that person’s authority on
what it’s “supposed” to be like. People may not even consciously recognize
they’re doing it. It leads to hesitant, timid play with the other players
second-guessing their ideas because they don’t want to add something that
doesn’t fit the unspoken ideal. It’s worth repeating: no one owns anything
in the history. Once it’s on the table, everybody has equal authority.
When in doubt:
Pick something simple, like “humanity settles the stars”
or “the rise and fall of an empire.” Don’t worry if it seems
boring or unoriginal: it will come to life as you play.
63
ADVICE
A preconceived starting point is fine, so long as you are willing to let it grow
unexpectedly. Steal an idea from a story, movie, or real world history, but
don’t expect it to turn out a particular way. Preconceptions about how the
history is supposed to look are doomed, and trying to get the other players
to adhere to the outcome you had in mind is doomed and bad form.
Beware Time Travel & Immortality
Microscope lets you jump around and explore the past or the future at will,
which lets you move away from topics that don’t interest you and focus on
ones that do. Because of that, anything that collapses time undermines the
game. Time travel is a perfect example: if the characters within the fiction
can move backward and forward in time, the ability of the players to jump
backward and forward is meaningless. The game becomes linear again.
Immortality has similar problems. It can work if lots of characters are
immortal (like pantheons of gods), but if immortality is a special trait of just
one or a few characters, they may hog the spotlight (“not Doctor Lazarus
again!”). Another good rule of thumb is never to have character lives span
more than one Period since that starts to weld adjacent Periods together.
Once you’re thinking about lifespan, you start to estimate precisely how
many years must have passed, which locks things down.
Choosing Your Bookend Periods
Time continues before your start Period and after your end Period, but the
boundaries you pick define what you agree to explore in play. You could take
the same idea but change where you begin and end, and you would wind
up with a completely different game. If you are making a post-apocalypse
history, do you start after the dust is settled and survivors are scavenging
for food, or do you include the days leading up to the boom, so you can play
out how it happened? Either one works, but they will make very different
histories.
Number of Players
Microscope works best with three or four players. You can play with more or
fewer, but there are different impacts on the game.
Two players: Work great, except that each Focus is very short. The Lens goes,
the other player gets one turn, and then the Lens wraps up (AA-B-AA, since
the Lens can make two nested things). The Lens makes most of the history
related to the Focus, and the other player only gets to make a relatively
minor contribution before moving on.
To give the other player more input to the Focus, extend each Focus and
go around a second time, but without the Lens getting to make a nested
thing on the middle turn (AA-B-A-B-AA). Extending the Focus also improves
continuity, because it keeps the history on the same topic for longer.
Five players or more: Not recommended. Each player has less chance to
contribute. Scenes are also likely to be too crowded. If you do play with five,
some players should volunteer to play background characters or Time more
often (as described under making Scenes).
64
How Do I Make a Good Focus?
The Focus is a powerful tool to tune the pace of the game. Just like that little
knob on the side of a real microscope, you can adjust the Focus to decide
how closely you want to look at your history and how concentrated you
want play to be. Stop and think about how the game is going:

If play feels too dense or linear, a very broad Focus
might help, like a place or institution that spans multiple
Periods, because that lets players spread out and explore
different parts of the history.

If the history isn’t engaging or it feels too remote or
cerebral, a very tight Focus, like a person or a single
incident, is a good way to build momentum and get
people involved. Follow that up with Scenes with
incriminating Questions (see “How Do I Make a Good
Question?”).
How tight does it need to be? That depends, but generally the tighter the
Focus the better. Compare these ideas:
“Jake Howlett, veteran of the Seven Days War”
“Jake Howlett’s marriage”
“How Jake met his wife”
“The first thing Jake said to his wife”
An extremely broad Focus, like “Love”, lets players roam all over the history.
There’s a constant theme, but each player could build on completely
different times and places. That can be a nice change of pace, a “montage
round” to let players explore, but usually a much tighter focus is better.
When in doubt:
Pick a person or a specific incident, and make it the
Focus. It can be something or someone already in the
game or something you make up on the spot. Don’t
worry if you don’t know anything about the Focus or
why it’s interesting: that will solve itself pretty quickly.
65
ADVICE
Even with an extremely tight Focus, the players still have a lot of latitude.
“How Jake met his wife” is literally a very small moment in time, but you
could still make a Scene on her deathbed thirty years later with the Question
“Before she dies, does Jake’s wife admit she knew he was an enemy deserter
the moment she laid eyes on him?” It’s decades later, but it still relates to the
Focus because it’s about how they met, and that’s what matters. If the Focus
is a particular soldier on the front lines of the war, the history you create
may explore his death, his youth, or his memories of the war in old age, but
all the players are still exploring different facets of the same tight idea.
How Do I Make a Good Question?
To be useful, a Question must do one thing: it must get all the players on the
same page about what the Scene is about. The Question is the agenda for
the Scene. It tells everyone what characters to pick and what they should
be role-playing about.
The best Questions are extremely specific. Vague Questions are bad and
lead to confusing or muddled Scenes. Open-ended Questions can work,
but you will get much better Scenes out of very loaded or incriminating
Questions.
There are generally two reasons you’ll make a Scene:

There’s something specific you want to know about the
history, so you have a particular Question in mind.

You want to get the action rolling, do some role-playing,
and immerse yourself in the setting.
When it comes to filling in the blanks of history, some of the best Questions
are the obvious ones. Maybe there was a war, but no one ever said why it
started. We’ve seen the tyrant but never saw how he seized power. Even if
the answer isn’t shocking, filling in those blanks gives all the players a firmer
understanding of the history.
If you have an idea you want to explore, don’t hesitate to stack the deck
and make your Question more specific. A simple formula is to just add more
conditions or “even though” twists to establish clear issues.
“How does the Alliance beat the invaders?” is a good
starting point, but that’s a very open-ended Scene.
“How does the Alliance beat the invaders even though
they’re outnumbered and outgunned?” is more specific.
We have a better idea of the situation.
“Is the Alliance willing to sacrifice the colony on Sigma
VII to beat the invaders even though the colonists will get
slaughtered in the process?” is better still because it gives
us a clear situation, an obvious dilemma.
If you just want to kick off some role-playing action, try asking a really
personal question about a character, either someone already in the history
or who you just made up. Think of something you would expect someone
to do, then ask why they did or want to do the opposite.
A teacher should impart knowledge, so we ask “Why does
the teacher lie to his students?”
A doctor should save lives, so we ask “Why does the doctor
let his patient die?”
66
A captain should be protective of his ship and crew, so we
ask “Why is the captain secretly planning on blowing up
his ship with everyone on board?”
Those are incriminating, but pretty open: there could be a lot of answers.
Again, make your Scenes better by adding more specifics:
“Why does the teacher lie to his students about who
founded the colony?”
“Does the doctor save his patient even though he realizes
he’s the secret police torturer who killed the doctor’s wife
a decade ago?”
“Why is the captain secretly planning to blow up his ship
with everyone on board in the middle of the Victory Day
celebration of the very war he was decorated for fighting
in?”
Those are all very personal Questions, but the answers can tell you a lot
about the history, not just about the people in the Scenes. Maybe we find
out the war was a horrible affair that left even the winners scarred. Maybe
we find dark secrets about the colony’s founders.
Avoid broad “what happens next?” Questions. If almost anything that
happens can be considered a valid answer, it’s a bad Question.
“What do the prisoners do after they escape?” could be
answered by almost anything happening in the Scene.
There’s no clear agenda.
When in doubt:
Pick a character. Think of something you would expect
them to do, then ask why they did or want to do the
opposite.
Why does the miser give away all his wealth?
Why does the professor teach his students lies?
Why do the peasants decide to burn down their
own village?
The character could be someone who’s already in the
history, but making someone up on the spot, someone
no one at the table (including yourself ) knows anything
about, is a great way to get the ball rolling.
67
ADVICE
It may not immediately be clear why a Question is interesting. Don’t be
alarmed. Once you ask the Question, the other players get to jump in and
run with it. They may have ideas you didn’t even consider. So long as your
Question gets everyone on the same page about the Scene, you’re in good
shape.
Implied Incidents: Keeping Track of What’s Not on
the Table
Periods and Events can include descriptions of things that sound like they
would be an Event or Scene (respectively), but if no one actually makes
them, they’re not on the table. They’re just implied.
A player makes an Event “a flying saucer lands at the
capital.” The Event can include all sorts of build-up and
aftermath, but it’s implied that at some moment a saucer
actually lands. It sounds like an obvious Scene, but we
could go through the whole game without making it.
When you’re making a Scene in an Event with an implied incident, make
it clear when your Scene happens relative to that moment. Is it before the
incident? After? Right when it is about to happen?
The “flying saucer lands” Event has no Scenes yet, so you
make a Scene with the Question “is the government openminded or afraid of the unknown?” and describe it as the
President meeting with his advisors. But where does this
Scene fall relative to the saucer landing? Are they meeting
because the saucer has been sitting on the lawn for days
and they need to decide what to do? Is it just a normal
daily briefing and they’re going to be surprised with the
news, or is it entirely before the saucer arrives and we’re
not even going to hear about it in this Scene? They all
work, but the other players have to know which you
intend, so everyone is playing the same Scene.
As you can see from the example, there are shades of gray: maybe the
saucer hasn’t arrived, but the authorities have picked it up on radar, so they
know there’s a UFO. Maybe they got reports of something invading their air
space but still think it’s a foreign aircraft, rather than aliens.
The same applies to making Events inside of Periods. If the Period is “the
World-serpent awakens, boiling oceans and smashing lands,” but no one
has made an Event showing the monster waking up, then when you make
any other Event in that Period you need to be clear whether it’s before
that creature appears (just another sunny day at the beach…), right as it
happens, or decades later as the cities of the world have been smashed
beyond recognition.
The players have a god’s-eye view of history: they always know more about
the future than the characters living through it. So in order to play those
characters well, to really get their point of view, you need to understand
exactly what they don’t know. When you’re looking at the whole scope of
time, understanding a moment in history is as much about defining what is
still unknown as it is about defining what is known.
68
Incomplete Ideas: Blind Man’s Bluff
You can trip yourself up during Scenes by either having a complete idea,
but only showing the other players a tiny hint and not telling them what
you’re really trying to make, or by making something that’s intentionally
incomplete because you want to let the other players fill in the blanks, but
not making it clear that you intend them to join in.
The first usually happens when a player says something cryptic about
something they have in mind, but the other players have no idea what it’s
supposed to mean. It’s simple: if you don’t tell the other players, they don’t
know, and it’s not in the history.
“My guy pulls back his hood and looks at the newcomer
carefully. ‘Did They send you?’” None of the other players
know who ‘They’ are, or what the player is talking about.
The players have nothing to work with, and it doesn’t add
much to the history, except uncertainty.
Even if you want to introduce something which you don’t want the other
characters to understand, it’s better to have the players know what’s going
on so they can play along. A good trick is having your character think
outloud.
“He says ‘Did They send you?’ and he’s thinking about the
news he got from his spies in the Scarlet Empire about
the upstart necromancers from the East. He’s afraid their
power has reached this far.” Much better. Now everybody
has something to work with.
If you are intentionally introducing something incomplete, make it clear
to the other players what you’re leaving out. When in doubt, just tell them
what you’re not specifying.
You may be tempted to describe your character’s reaction without describing
what you perceive in the hopes that the other players will seamlessly get
it and follow along. This can lead to confusion and hesitation as the other
players try to guess what you’re hinting at. Don’t be coy. Don’t hold your
breath and hope the other players can read your mind. You must describe
what it is your character is perceiving and a reaction, not just one or the
other.
Wrong: “The guard says ‘Hey, did you feel that?’” Other
players don’t know what you’re reacting to.
Wrong: “The guard feels a faint tremor shake the ground.”
Didn’t describe a reaction.
69
ADVICE
“Yeah, I’m saying that blips appear on the scanner, and
they’re closing fast, but I’m not saying what they are–my
character can’t tell. Anyone can jump in if they want.”
Right: “The guard feels a faint tremor shake the ground. He
says ‘Hey, did you feel that?’” Describes both a perception
and a reaction.
Right: “The guard feels a faint tremor shake the ground,
but he doesn’t think it’s anything important.” Describes
both a perception and a reaction.
Wrong: “The guard feels a faint tremor shake the ground.
It’s a mole-man drilling machine boring to the surface!”
(describes something the character isn’t perceiving)
World-Building & Spawning a New Game
After a few games, the table can get pretty crowded with index cards.
Perversely, the more you play, the more interesting your history becomes
and the more you want to continue.
Sometimes you just become fascinated with a particular part of the
history and want to really drill into it. One option is to spawn a new game
by zooming in on one part of the history. You could take one Period, and
then divide it into starting and ending Periods of a new history, or take two
adjacent Periods and make them your new start and end. Take any Events in
those Periods and place them accordingly.
You can also use Microscope to build settings for other game systems. Play
one session, and you have a world that everyone at the table knows and
likes. Make up some characters and go exploring.
70
Afterword
How Microscope Works
Over the past two years, I’ve played Microscope with a wide variety of
people, from old-schoolers to indie story gamers to people who had
never even tried role-playing games before. In all those games, it’s been
fascinating to see how the unusual structure of the game–the freedom from
chronological order combined with a vast scope of time and space–has
surprising consequences on the way players interact at the table.
Great Power Without Great Responsibility
In a normal game, you play in chronological order so anything that happens
influences what happens next. Events in the fiction have consequences that
affect how we play the rest of the game. If the player before you nukes
Atlantis, you have to continue play with the radioactive afterglow in the
background whether you want to or not.
But in Microscope, even if a player does something that has a huge effect on
what happens next in the fictional history, it doesn’t necessarily influence
what gets played next at the table. The next player has the freedom to jump
somewhere else in time and space. There isn’t even an assumption that you
would automatically play out what happened next by default.
So you can explore that glowing crater that was Atlantis if you want, but
you can also jump back and play in happier days or in the far future when
it’s been rebuilt from the ashes, or do something else completely unrelated.
You may wish Atlantis didn’t get nuked, but the fact that it did doesn’t
narrow your choices the way it would in a normal chronological game
where cause-and-effect are foremost. And because the past is never closed,
you can always go back to something in the history and explore it more if
you want to. Nothing another player does can ever take that away.
It’s a huge escape valve. Every player in Microscope has vast power over
the fiction, but it works because, unlike a normal game, that creative power
doesn’t translate into controlling what the other players can or can’t do.
Once you remove chronological order and the direct cause-and-effect of
sequential play, power over the fiction doesn’t have the same relationship
to power over play.
That freedom, the understanding that you are never trapped by what other
players do, removes a lot of the need to say “no!” to things you aren’t sure
you like for fear that they’ll inexorably take the game in a direction you
don’t want, like they could in a normal game.
Because players always have that out, they are also more comfortable
playing along with ideas they might not like. They may not be thrilled by
the idea of Atlantis getting nuked (at least not initially), but they know they
won’t be forced to deal with it for the whole game, so they’re okay with
72
playing some scenes in the glowing ruins. And because they’re willing to
give it a chance, they may discover the idea grows on them. They may even
decide to build their own history to explore and expand an idea they would
have normally rejected. That security allows them to be open-minded and
experiment.
In Microscope, you also often already know how things are going to turn
out. When you’re exploring what happens in between, a player can freely
introduce what looks like a huge threat or change without the other players
having to wonder whether they should resist because they’re concerned it
might change the direction of the game. You already know how the fight
ends, so you don’t have to pull your punches. If we already know the Icarus
returns from its maiden voyage, then you can have the shell-shocked XO
take the bridge by force and threaten to blow up the ship. In a normal
game, the players would be focusing on whether the ship goes boom.
In Microscope, they know it’s not going to happen (or that it absolutely
does), so now they can focus on the characters and the meaning behind the
action–on why, not what.
The Hotseat
Microscope gives players a lot of creative power, but it also forces them to
use it. When it’s your turn, you’re in the hotseat. You have to come up with
something to add to the history. No one else can make suggestions, and
you can’t ask for help.
This is an intentional design choice. I could just as easily have made the
game the other way, with open discussion and brainstorming. There are
two reasons why I didn’t:
The first is that, by forcing each person to contribute their own ideas,
without cross-checking or consensus building, you get a far more unique
and unexpected result. Creation by committee inevitably moves towards
established tropes and stereotypes. The odd and interesting bits get watered
down. By comparison, I don’t think I’ve played a single Microscope game
where I wasn’t surprised and fascinated by how the history developed.
The second is that, even with the best of intentions, when a group
collaborates, social pressures mean that some people contribute more
than others. Timid players may play game after game without ever making
a major contribution, either because they’re not confident their ideas
will be liked or because other players are more dominant and their ideas
are adopted instead. Gaming groups can fall into these patterns without
realizing it.
The situation may not even be involuntary. Maybe the dominant players
really do have consistently great ideas, so everyone is happy to run with
them. Awesome. Maybe the timid players are more comfortable sitting in
73
the backseat, not sticking their neck out and exposing themselves to other
people’s opinions of their ideas. Fine.
Rule systems that give players an option to control the fiction don’t solve
the problem because, if it’s a choice, the same dynamics come into play: the
dominant players exercise their mechanical authority confidently and the
timid players are hesitant to use the rules to take control and create, again
for fear that their ideas aren’t winners.
Microscope eliminates that choice. If it’s your turn, you can’t back out. You
have to make something, and the rest of us are going to sit here silently
until you do.
Let’s not harbor any illusions: the hotseat can be very uncomfortable.
Painful even. But what I’ve seen after fifty games, and what I’ve heard from
playtester after playtester after playtester, is that players who were normally
quiet wallflowers surprised everyone with their contributions–even
themselves. People who no one thought had ideas threw down amazing
stuff. Some found it uncomfortable, but were rewarded when they fought
through it. Others jumped right in because they’d been waiting to have a
voice all along and now the structure finally made everyone else be quiet
and listen to them.
The hotseat may burn at first, but it pays off.
The pressure to create is mitigated by the fact that you don’t have to make
something awe-inspiring. You can just take your turn and add something
simple to the history. That lets players ease into their new power. But even
the humblest additions to the history may prove fertile ground for other
players, who build on it in ways the original player didn’t expect. And when
that player sees the ideas they thought were lame being embraced and
expanded by the other players, it’s an unexpected pat on the back. They’re
encouraged to build more. It’s a positive feedback loop.
Independence & Interdependence
If the game was just players taking turns making stuff up by themselves, it
wouldn’t be very interesting and it wouldn’t be much of a game. Instead,
Microscope intertwines creative independence with interdependence. One
feeds the other.
On the surface, you make history all by yourself: if it’s your turn, you make
whatever you want, and no one else has any say unless you play a Scene.
But the rules intentionally only let a player make a single layer of history at a
time (or two if you’re the Lens), so you’re forced to work with what’s already
on the table, building on what other players created and enticing them to
explore and flesh out what you start.
74
Scene creation has a similar feedback loop. The player making the Scene
picks the Question and creates the setting, but as each player picks their
character or reveals their thought their choice influences what the next
player thinks about the Scene. And that’s all before role-playing even
starts. It’s no accident that the last player to make history is the first player
to choose during Scene creation: it gives them the first opportunity to
influence the Scene and introduce whatever continuity they might want to
carry over from their own turn.
I talk a lot about how Microscope forbids collaboration or brainstorming,
but that’s not really true. What it does is require that collaboration happen
through the medium of the game, rather than through open discussion and
normal social rules. You’re having a discussion. You’re just doing it through
the language and vocabulary of the game. When you describe your Period,
you’re telling the other players what you want in the history. When you
explain why you think your Event is Light, you’re showing them what you
think about the fiction. They respond by making history of their own, using
the same language. The entire game is a dialog, just a dialog with it’s own
rules.
Fruitful Mistakes
The freedom to go back and explore any part of the history radically changes
another aspect of play: so-called mistakes.
In a normal game, if something strange happens during play–if someone
plays a character in a way that other people don’t get or introduces a side
plot that no one wants to run with, there is a natural pressure to bury the
inconsistent bits and move on. We overlook the hiccups, prune the lumps,
and strive to embrace a unified, logical vision of the fiction. It’s a smart
strategy. Gaming is raw creative improv, so naturally it can’t always be as
flawless and focused as an edited novel: it’s the nature of the medium. We
accept this and hand wave when necessary. We have to in order to move
towards a coherent fiction that everyone thinks makes sense–not even to
make a good story, just to keep the universe consistent and believable. If
no one thinks the fiction makes sense, it’s exposed for what it is: subjective,
arbitrary make-believe. We lose buy-in (suspension of disbelief in other
mediums), so no one cares. If no one cares, play is pointless.
But in Microscope, you can always go back and take another look at the
things that seemed strange. There’s no way to ever seal something off and
forbid exploration even if you wanted to. Sure, the Sheriff seemed a little out
of his depth when we thought he was supposed to be this tough lawman.
Everyone thought it was just flubbed role-playing and moved on. But any
time during the game, whether it’s the next Scene or a dozen sessions later,
any player could go back and explore why that was: why what we thought
was a “mistake” actually made sense. Maybe the Sheriff’s past is a lie. Maybe
he was badly shaken up by something that happened that morning. Maybe
75
he’s really the Sheriff’s evil twin brother. Who knows? If we’re curious and
we go back and play, we’ll find out.
So what seemed like a mistake or a misstep becomes a fruitful inspiration
for exploring the history. Instead of a negative, critical feedback loop (“you
messed up!”), it becomes a positive, constructive loop (“hmm, I wonder why
that would be…”). One player drops the ball (they think), but instead of
everyone rolling their eyes and glossing over it, another player takes that
moment of dubious play and builds something meaningful and interesting
out of it.
There is no gap, no inconsistency or question, we can’t go back and make
sense of. If we’re curious, we can find out. If we don’t care, we don’t have
to. That also means that, even if no one runs with your idea right now, you
don’t have to weep that it’s never going to see the light of day. It can always
come back later. Everything is still on the table.
Time Is Not So Confusing After All
When I first started pondering how I could turn Microscope the Idea into
Microscope the Game, I didn’t think it would be easy to play. The whole idea
of a game where you could jump backward and forward in time, exploring
inward instead of forward, keeping track of a horde of unrelated moments
scattered across time and space… I just wasn’t sure people would be able
to do it without popping a blood vessel. I had serious doubts.
I experimented with some fairly esoteric ways to record and recall history
(fear the cyclical time spiral!) and different ways to distinguish between
types of history (like categorizing things by whether they changed the
course of history or were personal, private moments).
The goal was always to design a structure that would make it easy for
players to accomplish–and even enjoy–this fairly daunting task of building
a history from the outside in. I wanted it to be, if not effortless, at least fun,
not confusing.
For a year at least, when I sat people down at a table to teach them how
to play, I went through a whole song-and-dance about how what we were
going to do might be hard. “It can be challenging,” I would say, “but don’t
worry, you can do it.”
It took me a very long time, a surprisingly long time, to recognize that my
expectations were completely wrong. People did not have a hard time
keeping it all straight. They did not have a hard time starting off with big
ideas and then zooming in to the details. Rather, it was the opposite: it
seemed strangely natural despite the fact that it was different from any
game they had played (assuming they had gamed before at all).
76
On one hand, I think this means the fairly straightforward Period-EventScene outline the game uses to map history is a good one (sorry, time spiral!).
But, more importantly, I think it says something about how people actually
think. We experience life linearly, moving forward in time, but we process
and group our experiences into larger and larger blocks for easy storage
and recall. When did you meet that person? You don’t think: March 14th,
2009. You think: “That was after I graduated from college when I lived on
the West side.” We translate linear memories into hierarchical outlines all
the time.
Outside-in, simpler-to-more-detailed, is also how we learn about new
things all the time. Try explaining the electoral college, World War I, or
some random movie you saw. I’ll bet you start off with a grand summary
before drilling down into the details. And even when you drill down, you
don’t jump straight to the nitty gritty (“Want to learn about World War I?
Let me start by telling you about the first pilot to take out a zeppelin with
a biplane…”). You lay out a succession of summaries of the entire picture,
each more detailed than the last, until you finally get down to brass tacks.
It happens every time someone tells you what happened: “Bob and Katie
broke up!” Oh really? “Yeah, they were at a party Saturday night and got
in a big fight, so she told him to shove off.” What happened? “Well, first he
showed up an hour late, then when they got there he was spending all his
time talking to Alex…” Summary, expanded summary and then, eventually,
details.
News, history, textbooks–it’s all the same. It’s how we educate ourselves
about the world around us because it’s an efficient way to learn. And just
like Microscope, we’re selective: we drill down and learn lots about topics
that interest us, but in other cases we’re happy knowing just enough to see
the big picture.
77
Thanks
More than 150 people have playtested Microscope over the past two years.
For everyone who gave their time to explore and experiment, I honestly
can’t thank you enough. You’ve made Microscope the game it is now.
Even when you love it, game design can be a long and sometimes arduous
process. Without the help and insight of a lot of people, this game would
never have gotten done:
Haskell, the ultimate Microscope playtester, for always giving me “that look”
when I was tempted by very un-Microscopy rule changes. Mike for always
having time to listen to one more tweak (no really, just one more!). My Mom,
Carole Robbins, who pulled me through the homestretch and provided a
much-needed pair of keen eyes.
Ping, who has played more games of Microscope and taught more people
to play than anyone else. Without her, Microscope simply would not have
happened.
And finally, my Dad, Michael Robbins, to whom this game is dedicated. He
came up with finger-voting to solve my thorny democratic problem. But
long before that, he was the very first person I explained Microscope to, back
when it was still a half-formed kernel in my mind. He got it immediately.
…and thanks for playing
A game means nothing unless it’s played. I’ve played in a lot of really
fantastic Microscope games with a lot of different people, but I wanted to
thank just a few who helped make my very favorites, the games that shaped
Microscope’s direction and proved to me it could work:
Ping and Haskell for countless excellent and formative games, from our
Starcraft-analog to God Returns to Earth and many, many others (including
half the games listed below).
Mike and Jem for the seminal Stellar Empire game. It was the very first
Microscope game and still one of the best.
Tony and Paul for priceless hours of Xeno-Extermination. Always ban the
sentient sun.
Eric, Kynnin and Gilbert for exploring The Godhead at Go Play NW 2010 and
taking a bittersweet leap of faith in the mind of a dying scientist.
Pat and Robert for the war with Eurasia, the game that pretty much nailed
the rules shut.
78
Playtesters
Players are listed by the first version they played. I know there are people
who played but aren’t listed here: my thanks to all you unsung heroes too.
Versions One & Two
Ching-Ping Lin, Jem Lewis, John Harper, Kevin Lewis, Mike Frost, Paul Riddle,
Robert Haskell, Ryan Dunleavy, Tony Dowler, Trey Marshall
Version Three
Adam Drew, Adam Flynn, Alex La Hurreau, Amy Fox, Andy Stanford, Austin
Smith, Benjamin Key, Bret Gillan, Brian Ballsun-Stanton, Britt Scharringhausen,
Bruce Anderson, Christopher Pullen, Courtny Hopen, Dain Lybarger, Dan
Eison, Dan Hertz, Daniel Goupil, Daniel Taylor, Deirdra Kiai, Dennis Taylor,
Eli Zukowski, Ellen Panetto, Eric Borzello, Eric Raehn, Eshed Magali, Fabian
Schindler, Gabriel Sorrel, Gavin Cummins, George Austin, Guy Srinivasan,
Heather Constantine, Holly Lyne, Ian Dall, Ian Law, James Cosby, James
Dobbs, Jan Laszczak, Jason Dettman, Jason Lorenzetti, Jeff Barnes, Jeffrey
Kelly, Jeremiah Cunkle, Joe Iglesias, Joe Mottram, Jonathan Davis, Jorge
Montesdeoca, Joshua Hitchins, Joshua Riley, Juliusz Doboszewski, Karina
Graj, Kirsty Mottram, Kynnin Scott, Laura Owen, Malcolm Taylor, Marco
Leclerc, Mark Townshend, Mathieu Bélanger, Matthew McComb, Megan
Crozat, Megan Dobbs, Melissa “Mouse” Douglas, Michael Pevzner, Mikhail
Bonch-Osmolovskiy, Monica Mann, Morgan Crooks, Morgan Rushing,
Nicholas Marshall, Nicole Cunkle, Ola Samonek, Paul Montesdeoca, Peter
Martin, Przemek Zańko, Rani Sharim, Riley Perryman, Robert Baker, Roger
Carbol, Sam Atkinson, Sam Zeitlin, Samuel Lee, Shawn Wretham, Susan Kim,
Tom Seaton, Tommi Enenkel, Villum Lassen
Go Play NW 2009: Daniel Wood, David Drake, Douglas Bartlett, Hans
Otterson, Jackson Tegu, Jonathan Lemer, Julian Michels, Kelly O’Hara,
Kingston Cassidy, Michael Decuir, Michael Petersen, Mike Sugarbaker, Philip
LaRose, Ralph Mazza, Ronald Steinke, Ryan Forsythe, Suzi Soroczak
Versions Four & Five
Cameron Merrick, Cameron Parkin, Chadwick Ginther, Dale Horstman, Daniel
Stoltenberg, Daniel Worthington, David Dunn, Erin Sara Beach-Garcia,
Frank Krivak, Gilbert Podell-Blume, James Brown, Jeffrey Hosmer, Matthew
MacHutchon, Max Reichlin, Meg Higgins, Mona Hinds, Nick Lundback, Patty
Kirsch, Perry Grosshans, Rachel Brunner, Robin Ghetti, Sam Kaviar, Sean
Leventhal, Sean Li, Seth Richardson, Sohum Banerjea
Story Games Seattle: Brian Williams, Caroline Gibson, Cy Myers, Dave
Fooden, Eric Logan, Jamie Fristrom, Jason Wodicka, Jered Danielson, John
Aegard, Joseph, Josh Verburg-Sachs, Marc Hobbs, Martin, Mike Kimmel,
Pat Kemp, Remi, Rob Jones, Robert Hennes, Shuo Meng, Susan Taylor, Sylvia
Luxenburg Wodicka
79
Microscope quick reference sheet. Visit lamemage.com for more info.
Before you start the next Focus, take a break. Talk about how the
game is going, but don’t discuss what you want to have happen
later. Keep your ideas to yourself.
6) New Lens: The player to the left of the Lens then becomes the
new Lens and picks a new Focus (start again from step 1).
5) Explore a Legacy: Same player creates an Event or Dictated
Scene that relates to one of the Legacies.
4) Choose a Legacy: Player to the right of the current Lens picks
something that appeared during this last Focus and makes it a
Legacy.
After the Focus is finished, we examine legacies:
3) Lens Finishes the Focus: After each player has taken a turn, the
Lens gets to go again and Make History one more time, again
making two nested things if desired.
2) Make History: Each player takes a turn and makes either a
Period, Event or Scene. Start with the Lens and go around the
table to the left. Lens is allowed to make two nested things (a
Period with an Event inside it, or an Event with a Scene inside
it).
1) Declare the Focus: The Lens decides the current focus.
Decide who goes first. That player becomes the first lens.
OVERVIEW OF PLAY
4) First Pass: Each player makes a Period or Event, in any order.
Group decisions are now over.
PERIOD
CARD
WARP GATES
UNITE DISTANT
COLONY WORLDS
EVENT
CARD
VIGILANTE "THE OWL"
GUNS DOWN MOB BOSS
SEGRETTI AT HIS TRIAL
SCENE
CARD
STUDYING HUMANITY
GAVE THEM PURPOSE
PILGRIMS TRAVEL TO
MOUNTAIN OF THE
WORLD-AI
WHY DID THE MACHINES
STOP BEFORE THEY
ERADICATED
HUMANITY?
Abandon your preconceptions. History will not turn out the way
you expect. Think on your feet and work with what other players
introduce.
Create clearly and boldly. When you’re making history, you’re in
charge of creating reality. Pitch your vision. No one owns anything
in the history. Create or destroy whatever you want.
After setup, do not negotiate or discuss as a group (except to
decide the Tone after a Scene). Do not ask for suggestions or give
suggestions. Keep your ideas close to the vest.
STYLE OF PLAY
The Lens is allowed to create two things on each of their turns, so
long as one is inside the other (an Event and a Scene inside it, or a
Period and an Event inside it).
What you make must relate to the Focus set by the Lens. Do not
contradict what’s already been said. Do not use anything from the
No column of the Palette.
Shape the world by describing what your character perceives
and how they react to it.
Introduce and play secondary characters, as needed.


copyright © 2011 Ben Robbins, all rights reserved
When the players know the answer to the Question, the Scene
ends. Discuss what happened during the Scene to decide whether
the Scene was Light or Dark.
ENDING A SCENE
5) Play the Results
4) Determine the Winner
3) Vote
2) Additional Proposals
1) Proposal
You cannot Push to change a player’s starting character, except
to change something they perceive or to decide what happens to
them.
If, while playing a Scene, someone describes something about the
world outside their character and you have a different idea you like
better, you can Push to substitute your idea for theirs.
PUSH: CREATIVE CONFLICT
Don’t say what someone else’s character does or thinks.
Roleplay what your character does and thinks. If someone tries
to do something to your character, you describe the outcome.

Always move towards answering the Question of the Scene.
PLAYING A SCENE
Steps marked  go around the table to the right, opposite of the
normal order, starting to the right of the player making the Scene.
4) Reveal Thoughts ()
3) Choose Characters: List banned and required characters (max
2 each). All players pick characters (). Choose a character that
helps you answer the Question.
event: Place inside a Period. Describe the Event and say whether
it is Light or Dark.
3) Palette–Add or Ban Ingredients: Each player can add or ban
one thing from the palette. Repeat until a player doesn’t want
to add or ban anything. Feel free to discuss–everyone should
be happy with the Palette.
scene: Place inside an Event. Choose whether to play or dictate
the Scene.
2) Set the Stage: What do we already know from the history?
Where is the Scene physically taking place? What is going on?
period: Place between two Periods. Describe the Period and say
whether it is Light or Dark.
2) Bookend History: Make start and end Periods.
1) State the Question
On your turn, make either a Period, Event or Scene:
1) Big Picture: Pick a concept for your history, no more than a
single sentence.
MAKING A PLAYED SCENE
MAKING HISTORY
GAME SETUP
MAKI
Steps m
normal
6)  Rev
5)  Pic
Ques
4) List re
2) Place
3) Set th
1) State t
What is Microscope?
Humanity spreads to the stars and forges a galactic civilization…
Fledgling nations arise from the ruins of the empire…
An ancient line of dragon-kings dies out as magic fades from the realm…
These are all examples of Microscope games. Want to explore an epic
history of your own creation, hundreds or thousands of years long, all in
an afternoon? That's Microscope.
You won't play the game in chronological order. You can defy the limits of
time and space, jumping backward or forward to explore the parts of the
history that interest you. Want to leap a thousand years into the future
and see how an institution shaped society? Want to jump back to the
childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find out what made
him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.
You have vast power to create… and to destroy. Build beautiful, tranquil
jewels of civilization and then consume them with nuclear fire. Zoom out
to watch the majestic tide of history wash across empires, then zoom in
and explore the lives of the people who endured it.
A role-playing game for two to four players. No GM. No prep.

 
Lame Mage Productions
www.lamemage.com
  

an expansion for Microscope, by Ben Robbins
Copyright © 2015 by Ben Robbins
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied in any form without the
express written permission of the author.
Written by Ben Robbins
Edited by Carole Robbins
Published by Lame Mage Productions
www.lamemage.com
First Edition 2015
ISBN 978-0-9832779-2-7
Microscope was dedicated to my father,
Michael Robbins. This book is too…
…and to all the generations of players at
Story Games Seattle who’ve taught me so much,
week after week, year after year.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
How to Use This Book ...................................... 8
IMPROVING YOUR GAME
Golden Rules .................................................... 11
Improving Setup ............................................. 12
Relax & Read Aloud............................................... 12
Clarify & Tighten Your Big Picture ..................... 12
The Big Picture Is Only the Beginning............. 13
Bookends: Flint to Fusion ................................... 14
Palette Is a Discussion .......................................... 14
No Surprises After the Palette ........................... 15
A Palette of Concepts........................................... 16
Retroactive Palette................................................ 17
Improving Play................................................. 17
Zoom In .................................................................... 17
Make People ........................................................... 18
Paint a Complete Picture .................................... 18
Name Things ........................................................... 19
Always Explain Light or Dark ............................. 19
I Don’t Know What to Make!............................... 20
Start With Nuking Atlantis .................................. 21
Talk Before You Write ............................................ 21
Enforce the Rules & Watch
for Contradictions ............................................ 22
We Never Push! ...................................................... 22
Push Concede......................................................... 23
Legacies Are Mini-Focuses ................................. 23
You Can Keep Your Legacy ................................. 24
Listen Charitably: We Aren’t All Poets ............. 24
Sharing Your History ...................................... 25
There Are Two Stories to Tell .............................. 25
STARTING YOUR HISTORY
Seeds .................................................................. 29
After Lemuria Sinks............................................... 31
Battle of the Planets ............................................. 32
Blood of Monsters ................................................. 33
Boom Town / Ghost Town ................................... 34
Brave New World ................................................... 35
The Dark Lord ......................................................... 36
The Essence............................................................. 37
From Twilight Lands ............................................. 38
Golems of Eden ...................................................... 39
House of the Dragon,House of the Unicorn .. 40
Humanity Uplifted ................................................ 41
The Imperium ......................................................... 42
Kaiju Century .......................................................... 43
Legacy of Heroes ................................................... 44
Rising Tide ............................................................... 45
The Round Table .................................................... 46
Stars Collide ............................................................ 47
Who Watches the Watchmen? ........................... 48
Group Decisions ............................................... 49
Oracles ............................................................... 50
Swords & Sorcery................................................... 53
To the Stars.............................................................. 55
Cradle of Civilization ............................................ 57
Apocalypse.............................................................. 59
Lurking Darkness................................................... 61
We Have No Dice, But We Must Roll ........... 62
Using Source Material.................................... 63
Canon or Reboot ................................................... 63
Alternate History & Real History ....................... 64
Establish Landmarks............................................. 65
The Downside: Slave to the Source ................. 66
WORLD-BUILDING:
GAMES COLLIDE
A World Is Its History ...................................... 68
Knowledge Is Power ....................................... 69
The Downside .................................................. 70
Pre-Game: Setting Goals ............................... 71
Just Play Normally .......................................... 72
Don’t GM Microscope ..................................... 73
If It Fails, Call a Do-Over ................................. 73
Post-Game: Translating ................................. 74
Polish & Place ......................................................... 77
Embrace Your Destiny .......................................... 77
Expand an Existing World ............................. 78
The Hero’s Journey ......................................... 79
Adventure Ouroboros:Back and Forth ...... 80
UNION
Introduction ..................................................... 84
What You Need to Play ........................................ 85
Setup .................................................................. 86
Step 1: Family Tree ................................................ 86
Step 2: The Hero’s Deed ....................................... 87
Step 3: The Necessity............................................ 88
Step 4: The Hero’s Traits ....................................... 90
Step 5: Make Your Palette ................................... 91
Step 6: First Pass, Make Ancestors .................... 91
Play ...................................................................... 92
Family History......................................................... 93
Scenes....................................................................... 94
Legacy ...................................................................... 95
The Hero in Play ..................................................... 95
Generations & Siblings ........................................ 95
Ending the Game ............................................ 96
Afterword .......................................................... 97
Nature & Nurture ................................................... 97
Child of Two Worlds .............................................. 97
Adventure Games: Tell Me
About Your Character… ................................. 98
Rise of Nations, Evolution of Ideas ................... 98
CHRONICLE
Introduction ................................................... 100
What You Need to Play ...................................... 101
Setup ................................................................ 102
Step 1: Your Chronicle ........................................ 102
Step 2: Bookends ................................................. 102
Step 3: Palette ...................................................... 102
Step 4: First Pass .................................................. 102
Play .................................................................... 104
Making Periods .................................................... 104
Making Events & The Anchor ........................... 105
Making Scenes ..................................................... 105
Afterword ........................................................ 108
Focus vs Freedom: A Tighter Microscope..... 108
Why Doesn’t the PeriodMaker Create the Anchor?........................... 108
ECHO
Introduction ................................................... 110
What You Need to Play ...................................... 111
Make Factions ................................................ 112
Step 1: The Goal ................................................... 112
Step 2: The Opposition’s Goal .......................... 114
Step 3: How Can You Change History?.......... 115
Step 4: Describe Factions & Future ................ 116
Make History .................................................. 117
Step 1: Big Picture ............................................... 117
Step 2: Bookends ................................................. 117
Step 3: Palette ...................................................... 117
Step 4: First Pass .................................................. 117
Step 5: Second Pass ............................................ 117
Play .................................................................... 118
Intervention (Event) ........................................... 120
Echo (Event) .......................................................... 122
Period, Event or Scene ....................................... 125
Overwriting Changes: High Numbers Win .. 126
Rules of Time Travel....................................... 127
Marking Contradictions .................................... 128
Update a Period ................................................... 128
Judgment .............................................................. 129
Ending the Game .......................................... 132
Afterword ........................................................ 133
No Status Quo ...................................................... 133
Who Needs Time Travel? ................................... 133
Echo, the Adventure Game .............................. 134
Disco Must Die ..................................................... 134
The Unexamined Life ......................................... 134
EXPERIMENTS
Reincarnation ................................................. 137
Divided History: Now & Then .................... 138
Parallel Histories ............................................ 139
Territory Not Time ......................................... 139
Journey ............................................................ 140
Micro-Histories .............................................. 140
Threaded Events............................................ 141
Mega-Periods ................................................. 142
Long Focus ...................................................... 142
AFTERWORD
Leap of Faith ................................................... 144
A Different Future ......................................... 144
Thanks .............................................................. 146
Playtesters ....................................................... 147
Reference Sheet ............................................ 148
Introduction
The first time I played Microscope was a revelation.
I’d been scribbling away, designing and revising it for months in abject
secrecy. As a lifelong world-builder, I was excited by the idea, but I really
wasn’t sure it would be fun as a game. When I explained it to other players,
they seemed skeptical to say the least. I couldn’t really blame them: as a
game, it seemed pretty out there.
But when we sat down and actually played our first game, it was magical. It
felt like we had barely started before our stellar empire blossomed into an
epic right before our eyes. Asteroid miners unearthed the “psychic balrog”
that drove them mad but also unlocked the telepathic potential of the
entire human race, changing the course of history…
We gaped at each other in amazement. We had surprised ourselves with
our creation.
I’ve played lots and lots of Microscope since then and seen countless people
around the world have the same reaction—just like releasing the psychic
balrog in our game, they opened the book and unlocked potential they did
not know they had.
As I’ve said before, Microscope does not use dice because it uses a much
better randomizer: human beings. You are what brings Microscope to life,
so this book is for you.
7
How to Use This Book
When I started working on this book, my goal was to include things that
Microscope players would find truly useful. Microscope works great as-is,
so rather than replace it, this book is a supplement that expands on the
original game. It is designed to make your Microscope experience even
better.
There’s a lot of different material included, but the book covers four areas
overall. First, there are tips and techniques to improve any Microscope
game, including ways to overcome common roadblocks and unlock even
more fun.
Second, because coming up with a history idea can be challenging and
time-consuming, there are tools to help get you started playing more
quickly. Seeds give you pre-built frameworks for your history and Oracles
let you roll randomly to generate an idea you might never have thought
of.
Third, there’s a chapter on using Microscope for collaborative world-building.
Many groups have had success using Microscope to create settings for
other role-playing games. This section gives you procedures and advice for
doing exactly that.
On top of all that, the book includes entirely new ways to play Microscope.
There are three spin-off games—Union, Chronicle and Echo—along with
a collection of experiments you can use to tweak and twist the rules even
more.
So whether you just want to improve your game or try something new,
there is something in this book for you.
8
IMPROVING YOUR
GAME
I’ve played Microscope with dozens and dozens of people who I had never
gamed with before. Total strangers.
Gaming with strangers is fantastically educational. It brings all your
assumptions about play into sharp relief as you explain a game over and
over again and see how people react, how they approach the game and
how they interact with each other.
Like any game, sometimes Microscope fails. Usually, it’s because someone
at the table doesn’t follow the rules, in letter or in spirit, intentionally or
unwittingly. Sometimes the failure is inevitable: that particular group of
people at that moment is simply not going to get along. But more often I’ve
sat down at a table that felt like it was doomed, like these players could not
possibly find common ground, and then been surprised to see things turn
around as the rules did their job. I’ve seen total strangers overcome their
doubts and fears and genuinely have fun making something together.
I wrote Microscope to do this exact thing, but it still astounds me. We sit
down as strangers, but by the time we finish we are respected collaborators,
old friends sharing a unique experience. There may be hugging. It rekindles
my hope for humanity every time. That sense of shared accomplishment is
what all games in this field try to achieve. Good rules stack the deck in your
favor. Bad rules get in your way and make you weep and argue until you
decide to just ignore them.
This chapter is all about stacking the deck even further in your favor. These
are things you can do to make all your Microscope games even better.
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GOLDEN RULES
MAKE YOUR IDEAS CLEAR AND COMPLETE
ZOOM IN, MAKE PEOPLE, NAME THINGS
NO COLLABORATION
NO CONTRADICTIONS
NO SURPRISES AFTER THE PALETTE
TALK BEFORE YOU WRITE
ALWAYS EXPLAIN LIGHT & DARK
ENFORCE THE RULES
LISTEN CHARITABLY
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Improving Setup
Relax & Read Aloud
Every time I sit down to play Microscope, the first thing I do is open the
book to page seven, hand it to one of the other players and ask them to
start reading aloud. There’s usually four people at the table including me,
so I have each player read a third of the page before handing it to the next
person to continue.
Why don’t I just explain the rules myself—me, the designer who wrote
the (actual) book on Microscope? That is exactly why: I put a lot of effort
into writing a book that explains the game very clearly, so why not take
advantage of it? Why reinvent the wheel?
Reading straight from the book will save you a lot of energy trying to
summarize the game, plus you don’t have to worry about missing some key
idea (“Did I mention that no one owns anything in the history? Uh, yeah,
that’s important”). I strongly recommend it.
Taking turns reading also gets the other players involved. If you are teaching
the game, you are going to be doing a lot of talking, so having the other
players read gets them participating instead of sitting passively.
And there’s one more secret reason: if you are playing with strangers (which
I do a lot), it gives you a chance to gauge who you are dealing with. You can
learn a lot about someone by listening to how they read and speak.
Clarify & Tighten Your Big Picture
If there is one thing I would change about the Microscope text, it is the
suggestion that you should start your history with only a minimal description
of the big picture. That’s not really the intent. A better guideline would be
that you should establish a minimal but clear picture of your history. “An
empire rises and falls” sounds like a fine summary, but we really don’t know
what kind of empire we’re talking about. Are there swords? Or star cruisers?
Or both? Who knows?
Just like when you create Periods or Events, your big picture should include
as much detail as you could see from that level of history. You would be
able to see if your empire spanned the stars or was trampling its neighbors
with chariots (or one and then the other). You would be able to see if your
society was populated with humans or blue-skinned aliens. Even one word
can make a huge difference: insert “corporate”, “stellar” or “ancient” in front
of “empire” and you clarify things considerably.
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Without establishing that foundation, your only option is to jump in blindly
and hash out the facts as you play, which is bad because you have no idea
whether you are on the same page. The Palette will expose a lot of these
undiscussed assumptions, but you are better off knowing what you are
getting into at the very beginning.
Clarifying your big picture also lets you make more focused histories and
that’s good because tighter concepts are almost always better. The more
specific the concept, the easier it will be to get moving and play. That may
seem counterintuitive in a game where you are making a history that can
span eons, but there is a huge difference between broad scope (thousands
of years, entire galaxies) and broad concept (magic and aliens and mutants
and zombies). Including a lot of unrelated ideas won’t make your history
better. It will make it more unwieldy and random. The Palette won’t help
if you have already included too many different elements in your big
picture.
Exclusion is your friend. Tighter and more specific is your friend.
There is a polite temptation to yield to everyone and incorporate everything
anyone suggests. You agree to make a history of an industrial revolution,
but somebody wants to include sorcery—which could be awesome, but
more often it’s just wedged in because no one wanted to be the bad guy
and say no. If you are facilitating the game and teaching people how to play,
you will be the one who guides this process. Don’t be afraid to explain why
including too many ideas does not make things better. If you can combine
different ideas in a solid fashion (and make no mistake, I now want to play
an industrial revolution breaking away from sorcerous traditions), then by
all means go for it. But if something does not fit, discuss whether you are
better off leaving it out. Save it for another game where you can really put
it center stage and do it justice.
The Big Picture Is Only the Beginning
The big picture can be intimidating. It is very sensible to think it is the most
important decision of your game. After all, you are summarizing the entire
history in one swoop. What could matter more?
The truth is, the big picture is only the beginning. Every single step that
follows will add detail and make it far more interesting and surprising.
Never worry about picking a big picture that is special or unique. Play is
what transforms a simple or even boring idea into something amazing.
The trick is to settle on something acceptable quickly, even if it is not
amazing, and start playing. The Starting Your History chapter has tools to
help you get over that hurdle and settle on an idea.
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Bookends: Flint to Fusion
A Microscope history can span drastic changes in society and technology.
You could start with club-wielding tribes and wind up with cybernetics
and warp-gates. Are there glassy skyscrapers where there used to be brick
battlements? Do knights still wear armor or has the rise of gunpowder made
it obsolete? Technology is the obvious example, but you could explore social
or cultural change as well: Are the thetes treated better or worse now? Do
we still believe in the old gods or is it just hollow ceremony?
You can use your bookends to create huge arcs of change in your history.
What differences would really drive home the point of your story? Highlight
those changes in the bookends. Is your history about how superhero
vigilantes undermine the rule of law? Use your bookends to show the
difference before and after. Or maybe you want to go the other way and
emphasize how some aspect of the world is surprisingly the same: after all
that time it is right where it started.
The same is true when you create any Period later in the game: Show the
differences from the Periods around it. Show us how the world is changing
or staying the same.
If there are elements of your history that you are particularly interested in
seeing change, you can tag that in the Palette, as discussed later.
Palette Is a Discussion
Some groups make the mistake of thinking that, if someone puts something
on the Palette, no one is allowed to say no. Nothing could be further from
the truth. The Palette is a discussion. The whole point is that the players get
to talk and come to an agreement about what they want (or don’t want) in
the game.
If you are adding something to the Palette, do not just write your idea if
no one stops you. Ask the other players if they are okay with your addition.
Invite discussion. Even if no one disagrees, they may want clarification or to
double-check how your idea interacts with other items on the Palette. Ask
first, then write.
On the other hand, if someone proposes something for the Palette and
you don’t like it, speak up! Now is the time to voice your preferences. For
the Palette to work, everyone has to be honest. There is a natural and very
civilized urge not to want to step on other people’s ideas. It is great to
compromise and try ideas that are normally not your cup of tea, but it helps
no one to agree to play in a game that you hate. You will have no fun and
that will bring the game down for everyone else too. It is better to play with
ideas that everyone is only moderately excited about but can build on than
ideas that some people love but even a single person hates. That’s what the
Palette is for: to surface those disagreements and resolve them.
14
That is also why the Palette discussion takes place outside the fiction. Since
you are talking about concepts instead of actual things in the history, you
are not rejecting people’s creations. If you were the middle of the game
and someone started describing the inner mysteries of the Autumn Moon
Cult and you said “Nope, don’t want that,” you would be rejecting their
creative contribution. But if during the Palette someone says, “Hey, I want
mysterious religions,” and you say no, it is far less skin off their artistic nose.
You aren’t judging something they created, just rejecting a category. It is an
important distinction.
No Surprises After the Palette
Want to introduce something unexpected to the game? Want to take the
history in a strange direction or throw in surprising subject matter? The
Palette is the time to do that, not later.
A frequent misconception is that you are allowed to make anything you
want on your turn. The result, the sad story goes, is that one player uses
their turn to add some crazy element that takes the whole history in a
gonzo direction and ruins it for everyone. And since no one is allowed to
object, there was nothing anyone could do about it.
The overarching rule of Microscope is “don’t contradict what’s already
been said.” That applies to the big picture of your history just as much as
everything that follows. So when someone throws in a weird twist that
derails your big picture, they are definitely breaking the rules of the game.
They are changing the premise you all agreed to. That’s a foul.
There are going to be a lot of surprises in your game, but there is a big
difference between surprising events and surprising content. That’s the
point of the Palette: to get the content of your history out in the open.
How each player uses those ingredients might be very unexpected, but you
should not be adding strange new subject matter during play.
In the whole wide world of possibilities, there is no way to codify exactly
what counts as “expected” or “surprising,” but it is usually pretty clear when
someone introduces something they shouldn’t. Often they have a gleam
in their eye because they just thought of some new thing that they think
will wow their fellow players. Don’t be that player. When you are making
your Palette, don’t harbor secret surprises to spring later on. Likewise, once
the Palette is done, stick to it. Even if you think of a fascinating new twist,
accept that the time for that is past. The die is cast. The rules of this history
are set. Save it for another game.
If someone else brings in surprising content, don’t hesitate to ask them if
what they are adding contradicts what has already been said. It is everyone’s
job to keep the history consistent.
15
A Palette of Concepts
The most obvious use of the Palette is to include or omit specific things
that exist in the history. Yes, zombies. No, faster-than-light travel. But you
can also use it to talk about the style, tenor or structure of the game you
want to play.
Tone is a very straightforward case. Don’t want anything goofy? Ban silly
or gonzo content. The reverse is just as valid: ban tragedy or real world
political issues if you do not want a heavy game. Remember, there is a big
difference between tone in the fiction and the feeling at the table. You can
play a very grim scene but have the players cheering at the terrible things
happening to the poor characters. The Palette controls the fiction, not the
mood at the table.
If you want a history that sticks to real world norms, try adding “No, unreal”
to the Palette. If there are certain unreal ideas players do want to allow, they
can be added as exceptions on the yes side (“Yes, telepathy”), but by default
nothing that would not fit in the real world would be legal. If you wanted to
do the opposite and throw the floodgates open, you could say “Yes, wild” to
indicate that even the most outlandish ideas that could never exist in the
real world are perfectly okay. It’s a broad request, but if that is the game
you want to play, the Palette is the time to discuss it. You might use wild as
a starting point and then ban specific things. And even if wild is the norm,
you are still bound not to contradict what has already been said. Make
amazing things, but stick to the premise of your history and stay consistent
with the ideas that have already been introduced. Also, wild is not the same
thing as silly or ironic. You can have an ultra-serious wild game just as you
can have a completely silly real world game.
In any history, it is natural to assume things are going to change, but if you
want your game to actually focus on change, you could add “Yes, progress”
to say you want to see how things develop and advance in meaningful
ways. You can even be more specific and flag a particular area you want
to see develop, like technology, medicine, civil rights, art, music or magic.
With “Yes, progress technology,” you might start off fighting wars with pikes
and muskets and then see how steam engines change all that. Or play “Yes,
progress civics” and show scattered tribes forming cities and developing
the first code of laws. And make no mistake, not all change is for the better.
Technology and society can erode just as much as it can advance. In some
parts of your history, progress might be declining instead of advancing. If
progress is on the Palette, it’s important to describe how that aspect of the
history has changed (or remained the same) every time you lay down a new
period. If the player making the period does not describe it, ask.
These are just a few examples of ways you can use the Palette. There are
many, many more. I’m using made-up terms like “unreal” and “wild,” but you
should always explain exactly what you have in mind to avoid confusion.
16
The buzzwords that make sense to you might not mean the same thing to
the other people at your table.
Retroactive Palette
The Palette is done. The die is cast. And yet sometimes you’ll start playing
and realize there was a critical bit of your premise that you all overlooked—
some very fundamental question which you need to answer to be on the
same page. In other words, something that should have been discussed
when you were making the Palette but which no one thought of.
If everyone agrees, you can pause your game, hop in your procedural time
machine and jump back to the Palette to sort it out. Don’t worry who took
a turn on the Palette and who didn’t. Just decide whether this thing is
going to be part of your history or not. It’s the Palette, so unlike most of
Microscope it is a discussion and negotiation.
You should only retroactively modify the Palette when it is clear there was
a misunderstanding or oversight that you simply must sort out so you can
get on with your game. Do not ask to retroactively change the Palette just
because you came up with a new idea. If this does come up, it is likely to be
very early in your game.
Improving Play
Zoom In
The simplest thing you can do to improve your game is to zoom in. Make
scenes. Play characters. Focus on a person’s life. If you are setting the
Focus, make it something tight like a person or something very specific
that happened. If it’s your turn to add history, make a scene and ask a very
pointed question.
The sooner, the better. You already know the big picture when the game
starts, so the sooner you zoom all the way in and explore specific people
in the history the sooner you’ll have the whole spectrum of material in
your game, from the very, very large to the very, very small. Until you do
that, your history may feel abstract and remote. You need to balance that
grand scope with the personal experiences of individuals. We can connect
to people. We can root for people. We can hate people and want their lives
to end miserably. It engages a totally different part of your mind than the
grand history does: your story is more satisfying when it addresses both.
If you don’t zoom in you’re not using the full range of focus on your
Microscope, if you’ll pardon the extended metaphor. You’re only playing
half the game.
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Make People
This is really a corollary to “zoom in,” but it is important enough to bear
repeating: When you are making history, make people.
Individuals bring your history to life. Without people, your history may be
interesting but remote. It might not grab you. But introduce one person
living through your history and, suddenly, it is personal and meaningful. We
can sympathize with people.
You don’t have to wait until you role-play scenes. Make your Focus a person.
When you make an Event, mention a person who was critical to what
happened.
How can you be sure someone you are thinking of creating is interesting
enough to introduce? Are they important enough to talk about? It’s a red
herring: individuals don’t have to be important in the grand scheme of
things for their lives to interest us. Even the simplest character concept is
a magnet for story. Other players will start building on them and exploring
their lives just because they are there. We will discover what makes them
interesting as we flesh out their life.
Paint a Complete Picture
Whenever you add something to the history, describe it clearly and
completely. Describe it like you are never coming back and no one is
going to add anything to it (that won’t happen, but pretend it will). Your
description should stand alone as a complete summary.
If someone creates history but leaves it vague, ask them to clarify. After
each player’s turn, everyone should be able to confidently say, “Got it!” and
move on. What you create may raise lots of questions about what happens
before or after–and that’s fine–but the thing itself should be crystal clear,
not hazy.
This may seem like strange advice since the whole point of the game is to
let other people add detail to the things you make. But that’s exactly why
you need to be clear and complete, so other players can build on your idea,
not misinterpret it and add things that do not make sense.
The acid test is to visualize what someone described. Can you picture it? Is
there some part that is blank or that you are mentally filling in yourself? If
so, ask them to clarify. The answer might be simple and obvious. What was
the battlefield terrain like? Open plains, you say? Of course! But every now
and then you will discover that the creator was visualizing things totally
differently than you assumed. “The legions were lured into deep forest
and ambushed” is nothing like the open plains confrontation you were
imagining. Now is the time to straighten that out.
18
One detail that is easy to overlook is describing the outcome. Tell us how
things end. If the Event is a battle, a summary should include who won and
who lost. Did the legions escape the ambush or were they crushed? Don’t
make cliffhangers unless the outcome is outside the scope of the Period or
Event you are making.
How much do you have to describe to be complete? The rule is that you
must include what could be seen at that scale of history. But that leaves
room for interpretation. If you create a Period of economic prosperity,
you might describe the reasons behind the boom if you think it would be
obvious and visible (“new trade routes bring wealth to the realm”), but you
might also decide that the causes are not clear without deeper exploration.
You are allowed to refuse to add detail if it would not be visible. Conversely,
you might choose to include details that might not be obvious because
they are essential to the concept. If the whole point of your war Period is
that it was a misunderstanding, you will probably want to include that in
your description even though it might not be visible on the surface.
Name Things
When you introduce something important, whether it’s a planet or a city or
a cabal of sorcerers, give it a name.
Coming up with proper names can be time-consuming, but even a simple
title serves just as well and sometimes better. Calling someplace “Red
Harbor” is a lot more memorable than just calling it “the port city” over and
over again. If you think of a good proper name later, go back and tack it
on. The same is true of people. You don’t have to name every character in
a scene. Descriptions or labels are often good enough (the rebel leader,
the struggling artist), but if someone emerges as a recurring or important
character, take a minute to go back and name them or give them a unique
title (“That bandit leader? She’s known as The Hawk”).
As a player, you can use names to your advantage: a name makes your
creation more interesting, which means other players are more likely to
build on it. The other players might not be excited when you introduce
some generic troop of mercenaries, but call it the Fenris Brigade and it’s
intriguing. We’re more likely to explore it. A name helps you sell your idea.
Always Explain Light or Dark
Never let a player say something is Light or Dark without asking them to
explain why. This is a rule of the game: you must explain the tone you picked.
If you’re making history and no one asks you to explain, do it anyway. Even
if the answer seems obvious, do it anyway.
I’ve seen it time and again: a player describes a Period or Event, picks the
tone, but when they are asked to explain why it is Light or Dark, they sit for
19
a moment and think, then they add detail or nuance to their description
that puts things in a much richer perspective. They might have already
been thinking it and just not realized they had not said it, or the pieces of
the puzzle might have come together right as they were talking. Either way,
the history they’re creating gains whole new depth.
It’s almost like a first and second draft. You describe what happened, but
when you stop to explain why it is Light or Dark, it makes you think about
the implications and meaning of what you just said. The first description is
fact, but describing Light or Dark tells us what those facts mean and how
they feel. That’s where we really connect to the history.
I Don’t Know What to Make!
Sooner or later you’ll hit the nightmare scenario: it’s your turn, but you have
no idea what to make. You’re stumped and no one is allowed to give you
hints and you aren’t allowed to pass and oh my god this game is torture.
The good news is that a solution is probably sitting right in front of you:
instead of trying to invent something brand new, just find a hole in the
history and fill in the blank.
Stop and think about what the last few players made and pick someone or
something that was important (the Focus is always the obvious choice). Ask
yourself which parts of that story have not been described yet:
BIRTH: Their creation or starting point.
VICTORY: A high point. A moment of triumph or success,
even if we know they fail later.
FAILURE: A low point. A moment of defeat or doubt,
even if we know they succeed later.
END: Their death or destruction.
Pick one and describe that moment for the person or thing you picked. I
can almost guarantee that, for whatever person or thing you choose, one of
those four points has not been covered. It doesn’t matter if the idea seems
obvious or if it was already hinted at in the history—if there is no card on
the table, you can make it.
Those four points describe the arc of just about anything. Triumphs and
failures are particularly interesting when they are counterpoints to what
we know happens later. We already know the doctor finds the cure to the
terrible plague and it’s a happy ending, but what about the part before she
succeeds, where she is riddled with doubt because everyone is telling her
she’s on the wrong track, wasting her time? Or when her funding gets cut
and her lab is shut down? That’s good stuff. Suddenly our simple story has
some drama.
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For extra credit, here are three more you can use:
FORESHADOW: The situation that lead up to their
origin. Show why they were needed in the world or what
caused their creation.
FULFILLMENT: The moment when they become the
thing we know them as or when they achieve their
identity (the king is crowned, the city grows into a
thriving metropolis, etc.).
LEGACY: Memories or repercussions of them after they
are gone. How are they remembered? What was their
impact?
Even if it feels like you are not adding something important, remember the
whole structure of Microscope is about building one brick on top of another.
You may be laying groundwork that another player vitally needs. You make
an obvious Event, but that allows someone else to make a surprising Scene
inside it. Microscope is a team sport. Even if you don’t think you hit a home
run, you’re helping.
Start With Nuking Atlantis
When you are introducing something new, there’s a natural tendency
to fall back on chronological order and begin at the beginning or when
something is at its high point. I want to bring in a chivalric order to protect
the beleaguered King, so I make an Event where the Knights of the Tower
take their oath to defend the realm!
But a fun alternative is to start at the other end: introduce something
by showing its downfall, death or destruction. Make an Event where the
Knights of the Tower (who I am just now making up) are lured into a trap
and slaughtered, extinguishing their order. A dark day for the realm!
Not only does starting with the fall shake up your normal story patterns and
remind you you’re playing Microscope, it also lets you cement something’s
fate upfront, which is a powerful move. You get to work backward and see
how they got there. But freed from wondering what happens at the end,
you get to focus on why it happened.
Talk Before You Write
It is also not unusual to be stuck because you do have an idea, or some part
of an idea, but you just can’t wrestle it into the shape you want. It’s there,
but it is just out of sight. You don’t even know how to start describing it.
That’s one reason why the rules say to always talk before you write. You’ll
open your mouth and the idea will start to evolve as you speak. You may
even get part way through your description and then have everything
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click into place so that you realize what you said so far was all wrong. No
problem: just back up and start over again. Nothing wrong with that.
The other reason you talk before you write is that your audience is not the
card: it’s the other people at the table. You need to tell them what you’re
creating and make sure they understand. Writing on the card is just an
afterthought.
Enforce the Rules & Watch for Contradictions
The stricter you are about the rules from the start, the better your game
will be.
The rules of Microscope are set up to make each person’s contribution
matter. It may seem harmless to let “illegal” things slide, but if one person is
playing wrong, they are usually doing so at someone else’s expense, even
if it’s totally unintentional. They’re forgetting the Focus the Lens picked or
trying to help a player who seems stumped by suggesting ideas.
No one at the table should hesitate to step in if someone is breaking a rule,
even if it seems harmless. If you’re teaching the game, be clear about what’s
legal and what isn’t. Soon everyone will understand exactly how to play,
and you can all relax and have fun. But if you are lax or inconsistent, you will
make it harder for everyone to get the hang of the game. You might think
you’re encouraging creativity, but you’re really creating doubt and making
it harder to learn.
It is also everyone’s job to watch out for contradictions and point them out
when they happen. It may feel rude to point out how someone’s lovely new
creation clashes with what we already know, but you are doing them (and
everyone else) a favor. If some part of the history is broken or illogical, it’s
hard for other players to know what to do with it. The simple solution is just
to avoid it and make history far away, which means no one is building on
the stuff you made. Pointing out contradictions means the player can fix
the problem immediately and create something solid that other players can
build on confidently.
We Never Push!
“We played Microscope and had a great time, but we never used the Push
rules.” Great! I don’t Push a lot either.
Push is an “in case of emergency, break glass” rule. Scenes are the free
collaborative portion of the game, but Push is there to give you a way to
put on the brakes if you want. In a perfect world you would never need it,
but as a game designer part of my job is to include tools to deal with the
worst-case scenarios.
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But doesn’t each player have massive authority over the history when it is
their turn? Can’t they do things that destroy cities or planets with no veto?
Yes. But on your turn you only get to make one piece of history. That choice
limits you. But during a scene each player can freely establish detail after
detail. There is no limit on what they can contribute except the context of
the scene. That can get out of control.
It is also a question of speed. In the heat of role-playing, people can
narrate as fast as they can talk. That can result in pretty drastic or sweeping
revelations. Push can slow things down and give us a moment to examine
whether what was described is really something everyone at the table
wants. You may Push and lose the vote, but at least everyone took the time
to really think about where they wanted the history to go. Again, Push lets
you put on the brakes.
Push Concede
If you prefer what someone wants to Push over your own idea, here’s a
shortcut to accept the change without a vote:
If someone Pushes to change something you said
during a Scene and you prefer their idea, you can
concede and automatically replace what you said.
Play continues without stopping to vote.
But if any other player prefers your original idea (or has another idea of their
own), they can require a vote. If you do vote, follow the normal procedure
just as though you had not used the Concede option. If you look closely, you
will notice this does not change how the game works at all. It just speeds
things up when everyone is agreement, which is nice because you can get
back to role-playing sooner.
Legacies Are Mini-Focuses
Like Push, Legacies is another feature that some people look at and wonder,
“Hmm, what’s the point?” Couldn’t you just as easily play without them?
Legacies perform a vital function, but it is a fairly subtle one. At its heart, a
Legacy is really just a tiny Focus, except it serves the exact opposite purpose.
The Focus gets us all on the same page and keeps us making things that
relate to the same facet of the history, preventing us from spinning off into
totally unrelated stories. But when you pick a Focus, you commit everyone
to that subject matter for a whole loop around the table. You are deciding
an important chunk of the game.
Enter the Legacy. It’s a break from the constraint of a big Focus. It lets you
roam farther afield and flesh something out without committing everyone
to exploring it for a full rotation. It lets you build on loose ends or add
interesting (and possibly unrelated) wrinkles to your history.
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In a longer game, the Legacy also does exactly what you might expect it
to do: it provides call-backs to early elements. In a short game, it has an
added social value because it lets the person to the right of the first Lens
contribute early on, which is good because they will be the last person who
has a chance to make a Focus.
You Can Keep Your Legacy
The way the Legacy rules are phrased is misleading. It starts from the pointof-view of a player picking their first Legacy and only talks about what to
do if you already have a Legacy farther down the page. Really that should
be the first instruction:
If you already have a Legacy, you can choose to keep
your old one or pick a new one.
It doesn’t come up until you’ve already played through as many Focuses
as there are players, but for long-term play or multiple session histories it
matters.
In the “Explore a Legacy” step, you can use any active Legacy to make an
Event or Dictated Scene, not just your own. In long-term play, you might
build on a Legacy that’s been around since the start of the game.
Listen Charitably: We Aren’t All Poets
Inventing entire fantasy vistas in your head isn’t always easy. But sometimes
the real challenge is finding words to communicate your vision to the other
people at the table.
When someone else describes something that sounds weird or awkward,
remember that they might be struggling to describe something that is
actually very cool and interesting. They just can’t nail down the language
to express it in a way that everyone else in the table can grasp. What comes
out of their mouth might sound clumsy or even ridiculous, but that doesn’t
mean their idea is bad. It might just be lost in translation.
We aren’t all poets. We don’t all have the gift of eloquence, but that doesn’t
mean we don’t have good ideas.
Give other players the benefit of the doubt. Listen charitably and make an
effort to understand what they are trying to contribute. If something seems
awkward or out of place, ask questions to clarify rather than dismissing or
ignoring their input. You may find that an awkward, rambling description
hides a marvelous gem.
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Sharing Your History
There Are Two Stories to Tell
You played a great game of Microscope and now you want to share it with
the world! Great! But any time you play a role-playing game, two different
stories are created. One is the story of what happened in the fictional world:
what your characters did, the dragons they slew and the mysteries they
explored. The other is the story of what happened at the table: the decisions
you made, as players, that created that fiction and how the rules pushed
you to make interesting choices, the hours you spent debating whether
to trust the prince, that amazing roll that unexpectedly saved the day, Jeff
making that one off-hand joke that became a core idea of the campaign.
Normally, these two stories sit one on top of the other, perfectly in parallel.
If you were listening to the story of the fiction, you could turn on the
director’s commentary and hear how the action at the table shaped it. But
because you don’t play Microscope in chronological order, the difference
between the fiction and the play is much, much greater. Something at the
end of the history might have happened at the very beginning of the game
while something that happened only a moment later in the fiction might
have actually been hours later in game. The order of the fiction and the
order of play do not match. At all.
When you are telling the story of your Microscope history, it is easy to forget
that the way things were created in play was essential to the magic. During
the game, it was shocking when a player made an Event where the Black
Phoenix command broke their oath and launched a suicide attack against
the invading fleet. It only made sense when you jumped back in time and
played scenes to learn why they did it. But when you tell the story in nice
neat chronological order, it isn’t surprising at all because it makes perfect
sense, now. Your audience is likely to wonder what the big deal is.
On top of that, almost nothing in Microscope is the creation of a single
author. One person introduces something and then others build on it,
explore it and refine it. When you describe the finished history, it may seem
pretty straightforward. You only see how marvelous it is when you see how
it emerged from all the individual contributions at the table. One player
introduced the idea of warp-gates allowing people to walk between the
worlds. Another added that only living creatures could go through, forcing
travelers to walk naked through the gates, colonizing new worlds with
nothing but their bare hands. And then later another player introduced the
idea of tattooed messengers carrying news and knowledge between all the
worlds. It’s a neat idea, but it’s even more interesting because of how it
emerged from all of us.
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There’s another pitfall of sharing your history: the creative and complicated
ideas you arrived at in play may sound strange or even absurd when you
try to condense them into a simple summary. What I said earlier about how
it can be hard to express ourselves because we are not all poets applies to
telling the story of your game afterwards too. But telling how you arrived
at those ideas in play makes it easier to show why your game was so
interesting.
My recommendation? Tell the story of what happened at the table and how
it created the fiction. Talk about the leaps and inspirations and how you
built on each other. That’s a far more interesting story to hear.
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STARTING YOUR
HISTORY
The big picture. It is the grand summary of your entire history, yet it is also
the very first decision you make. You sit down with a bunch of people,
excited to play… and then stare at each other, fumbling for an idea to get
you started.
The rules do not give you a lot of guidance on how to actually pick or agree
on a starting point for your history. If someone has a concept they want
to try and it sounds good to everyone, great! You’re ready to go! But what
about when no one does?
The variety of histories you could explore with Microscope are nearly
infinite, but your game-time is not. This chapter includes three approaches
to help you get playing more quickly:
Š
SEEDS are pre-made starting points for a history. Each
includes a simple concept and a few questions to help
you customize and drill down to the kind of game you
want to play.
Š
Find yourself falling back into the same old starting
concepts? Roll on an ORACLE to randomly generate
a history idea. Each includes a huge range of possible
results.
Š
The third option is to take advantage of existing SOURCE
MATERIAL like books, movies or even real world history
as a foundation for your game. Play and expand an
existing setting, or reboot the whole thing and rewrite
it the way you like.
These tools are particularly useful when you have a short window of play or
a group that doesn’t know each other that well.
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Seeds
Each seed provides a complete concept for a history, but they are
intentionally minimal, providing just enough information to get everyone
on the same page plus a few questions to customize the idea and make
it your own. You could use the same seed over and over again and get
different histories every time.
To use a seed, read the introduction aloud. Then read each question and
its answers, and pick a choice together. The last two questions create the
bookends of your history so when you’re done you are ready to jump
straight to the Palette.
Just like in any Microscope game, even after you are done customizing your
seed, your history will still only be a simple summary. If your group thinks
your history idea looks too plain, read this aloud:
Just like with any Microscope game, our history may seem
too simple or even a little boring at the start. That’s okay.
As we play we’ll turn this simple idea into our own unique
creation. We play to find out the details.
As you look at a seed, you may think of a way to twist it into an even better
idea. That’s awesome. Just discuss it as a group and, if everyone agrees, run
with it. Same with answering the questions to customize your seed: if you
think of a better answer than one of the choices listed, use it!
If you have played the same seed before, remember that only what happens
in this game counts. Don’t expect a seed you played before to turn out the
same. Yes, in your last game, Lemuria was an onerous tyrant enslaving the
other nations, but that does not have any bearing on the game you are
playing now. In other words: abandon your preconceptions, as always.
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SEEDS
Seeds are the easiest starting point for a history. Want to start playing
immediately? Grab a seed and go.
SWORDS & SORCERY
After Lemuria Sinks
Blood of Monsters
The Dark Lord
From Twilight Lands
Golems of Eden
House of the Dragon, House of the Unicorn
TO THE STARS
Battle of the Planets
Brave New World
The Essence
Humanity Uplifted
The Imperium
Stars Collide
PROGRESS & APOCALYPSE
Boom Town / Ghost Town
Kaiju Century
Legacy of Heroes
Rising Tide
The Round Table
Who Watches the Watchmen?
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Lemuria, the great island nation, has sunk beneath the waves. Wise and
terrible Lemuria, that mighty jewel among the powers of the earth, is
lost. Fallen. Never to return. Now the young nations are free to forge their
own destiny. Will they thrive or will they descend into barbarism without
Lemuria’s guidance and tyranny?
What made Lemuria mighty? (pick one or two)
„ Sorcery
„ Worship of forbidden gods
„ Science and alchemy
„ Their mighty fleets
„ Vast wealth and natural resources
„ Blackmail, assassination and treachery
What sunk Lemuria?
„ Natural disaster (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves)
„ Their own works gone awry (pick a disaster that fits Lemuria’s might: magical calamity,
civil war, etc.)
„ Their enemies joined forces and destroyed them.
What remains of Lemuria?
„ The Lemurians are all dead, but some of their knowledge and artifacts have survived.
„ A handful of individual Lemurians escaped. They may make their way as counselors to
kings, warlords or sorrowful hermits.
„ Small enclaves of Lemurians exist, refugees who escaped the doom or colonists who left
before the calamity.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Ur-Samar, a young kingdom, dominates its neighbors. It craves to be the new Lemuria.
„ Kingdoms wallow in savagery without Lemuria to guide and master them.
„ Superstitious fear abounds. Prophets warn that the fall of Lemuria foretells the fall of
all nations.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ One empire rules all the land, enforcing peace with the sword.
„ Hidden priests of a revived Lemurian cult are behind the throne of every court. Their dark
whispers rule the land.
„ Barbarian hordes from the wilds pillage the decadent kingdoms. Civilization burns.
This is a classic Conan-esque setting, ready for emerald jungles, bloodstained ziggurats and unspeakable cults. Want to explore Lemuria before
its fall? Just move its destruction into the middle of your history instead of
before the start.
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SEEDS
After Lemuria Sinks
Battle of the Planets
Earth, Mars, Venus and the moons of Jupiter wage war to control the Solar
System. The stars remain beyond our reach, so the planets are the only
home we have.
What flavor of science fiction do we want?
„ Fairly realistic science fiction.
„ Pulp rocket ships, jetpacks and rayguns.
„ 19th-century imperialism in space (musket-bearing redcoats sail between planets on
ether-powered ironclads in the service of Her Majesty, Queen of Magna Terra).
Are there aliens?
„ No aliens. The planets of the solar system were colonized by Earthlings.
„ Each world has its own native species (Martians, Jovians, etc.). Some are on an equal
footing with humanity. Others are more primitive or more advanced.
„ Only humans are native to our solar system, but agents of species from other stars
meddle in our affairs.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ The Solar Accord. Peace treaty between all planets ratified.
„ Martian War of Independence, rebelling against Earth. (Does Mars win or lose?)
„ The sky falls on Earth. Asteroids diverted to rain down, causing monumental
devastation.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ The Solar Accord (or a new Solar Accord, depending) brings peace to the planets.
„ Cold War in space. Stalemate as planets hunker down and fortify their zones of control.
„ Venus burns. Nothing survives. Remaining combatants surrender, ending the war. (Who
commits this atrocity?)
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Blood of Monsters
How does a bloodline start?
„ Slay the monster and drink (or bathe in) its blood.
„ Make a pact with the monster.
„ Mate with the monster. Your offspring has the power.
How common are people with the blood?
„ There can only be one person for each monster at a time.
„ Only a handful at a time. The power may sleep for generations.
„ More and more common as bloodlines spread.
How powerful does the blood make someone?
„ Not physically stronger, but they have unshakeable will and determination.
„ Stronger and more resilient than any mortal.
„ Inhuman might, capable of crushing a small army single-handedly.
Do they look different than normal people?
„ No visible difference.
„ Some telltale signs.
„ Blatantly half-monster, half-human.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Exiles seek power to defeat the Overlord. They create the first monster bloodlines.
„ Hero defeats monster, gains its power and becomes a mighty conqueror.
„ Last monsters of ancient days hide from men, seeking to live in peace.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ One bloodline destroys the others and reigns unopposed.
„ Those of the blood are hunted down and destroyed for the beasts they are.
„ Blood is so diffused by intermarriage that its power is gone even if its prestige remains.
You might include a wide variety of monsters or only a few. Here are some
monsters to pick from: basilisk, chimera, dragon, gorgon, griffon, harpy,
hydra, lamia, manticore, minotaur, naga, roc, salamander, siren, sphinx,
unicorn, wyvern.
For a twist on a fantasy theme, extend your history into the present. Scions
of monsters could be hidden in modern society, fighting an unseen war to
control corporations or political parties. Gorgon for President!
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SEEDS
The blood of monsters runs through the veins of some, passed from one
generation to the next since the deeds that first spawned them. They are
mighty overlords, kings… or terrors.
Boom Town / Ghost Town
There’s gold in them thar hills! When the riches pour in, the community
thrives and grows. When the well dries up, the community withers and the
people move away. Your community could go through a series of booms
and busts, nearly dying and then thriving again when there’s a new influx.
Where is this community?
„ Frontier of the Old West
„ Colonial settlement (circa the European age of exploration), carving profit out of the
savage wilderness
„ Space station or moon base
What makes the community rich?
„ Precious raw material (gold, spices, slaves)
„ Energy source (oil, uranium, X-417)
„ Perfect location (along a trade route, railroad, warp-junction, etc., or in a critical, strategic
location)
What’s bad about the community’s location?
„ Dangerous territory (environment, creatures, other people).
„ Remote location. Very hard to get there from civilization.
„ Lack of basic resources. It cannot survive without importing essential goods.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Community is small and struggling (boom resource has not been discovered yet)
„ Explorers discover the boom resource. Community is built to take advantage of it.
„ Community booms as wealth and ambitious workers pour in.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Ghost town. The community has been abandoned.
„ The resource is no longer valuable. The community struggles, but it is hopeless.
„ Community finds a new reason to exist, escapes the boom / bust cycle.
Your community could just as easily be a military base holding a location
whose strategic importance waxes and wanes.
Perfect location and remote location might seem to be contradictions,
but it would be easy to have a vital transit point that was in the middle of
nowhere or that connected distant countries.
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Brave New World
Why did the colonists come here?
„ They are bold pioneers expanding civilization to a new world.
„ They are refugees trying to escape oppression (political, racial or religious).
„ They crash-landed. This was not their intended destination.
What’s the ecosystem like when the colonists arrive?
„ Earth-like
„ Verdant, but the plants and animals are entirely alien.
„ Sparse. Poor natural resources.
Is there intelligent alien life?
„ No intelligent life except humans.
„ Aliens lived here once, but they’re long dead.
„ Aliens colonize here too. They might already be here or arrive after us.
Are there other colonized worlds?
„ This is the first human colony beyond our sun. We are entirely on our own.
„ There are only a handful of colonies scattered among the stars. Contact from off-world
is extremely rare.
„ There are many colonized worlds.
What do the colonists name their world? (pick or make up your own)
„ Haven
„ Eden
„ Green
„ Winter
„ Crucible
„ KJ-427
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ The colonists arrive on the planet.
„ The first settlement grows into a city.
„ A schism divides the colonists. They separate to two different bases.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ The colony blossoms into a prosperous world.
„ The colony is struggling but surviving.
„ The world is torn apart by factionalism and strife.
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SEEDS
Colonists set foot on a new planet and strive to make it home. Can it grow
into a flourishing, civilized world or will the colony fail and be forgotten?
The Dark Lord
The shadow of the Dark Lord stretches across the free lands. Will the realm
fall to him or will his threat be ended once and for all?
What is the Dark Lord?
„ A creature of darkness from the ancient days.
„ A hero of the free lands, now corrupted.
„ A title held by a succession of tyrants.
Why is he most feared?
„ His vast armies.
„ His unspeakable sorcery and monstrous creatures.
„ His spies and traitors. He can bend others’ minds to his will, so his servants can be
anywhere.
Are the free lands united against the Dark Lord?
„ Arrogance and pride divide them. It is their perpetual downfall.
„ Some fight him, but others would gladly take his place.
„ They stand united!
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ The Dark Lord is forgotten or thought a myth.
„ The threat of the Dark Lord looms.
„ The Dark Lord has conquered all the lands.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Victory. The free folk defeat the Dark Lord.
„ Defeat. The Dark Lord conquers the realm.
„ The Dark Lord is defeated, but a corrupted hero takes his place.
The struggle could take centuries. There may be great periods of peace
when the Enemy is thought vanquished, or times of terrible despair when
the free lands seem conquered beyond hope. Your history may spend a lot
more time exploring the people of the free lands rather than the Dark Lord
and the actual battles against him.
This seed comes straight from Lord of the Rings and all the Sauron-imitators
that followed, though your history may go in quite different directions.
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A new drug changes society. Its benefits are so great that living without
it becomes unacceptable. It becomes a pivotal point of humanity’s future
because the only thing worse than a life-changing wonder drug is the lack
of a life-changing wonder drug…
What’s the setting?
„ The far future, a galactic society with humanity spread among the stars.
„ Modern society, changed forever.
„ Renaissance times. A discovery brought back from the colonies changes society.
What is the benefit of taking essence?
„ Incredible health and well-being.
„ Enhances intelligence, insight and creativity.
„ Upgrades your senses to high definition. Normal sight, taste, etc., are lifeless and blurry
by comparison.
„ Slows your perception of time. Every moment feels longer.
„ Self-control. Perfect discipline and focus, no distractions, depression or pain.
„ Makes you more attractive.
What’s the downside?
„ It’s not chemically addictive, but losing the benefits seems terrible if you stop taking it.
„ Small percentage of people suffer immediate and permanent harm from exposure.
„ Sterility
Where does essence come from?
„ It is found in only one place (a single planet or a remote region of the globe).
„ It is synthetic and very difficult to produce.
„ Once discovered, it is wide-spread and easily harvested (from the sea, common plants or
drifting in the vast empty spaces between the stars)
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Essence discovered and used widely. Society flourishes.
„ Monopoly controls essence. Access is limited to the wealthy and elite.
„ “Nature” movement arises, opposing the widespread essence use that is now common.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Essence is the norm. Civilization reaps the benefits.
„ New generations born with resistance to essence’s effects. It stops being effective for
all but a few.
„ Revolutionaries destroy source of essence (or harvesters and stockpiles) to “free”
humanity.
This seed is absolutely inspired by Dune. He who controls the spice controls
the universe.
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SEEDS
The Essence
From Twilight Lands
Invaders from a magical realm transform a once-ordinary land. The world
may never be the same, but do the newcomers bring wonder or terror?
Who are the invaders?
„ A magical civilization, like elves from the faerie courts or a race of sorcerers.
„ A mighty army, like eldritch knights or the dead escaped from the underworld.
„ Terrors who prey on men, like vampires or demons.
„ Mighty entities, like dragons or titans.
„ Beasts or unspeaking creatures, like unicorns or walking trees.
„ Changelings or shapeshifters that secretly take peoples’ places.
How did they get here?
„ A magic portal opened to their realm.
„ They traveled for many leagues.
„ Their realm was always here, but hidden or slumbering.
What was the land like before the invaders came? (pick two)
„ Prosperous.
„ Poor.
„ Peaceful.
„ Torn apart by strife.
„ Bound by faith.
„ Ruled by strong kings.
„ Dreary. Lacking hopes or dreams.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ The land is as it always has been (The invaders have not come yet).
„ The invaders arrive suddenly.
„ Someone summons the invaders to this land (intentionally or not).
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ The invaders are driven away.
„ The invaders rule this land.
„ The invaders are defeated and their power used against them.
The invasion could be a dire threat or a slow and almost invisible
transformation as their influence seeps into the lands. And instead of
conquerors, the invaders could be a potential source of wisdom and lore.
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Golems of Eden
What do golems look like?
„ Completely human. They were formed of clay, but magic made them flesh and blood.
„ Statues of humans, perfect to the last detail though some are larger and stronger.
„ Any shape a wizard thinks to animate: towering giants of stone, carved ivory demons,
hammered-brass crabs, etc.
Can golems communicate with humans?
„ Yes, golems can speak.
„ Golems cannot speak, but some have learned to write.
„ No. They understand us, but we can only guess what golems think.
How do golems die naturally?
„ The magic that binds golems fades and they become inanimate again.
„ Golems erode and slowly fall to pieces, bit by bit.
„ Their bodies do not die, but they eventually forget everything, wandering in amnesia.
How are new golems born?
„ Magi must make them. Golems are dependent on humans to continue their race.
„ A golem can craft another golem, slowly and carefully.
„ The spirit of a dying golem can migrate into a newly made body. It is reborn as a new
person with no memory of its past life.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Magi discover how to animate golems.
„ Realms forge armies of golems to wage war on each other.
„ Golems have long-served mages, but now some show free will. They disobey, flee or slay
their masters.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Golems enslave humans
„ Humans and golems learn to coexist in peace
„ Golems march into the wilderness to seek a new home, free of mankind
Questions you might answer in play: Do golems see humans as parents or
enslavers? Are golems truly living beings?
This seed is the fantasy analog of humanity creating intelligent robots and
examining the relationship that emerges.
39
SEEDS
Magi fashion artificial servants but inadvertently create a race of living,
feeling beings. Are the golems accepted as equals or enslaved and
exploited? Are they children or usurpers of Man?
House of the Dragon,
House of the Unicorn
Two noble houses vie for supremacy. Knights and lords clash beneath the
crimson pennant of the Dragon and the argent banner of the Unicorn. What
betrayals fuel their bitter feud? Can any deed heal the breach between
them, or can only one remain? Rex Alicorn! Rex Draconis!
What is the connection between the two Houses?
„ They are two branches of one ancient lineage.
„ One is an offshoot that broke away from the original House. (Which one is the original?)
„ They each come from different lands, foreigners in collision.
Are there supernatural elements in the world?
„ No. There are legends and folklore, but it’s just superstition.
„ Magic is real but rare. It is mostly a normal world, with mysticism in the background.
„ All the magic. There are actual dragons and unicorns.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ A terrible deed starts the feud between the Houses (what deed?).
„ The two Houses are locked in bitter war.
„ The two Houses are long-standing allies.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ One house finally destroys the other (which one?) and takes the throne.
„ Dragon & Unicorn are united in marriage, sealing the peace and creating one House.
„ Both Houses have faded into irrelevance.
Your history could include war and politics, intrigue and assassination,
star-crossed lovers or all of the above across the centuries. There could
even be whole periods where the Houses are united and at peace. It works
as a realistic “War of the Roses” style conflict or a mythical, magical saga.
You could even stretch your history into a modern era, trading swords
and crowns for corporate boardrooms and political parties. Unicorn for
President!
40
Humanity Uplifted
When in human history did the intervention start?
„ Modern times.
„ Around World War II or the Cold War.
„ At the dawn of civilization (ancient astronauts steering the course of humanity).
Did humanity know what the visitors were doing from the start?
„ No, the aliens began secretly.
„ Yes, the aliens asked our permission.
„ We knew, but we were not asked for our consent.
What change are the visitors trying to bring about in humanity?
„ Awaken our psychic gifts.
„ Suppress our violent urges.
„ Give us immunity to a particular galactic disease or danger.
„ Instill a range of improvements: smarter, stronger, longer-lived, etc.
„ Free us from our self-centered perspective. Enable each of us to see the universe as a
whole.
„ Breed a human-alien hybrid.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Humanity learns we are not alone. Aliens exist.
„ Humans who are forerunners of “the change” have trouble fitting in normal society.
„ Aliens begin secretly studying humans.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Humanity joins the galactic community .
„ Humanity rebels against this tampering and wages war on the aliens.
„ The project fails. Aliens give up trying to change humanity.
41
SEEDS
Aliens accelerate the development of humanity. But do they welcome us
as equals or are they shaping us into more useful slaves? Do they fear the
violence we might unleash if left unguided?
The Imperium
The grand Imperium spans ten thousand stars, uniting all humanity
beneath the glorious banner of the Omnipotent Astrarch, Emperor of the
Void-Throne, Keeper of the Heavens and Sovereign of All Worlds.
What unites the Imperium?
„ Security and fear. The Empire protects its subjects, even from each other.
„ Trade interdependence. Worlds need what other worlds can provide.
„ Religion or strong cultural ties.
The Imperium is human. Do aliens exist?
„ No aliens, just humans.
„ No true aliens, but humanity has created a myriad of artificial races (synthetics, modified
human strains, etc.).
„ Three great alien races could rival the Imperium.
At the height of the Imperium, what does the Emperor control that
keeps him in power?
„ The mighty Imperial Legions.
„ Technological suppression. The Empire keeps tight control over which worlds have
access to advanced technology.
„ The World-brains, huge thinking machines that governments, scientists and markets
depend on.
„ The Star-Bridges that link the inhabited worlds and allow faster-than-light travel.
„ The Sleepwalkers, a secret cadre of psychic spies and assassins.
„ Strange powers granted by the Infinity Crystal.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ First Emperor crowns himself, dissolves old Alliance of Worlds.
„ 143rd Emperor goes mad, terrorizes his subjects with his insane whims.
„ Civil war. Rebel systems try to secede but are crushed.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Imperium rules known space.
„ Imperium fades and dissolves. Humanity scattered among the stars.
„ Imperium breaks into warring states, none with the grandeur of the old Empire.
42
Kaiju Century
What created the monsters?
„ Pollution, radiation and chemical waste.
„ They’ve always been here, slumbering for eons.
„ They came from outer space…
How unique is each monster?
„ Each is unique. People know them by name.
„ There is only one species. They all look alike.
„ There are several distinct species.
What weapons does humanity use to fight the monsters?
„ Real world weapons only: armies, planes, tanks.
„ Near future science, but still basically realistic.
„ Super-science! Giant robots, mind-rays, etc.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Industry and development are booming around the world (no monsters yet).
„ Researchers observe monsters in remote wilderness. No one believes the reports.
„ Sporadic monster appearances and attacks, each years apart. Cities are threatened but
saved.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ The monsters are destroyed or driven back to the depths.
„ Humanity under siege. Remaining cities are walled fortresses to repel roaming
monsters.
„ Monsters rampage unopposed. No major cities remain. Survivors scavenge and hide in
their shadow.
Monsters make a good backdrop, but people tell a stronger story. Focus on
the people to make this history come alive. This history could easily span a
century as giant monsters first emerge as a rare menace but then become
an incessant danger that threatens to topple society.
43
SEEDS
Giant monsters emerge, crushing everything in their path until no city is
safe from the towering leviathans. Does humanity fight back with giant
robots or cower helplessly, lamenting our own hubris?
Legacy of Heroes
New generations of superheroes carry on the torch of their predecessors,
taking up the names and mantles of the crimefighters that came before
them.
Do heroes (and villains) have super powers?
„ No, they are just people with costumes and, perhaps, training and special equipment.
„ Some do, but it is relatively rare.
„ Yes, many have superhuman powers.
How common are superheroes?
„ Very rare. There are just a handful at any time.
„ There are a few in every major city.
„ Lots, all around the globe.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ The “golden age” of heroes. The first generation of legends fight and then fade away.
„ Early “mystery men” fight crime from the shadows. Many think it is a hoax.
„ Crime and violence are rampant. Police cannot cope (no heroes or villains yet).
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ The new Doctor Lazarus, legacy supervillain, terrorizes city. Greatest heroes of the time
die defeating him.
„ Legacy superhero sells out and gets a corporate sponsor.
„ Superheroes and supervillains are a thing of the past. Those that survived hung up their
masks for good.
Part of the fun of this seed is seeing the same hero (or villain) being
reinvented by each successor. In order to see multiple generations, your
history should stretch back fifty or even a hundred years.
44
Rising Tide
Rising sea level changes the shape of every continent, wiping out coastal
areas and destabilizing nations. Refugees are forced to seek new homes.
Countries fight to keep the land they have or gain the ground they need.
Do we want to explore how to solve the problem?
„ No, we want to focus on how people survive and adapt in the face of this unstoppable
force.
„ Yes, let’s see how people try to fix the problem. They may succeed or they may not.
„ People may try to fix the problem, but we know they cannot succeed.
What tone of game do we want to play?
„ Serious examination of the issues.
„ Realistic but dramatic “world in crisis” story.
„ Science-fantasy. Floating islands and domed cities.
How quickly does the sea level rise?
„ Very, very slowly. Boiling the frog.
„ Slow at first but then faster as the tipping point is reached.
„ Surprisingly suddenly.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Everything’s fine. We don’t see the problem coming.
„ Everyone hears the predictions, but no one in power does anything.
„ A city in the Third World is evacuated as water seeps into its streets. It’s the first casualty,
not the last.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Civilization collapses. Wandering scavengers and small communities persevere, but the
world community is a thing of the past.
„ We adapt. The world is different, but we find a way to survive, whether that’s floating
cities, underwater domes, leaving Earth or just resettling to higher ground.
„ We fix it. Cities may be lost, but we stop or reverse the climate change.
45
SEEDS
Global warming melts the ice caps. Oceans rise. Cities flood.
The Round Table
An enlightened monarch brings the rule of law to the realm. No longer can
the powerful oppress the weak! “Equal justice for all” replaces “might makes
right”. But is it the beginning of civilized society or a grand experiment
doomed to fail?
By default, the rise of the rule of law happens somewhere in the middle of
your history instead of the beginning, allowing you to explore the events
that led up to it.
Beside the throne, who holds power in the realm? (pick two)
„ Nobles (land-owning dukes, barons and lords)
„ The Church (or Druids)
„ Orders of knights
„ Merchants & traders
„ Guilds
„ Foreigners within the realm (pick one of the previous groups to determine what kind
of foreigners, e.g. foreign merchants. It could be the same as your other choice, such as
nobles and foreign nobles)
Why now?
„ Monarch believes in what is right, ahead of his time.
„ Monarch is insane. A good idea emerges from madness.
„ A powerful group demands it (pick one you selected).
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Barbarians and marauders roam the land. The throne sits empty.
„ Influential groups vie for power (nobles, merchants, etc.), tearing the realm apart.
„ An heir to the line of High Kings, long-thought lost, ascends to the throne, ending the
interregnum.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Law and order prevail. Society becomes civilized.
„ The throne is empty and the law is forgotten. Marauders roam the land.
„ The law is twisted to benefit the powerful and exploit the weak.
This seed addresses the very issues of justice and the rule of law that
confront a modern society, but you have a freer hand to explore drastic
consequences because it is set in uncivilized medieval times. Sack castles
and burn down villages, if you want.
The mere idea that “justice is blind” and that every person should be treated
equally is a huge leap forward. Do the privileged wage war to stop this new
equality? Do the people it helps even understand and appreciate it, or does
it seem unnatural even to them? Your society may not be ready for it.
46
Stars Collide
What are the three races like? Pick two if you want to include humanity,
otherwise pick three. You can pick the same choice more than once.
„ Humanoids.
„ Exotic lifeforms (whales, jellyfish, etc.).
„ Swarm or hive.
„ Plant, crystal, rock or energy species.
„ Machine race.
„ An offshoot of a race already picked (could be a mutated sub-species or a civilization
that broke away).
How big is each civilization?
„ Vast. Each controls hundreds or thousands of worlds.
„ Just a few planets each.
„ All three share a single world.
We’ll learn more about each civilization as we play and each may change
drastically over time, but for now pick one truth for each race. You can
pick the same answer for more than one.
„ Their race is very old.
„ They spread rapidly.
„ They are xenophobic, rigid thinkers or true believers.
„ Their society is wracked with internal strife.
„ Their technology is based on entirely different principles.
„ They have strange powers.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ War. A great conflict rages between all three races.
„ Domination. One civilization has enslaved another.
„ Contact. The third race first encounters the other two.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Coexistence. They learn to live in peace.
„ Conquest. Only one civilization remains.
„ Struggle. All three still vie for ascendancy.
Inspired by one of our earliest and greatest Microscope games that was
itself originally inspired by Starcraft.
47
SEEDS
Three great races span the stars. But as their civilizations collide, can they
coexist peacefully and learn from each other? Or can they only fight to
dominate the galaxy?
Who Watches the
Watchmen?
The emergence of superhumans changes society forever. Do superhumans
answer to the same laws as the rest of us, or do we allow them to stand
above ordinary citizens and make their own rules?
This seed tackles two themes: vigilantism versus the rule of law and how a
powerful minority might exploit their superiority or be persecuted for it.
What gave some people superpowers?
„ Evolution / genetic mutations
„ A new technology that irrevocably transforms people
„ A unique event like Earth passing through a cosmic storm, an alien virus or a primordial
city rising from beneath the sea…
Do superhumans wear costumes?
„ Yes, many wear costumes and adopt new names.
„ No one dresses up in costumes, but some adopt names reflecting their powers or try to
hide their identity.
„ No one wears costumes or uses alternate names. They use their real names.
Start Bookend: How does the history begin?
„ Superhumans are hidden. Reports of mysterious vigilantes or unexplained incidents are
considered to be a hoax.
„ A prominent public figure comes out as superhuman.
„ The first “supervillain” terrorizes the city.
End Bookend: How does the history end?
„ Superhumans rule society.
„ Society outlaws and hunts superhumans.
„ Vigilante superhumans undermine the rule of law.
Instead of superheroes, you could just as easily use this seed for any minority
with exceptional power that could hide among the populace whether that’s
vampires, sorcerers, godlings or mutant telepaths.
48
When you are trying to come to a consensus to start your game,
finding out what players dislike is equally important, if not more
important, than finding out what they like.
If someone rejects a starting idea for your history, try something
else. It doesn’t matter how much someone else wants to use that
idea: if one player hates the concept, your game will not turn out
well. If you are lukewarm about an idea, you can warm up to it as
you play and make it your own. But if it’s a concept or genre you
can’t stand, you’ll be disinterested from the start. You’re likely to
check out for the whole game.
It is more important to arrive at a choice that is acceptable to
everyone and get started playing quickly than to hold out for
a “perfect” idea, particularly in Microscope where the structure
of the game is about adding creatively as you go, not inventing
something amazing at the start.
Likewise, options are nice, but too many choices are paralyzing.
Picking from a short list is much more effective than reading off
every possible alternative. That’s why it’s better to pick a category
of seeds first and only read those descriptions.
People are not always good at recognizing the trap of choice.
They may ask for more and more options, hoping to see one
they’ll like a little bit more. But the more options you present,
the more likely it is that even if someone finds something they
like, another player will want something else. The more choices,
the more you split your vote and the harder it is to pick one.
Again, the goal is not perfection. It’s picking something tolerable
to everyone and starting the game. Even the dullest starting idea
is made interesting through play, so the sooner you start, the
better.
49
SEEDS
Group Decisions
Oracles
Want to shake things up? Want a starting point for a history that surprises
you and breaks you out of your same old tropes? Use an Oracle to randomly
generate a big picture for your history. An Oracle can get you playing quickly
with very little effort: just sit down, roll some dice and see what you get.
There are five Oracles to chose from: Swords & Sorcery (fantasy saga), To the
Stars (galactic science fiction), Cradle of Civilization (origins of technology
and society), Apocalypse (cataclysm and disaster) and Lurking Darkness
(gothic or Lovecraftian horror). Each has over forty-six thousand possible
outcomes, so you can use them over and over again. And even if you used
exactly the same result twice, you would probably create completely
different histories in play.
Each Oracle has four tables: Trends, Impacts and two overlapping sets of
Elements. To start your history, roll six dice and line them up from left to
right, then look up the corresponding results. Each Element uses two dice:
the first indicates which column to use and the second indicates the row. If
you only have one die (or you are using the finger-dice technique described
later), it’s better to generate all six numbers before looking up the answers
rather than pausing after each roll.
When you put your results together, it will read:
TREND + ELEMENT A + IMPACT + ELEMENT B
For example:
rise of + mercenaries + divides + gods
failures of + superstition + impedes + trade
rejection of + cosmic weapons + creates + galactic patrol
You also have the option to swap the two Elements if you prefer, so each
roll creates two possible histories for you to choose from. Reversing the
Elements might make your result make more sense to you or it might just
seem like a more interesting history to explore.
Instead of using “the rise of mercenaries divides gods,”
you could swap the elements and make a history about
how the rise of gods divides mercenaries.
If you roll the same Element twice, it could be a second thing of the same
type (e.g. a second pantheon of gods interacting with the first) or you could
decide that Element was having an effect on itself.
What does your result mean? That’s up to you. The Oracles are designed
to create potentially unexpected histories: some results may be entirely
50
straightforward, but others may read like a puzzle or an ancient prophecy.
Interpret it however you like.
EXAMPLE: ROLLING ON AN ORACLE
A group wants to get started quickly, so they agree to roll
on an Oracle for their big picture. Looking at the options,
they decide to try To The Stars.
After turning their pockets inside-out, they don’t find any
dice. So they use the finger-dice method to generate six
numbers, writing each one down as they go. After they
have them all, they consult the tables.
The first number is the Trend. They get “rejection of”.
Second and third numbers are the first Element. Looking
at the header for Element A, they find the column and
then look down to the row. They get “secret society.”
The fourth number is the Impact. They get “strengthens.”
And the last two numbers show the column and row under
Element B. They get “mutations.”
Putting it all together, their Oracle reads:
“rejection of secret society strengthens mutations”
They could also choose to swap the elements and use
“rejection of mutations strengthens secret society”
instead. They decide that idea sounds more interesting.
But what does it mean? Is the secret society formed
of mutants who are shunned by the world? Or is it a
mutation-hating group that flourishes as public antimutant sentiment grows? The group decides and then
spells out the big picture for their history.
51
ORACLES
If you get a result that looks broken, take a moment to ponder before you
throw it out. It might not be obvious, but you may suddenly see a way to
make it work. If not, just roll again. Or you may find that the idea you reject
inspired some other concept entirely. That’s the Oracle’s job: to get you
going, one way or the other.
1
1
ELEMENT ROW
2
THREE SWORDS
OF POWER
RUNE-SPEAR
2
MAGIC FORGE
STAR-METAL
ELEMENT A
3
4
5
1
2
3
EMPIRE
MAGIC
KINGDOM
A RELIGION
6
ELEMENT B
BLOODLINE
EXILES
4
5
MERCENARIES
WARLORDS
SAVAGE
WILDERNESS
SACRED
MOUNTAIN
TREND
6
CULT OF A
FORGOTTEN
GOD
NATURE SPIRITS
3
STAFF OF LORE
PROPHECY
SISTER-CITIES
GODS
RACE
ORDER OF
KNIGHTS
PEACEFUL
SHIRE
TITANS
4
CURSED CROWN
OATH
CLANS
DEMONS
ELDRITCH FOLK
ASSASSINS'
GUILD
HIDDEN CITY
MONUMENTS
OF KINGS
SACRED SKULL
PLAGUE &
FAMINE
DRAGONS
SECT OF
PRIESTS
RUINS BURIED
BENEATH THE
SANDS
CROSSROAD OF
NATIONS
1
RISE OF
2
DECLINE OF
3
CREATION OF
4
DESTRUCTION OF
5
CORRUPTION OF
6
STAGNATION OF
1
STRENGTHENS
2
REBUILDS
3
CREATES
4
DESTROYS
5
CORRUPTS
6
DIVIDES
IMPACT
5
6
TREASURE
HORDE
TEMPESTS,
FLOODS OR
QUAKES
TREND
SECRET SOCIETY
RUNES OF
POWER
CURSE
FEUD
ELEMENT A
CONQUERING
HORDE
IMPACT
CIRCLE OF
WIZARDS
TRADE ROUTE
GREAT WALL
ELEMENT B
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A
ROW
B
ROW
Swords & Sorcery
Swords & Sorcery
Corruption of magic divides sister-cities…
Creation of empire corrupts bloodline…
The Swords & Sorcery Oracle creates histories of bold fantasy. Dragons’
treasure hoards, feuding kingdoms, woods that walk, dead gods and runes
of power. Druids, sages, princes and thieves. Valor, heroism and terrible
deeds. Fell swords, bright spears and terrible oaths that bind your bloodline
to ruin.
You could create many flavors of fantasy using this one Oracle, anything
from a mythic history of gods, to floating cities, to a grim, low-fantasy
history of war and conquest. Some results will lean more towards some
styles than others, but for the most part the flavor of your fantasy history
will be entirely up to you.
As with all Oracles, you’ll get two elements that describe the main arc of
your history, but you may add many more details as you play. Want dragons
in your history, but didn’t roll any? Add them in the Palette!
53
ORACLES
Rise of assassin’s guild strengthens prophecy…
1
1
ELEMENT ROW
2
STAR
DEAD WORLD
2
SPORES
UNINTELLIGENT
LIFEFORMS
ELEMENT A
3
4
5
1
2
3
SPACE
TRAVEL
ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
VITAL ENERGY
SOURCE
SYNTHETIC
PEOPLE
6
ELEMENT B
PRIMITIVE
CIVILIZATION
SPLINTER RACE
4
5
HABITABLE
WORLD
CORPORATION
COSMIC
WEAPONS
ARMADA
DRUG
XENOPHOBIA
3
BLACK HOLE
EXPANSIONISM
MEDICAL
TECHNOLOGY
ARTIFICIAL LIFE
HUMAN
AUGMENTATIONS
GALACTIC
PATROL
AN INSTITUTE
HUMAN
EXCEPTIONAL
-ISM
4
WARP GATES
ISOLATIONISM
SUPERIOR ALIEN
CIVILIZATION
ALIEN
ARTIFACTS
MUTATIONS
A RELIGION
SPACE PIRATES
SOCIAL
EQUALITY
IMPERIALISM
INFERIOR ALIEN
CIVILIZATION
HOSTILE
ECOSYSTEM
SECRET SOCIETY
ARTIFICIAL
WORLD
FEAR OF
CHANGE
5
6
PLAGUE
SPACE
MONSTERS
SPIRIT OF
EXPLORATION
TREND
RIVAL ALIEN
CIVILIZATION
PSI TALENTS
ELEMENT A
EMPIRE
FEDERATION
IMPACT
POLITICAL
PARTY
SENTIENT STAR
OR PLANET
TREND
6
NATURALISM
1
CREATION OF
2
DECLINE OF
3
DISCOVERY OF
4
DESTRUCTION OF
5
CORRUPTION OF
6
REJECTION OF
1
STRENGTHENS
2
REBUILDS
3
CREATES
4
DESTROYS
5
CORRUPTS
6
DIVIDES
IMPACT
ELEMENT B
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A
ROW
B
ROW
To the Stars
To the Stars
Decline of expansionism strengthens secret society…
Creation of vital energy source divides superior alien civilization…
The To the Stars Oracle generates interstellar science fiction, packed with
warp-gates, alien civilizations, galactic war and humanity’s never-ending
struggle to adapt to new and strange environments.
This Oracle includes societal issues, like imperialism and social equality,
because those go hand-in-hand with exploring our future. But in the wide
realm of science fiction, you will have a lot of latitude to pick a style and tone
that you like. Your history could be an adventurous space opera, rooting
out pirates from their lunar bases, or a much more serious exploration of
how technology and life in space impact society.
55
ORACLES
Rejection of human augmentation rebuilds armada…
1
1
ELEMENT ROW
2
ASTROLOGY
CALENDAR
2
BURIAL
CUSTOMS
ARCHITECTURE
ELEMENT A
3
4
5
1
2
3
PRIESTS
DEMOCRACY
CHIEFS OR
RULERS
TYRANNY
6
ELEMENT B
CHARIOTS
WHEEL
4
5
LAW
FOREIGN CROP
CITIES
FERTILE LAND
TREND
6
DIVISION OF
LABOR
CARTOGRAPHY
3
GRAVEN IDOLS
ROADS
HUNTERS
SLAVERY
RELIGION
CURRENCY
MINING
ARMOR
4
PHILOSOPHY
TAXES
FARMERS
SWORDS
SUPERSTITION
POTTERY
HOSPITALITY
CUSTOMS
GAMES
IRRIGATION
CRAFTWORKERS
FIRE
DOMESTICATED
ANIMALS
1
INVENTION OF
2
ADVANCES OF
3
FAILURE OF
4
DESIRE FOR
5
ABANDONING
6
SPREAD OF
1
MAKES OBSOLETE
2
UNDERMINES
3
IMPEDES
4
TRANSFORMS
5
ACCELERATES
6
CREATES
IMPACT
5
6
DANCE
SINGING &
STORYTELLING
GUNPOWDER
TREND
MEDICINE
MONARCHY
TRADE
ELEMENT A
MARRIAGE
WRITING
IMPACT
METALLURGY
SEAMANSHIP
TOURNAMENTS
SANITATION
ELEMENT B
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B
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Cradle of Civilization
Cradle of Civilization
Abandoning writing transforms currency…
Spread of gunpowder creates religion…
If you want to explore the early collisions of society, invention and culture,
the Cradle of Civilization Oracle is for you. Tame fire. Invent the wheel.
Cultivate the land. Write the first laws. Erect monuments that defy death
itself.
But change brings disruption, so this Oracle explores how the old is
disrupted by the new, for better or worse. Are the sky-gods forgotten when
the tribes unite behind walls of stone? Does the new code of laws bring
justice or a yoke for some men to enslave others? And do your new bronze
swords and swift chariots keep you safe or tempt you to set your boot on
the neck of your weaker neighbors?
Like the To the Stars Oracle, Cradle of Civilization includes societal issues
in addition to physical inventions like farming and pottery, so you examine
how invention and society collide or inspire each other.
Your setting could look much like the ancient societies of our own history,
or you could make a much more unusual setting with strange traditions
and exotic ways, all your own. Civilization might take very different turns
in your history…
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ORACLES
Advances of singing & storytelling undermines tyranny…
1
1
ELEMENT ROW
2
CRIME
DISEASE
2
DRUG
CLIMATE
CHANGE
ELEMENT A
3
4
5
1
2
3
ENERGY
SOURCE
WAR
FOOD SOURCE
INVADERS
6
ELEMENT B
MACHINES
ALIENS
4
5
GODS
SETTLERS
RELIGION
REFUGEES
TREND
6
GALACTIC
FEDERATION
COLONY WORLD
3
POLLUTION
QUAKES
ECOSYSTEM
A SPECIES
ECONOMY
RENAISSANCE
CITY
ISOLATED
SOCIETY
4
STERILITY
METEORS
WEATHER
MUTATIONS
INDUSTRY
TYRANNY
KINGDOM
THIRD WORLD
COUNTRY
5
OVERPOPULATION
ATMOSPHERE
OFFSHOOT OF
HUMANITY
TRIBE
DEVELOPING
NATION
1
SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF
2
SLOW RISE OF
3
CHANGES OF
4
SPREAD OF
5
EXPLOITING
6
IGNORING
1
DESTROYS
2
THREATENS
3
UNDERMINES
4
CORRUPTS
5
GIVES FALSE HOPE TO
6
OVEREXTENDS
IMPACT
6
FANATICISM
MONSTERS
ZOMBIES
TREND
SUN
ARTIFICIAL LIFE
ELEMENT A
TECHNOLOGY
MEDICINE
IMPACT
CAPITALISM
INDIVIDUALISM
PRIMITIVE
CIVILIZATION
ADVANCED
CIVILIZATION
ELEMENT B
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B
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Apocalypse
Apocalypse
Ignoring artificial life destroys individualism…
Slow rise of crime destroys tribe…
The Apocalypse Oracle gives you front row seats for the end of the world.
Grapple with plague, climate change, revolutions run amuck, robotterminators, quakes, comets, elder gods awakening, zombies or good
old-fashioned nuclear Armaggedon. Does civilization as we know it fade
into the dust, or does something new arise from the not-so-metaphorical
ashes?
Apocalypse stories generally come in two flavors. In one we focus on how
to solve the problem. In the other we can’t fix things: we just focus on what
happens and what people do to survive, etc. Which you choose is entirely
up to you. The Oracle works either way. You should also discuss what kind
of tone you want. Is your history a biting examination of real-world issues
or mutant go-gangs prowling a radioactive wasteland?
Your history could explore before, during or after the calamity, or all of the
above. Your bookends will be an important part of that decision. Do you
start after the collapse and only focus on survival and rebuilding? Or do you
spend your history building up to the calamity, seeing what caused it and
then utterly destroy the world in the last bookend?
Some Oracle results will specify a setting, like a primitive society facing
colonization or a space station in the path of a supernova. If it doesn’t, the
location is up to you. It could be the modern world, with disaster waiting
just around the corner, or something else entirely.
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ORACLES
Sudden appearance of mutations threatens third world country…
1
1
ELEMENT ROW
2
CHANGELINGS
MAN-MADE
MONSTERS
2
SHADOWS OUT
OF THE MOON
DREAMWATCHERS
ELEMENT A
3
4
5
1
2
3
CELESTIAL
ALIGNMENT
ANCESTRAL
CURSE
OCCULT RITUAL
TAINTED
BLOODLINE
6
ELEMENT B
CITY RISEN
FROM THE SEA
LOST CITY
4
5
MURDERS
CULT
PYRAMIDS
BURIED RUINS
TREND
6
INVESTIGATORS
LONELY ISLAND
3
HIEROGLYPHS
NIGHTSTALKERS
OATH
MONSTROUS
INTERBREEDING
UNDISCOVERED
CULTURE
SCHOLARS OR
HERMITS
CRUMBLING
CASTLE
GRAVEYARD OF
SHIPS
4
WRITINGS OF
MAD POET
HERALD OF
DOOM
PROPHECY
TWISTED
EXPERIMENTS
PRIMITIVE
RELIGION
ORDER OF
PRIESTS
SANITARIUM
OLD COUNTRY
5
DISTURBING
PAINTINGS
CREATURES
FROM THE
UNDERGROUND
ALCHEMY
PRIMITIVE
ARTIFACTS
MUSEUM
SLEEPY
COMMUNITY
1
DISCOVERY OF
2
APPEARANCE OF
3
BIRTH OF
4
IGNORING
5
SPREAD OF
6
DISAPPEARANCE OF
1
REVEALS
2
CONCEALS
3
TRANSFORMS
4
CORRUPTS
5
DESTROYS
6
STRENGTHENS
IMPACT
6
GRAVEN IDOL
UNSPEAKABLE
ONES
TREND
OLD GODS
ARCANE PRISON
FORBIDDEN
LORE
ELEMENT A
SACRIFICES
IMPACT
SECRET SOCIETY
SECRET
GOVERNMENT
AGENCY
UNNATURAL
URGES
REMOTE
WILDERNESS
ELEMENT B
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Lurking Darkness
Lurking Darkness
Appearance of graveyard of ships strengthens tainted bloodline…
Ignoring writings of mad poet transforms ancestral curse…
The Lurking Darkness Oracle lets you weave histories of horror, anything
from classic Gothic to Lovecraftian terror. Explore ancestral curses, tainted
bloodlines, forbidden rituals, unspeakable experiments, slumbering gods
and cities buried beneath the sands. What terrible deed brought this curse
to life? How did this nightmare start? Go back and see!
Horror can actually be a surprisingly good fit for Microscope. We start off
with only a superficial understanding of what’s going on and then dig
deeper and deeper to expose the terrifying truths better left unknown!
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ORACLES
Discovery of primitive religion conceals unspeakable ones…
We Have No Dice, But We Must Roll
Forgot your dice? Here’s an easy way to simulate an ordinary
six-sided die with a group vote.
FINGER-DICE
Each person simultaneously holds out one
hand pointing 1 to 5 fingers or making a fist.
Don’t discuss what you are going to vote
ahead of time! That’s cheating.
Add up the fingers. Each fist counts as 6.
If the total is greater than 6, subtract 6. Keep
subtracting 6 until the total is 6 or less.
You now have a number from 1 to 6. That’s
your result.
As a shortcut, you can eliminate sets of six as you count fingers.
Drop fists or group together fingers that add up to six and drop
them as you go, so long as there are still more votes remaining
(i.e. don’t go down to zero).
This technique works when a random number is desired, but it
breaks if we know six is the best result for everyone. If everyone
wants a six, it’s easy to arrive at that result, but six is the only
number that works that way. You could not always get a two, for
example, unless you break the rules and coordinate your choices
with the other players.
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Using Source Material
Books, movies or other fictional works can be a great source of inspiration
for any game. Often it is just that: inspiration, nothing more. But sometimes
you do not want to play a game like your favorite books, you actually want
to play in that setting or your own version of it. You want to use the actual
names, ideas and events from the fiction. You want to blow up the frickin’
Death Star or ride a sand worm on Arrakis. Or maybe your favorite fiction
desperately needs a reboot. This is your chance to fix it!
You can even use real world history as the starting point for your game.
Truth is stranger than fiction. And even though there are a myriad of
fictional worlds and only one real one, the real world has a lot more material
because a lot more people have been working on it for a lot longer. They
never stop.
A third option is to use a setting you created in another role-playing
game. Go back and flesh out the history of the world you played your D&D
campaign in. All three of those are great ways to use external material as a
starting point for a Microscope history:
Š
Fictional settings from books or movies.
Š
Real world history.
Š
Worlds from other role-playing games you played.
The first two are discussed in this section. The third is covered in the WorldBuilding chapter.
It might seem like using an existing setting with Microscope is a total
contradiction. Can it work when the whole idea of the game is to see what
the players create together? Absolutely. Just like using a seed, the source
material will be a starting point, but it will grow in unexpected directions.
It will become your unique version of the material you know and love, so
don’t be afraid to wave your favorite book in the air and shout, “Let’s make
a history based on this!”
Canon or Reboot
Once you decide to use existing material, your next big decision is: canon
or reboot? If you want to stay true to the source, you can stick to the
established facts and play to explore areas that were not fleshed out in the
original material. Or you can reboot the setting and keep the ideas you like
but revise the rest. This is a decision for the whole group, just like picking
the idea for the history in the first place. Everyone at the table must be on
the same page about whether you are obeying canon or doing a reboot.
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If you decide to stick with canon then everything that is part of the source
material is automatically true even if it is not on the table yet. All that
material counts for the “don’t contradict established facts” rule. You may
explore gaps very near the known story (“Okay, this is after the Death Star
was destroyed but before the Rebels set up their base on Hoth…”) or you
can explore a part of the history that the source material never discussed,
creating whole new Periods to fill in the blanks.
If you decide to reboot the source material instead, you have the rare luxury
of keeping the parts of the setting you like and eradicating the bits you
don’t. That means you’re immediately confronted with another decision:
what are you going to change and what are you going to keep? It’s a
potentially endless discussion, reviewing and editing every facet of your
history before you even start play. Nightmare.
The best approach for a reboot is to agree on one central concept you
want to change and let the other details emerge in play. You should be
able to describe your reboot with a concise “what if” statement. What if the
elves served Sauron? What if the Cylons invaded and occupied the colonies
instead of bombing them? What if the Empire was a reasonable government
trying to hold the tattered remains of the Republic together while Rebel
terrorists strike from their hidden bases to tear it apart? Your big picture is
just that “what if” premise rephrased as a statement and summarizing what
happens in broad terms. If there is a particular outcome or consequence
you want to explore, include it in your big picture. Even if you don’t, the
outcome will still emerge when you discuss your bookends.
Don’t worry about secondary details of your reboot yet: you can tackle
exactly which elements you want to add or exclude when you make the
Palette. Just like with any Microscope history, you may not get exactly what
you want because the other players may disagree about what constitutes
the perfect reboot. They may hate the very things about the story that
you love. The Palette is the time to have that discussion and surface those
issues. Remember, there is nothing stopping you from playing again and
remaking your dream property over and over if you want, so be flexible and
see what happens.
Alternate History & Real History
The procedure for using real world history is not that much different from
using fictional books or movies. It still falls into the same two categories:
canon or reboot.
A “true history” should not diverge from the real world in any substantial
way. You will almost definitely invent people and events that are entirely
made-up, but they should all be things that could be true in the real world.
Did buccaneers ever sack a Spanish outpost in the golden age of piracy?
Probably. And even if that exact thing never happened, it blends right into
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the history we know. But if you describe pirates conquering Florida and
turning it into an outlaw nation, you have probably crossed into fiction.
You can also explore the unseen stories behind big moments in real
history. Play the scene where Caesar decides to cross the Rubicon. Plot
to assassinate President Lincoln. Put a man on the Moon. And remember
that small stories are just as powerful as eavesdropping on the meetings of
the movers and shakers. Seeing whether one GI makes it off Omaha Beach
alive does nothing to change the course of history, but it can tell us a world
about what that moment in history was like.
But what if you want to reboot real history and change the world to suit your
whims? That moves you into the exciting world of alternate history. Just
like a fictional reboot, alternate history poses a “what if?” and then explores
how history would have turned out differently. Alternate history usually
has a sharp point of departure, a specific moment where history diverges
from real world events. What if the Spanish Armada had conquered Britain?
What if the tribes of North America were united into one nation before the
Europeans arrived? Even a single tiny change can have a profound effect
and spawn a world that looks very foreign to us. To finish your big picture,
broadly summarize how that “what if” alters history. Just like with fiction, if
there is a consequence you want to explore, include it in your big picture
(“The Spanish Armada conquers Britain, so the Americas are Spanish
colonies instead”).
Any time you start from real history, unusual ingredients should be vetted
when you make the Palette. An alternate history could get very different
from the real world (“Thomas Edison’s clockwork soldiers storm the trenches,
ending the Great War”) but only if you agreed to it on the Palette. And as
always, the real world’s future remains unknown. If your history extends
beyond the present, we can only conjecture how events will turn out.
For other approaches to alternate histories, look at Echo and the parallel
timelines option in the Experiments chapter.
Establish Landmarks
Whatever your source material, a good starting point is to add some known
landmarks to your history so you have a framework to build around:
During the First Pass of setup, only create Periods
and Events that are in the source material. Don’t
make anything new.
Then do a Second Pass where each player makes a
Period or Event that is either a new creation or from
the source material (their choice).
Then start normal play.
65
Whenever you are making history later on, you can choose to add material
that reflects the source material (“Hmm, we don’t have an Event for the
Battle of Five Armies on the table, so I’m going to add that”). Always declare
that’s what you are doing so the other players know you are not making
something new, just filling in canon.
The Downside: Slave to the Source
Any time you base your game on existing material (whether that’s real
history or your favorite novel) it is inevitable that some people at the table
are going to know more about the subject than others. It’s unavoidable.
Knowing about the source material is great. How else can you make a
history based on it? But there can also be a terrible temptation to “get it
right” and make sure that every detail is true to the original.
Microscope follows two principles: don’t contradict what’s already been said
and don’t collaborate or coach. But if the source material counts as part of
the history (and it should) and you see that someone is making something
that goes against that source material, you are technically within the rules
to point out the mistake. Your intentions may be completely good: you may
think that by pointing out errors you are keeping the history on track. And
when done in moderation, it will probably help. But go too far and it ruins
the game. It is no fun to be told you’re wrong, even if you are. So what’s the
solution?
The first step is self-control. If you feel the urge to correct someone about
the source material, ask yourself: Is what they’re getting “wrong” substance
or merely detail? Does it have any real impact on the history? Is it something
that could be true, or is it something that actually undermines the premise?
If you are too aggressive about enforcing the source, no one might want to
keep playing.
If that fails, take this as a special case rule: at any time, the group can declare
they are breaking from the source and just keep playing. At that point, only
what’s on the table or what has happened in the game counts. You may still
choose to follow the source material, but it no longer counts as established
fact. This is a simple, yet drastic, way to end source-policing in one fell
swoop. Dropping the source material should be a unanimous agreement. If
you can’t all agree, it’s a sign that maybe you should stop playing.
66
WORLD-BUILDING:
GAMES COLLIDE
So you’re looking at Microscope and thinking, “Wow, I want to use it to build
a world to play a whole campaign in!” You are not alone.
Making worlds is fun. Unbelievably fun. Before Microscope, I spent decades
GMing adventure games. I built worlds constantly. I built worlds for
campaigns that never even happened. Play was fun, absolutely, but there
was a raw joy in just sitting down and creating a world.
One of the reasons I made Microscope was to share that fun: to crack open
the secret vault where the GM kept his (my) treasures and lay it all out on
the table so everyone could participate, to make world-building part of
play, not a preparation for play, because it deserved no less.
But you can easily go full circle and use Microscope to collaborate and
replace the solo world-building that is purely the GM’s realm in most
adventure games, whether you are playing Dungeons & Dragons or a
myriad of other systems. I’ll talk about the benefits (and the downsides),
how to prepare for your Microscope session and then how to transform the
history you created into a world of adventure…
A World Is Its History
Ask anyone about world-building and one of the first things they’ll expect
you to do is draw a map. Make no mistake: maps are a fantastic tool for
world-building, but a world isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a static picture. It’s not a
freeze-frame. It’s a living, breathing web of cause-and-effect. A world is its
history.
Look at the world around you, the real world. Stop and really think
about it: every single thing about the world that matters is a product of
history. Nations, race-relations, religion, art, music, the economy, all fights
everywhere—every single one of those things is happening because
of what happened before, often going back century after century. Ever
wonder why it’s so hard to fix all the world’s problems? Why can’t we all
just get along? Because our problems have deep, deep roots. If you don’t
understand the past, you can’t understand what is happening now or have
any chance of fixing it.
In the real world, history can be a nightmare we struggle to escape. But
for a fictional setting, all that baggage is a wonderful blessing. When you
have the history of your world in front of you, the wheels are already in
motion. There is action and life and trouble before you even sit down to
play. We know those two nations may seem like peaceful neighbors, but
they harbor old, old hatreds. We know that respected order of knights has a
lot to answer for in its past. And the people that live in that tranquil coastal
city? We know the land wasn’t theirs to begin with.
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With all that history at your fingertips, you’ll have a setting practically
bursting at the seams before you even sit down. Because history doesn’t
just give you a nice backdrop, it generates the present. It demands
repercussions.
Knowledge Is Power
So history creates a living, vital world, but there’s another completely
different reason to make your world together: player buy-in.
For decades, at the very core of GMing sat one very simple job: to make
people believe in something that didn’t exist. Believe is too strong. Let’s
say accept. Buy in to the idea that what the GM said was happening in the
fantasy world mattered.
Any campaign GM will tell you that getting the players to buy into the
setting is a critical and sometimes painful process. It isn’t guaranteed and
it isn’t instant. When you make a world by yourself and then unveil it to the
players, you’re inherently putting them in the position of an audience. But
that also makes them critics. They are listening and judging. And it makes
sense: they weren’t involved in the creation process so, of course, they are
weighing its merits and seeing if they like what they’re hearing.
By making the world together in Microscope, we remove that hurdle.
Everyone was involved in the process, so everyone has ownership. Everyone
accepts the world as valid and important. The players are interested in the
setting before the first adventure even starts. Everyone is in.
Furthermore, familiarity with the world equips players to play better.
Because they understand the world before the game even starts, players
can make characters that truly fit the setting.
In adventure games you often see players make characters who don’t really
connect to the world—a bunch of exotic tourists, instead of natives. Even
if the players desperately wanted to make characters who belonged in
the setting, they have no way to do it because they don’t know enough
about the world. So you get a bunch of misfits and edgy loners, or generic
concepts that don’t clash with the world but don’t really connect to it either.
And even if you did help the players make characters that fit the setting, the
players would not know the first thing about the world around them. Your
characters may have been born and raised in this world, but as a player you
are still a total stranger. Your character knows more than you do.
That lack of world-knowledge is a hurdle to overcome. One solution is a
massive info dump: just provide the players with reams and reams of
reading material. But who wants to read a pile of homework to play a game
you aren’t even invested in yet?
69
But the world you created together with Microscope? Yeah, you probably
already have a raft of ideas for characters that would fit perfectly. You
know exactly where they belong in the world. And when you describe
your character and where they come from, the other players are going to
know what you’re talking about. They’ll understand why it matters that
your taciturn loner isn’t just some bandit: she’s secretly an outcast from the
Red Guard. They may just be jealous they didn’t think to play that character
first.
The Downside
There are potential downsides to making a setting together, of course. As
the GM, you might also shy away from collaboration because you really
enjoy crafting worlds by yourself. That’s how I am when I GM. But as a
change of pace, collaboration is a great way to flex your creative muscles.
On the player side, not everyone wants to look behind the curtain and see
how the world is made or know things their character would not know.
Some players may want to believe in the world as a genuine entity separate
from themselves. Getting involved in the creation may spoil their fun.
If you want to test the waters, play a normal game of Microscope with
no intention of making a game world or connecting it to your adventure
game. I’ve seen lots of people who thought they wouldn’t enjoy a game
like Microscope be pleasantly surprised. If your group is hesitant, maybe
they’ll change their mind after they give it a try. Maybe they won’t. If they
don’t, respect their preferences. Making people play games they don’t like
is a recipe for disaster for everyone.
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Pre-Game: Setting Goals
Before you play Microscope to create your world, you should sit down as a
group and discuss your goals. This is the foundation for building a successful
world together: make sure everyone is on the same page about what you’re
trying to do at the very start.
The first question you should discuss is:
Is there a rule system we want to use or a style of
adventure we want to play?
If there is a specific adventure game you want to play, now is the time to
decide so you can make a history that works with it. In some systems, the
GM has to do a lot more work with the rules than the players, so it may be
fair to give them more say about the system they will have to deal with.
That’s up to your group.
Even if you don’t have a particular rule system in mind, you might agree
on a genre like fantasy or space adventure. Within those broad categories
there may be a specific style of play you are interested in. Political intrigue?
Mythic quests? Dungeon crawls? Lots of your history might be about other
things, but by deciding what kind of adventure you want, you can make a
history that provides an appropriate setting.
There is also nothing wrong with just playing and seeing what happens,
and then deciding afterwards what kind of adventure game would be the
best fit for the history you made. You might get something that surprises
and excites you more than anything you would have planned.
Since you are now mixing the normal authority of the GM with a collaborative
process, you should agree exactly where the new boundaries lie. The other
question to ask is:
Will the GM decide how to translate our Microscope
history into a setting for our adventure game by
themselves, or will we do that together?
The old school approach is for the GM to take all the cards and abscond to
their thought-cave, forging the world in secret on an anvil of fire until the
game-day comes, but you could also continue to collaborate for some or all
of the conversion process, as discussed later. The important thing isn’t to
hammer out every detail but to come to a general understanding of whether
the GM will be in charge or whether the group will share that authority.
The goal is to surface potential disagreements or misunderstandings now
before you create a history that you care about and want to protect.
There’s another question you might think to ask: Does the GM have special
authority to veto or influence things during the Microscope game? I
strongly, strongly recommend against doing anything like that. It will break
71
your Microscope game and defeat any purpose of the process. As I discuss
later, if you wind up with a setting you don’t like, you can just try again, but
giving one player veto power during the Microscope game will frustrate
everyone.
Just Play Normally
Now comes your actual Microscope session. The good news? You can just
play normally. You don’t have to do anything special.
Your Palette will be an important step. Remember that the Palette is a
discussion. It’s a great time to double-check that your history fits your
goals. If you agreed on a rule system you are going to use later, it might
have a whole host of concepts to take into account. It might have specific
races, technologies or systems of magic. You can agree to aim for a world
where some or all of those things fit or just play and see what happens. Yes,
you could wind up playing Dungeons & Dragons in a world that had no
gods or clerics… or no metal. That could be awesome. But you don’t want
to paint yourself into a corner and unintentionally rule out elements you
actually want in your adventure game. Your Microscope game is also a fine
opportunity to explore the quirks and assumptions baked into a particular
rule system. Why do elves live so long? Why are robots common but
cybernetic implants so rare? Why are spells divided into separate schools
of magic?
After that, don’t worry about creating history that leads to the adventure
game you want. Just by having the discussion and getting your goals on
the table, you will have already primed everyone to think of ideas that fit.
You may have the urge to jump in and point out how the setting for your
adventure game would be perfect if someone else did something slightly
differently. Don’t. As always, you can point out contradictions, but don’t
butt in on other peoples’ turns to try and optimize the history.
Because you know you are trying to sketch out this whole world to roleplay in later, you might be tempted to stick to the big scale of history and
not zoom in and make characters or detailed moments in time. Don’t.
Nothing helps you really understand your history faster than zooming in
and exploring people. Even if you are never going to see these characters
again–even if they are going to have no importance in your adventure
game, zooming in and playing them now will make your setting richer and
more real.
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Don’t GM Microscope
If you are the future GM, it is vital that during the Microscope
game you embrace the idea that you are not the GM now. You are
an equal player just like everyone else.
Do not make the mistake of trying to control the game. Do not
try to exert special influence. You will wreck the fun for everyone,
yourself included. Just follow the rules and play like everyone
else. Be open-minded and see what happens.
It may be hard to bite your tongue and relax, but I’m confident
you can do it. If you need a sharp mental antidote, picture this:
imagine you are running a game when a random player suddenly
starts acting like they are the GM instead of you. Wouldn’t that be
odd and irritating to everyone? Even if no one said anything, it
would be awkward and inappropriate. That is what you will look
like if you start trying to GM in the middle of a game that has no
GM, like Microscope.
Don’t worry if everything doesn’t turn out exactly the way you
want—it almost certainly won’t. But you will have latitude to
pick and choose what elements you want to focus on when
you convert your Microscope history into an adventure game
setting.
Giving up control can be scary, but fortune favors the bold.
If It Fails, Call a Do-Over
You might play Microscope and have a good time, but just not
be interested in doing more with the setting you created. If that
happens, don’t feel obligated to proceed. Just call a do-over and
try again. Play another Microscope game and make something
you all will enjoy. If you liked the idea you started with but not
how it evolved, you could try starting from the same big picture
but playing it out differently.
Not every game turns out perfectly. If your group is new to
Microscope, you might find that everyone is so eager to push the
boundaries and see what is possible that they make things that,
in hindsight, even they don’t want.
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Post-Game: Translating
After your Microscope game is over, whether that’s one session or several,
it is time to turn that history into a setting for adventure. Make no mistake:
you will not have a complete world. You will have a lot of material to work
with, but you may have more questions than answers. That’s the nature of
Microscope.
There are six basic ways you can adapt elements of your Microscope history
for your adventure game. You are likely to do some of each.
FOCUS: Emphasize something. Make it central to the
adventure game.
EXPAND: Add more detail to something in the history,
but don’t change what’s already true.
CREATE: Introduce something new.
IGNORE: Leave something out. You are not erasing it
from the history, but you are intentionally avoiding it in
your game.
REMOVE: Take something out of the history. It never
happened.
REVISE: Change something in the history.
Using this nomenclature, you can sit down and chart out exactly how you
want to translate your shared history into a game world. These concepts
may seem obvious, but it is important that you understand the differences
and the consequences each involves. Some are safe. Some require caution.
There are doubtless going to be particular aspects of your history that you
want to FOCUS on during your adventure game. Garden IV, the struggling
colony world, was fascinating, so you decide it is a great place to set your
campaign. The Trade Magnates were total jerks, so they will make perfect
adversaries to the heroes. Those are elements of the history that you’re going
to bring into the limelight of your game. You’re not changing anything, just
choosing what to emphasize.
Likewise, there may be elements from the Microscope game that you want
to flesh out more. When you EXPAND something, you do not change what
you already know, you just add details. In the Microscope game, we saw
that the city-states had turned away from their old religion, but we never
really got into the details. What was that religion like? Why did it fall out of
favor? You decide to fill in those details and make them part of the game.
There may also be entirely new things you want to CREATE, things that
never came up in the Microscope game at all. There was one major alien
civilization in your history, but they seemed a little too friendly, so you
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decide to introduce a second, more contentious, alien race on a different
frontier.
Expand and Create are really just like continuing the Microscope game
except you are playing by yourself. You are not contradicting what already
exists, just building on what is there or contributing new stuff. It’s only
dangerous if you create so much that you effectively supplant what the
group made together. You could burrow so deep into one corner and
create so much new material that what you created together did not matter
anymore.
On the other hand, there may be something in the history that doesn’t
interest you that you would rather IGNORE. It exists, but you don’t want to
bring it into the game or deal with it. Of course, it would be hard to include
every single aspect of your Microscope history in your adventure game, but
this is something that you are actively trying to exclude. But even if you
want to leave something out, remember that a player might want to bring it
in. Maybe they want their character to be a survivor of the Midnight Purge,
something you don’t even want to address. If you really want to leave
something out, you have to make sure the players know it.
The more extreme option it to REMOVE something entirely. You edit the
history so that it never happened. There was no Midnight Purge. There are
no eagle-riding gnomes. Or maybe you are not against the idea entirely,
you just don’t like how it played out. Instead of cutting something, you can
REVISE it, effectively rewriting that portion of the Microscope game to suit
your purposes. Yes, there were telepathic spies during the Cold War, but
they were the product of drug experimentation, not mutations.
Removing something may seem drastic, but it’s often far less disruptive than
keeping something but changing it. It is easy to overlook something that
is not there (unless it was fundamental to other aspects of the history: “Uh,
you took away the warp-gates? The whole All-World Alliance was connected
by the warp-gates?!?”). But something that is included yet different may be
a constant reminder of how the final setting doesn’t match the Microscope
game. And when you Revise something another player made, you are
overriding their contribution. This is possibly the most dangerous move
in the list since you are taking their idea and turning it into something
else. Even if you are changing something you yourself introduced in the
Microscope game, you are impacting the contribution of anyone else who
built on your idea. If you Revise something and then Focus on it, think very
carefully about what you are doing. You’re making something that does not
match what the group made together a central pillar of your game.
It’s a good idea for the group to discuss whether it is even okay to Revise
or Remove things from the history, particularly if the GM is converting the
history solo. Different groups may have very different preferences about
how much revision is okay. If you do Remove or Revise things, tell the
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players what you are changing, even if they already said it was okay. If you
are determined to keep your new version a secret for some dramatic reveal
(“Surprise, superpowers are caused by the Elder Gods awakening, not
genetic mutations!”), at the very least, warn them that parts of the history
will not be what they expect. If you don’t, you are asking for a train wreck.
If you make a note of each choice you make, you will have a tidy overview
of your adaptation. As you play you will Create and Expand more and more
(and possibly bring other elements of the original history into Focus), but
your initial list will give you a sense of how much you are diverging from the
setting you made together. As a GM you may even find it valuable to show
the players your entire list of changes, even if your modifications are not
drastic. It keeps the players connected to the setting you built together.
When in doubt, ask yourself: Am I taking advantage of the material we
made? Does the adventure I’m making feel like it takes place in the setting
we made? If it does, you are probably in good shape.
EXAMPLE: TRANSLATING YOUR HISTORY
After playing a history about strife colonizing the stars,
the GM sits down to translate it to a setting for an
adventure game. She wants to set her game in the “outlaw
smuggler” period right after the colonies lost their bid for
independence.
focus: veterans of the colony wars
focus: pure human gene line
focus: cybernetic mods
revise: cybernetic mods can only be implanted in
people with certain genetic traits (they don’t work for
everybody)
remove: nanotech
ignore: alien contact
ignore: worship of the New Star
create: smuggler gangs / organized criminal syndicates
revise: some colonial governments collaborated with
AllianceGov
expand: colony wars were about controlling precious
planetary resources
expand: soldiers in colony wars were given experimental
cyber implants
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Polish & Place
Even if the GM is going to have sole control later on, it is valuable to take a
“polishing pass” of the history as a group. Sit down after your Microscope
game and discuss which elements you are interested in exploring or if there
are things that don’t really work for the game you want to play.
Use the six options outlined above—Focus, Expand, Create, Ignore, Remove,
Revise—with all the same caveats. That terminology will help make it clear
to everyone what you are asking for. “I’d like to Focus on that Period of
invention.” “Can we Remove that bit with the alien capsule? I don’t think
it really fits.” You’re likely to get new ideas as you hear the suggestions the
other players make.
There is also one singularly important decision confronting you: where and
when in your history will your adventure game take place? It’s critical
since the time and place you choose will decide what aspects of the history
come to the forefront and what is (by omission) ignored. Whoever makes
this decision, whether it is the GM or the group as a whole, has immense
latitude in shaping the adventure.
Often this will be the very first thing you discuss—maybe before you even
finish putting the cards away: some part of the history is just too exciting
to pass up. Everybody wants to jump in and play the corsairs of Skull Beach,
at least before the Inquisitors come to wipe them out. The best spot for the
adventures you want to play may not even be the most developed part of
your history. You may wind up setting your game in a corner of the history
that is more implied than explored, which is perfectly fine.
Embrace Your Destiny
When you’re placing your adventure game in the history, it’s wise to take
into account how close you are to the known future.
It might seem like knowing the future would absolutely destroy the fun of
an adventure game. And it might—if you knew everything. But you don’t.
Broad strokes are not the same as specific knowledge. You may know
from your Microscope history that the Empire is crumbling because the
aristocracy is converting to the Moon Cult, but that tells you nothing about
which noble is behind the plot to assassinate the prince here and now.
The farther your game is set from known milestones in the history, the less
of a problem it presents, obviously. But you also increase the risk the more
the plot of the game hinges on a known future. If the doomed Empire is just
a backdrop to the action, it’s not a huge problem. But if the crux of the story
is the heroes trying to secure the Empire’s security or (even more on the
nose) weeding out the influences of the insidious Moon worshippers, some
players are going to wonder whether what they do really matters since they
already know how the story ends, on the grand scale at least.
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But this is also something you can turn to your advantage. Just like in
Microscope, knowing the future frees you to explore the why and how of
the present instead of obsessing over the outcome. If we know our Order
is doomed, if we’ve already played out the Microscope scenes showing our
sanctum consumed with eldritch fire and our legacy forgotten, we all know
that’s not what we’re playing to decide. Our characters may worry about
the future (or be blissfully ignorant of the danger), but as players we already
know when the axe will fall. Instead, we are free to focus on why it happens
and what it means to us. We can enjoy the last days before the fall with the
dramatic awareness that our characters are heading towards doom.
Bringing some of that “explore the middle” sensibility from Microscope
into your adventure game can let you have a very different role-playing
experience. If you don’t think your group will embrace it, the solution is
simple: just choose a spot for your adventure game that is far away from
known outcomes.
Expand an Existing World
Instead of building a world from scratch, you can also use Microscope to
expand your existing game world. The most obvious application is to flesh
out the past. Create a history and explore how your world got to where it
is now.
But you could just as easily explore the future. If you want to introduce a big
change to your game world, you can use Microscope to jump forward to a
desired end-point and see what unfolds in the years between.
Another option is to use Microscope to create an epilogue for a campaign
that is finished. Play to uncover how the world turns out as a result of what
happened during your adventure game. Explore the legacy your characters
left behind and how the whole world was changed, for better or worse.
In some ways this can be harder than making up a new world with
Microscope. If it is a world you created, giving up control and letting other
people contribute their ideas can be a scary thing. It requires some bravery
and trust. But remember that, no matter what happens, you have a lot
of options. Just like building a world from scratch, if some elements do
not fit, you can edit afterwards (but definitely afterwards, not during the
Microscope session). And if it goes totally awry, you can declare a do-over,
or simply consider the whole thing a grand experiment, an alternate “what
if” universe that is interesting but does not change your existing world.
Hopefully you won’t have to do any of that, but knowing you have those
escape routes might make you more comfortable giving it a try.
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The Hero’s Journey
I’ve been talking about using Microscope to flesh out the background of
your world, but why not take things one step further and use it to outline
the actual campaign? Chart the lives and achievements of the characters in
Microscope, from humble beginners to legendary heroes, then jump in and
run adventures at different points in their careers.
Each adventure can take place anywhere in the timeline. One session you
might play the characters as seasoned veterans and the next jump back
years earlier to when they are green amateurs, bravely going out on their
first real adventure. If you are playing an adventure game like D&D, the
beginning of your history might be when the player characters are low-level
or even during their “normal” life before they answer the call of adventure.
By the end, they might be powerful high-level characters. Or dead.
Which brings up two major issues: death and leveling. In many adventure
games, having your character die is a real concern. But if we’ve already
established that a character is around later, then one unlucky critical hit
can’t change that. You could say that any death that contradicts the history
instead results in being grievously wounded and spending weeks or
months recovering. If Raise Dead is available, that’s an even easier solution.
The bottom line is: if death is not an option because the history says you
will live, then making death a threat is meaningless. Don’t even try. Focus
on other challenges. Do the adventurers save the village? Do they steal the
jewel they covet? And so on.
The problem with leveling is that, in adventure games with complex
character progression, going back and forth trying to “fill in the blanks” and
rewrite your character at multiple points in their career can be a burden.
You may find it easiest to have everyone start by making their characters
at three or four agreed upon power levels (e.g. start, end and one or two
points in between). Adjusting up or down from one of those anchors
should be relatively easy. You can even tie that character level directly to
your Microscope history (“during this Period where the party is robbing the
tombs of the wizard-kings, they are around 10th level…”).
I’m using fantasy as an example, but that’s just one option: Rookie
superheroes becoming guardians of the entire globe? Scruffy smugglers
growing into respected leaders of the rebellion? Those all work.
There’s another question I skipped right over and that’s deciding how your
history (and your heroes) end. Because it’s Microscope, you are going to
know broadly where your characters wind up as soon as you start. You
could decide to end with them doing great deeds, saving the world, etc.,
but you could just as easily take a darker turn and agree that they become
failures, fallen idols or turn corrupt, seizing power with an iron fist. Or does
it end with a total party kill, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
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When you know the ending all along, the interesting part is seeing how
you get there. How did the idealistic priest morph into a cynical, calculating
politician? How did the selfish thief grow into a caring, loving husband?
And how did the wizard lose his eye?
Adventure Ouroboros:
Back and Forth
A while back I wrote about mixing Microscope and classic dungeon crawl
adventures (“The Dungeon Ouroboros”). The idea was that, instead of just
using Microscope to create a setting, you could keep going back and forth,
alternating between the two: play Microscope to flesh out the history of a
dungeon, then play a session adventuring, then switch back to Microscope
to reveal the roots of the things you had encountered, ad infinitum.
The beauty is that every stray detail that emerges during the adventure feeds
the world-building in Microscope. You fight some wandering troglodytes
and don’t think anything about it, but when you switch back to Microscope,
another player starts to fill in their ancient civilization, croaking tyrants
ruling the deeps and raising graven ziggurats to their unspeakable gods.
This constant reintegration means that even the simplest dungeon crawl
suddenly gains meaning and depth because even if the adventurers don’t
know the history the players do. It’s also “treasure tells a story” inverted:
instead of the things you find revealing facts about the world, you create
stories and lore to give meaning to what you encountered.
There’s no reason you couldn’t step out of the dungeon and run an entire
campaign this way. Embroiled in a political drama? How much more
complex and entangled will all that scheming be after you spend a round
in Microscope to flesh out the centuries of feuding, friendships, oaths
and betrayals that led up to this point—not to mention the benefit of the
players having a deep understanding of all the sides involved. The GM is
still creating the adventures and choosing what elements to focus on, but
during the Microscope phases, everyone at the table is adding detail and
creating more material for the GM to work with.
Does this constant player participation ruin a GM’s opportunity to spring
some surprises? Not at all. Knowing the past does not mean you know what
people are up to in the here-and-now. Sure, the players know from the
history that the Queen comes from a questionable bloodline, but history
did not tell them that she recently became a secret follower of Zomat the
Destroyer. You can even set the end bookend of your Microscope history far
enough before your adventure game that your history is all background,
not current events. Hail, Zomat!
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NEW WAYS TO PLAY
These spin-off games give you three new ways to play Microscope. Each
uses the same core principles as the original game, but applies them in new
ways to get very different experiences at the table:
UNION branches the Microscope timeline into a family tree. You go back
and explore the lives of the ancestors whose unions brought each new
generation into existence to see how the past makes us who we are today.
Union creates a tight web of characters, bringing their lives and personal
decisions into the spotlight.
CHRONICLE focuses and streamlines Microscope, narrowing the history to
the story of a single thing, such as a city, a political movement or a ring
of power. It also brings individuals to the forefront with anchor characters
whose lives are intertwined with each chapter of the history. It’s a simpler,
more personal Microscope.
ECHO brings time-travel and alternate history to Microscope. Don’t like
how the future turned out? Go back and tamper with the past to change
it. See how the changes you make echo forward, reshaping your reality or
utterly destroying it. The winners may write the history, but in Echo, the
losers can go back and change it…
Chronicle is very easy to pick up, and Union plays more like an entirely
different game, but Echo is the most complex and challenging of the three,
not least of all because of the complexity of time travel. It’s the only one I
don’t recommend playing unless you are already experienced with regular
Microscope. They are all adaptations of the original game, so you will need
the normal Microscope rules to play.
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Each of us is created by those who came before us. We are the result of
countless unions: our parents bring us into the world and shape us, just as
each of them were brought into the world by parents of their own, and so
on, and so on.
Without every one of our ancestors, we wouldn’t be here.
This game is a spin-off of Microscope that explores family and ancestry.
We’ll make the end of our history first, creating a hero who did something
noteworthy, like curing the plague, slaying a dragon or founding a city. But
instead of spending the game examining this hero and their achievements,
we’ll go back and put their deed in perspective by fleshing out the ancestors
who made the hero who they are.
We’ll jump back and forth across the generations to explore the lives that
interest us. We may roam around the entire family tree or focus on just a few
people that capture our imagination: that’s up to us.
The life of each ancestor and how they came together to make the next
generation is a story of its own. As we play, we should live each life like
it’s the center of our story. Some of these unions may be happy, some sad.
Some triumphant, some tragic. Some long, some terribly brief.
But without each of those unions the hero would not have been…
(take turns reading this page aloud)
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What You Need to Play
Union is an adaption of Microscope, not a stand-alone game, so you need
the Microscope rules to play. You’ll also need:
Two to four people, including yourself
Š
One to three hours
Š
Index cards, at least twenty or thirty. Use normal 3x5
cards. Smaller cards won’t have enough room.
Š
One token to sit next to the Focus card (any small,
distinct object works)
Š
Pens or pencils
UNION
Š
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Setup
We’ll start by describing the end of the history, the hero who is the result of
all these unions. Then we’ll go back to flesh out the world they lived in and
the ancestors who created them.
Step 1: Family Tree
Lay out cards for the family tree with a separate row for each generation:
Š
One card (vertical) to represent the hero
Š
Directly above the hero, one card (horizontal) for the
hero’s parents
Š
Above that, two cards for the hero’s grandparents
Š
At the top, four cards for the hero’s great-grandparents
Each card above the hero represents a pair of ancestors and the different
parts of their lives, together and apart. Draw lines to divide each of those
cards into four sections, as shown.
Each person is descended from the pair of ancestors on the card above
them (as shown by the lines of the diagram below).
GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
GRANDPARENTS
PARENTS
HERO
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Step 2: The Hero’s Deed
What was the hero’s deed? What did the hero do that was so important that
we want to explore how they came to be? Something simple and obvious is
best. Brainstorm an idea or pick one:
Cured the Plague
Slew the Great Wyrm
Created a great work of art
Colonized a new world
United the Five Kingdoms
Led the civil rights movement
After you’ve picked the deed, discuss briefly how the hero accomplished
this feat (just a short summary). We’re not going to explore what the hero
did during play, so make your description complete and clear.
We picked “slew the Great Wyrm” and then described
how the hero led a united army to the dragon’s lair and
defeated it after days and nights of war. We could have
just as easily described the hero sneaking in alone and
slipping a cursed jewel into the beast’s horde, causing it
to wither and die.
Name and describe your hero. Write the hero’s name and deed on their
card, as shown.
HERO NAME
ARION
the great Deed
the hero performed
Broke the curse
PGUIF8JUDI,JOHT
why it was
necessary
5IF8JUDI,JOHT
UFSSPSJ[FEUIFMBOE
three traits the hero
needed to
acccomplish the dead
tHJGUFETBJMPS
tGFBSMFTT
tVOEFSTUPPEUIF
speech of beasts
The deed could just as easily be personal instead of epic. The “first family
member to get a college education” would make a perfectly good history.
And don’t let the name fool you: the “hero” of our story could be a villain.
Their deed could be something terrible, like assassinating the President or
enslaving an entire race. Or maybe it’s ambiguous. The family history we
explore will help us understand what it means and whether we should
cheer or curse them. Either way, we’ll call them the hero, for now.
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UNION
Made peace with the machine AIs
Step 3: The Necessity
Why was the hero’s deed necessary? It may be obvious from the description
of the deed, but state it clearly.
The Necessity tells us about the world the hero is in, the situation that drove
the hero to act. Discuss the world and why the deed was necessary, and
then write a brief summary on the hero’s card.
The God-Emperor’s deed was to give up his humanity
to become an immortal tyrant and rule mankind for
centuries. It was necessary because the human race was
beginning to scatter among the stars. They would have
dwindled and died out if they weren’t forced to unite. We
write “necessity: humanity scattering to the stars” on the
card.
Another hero’s deed was slaying the great wyrm. It was
necessary because the monster was a menace. Every few
years it would issue forth from its cave to burn field and
city alike. We write “necessity: dragon terrorizes realm” on
the card.
If the hero did something terrible, the “necessity” might be a situation that
most people thought was fine.
Elizabeth’s deed was releasing a virus that caused
millions of deaths and toppled society as we know it. It
was necessary (some would say) because the world had
become stagnant. Total collapse allowed the survivors to
build a new world, free from the shackles of the past. We
write “necessity: stagnant society” on the card.
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If you want to get started playing quickly, here are some seeds
you can use to create your hero.
OATHBREAKER
Sorcerer who unlocked the forbidden rune of power, destroying
the foundation of magic and unraveling spells across the realm.
necessities (pick 1)
„ magic was stale; nothing new was being created
„ the magi were too powerful and controlling
„ overuse of magic was close to unleashing a doom upon the world
PEACEMAKER
Colonist who won the settlers their independence and ended
the war against their homeworld.
necessities (pick 1)
„ the world had been ravaged by war
„ colonists were losing their will to fight
„ a third threat loomed that they could only resist united
traits (pick 3)
„ knows lying gets you nowhere
„ military strategist
„ spiritual
„ has never seen another sky
„ went to the stars and came back
TRANSHUMAN PIONEER
Scientist who successfully translated her consciousness out of
her body, beginning the next stage of human evolution.
necessities (pick 1)
„ humanity was stagnating
„ disease and genetic disorders were rising
„ people die; they always will
traits (pick 3)
„ brilliant scientist
„ terminal illness/lifelong disability
„ fears death
„ questions everything
„ antisocial
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UNION
traits (pick 3)
„ magi
„ has the Second Sight
„ outcast
„ knows the ancient tongue
„ possesses the key that opens the rune’s hiding place
Step 4: The Hero’s Traits
Brainstorm three essential traits the hero needed to accomplish their deed.
Without these traits, they could not have gotten the job done, or it would
have been a lot harder.
Resolute, Cunning Strategist, Sorcerer Adept, Vengeful,
Compassionate, Blood of both Elf and Man
Traits are usually virtues, but they could just as easily be things about the
hero that were dark yet necessary to accomplish the goal (e.g. vengeful,
unforgiving, outcast).
As you come up with each one, discuss briefly why that trait was needed.
One of Viktor’s traits was compassion, which made him
care about all the people suffering from the plague,
driving him to find a cure.
Traits show you what the hero might have learned or inherited from
ancestors. As you explore the family history, you’ll start to see how these
traits emerged or came to be.
There is still a lot we don’t know about the hero. That’s okay. In some ways,
the hero is going to remain a mystery: the center of the story, but someone
we only see from a distance. Instead, we’re going to explore the lives that
led up to the hero. Those stories will show us who the hero is and why they
did what they did.
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Step 5: Make Your Palette
Follow the rules from Microscope to make a Palette to flesh out your world
to avoid surprises or disagreements later on.
YES
NO
YES
NO
tHPETQBXO
tJOOBUFNBHJDBM
talent
tPUIFSQMBOFT
tEFNPOT
tNPEFSOOBNFT
t[BQNBHJD
Step 6: First Pass, Make Ancestors
1)
Choose any empty left or right section of a card (ignore
the middle sections). If the other side is already filled in,
you know you are creating the person who will be the
other parent of their child.
2)
Name the ancestor and summarize their life before they
meet the other parent and have a child.
3)
Say whether this ancestor’s early life was Light or Dark.
Explain why.
You can place either parent on the left or right side of the card. The card
above each side represents that person’s own parents, so the side you pick
determines their relationships to the other characters in the family tree.
Creating ancestors’ history is described in more detail later.
A player fills in the left side of a blank card: “His name is
Landers. He doesn’t have a lot of prospects on Earth, so he
leaves to try his hand in Planetary Survey. It’s Dark because
it’s a hard and lonely job, and he’s always struggling to
make ends meet.”
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UNION
Each player takes a turn and creates one ancestor of the hero. You can go
around the table or contribute in any order, as you wish. After each player
has created one ancestor, stop.
Play
At the start of the game, pick a player to be the first Lens. If you’re teaching
the game, it should probably be you.
1)
Lens picks the Focus card: Choose any ancestor card
except the hero. This is the part of the family history
you will explore this round. Place a token on it as a
reminder.
2)
Make History: Each player takes a turn, starting with the
Lens and going around the table to the left (clockwise).
On your turn, pick a section of the Focus to explore:
PARENT (either one)
UNION
FATE
OFFSPRING (the parent section of the card below)
If the section is blank, fill it in. If the section is already
filled in, make a scene in that part of the history.
You cannot fill in the Union or Fate until both parents
have been created. Unlike normal Microscope, the Lens
only makes one thing on their turn, not two.
3)
Lens Finishes the Focus: After each player has taken a
turn, the Lens takes another turn.
4)
Explore a Legacy: The player to the right of the Lens
explores a Legacy the hero inherited.
5)
New Lens: Player to the left of the Lens becomes the new
Lens. Start again at the top.
The entire game takes place before the hero accomplishes their deed.
Even if you play scenes that include the hero, those scenes must take place
before the deed.
Live each life like it’s the center of our story. Even though we know the
ancestors’ lives are building up to the hero, they do not know what the
future holds. When we explore their lives, they are our main characters.
92
Family History
Each ancestor card is divided into four sections:
Š
The left and right sections are the early lives of each
Parent before their Union.
Š
The top middle section is the Union, the first part of
their relationship when the parents come together and
create their offspring.
Š
The bottom middle section is their Fate, what happens
to the parents after their offspring and how their lives
turn out.
The person on the card directly below is the Offspring of these parents. The
offspring counts as part of the Focus of the card above, allowing you to talk
about the early life of their child.
1)
Describe the person or summarize what happened
during this time in their lives in a few sentences.
2)
State whether it is Light or Dark and describe why. Write
a brief overview and draw a Light or Dark circle.
Never talk about a section that is blank unless you are filling it in. Don’t drop
hints about a parent we haven’t seen yet or allude to what happened in a
blank Union when making the Fate. Likewise, you cannot fill in the Union or
Fate until both parents have been created since you have to know who they
are to talk about their lives together.
PARENT
life before
the union
UNION
how they came
together
PARENT
Phitrion
life before
the union
raised as
priestess of
Olanthus
Secret love affair,
she is imprisoned but
refuses to name him
Kollus flees
without her, she
curses his name
FATE
what happened
after the child
Kollus
temple slave,
taken from
village in
raid as youth
Elion (brother)
Characters are biological parents of their offspring by default. If you want
a character you are making to have a different connection to the offspring,
declare it when you create the first parent on the card. Describe their
relationship as simply as possible (foster parent, mentor, teacher, etc.), but
do not go into more detail since you are not filling in the Union yet. Only
the player making the first parent gets to decide: anyone creating the other
parent or Union later on must honor the relationship that was specified.
No one can describe a parent dying until the child is conceived or born
since that would break the family tree. Parents can die in their Fate (since
that is after the offspring) and could even die during the Union so long as
the offspring is already born/conceived.
93
UNION
To fill in a blank section of an ancestor card:
Scenes
If a section of a card has already been filled in, you can use your turn to
make a scene in that part of the family history. Scenes let you explore the
ancestors’ lives in more detail or learn more about the world they live in.
Š
Declare which section you are making the scene inside
(one of the parents’ early lives, the Union, the Fate or the
offspring’s early life).
Š
Follow the normal scene rules in Microscope, but your
scene must take place during the section you chose and
must relate to it, even if the ancestors are not present.
Š
Scenes can be played or dictated.
Summarize the scene on a card as usual. Note in the upper right which part
of the history contains it (parent’s name, Union or Fate). Put the scene card
under the ancestor card, stacking earlier scenes on top of later scenes.
The Fate of Nathan and Belle has already been described:
he goes out into the fields one night and disappears, taken
to the stars by the lights in the sky he saw long ago. Belle
is left alone. A player decides to make a scene within their
Fate, asking whether their son Clay believes his father
abandoned them.
As in Microscope, questions can be about the characters or the world. You
could even ask questions that are about characters from other parts of the
family tree if the current characters have some way of finding the answer.
Did Belle love someone else before Nathan? Did Zanis
cheat to win the duel? Are nobles subject to the laws of
the realm? Why are sorcerers unable to foresee their own
deaths, only others’?
Once all the sections of the current Focus are filled, your only option is to
make scenes. That may seem limiting, but don’t worry: making and playing
scenes is what you do in most other role-playing games. It’s just unusual
for Microscope. Remember that you can always dictate instead of playing
out a scene, which lets you narrate some detail of that person’s life. Even if
you spent the entire game playing scenes on just one card, you still have a
whole lifetime to explore (two lifetimes, actually).
94
Legacy
In between each Focus, one player gets to roam more broadly and explore
how the ancestors made the hero who they are or how the world made the
deed necessary:
1)
Pick either one of the hero’s three traits or the necessity
that drove the deed.
2)
Make history that relates to that trait or the necessity you
chose. Pick any ancestor card (not the hero), and then fill
in a blank section or dictate a scene in a section that is
already filled in.
As always, you cannot fill in a Union or Fate until both
parents have been created.
The Hero in Play
The hero is the end result of all the lives in our family history, but the game
is about exploring what created them, not their life directly. You may rarely
see the hero in play.
Everything in the game takes place before the hero performs the deed we
described at the beginning. If you create scenes with the hero, they must
take place before the deed. If the hero’s parents are the Focus, the hero’s
card is their Offspring and is part of the Focus, so you could make scenes in
the hero’s life before the deed.
Generations & Siblings
A normal generation is at least twenty years, so a good rule of thumb is
that what takes place in the great-grandparents time is probably sixty years
before the hero’s adulthood. The actual length of a particular Union or Fate
is up to you: some parents may stay together for decades while others
might be ships passing in the night. That’s for you to decide when you fill in
that section of the card. Depending on how long characters live, you could
easily create situations where ancestors who are generations apart are in
the same scene.
If an ancestor has siblings that come up in play, you can write their names at
the bottom of the parent section. These brothers and sisters are not direct
ancestors of the hero, but they may be an important part of the story.
95
UNION
If you explore a trait, you might show how that virtue or vice was passed
down to the hero. If you explore the necessity, you can show what the world
was like and what the deed was intended to change.
Ending the Game
Just like in normal Microscope, there is no set end to the game. Even after
you fill in the whole family history, you could keep playing scenes to find
out more about all of their lives. Or you may find you don’t fill in all the
ancestors because you are more interested in some aspects of the past and
ignore others. That’s okay.
If you know you need to stop soon, it’s best to agree before you start a
Focus that it will be the last round so everyone knows to wrap things up.
End with the Legacy.
To pack up your cards, just start in the top left and pick up each ancestor
card with all of its scene cards, then put the next stack beneath it, going
from from left to right before moving down to the next row. The hero card
will wind up on the very bottom. That way you can easily deal them back
out later.
96
Afterword
Nature & Nurture
Life is complex. There are many more possibilities than just a mother and
father giving birth to a child together: adoption, foster parents, same-sex
unions, etc. And that’s not even considering all the possibilities science may
bring or the inventions of fantasy.
Ector raised the future King Arthur as his own, but it is
Uther and Igraine whose ancestry make Arthur who
he is, so those are the characters we wrote on the card
and whose ancestry we explored. But in another story,
the reverse could be true, and a foster parent far more
important than the biological one.
The game puts this decision in the hands of the first player to create a
parent on each card. Whatever decision that player makes, respect it and
build on it.
Child of Two Worlds
It is a conceit of the game that we only explore the Union of two parents
even if blood and adoption mean a child really has two sets of parents (or
more). If you want to experiment and try a more complex family tree, just
spread out your index cards and add cards for each set of parents you want
to follow. Every additional set of parents doubles the tree above them, so
the closer to the hero you create this split, the more ancestors it creates.
If you want to really explore the division between nature and nurture, you
can try the “Child of Two Worlds” option. Give the hero two sets of parents,
one birth and one foster, but make the foster parents from a very different
background than the birth parents (a classic example would be Superman,
who has parents on Earth and Krypton). Then put two cards above each
parent card to show the four sets of grandparents. To keep your family tree
manageable, skip the top level entirely (no great-grandparents). That gives
you two different ancestries to explore but only six Unions, not that much
different from the usual seven.
97
UNION
What makes a parent? If a child is descended by blood from one person
but taught and raised by another, who do you put on the card? That’s up to
you. It depends on who is important to the story you’re trying to tell. But
whoever you name as the “parent”, that is the person whose past you are
going to explore, whose contribution to the family tree you are going to
follow.
Adventure Games: Tell Me About Your Character…
Want to learn more about an important character in your adventure game?
Play Union to create their background. It could be a major NPC or you could
even take turns exploring the history of your player characters.
Rise of Nations, Evolution of Ideas
Instead of using Union to show the ancestry of a person, you can substitute
nations, companies, religions or schools of thought. Explore how movements
evolved, collided, merged or were absorbed.
The Farhome movement was bitterly opposed to the
“dangerously conservative” views of the One Worlders,
but from those conflicts and debates emerged the more
nuanced philosophies of the Concordians. Even though
their “union” was trying to destroy each other, a new
movement arose as their offspring.
Not all Unions have to be equal. The “union” of two nations might be one
invading another and enslaving its people. An offspring might still keep the
name of one of its two parents but be a very different place because of the
new influences the other parent introduced.
The Empire conquered the border tribes. As the offspring
of the Union of the old Empire and the tribes (the two
parents), the new Empire now lords over foreigners and
keeps them in line with military might. It is technically the
same nation as the old Empire, but annexing the tribes
has changed it in profound ways.
98
CHRONICLE
In Chronicle, you explore the history of a single thing: how it changes over
time and how it impacts the lives around it.
Your Chronicle might be about a place, an organization or even an object.
You could explore a struggling colony, that spooky old house on the hill, a
radical art movement or a fabled sword that unites the realm…
But we won’t play in chronological order. We’ll decide how the story begins
and ends at the very start, then jump back and forth to explore the parts
that interest us. Each of us can zoom out and make broad chunks of history
or zoom all the way in and role-play together to explore the lives of the
people who are part of our Chronicle.
And even though we’ll know from the start how the Chronicle ends, each
of us will have vast power to shape the story along the way. We’ll explore
the how and why that brings our history to life. That’s what we’ll play to
find out.
(take turns reading this page aloud)
100
What You Need to Play
Chronicle is a version of Microscope, not a stand-alone game, so you need
the Microscope rules to play. The changes are simple enough that you
should be able to pick up and play Chronicle very easily if you are already
familiar with Microscope.
You’ll also need:
Two to four people, including yourself
Š
One to three hours
Š
Index cards, at least twenty or thirty
Š
Pens or pencils
CHRONICLE
Š
101
Setup
Chronicle uses the same setup as normal Microscope except as noted.
Step 1: Your Chronicle
At the start of your game, pick the thing you want to Chronicle and then
summarize what happens to it in the history. That’s your big picture.
Your Chronicle is going to be the center of your whole game. When in
doubt, pick something simple and let the detail emerge in play rather than
choosing something complex that you are not sure you understand.
Our history is about the Battleship Orion. She’s a tough
old warhorse that served in the Colonial Wars before
being retired.
In another game, we decide to make a history about a dour
metropolis that struggles with crime and corruption–your
basic Gotham City, complete with vigilante heroes. We
name it Grace Bay.
Write the name of your Chronicle on a tent card, folded long-ways, and place
it above the other cards to remind everyone what your history is about.
Step 2: Bookends
When you make the Bookends, highlight how the Chronicle has changed
(or stayed the same) from the beginning of the history to the end.
Step 3: Palette
Follow the normal Microscope rules to make your Palette.
Step 4: First Pass
Each player makes a Period or Event, as usual. But if you make the first
Event in a Period, you also create the Anchor character for that Period (as
described below).
102
If you need some ideas to get you started quickly, here are a few
Chronicle seeds you can use:
INVICTUS, the legendary sword of kings and
conquerors.
The RED CROW, a galleon in the age of pirates,
privateers and New World gold. Over time she
could be a merchant ship, a buccaneer raider
or a sunken wreck.
GRACE BAY, a city that has wrestled with
organized crime and political corruption.
Where the rule of law failed, can masked
vigilantes succeed?
That old haunted house on the hill,
GIDEON MANOR. Of course, your history
could start long before it became accursed
and explain the terrible things that happened
there…
STARFALL, weapons-smiths to the galaxy,
whose arms have no equal in known space.
Wait, isn’t Starfall a seed from Kingdom? Absolutely. Anything
that would make an interesting Kingdom would make a great
Chronicle. The two games play very differently, which means
you can choose to explore the same subject matter in entirely
different ways depending on which game you choose.
You can also start with almost any normal Microscope seed and
just pick one particular thing that you want to examine.
We are interested in a seed about how the
invention of artificial food changes society. To
play it as a Chronicle, we decide to explore the
story of the research institute that pioneered
this new technology.
103
CHRONICLE
The FABE-CALLINGER DRIVE, that promised
to revolutionize space travel and bridge the
stars. But was that dream only a fantasy?
Play
Chronicle plays exactly like normal Microscope but with two important
differences:
Š
The entire history is about the subject you chose to
Chronicle. Everything you make must relate to the
Chronicle (as well as the current Focus or Legacy).
Š
Each Period we explore will have an Anchor character
that is directly connected to the Chronicle. They are
touchstones that bring the history to life and give us a
personal connection to what is happening. All Events
and Scenes must also relate to the Anchor of the Period.
Otherwise, follow the normal order of play: pick a Lens, establish a Focus,
take turns making history, then build on a Legacy, etc. The rule changes are
small, but they alter the focus of the game considerably.
Making Periods
When you create a Period, describe how things are different from other
Periods. Show how the subject of your Chronicle has changed or how its
situation is different from the past or future.
In our Grace Bay history, there’s a Period on the table where
the city is crime-ridden and corrupt, but now a player
makes an earlier Period where the city was still booming,
yet starting to become overcrowded and run-down with
careful development pushed aside for growth and profit.
Later another player makes a Period between those two,
describing a time of political scandal when the Mayor’s
office and Police department are exposed as taking bribes
which erodes public trust.
In another history about a legendary sword, a player
describes a new Period where the sword sits buried in a
king’s tomb, forgotten. In a previous Period, the sword
was used by a warlord to conquer the realm. The sword
itself has not changed, but the situation has.
104
Making Events & The Anchor
Each Period we explore will have one Anchor character. Anchors make the
story personal and bring our Chronicle to life.
If you are making the first Event in a Period, you first create the Anchor
character before you describe your Event. Making the Anchor is part of the
same action as creating the first Event–you do both on your turn:
1)
Name the Anchor character, then describe them and
their connection to the Chronicle. Write it on a card
(oriented wide) and put that card above the Period. Write
the Anchor’s name in big letters so it’s easy to read.
2)
Make your Event. All Events must relate to the Anchor
character of this Period.
After years in service, the battleship Orion is deemed
obsolete and retired from service. She is dry-docked in
an orbiting naval shipyard. The Anchor character for this
Period is Muwen, a retired Gunner’s Mate who served
aboard the Orion and can’t put the war behind him. He
visits the shipyard to relive old memories.
Anchors are just like any other character in the history: you can play them
in Scenes, they can die, etc., but they remain the Anchor for their Period no
matter what happens to them.
You only make one Anchor for each Period. Don’t use the same Anchor for
two different Periods. Periods with no Events will not have an Anchor, yet.
Since the Lens can make two nested things, they could make a Period and
then make an Event in that Period which means they would also make the
Anchor character.
Making Scenes
Just like Events, all Scenes in a Period must relate to the Anchor character,
but the Anchor does not have to actually be in the Scene unless the current
player makes them a required character, as in normal Microscope.
The Orion is recalled from the scrapyard to suppress riots
on a colony world. The Event never mentions the Anchor
character directly, but since they are serving aboard the
ship when it happens, it certainly relates to them.
105
CHRONICLE
Everything in the Period must relate to the Anchor, so each Anchor has a
strong influence on your game. Make a character who reflects the issues
you want everyone to explore and who connects to the things you think are
interesting in this Period of the Chronicle.
Chronicle in Play: Grace Bay
YES
NO
t$0456.&% t461&3108&34
HEROES t-&("-%&5"*-4
t'-"8-&44
PEOPLE
GRACE BAY
ISAAC HORN
DALE RAMSEY
SMUGGLER, CAPTAIN
OF THE “ABIGAIL”
MAYOR, TRUE BELIEVER,
BORN WEALTHY BUT WORKS
HARD FOR HIS CITY
COLONIAL
SMUGGLER’S
LANDING
GRACE BAY
FORGED INTO
MAJOR CITY
(START)
BRITISH REVENUE CUTTERS
SINK THE ABIGAIL
MAYOR RAMSEY CONVINCES
THE RICH TO INVEST IN CITY
RAMSEY RELUCTANTLY
AGREES TO SECRET DEALS
TO KEEP MOGULS INVESTED
SAWYER HOSPITAL OPENS,
STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY
106
OUT OF CONTROL
DEVELOPMENT,
GREED
FOCUS
SAWYER
HOSPITAL
1) THE OWL,
MASKED
VIGILANTE
(CAT)
2) MAYOR’S
OFFICE
TRIAL OF MOB
BOSS SEGRETTI
(ADDIE)
KAY WALLER
CONSTRUCTION WORKER,
OWES MONEY TO
MOB LOAN SHARKS
POLICE LIEUTENANT, GOOD
COP IN A BAD TOWN
SCANDALS
ERODE PUBLIC
TRUST
VIGILANTES
FIGHT CRIME
BOSSES, LOSE
CITY CLEANED
UP, FRESH
START
(END)
DOES THE
BRIDGE
NEW MAYOR
INAUGURATES
HELP WITH
COMMEMORATIVE
TRAFFIC
RAMSEY BAY BRIDGE
IS THE VERDICT
HONEST?
MOB BOSS SEGRETTI
ACQUITED IN COURT
NO, IT’S A SCAM
NO, THE FIX IS IN
DAILY SENTINEL BREAKS
STORY REVEALING
CONSTRUCTION BRIBES
DOES WALLER
HELP THE OWL
POLICE ARREST THE OWL,
TIPPED OFF BY MOB
NO, SHE TURNS
THE OTHER WAY
107
CHRONICLE
“DUTCH” BARRY
Afterword
Focus vs Freedom: A Tighter Microscope
Chronicle makes only a few changes to the procedures of regular Microscope,
but those changes alter the game considerably. Play is more focused than
normal Microscope which provides many advantages but also sacrifices
some of the virtues of the original game.
On the plus side, it is easier to stay on target. You pick a subject and
everyone knows that is what you’re exploring and fleshing out. Combine
that with the Anchor characters and you are more likely to wind up with a
tighter, more personal story than normal Microscope. The exact same thing
could happen in ordinary Microscope, but Chronicle stacks the deck in your
favor.
The trade-off is that you lose freedom. You’re dealing with one subject for
the entire game, so you can’t leave it and jump to something else if you
get bored or if you dislike what others have done with it. You still have
room to jump around to other parts of the Chronicle, but you can’t leave
the Chronicle. That’s not merely an artistic concern: in Microscope, that
freedom is a social steam valve to balance the unlimited power of each
player. Chronicle limits individual power by tightening the subject of the
history but also loses some of the safeguards that made that creative power
work.
Why Doesn’t the Period-Maker Create the Anchor?
Many people ask why the player creating the first Event makes the Anchor
character instead of the player making the Period. There are two reasons.
First, if you create the entire Period and also make the Anchor, you are
establishing a lot of material without another player getting to build on
what you made. Chronicle is designed so one person makes the broad
Period, but a different player (probably) gets to decide what kind of person
would be an interesting spotlight for that time.
Second, characters are defined by seeing them in action, so the first Event
featuring an Anchor character is when we really see who they are. If one
player defined the Anchor, but then a different player made that first Event,
the Event-maker could easily misinterpret the Anchor or take them in a
totally different direction than the creator intended. Building on someone
else’s idea is great, but misinterpreting a concept because you only had
a minimal description to work from is not. Combining the creation of the
Anchor with making an Event that showcases them avoids that pitfall and
ensures an Anchor will have a clear and revealing introduction.
108
This future is not what we wanted. But we have the power to change it.
We can go back and alter the course of history with our own hands. Even
the smallest nudge, at the right time and place, can echo forward and
change the entire course of history. A chance encounter interrupted, a tiny
malfunction averted, an untimely death caused or prevented—these can
have a monumental impact on the years that follow.
Can we predict all the consequences of our actions? We may tell ourselves
yes, but the truth is no. It is impossible to foresee all the tangled repercussions
of what we do, the echoes of all our actions. But we must try if we are to
forge the future we want.
And we are not alone. Others want a different future than we do. They will
twist the past to their own ends… if we let them.
In this version of Microscope, we’ll create a history together and then explore
how competing factions try to change the past to make it turn out the way
they want, whether that’s preventing an apocalyptic war, saving a species
from extinction or planting the seeds of a more enlightened society.
But every change has unexpected consequences. After a player describes
how a faction tampers with history, another player describes how that
change echoes forward and causes something else to turn out differently.
And enemy agents may go back and try to counter the changes the other
faction made, causing even more echoes.
We may change history a lot. But if we change it too much, the past might
become so different that it no longer leads to the original future at all. If we
push too hard, our past could spin off into limbo, destroying the future and
both factions with it…
(take turns reading this page aloud)
110
What You Need to Play
Echo is an adaption of Microscope, not a stand-alone game, so you need
the Microscope rules to play.
In many ways, Echo is a more complex version of Microscope, so I
recommend you only try Echo after you are already comfortable playing
normal Microscope. Familiarity with the original rules will make it much
easier to tackle the added twists of Echo.
You’ll also need:
Š
Two to four people, including yourself
Š
Two hours or more
Š
Index cards, lots of them
Š
Tokens of some kind (e.g. pennies), twenty or so
Š
Pens or pencils
ECHO
For two-player games, use the alternate rules in the back of the Microscope
book to extend each Focus.
111
Make Factions
To start a new game of Microscope Echo, first you decide on what the
people from the future want to change, then you go back and make a
history which created that situation. That may seem backward, but picking
the thing you want to change first ensures that the crux of your game is
something that interests you, instead of something random that emerged
from your history.
Step 1: The Goal
What does the faction want to change? Describe how the history turned
out originally and the outcome this group wants instead. They may want to
prevent something or make something happen.
Pick something clear and specific. Simpler is better. It must also be
something that has distinct success or failure: later on it must be obvious to
us whether the faction achieved their goal.
War devastated the globe. Prevent it!
Dying species destabilized the ecosystem. Save them from
extinction!
Humanity joined the galactic community, but were
overshadowed by mighty alien civilizations. Make
humanity a major stellar power!
The goal should change the outcome of the history, not just be something
that happened in the middle. It should be something that is not easily fixed
in the future, something that is worth going back in time to change.
112
If you need an idea to get you started playing quickly, here are a
few seeds you can use to create your history.
LAND OF THE FREE
An ultra-patriotic, crypto-fascist political party rose to control
the most powerful nation in the world…
„ The Resistance (faction) is a secret rebel group, hunted by the government
police. Goal: prevent the fascists from taking over.
„ The Minutemen (faction) are loyal agents of the party, bent on preventing
this sabotage. Goal: maintain the party’s control (status quo).
„ Radical discovery of the Vollen-Haas Field allows an individual to leap
back in time for short stints, but the other weapons and tools timetravelers possess are not substantially better than those of the past
(method: ordinary).
OLD ONES AWAKEN
Rituals awoke the unspeakable elder gods, engulfing the world
in madness…
„ Witnesses (faction), a handful of surviving sane psychics and mystics.
Goal: prevent the Old Ones from awakening by stopping the rituals that
roused them.
„ The Yellow Hand (faction), adepts of forbidden lore. Goal: bind and control
the elder gods when they awaken.
„ Psychics and mystics can project their consciousness back through the veil
of years to temporarily possess people in the past. Once there they could
hypnotize others or use magic rituals (method: extraordinary).
„ Thralls of the Dark Lord (faction) lament the fall of their Master, skulking
and hiding from their enemies while they plot to undo the great victory.
Goal: avert the destruction of the Dark Lord so his reign continues.
„ Dark Rangers (faction) are steadfast wardens who have not been lulled
by the siren call of peace like the other so-called guardians of the land.
Goal: ensure the Dark Lord’s destruction (status quo).
„ The shards of the Black Sword are so potent that they can cut through
time itself, but they are evil beyond compare. The Dark Rangers risk
terrible corruption using the weapons of the Enemy, but it is the only way
they can travel to the past to counter the Thralls (method: pick ordinary
or extraordinary, depending on whether you want the Thralls and Dark
Rangers to have magic).
113
ECHO
THE BLACK SWORD UNBROKEN
The Dark Lord forged the Black Sword, a weapon of terrible
might. But so much of his power was invested in it that when the
sword was broken so was he, freeing the land from his shadow
forever…
Step 2: The Opposition’s Goal
There is a second faction from the future that wants a different outcome.
They might want to protect the current future and prevent the changes the
first faction is trying to cause, or they might want another future entirely.
The second faction’s goal must be incompatible with the first. Both sides
cannot get what they want.
Our first faction’s goal is to prevent the royal line from
being polluted by intermarriage with witch-blood. The
second faction wants a certain exiled line of witchblooded nobles to marry into the throne instead of the
ones that reign in the original history.
During play, we are not committed to a particular side, so on your turn you
can choose to explore whichever faction interests you.
114
Step 3: How Can You Change History?
What can the factions do to tamper with history? Once they travel back in
time, are their agents normal people or do they have tricks up their sleeves?
Pick one of these three options for your game:
ORDINARY: Agents can only do what a normal person
could do. They have no special abilities or tools. To
change history, you have to describe what a normal
person could do to cause that change.
An agent sneaks into the garage and cuts the brakes
on the ambassador’s car.
EXTRAORDINARY: Agents can do seemingly impossible
things. They might use magic or super-technology to
affect people or things in the environment.
An agent uses a spell to walk through the wall of the
crypt and steal the crown jewels.
OMNIPOTENT: A faction can change the past without
any direct interaction. They simply warp reality and
make things turn out differently.
A faction alters history so the dragon defeats the
brave heroes instead of being slain.
You want to describe a faction keeping two characters
in the history from falling in love so their child is never
born. If you picked the “omnipotent” option, it’s easy: you
just say it happens and reality is rewritten. If you picked
“extraordinary,” you could describe agents using mind
control or hypnosis to make them dislike each other. But
if the agents can only do what a normal person could do,
you have to describe how they could reasonably keep the
two lovers apart.
When in doubt, Extraordinary is a good choice. It gives you latitude to make
seemingly impossible things happen without too much explanation.
115
ECHO
These options are ordered from hardest to easiest: as a player, it takes much
more effort to explain how an ordinary person could change history than
to just rewrite the past at will.
Step 4: Describe Factions & Future
Now that you know their goals, describe the two factions a bit more. Explain
who they are and give them names. Discuss what gives these factions the
capability to send agents back in time: Is it a magic ritual? A new invention?
An alien artifact?
Describe the future where these factions exist in just a few sentences. The
factions’ goals should already give you a good idea of how their world
turned out. Don’t get caught up discussing details: just make sure you
include the situation they want to change.
In this future, the elder gods have awoken. They’re not
visible, but their influence spreads madness across the
globe. There are riots, wars and fanaticism, but only some
know these atrocities are caused by the presence of the
Old Ones.
The psychics and mediums who are trying to go back and
prevent the awakening of the elder gods call themselves
the Witnesses. They are among the few who understand
what is causing the madness that has ravaged the world.
They can project their consciousness back through the
years and temporarily take over the bodies of people
living in the past.
Their opponents are the Yellow Hand, cultists who wish
the Old Ones to awaken but only once rituals have bound
Them as omnipotent slaves of the cult. They use the same
psychic techniques as the Witnesses but also possess
magic spells and occult secrets.
Fold two index cards in half so they stand up. Write each faction’s name
and goal on a card in big letters so you can easily reference them during
play. Write a Roman numeral one at the top of the first faction’s card and a
Roman numeral two at the top of the second’s.
I
II
WITNESSES
YELLOW HAND
prevent the Old
Ones awakening
enslave the
Old Ones
116
Make History
Now that you know what outcome the factions want to change, you make
the past that led to that outcome. This is the original history before the
factions intervene and tamper with it.
Follow these steps to build your history. They are almost identical to a
normal Microscope game:
Step 1: Big Picture
Summarize what happened to get to the outcome that the factions want to
change. Don’t include the factions or the future that you described earlier:
the big picture is the history before their time.
Step 2: Bookends
Your history could end with the situation that the factions want to change
(“War engulfs the globe”). You could also end your history earlier, in which
case your final bookend should clearly point towards that situation arising.
Again, don’t include the factions or their future within your bookends: that
happens later.
Step 3: Palette
Follow the normal instructions for making your Palette. Group decisions are
over after you finish the Palette.
Step 4: First Pass
ECHO
Focus on describing the incidents that created the situation the factions
want to change. The more we know about what caused that outcome, the
easier it will be to describe them trying to change it.
Then add one more step:
Step 5: Second Pass
Each player gets to add a single Event to the history. This is just like the First
Pass except you can’t make Periods. Again, focus on making history that
shows how the situation the factions want to change came to pass.
117
Play
As you play you’ll add detail to the history and show how the factions
change the past to try to get the outcome they want. Play follows the same
pattern as normal Microscope except you can also make two new types of
Events: Interventions and Echoes.
You can create an Intervention Event to describe how a faction goes back
in time to tamper with history. The time travelers are temporary visitors:
they appear, interfere, and then return to their own time to observe the
result. As a player you are not committed to either side, so you can act for
whichever faction interests you at the moment.
But every change will have repercussions. After each Intervention, another
player will create an Echo Event to show how those changes altered the
history that followed. They may describe a totally unforeseen consequence
or something that fits perfectly with a faction’s plan: that’s up to the player.
And players are free to create additional Echoes later on or even Echoes of
another Echo.
Interventions and Echoes can describe new Events that we had not seen
in the history before, but you can also use them to revise Events already
on the table. You’ll cross out the old card and stack the new card on top.
From now on, that new Event is what happened—the cards underneath
are moot. You’ll also put down contradiction tokens to keep track of cards
which haven’t been replaced yet but which could no longer be true because
of how the history changed.
The factions may struggle to undo each other’s work, but they can’t fight
each other directly: time travelers cannot return to an Event that is already
an Intervention. Instead, if you want to stop an Intervention, you have to go
further back and do something that will overwrite that Event with an Echo.
At the end of each round, one player will update a Period, replacing the old
description to reflect the changes we’ve seen. Then you’ll pass Judgement
on your history and decide whether either faction is succeeding in achieving
the outcome they want or if the past has become so different that it doesn’t
lead to the original future anymore, dooming both factions to failure and
destroying their reality.
But the factions are immune to the changes to their future until the game
ends, so even if you destroyed the world, you can go back in time and try to
fix it in the next round. You could destroy and repair the past over and over
until you get it right…
118
To start play, pick the first Lens. Then follow these steps:
1)
Lens Declares Focus: All history must relate to the Focus
the Lens picks.
2)
Lens Makes History: The Lens can make two things so
long as they are nested (e.g. a Period and then an Echo
Event inside it). Choose from this list:
PERIOD
EVENT
INTERVENTION (Event)
ECHO (Event)
SCENE
The exception to making nested items is that if the Lens
makes an Intervention as their first action they can make
an Echo of that Intervention as their second action.
3)
Remaining Players Make History: Each remaining player
takes a turn, going around to the left. If the player
before you made an Intervention, you must Echo their
Intervention (even if the Lens made their own Echo).
Otherwise, choose from the list above.
4)
Lens Finishes the Focus: Lens can again make two nested
things but cannot Intervene. If the previous player made
an Intervention, the Lens must Echo it.
5)
Update a Period: Player to the right of the Lens revises a
Period description to match the changes we have seen.
6)
Judgment: Vote to decide if a faction has achieved its
goal or if the history has collapsed.
7)
New Lens: The player to the left of the Lens becomes the
new Lens. Repeat.
119
ECHO
After all players have addressed the Focus, we take a step back and see how
these changes to the history have altered the outcome.
Intervention (Event)
When you create an Intervention, you describe how a faction tampers with
history by revising an existing Event or making a new one. If you create a
new Event, you are effectively making the original Event and revising it all
at once—it was something that was already part of the history, we just had
not seen it yet.
A faction may Intervene earlier to change something much later in the
history, so we may not know if their plan worked until we see the Echoes.
To prevent the signing of the peace treaty, a faction goes
back to the childhood of the key negotiator to try to
change her beliefs.
To make an Intervention, follow these steps:
1)
Declare Intent: Say which faction is going back in time
and what they want to accomplish.
2)
Choose Event: Pick the Event the faction tampers with.
Pick an existing Event or describe how a new Event we
have not seen yet originally turned out. You cannot
choose an Event that is already an Intervention. If there
is a contradiction token on the old Event, remove it.
3)
Describe Intervention: Describe what the faction does
and how that makes the Event turn out differently.
4)
Mark Contradictions: Put a token on any future Event
or Period that could no longer be true because of this
Intervention. If a card already has a token, do not add
another. If this Intervention makes something that was
already contradicted possible again, remove that token.
Write your Event on a new card. Draw a triangle on the left and write a
number inside it one greater than the last Intervention (1 for the first
Intervention, 2 for the second, etc.). If you revised an existing Event, cross
out the old Event card and stack the new card on top of it with any old
scenes beneath the old Event card.
3
THE WITNESSES
DESTROY KEY PAGES
OF RITUAL TEXT
Once a faction has Intervened, you cannot return to that Event and
Intervene again: it is closed to time travelers, for now. If you want to change
an Intervention, you must go farther back and use an Echo to overwrite it
first, then you can Intervene in that Event again.
120
EXAMPLE: MAKING AN INTERVENTION
For our game, we decided that in the future the human
gene pool is dangerously stagnant. Our first faction is the
Oro, a benign race of aliens who want to go back and save
the human race by preserving their genetic diversity.
On a player’s turn, she decides to make an Intervention:
the Oro want to change history and split humanity into
two separate societies so it never becomes a single gene
pool.
We already saw how, during the “Slow Exodus from Earth”
Period, vast colony ships first set out for the stars taking
decades to reach their destinations. The player describes
an Oro going back to just before the launch of one of
these ships and reprogramming the navigation system
so it heads to a different planet. By the time the crew
discovers the error, it’s too late: they don’t have sufficient
fuel to correct the massive thruster burn.
The new destination is a habitable world, but it’s so far
from the other colonies that it is completely isolated.
The Oro hope this settlement will prosper and become
the seed of a separate human society over the centuries
that follow, but we won’t know if it works until we see the
Echoes.
This is the second Intervention of the game, so she writes
a two on the card and places it beneath the Period.
Another player asks which planet the ship was supposed
to go to originally. The current player decides it was
Prosperity, a major planet cited in several Events later on.
We mark those Events as contradictions because in this
new history Prosperity was never settled, at least not as
far as we know.
121
ECHO
2
COLONY SHIP
OFF-COURSE, HEADS TO
REMOTE STAR
Echo (Event)
When you make an Echo, you describe how an Event has changed because
of a previous Intervention or Echo. Every Intervention has at least one Echo,
but there is no limit to the number of Echoes that can arise from a single
change to the history. As the repercussions ripple forward, you could have
an Echo of an Echo of an Echo…
To make an Echo, follow these steps:
1)
Declare Cause: Say which Intervention or Echo is causing
your Echo. If the player before you Intervened, you must
Echo that Intervention.
2)
Choose Event: Pick an existing Event or describe how a
new Event we have not seen yet originally turned out.
You can choose an existing Intervention or Echo Event
so long as the number on the cause is higher than the
number on the card you want to change. If there is a
contradiction token on the old Event, remove it.
3)
Describe Echo: Describe how this Event turns out
differently because of the previous Intervention or
Echo.
4)
Mark Contradictions: Put a token on any future Event or
Period that could no longer be true because of this Echo.
If a card already has a token, do not add another. If this
Echo makes something that was already contradicted
possible again, remove that token.
Write your Event on a new card. Draw a slash across the lower right corner
and write the same number as the Intervention or Echo that caused it. If you
revised an existing Event, cross out the old card and stack the new card on
top of it with any old scenes beneath the old Event card.
CULTIST RITUAL ENDS
IN DISASTER
3
Your Echo must be later in the history than the Intervention or Echo that
caused it. A new Event could be something that was already in the history,
but we had not seen it yet, or something that is only happening because of
the changes to the history.
If you are changing an Event that was an Intervention, do not include the
agents or their actions in your new description. Your Echo pre-empts their
visit so it never happens.
122
EXAMPLE: MAKING ECHOES
After the Intervention redirects the colony ship, the next
player must create an Echo. They make a new Echo Event
describing how, since Prosperity wasn’t settled, all the
neighboring colonies exploited the world for their own
growth, stripping the planet of its natural resources. There
are no additional contradictions since most of the cards
about Prosperity are already marked.
PROSPERITY STRIP-MINED
2
Much later in the game, the Lens decides to Focus on
Prosperity. He goes back and makes an Echo of the
“Prosperity strip-mined” Echo. He replaces an Event from
early in the game where Prosperity hosted a conference
of world leaders. Instead, the now-barren Prosperity is
turned into a prison-planet, used jointly by the nearby
worlds as a dumping ground for their undesirables. The
player describes how the convenience of having a whole
world for exiles makes it far too easy for governments to
dispose of anyone inconvenient. Civil liberties suffer.
They look for more contradictions but don’t see any. The
next Period is a time of egalitarianism and prosperity in
this part of the galaxy. That doesn’t seem as likely now,
but it isn’t definitely wrong, so they don’t mark it.
WORLD LEADERS MEET
ON PROSPERITY
2
There was a Scene in the “world leaders meet” Event where
a progressive reformer tried to persuade colleagues to act.
That goes under the old crossed-out Event as well. The
Lens uses his “nested” action to dictate a new version of
that Scene where, instead, that same progressive leader is
being brought to Prosperity as a prisoner. Dark times!
123
ECHO
PROSPERITY TURNED INTO
PRISON-PLANET
The next player is still working with the Prosperity Focus.
In the original history, after the colonies had grown into
one vast nation, wealthy technocrats tried to undermine
the republic and seize power, but they were thwarted.
Early in the game, that “failed technocrat coup” Event
in the “Alliance of Worlds” Period was replaced when
the other faction (who want to elevate humanity into a
new, superior species) made the first Intervention and
engineered the technocrat’s success, putting the Alliance
in the hands of the ambitious few.
The current player replaces that old “technocrats take
power” Intervention Event with an Echo of the prison
planet Echo. Instead of technocrats, the rebels are the
oppressed exiles of Prosperity, throwing off their shackles
and leading a revolt that overthrows the government.
It’s an Echo of an Echo of an Echo of an Intervention.
1
PROSPERITY PRISONERS
REVOLT, TAKE OVER
ALLIANCE OF WORLDS
TECHNOCRATS
TAKE POWER
TECHNOCRAT COUP
FAILS
2
This Echo can overwrite the “technocrat” Intervention
because it has a higher number, meaning the Intervention
that caused it happened later in the game. Because the
Echo overwrote it, the old Intervention never happened.
The technocrats never took power. The players look over
the history that follows and start grabbing contradiction
tokens…
None of those Echoes said much about the Oros’ original
plan of splitting human society, but that’s okay: the
consequences are out of their control, so we just explore
the repercussions that interest us. Other times you
might stick very closely to what the faction was trying to
accomplish. On your turn, it’s up to you.
124
Period, Event or Scene
You can also make normal Periods, Events or Scenes, but there are some
specific things to watch out for.
You cannot create Scenes in Events marked as contradictions since we
don’t know anymore what happened in that Event. Someone must first
Echo or Intervene to update the overall Event. Then you can make Scenes
to explore the details.
You can make a Scene inside of an Intervention or Echo Event. Explore the
details of what the agents did or how things changed. You could even make
a Scene to replay a previous Scene after an Event has changed. Maybe the
starting situation is different now, or maybe it starts the same but may turn
out differently when we play.
If you are creating an Event and anything about it was caused by an
Intervention or another Echo, it must be an Echo instead, not a normal Event.
Likewise, if you want to have a time traveler appear in an Event, it must be
an Intervention, by definition. Time travelers cannot appear anywhere in
Events that are not Interventions (and that includes Scenes that are not in
Intervention Events). Even if the time traveler does not cause any change,
their presence is a deviation from the original history.
ECHO
You may create new Periods that are part of the original history or which
have been influenced by the changes caused by the time travelers, but
unlike Echo Events, you don’t mark Period cards to show what Intervention
influenced it. Instead, you’ll decide which Periods have changed because of
time travel at the end of each round.
125
Overwriting Changes: High Numbers Win
When a faction tampers with history, changes happen immediately, but we
may not see all the repercussions until players make Echoes. It’s just like in
normal Microscope: the details of the history already exist even if we have
not seen them yet. And we may not see all the impacts until much later. You
could wait until the very end of the game and then go back and make an
Echo from the very first Intervention.
But even though you could wait until later in the game to show the impact
of an early Intervention, it could not overwrite an Intervention or Echo that
happened later in the game because they were not even part of the history
when the earlier Intervention took effect.
To keep track of how different changes overwrite each other, the numbers
on Intervention and Echo cards show when each change took effect on the
history. The cardinal rule is:
You can only replace an Intervention or Echo if the
new number would be higher than the old one.
If you are making an Echo and the number on the card that caused it is
lower than the card you want to overwrite, your Echo came earlier, so it
couldn’t overwrite something that changed the history later on.
To put it another way, later Interventions always trump earlier Interventions,
and Echoes are part of the Intervention that caused them.
126
Rules of Time Travel
Time travel can get pretty tangled. Echo keeps it relatively simple
by allowing only people from the future—beyond the end of the
Microscope history—to move through time. The game is really
about seeing how the changes you make would cause your
history to turn out differently. It’s a game of “what if”. The factions
are just a tool that lets us do that.
The rules also prevent direct conflict between enemy agents.
Once a faction Intervenes, that Event is closed to time travelers.
If the other side wants to counter what their rivals did, they have
to go back farther and do something that overwrites that Event
with an Echo. The factions are also at least temporarily immune
to consequences of their tampering, even if their future isn’t, so
nothing can take a faction out of play until we decide to end the
game.
The layout of the cards is also designed to remind everyone that
there is always only one history in existence: the current history
showing on the table. You always work with the cards you can see
right now, not the cards that have been replaced and covered up.
Those are just kept for reference, though you are welcome to try
to turn things back to how they used to be. History changes. It
doesn’t branch or split into alternate realities.
127
ECHO
During their visits, you can have the factions Intervene in any
way you want to change the past—you can give atomic weapons
to cave men—but small, subtle changes may be much more
effective than drastic ones. At the end of each round, everyone
will judge how all the changes have impacted the history,
including the possibility that the past is so different now that it
no longer leads to anything like the original future, causing both
factions to lose. If you describe changes that other players think
are too extreme, they are likely to vote that the future you knew
has ceased to exist entirely.
Marking Contradictions
When an Intervention or Echo makes another Event or Period impossible,
we mark those Periods and Events with a contradiction token as a reminder
that they are out-of-date or different than first described. We will not see
exactly how the marked Periods and Events have changed until a player
revises or replaces them. For now we just know they are wrong.
Only mark literal contradictions, places where the current description of an
Event or Period is now impossible.
A player made an Intervention where an agent went back
in time and assassinated Cardinal Xeles, but there was
already an Event later in the history where Xeles declared
the President a heretic. If he is already dead, he could not
be in that Event, so we put a contradiction token on it. If a
player makes an Echo to replace that contradicted Event,
it may turn out that a different Cardinal did the exact same
thing or something totally different happened instead: we
don’t know yet.
Only put one contradiction token on a card. Once it is marked as a
contradiction, you do not need to mark it again. When you update a Period
or replace an Event with an Intervention or Echo, the token is removed.
Likewise, if later Interventions or Echoes undo a contradiction in the history
(“The Cardinal’s assassination never happened!”), remove the tokens from
the Periods and Events that are no longer impossible.
Contradictions are reminders to help us keep track of grey areas in the
history. You are never required to address them and you are not limited
to only changing parts of the history that have contradictions. The only
mechanical impact is that you can’t play scenes in contradicted Events.
Update a Period
At the end of the round, the player to the right of the Lens picks a Period
to update. Revise the Period description to take into account changes we
have already seen in the history. The new description must fit any existing
Events (including Interventions and Echoes) unless they are already marked
as contradictions.
This is a powerful opportunity to show how all the individual changes to the
history have added up and had a major impact. But if it feels like nothing
has changed, feel free to say so and leave the Period the same.
Cross out the old Period card, then write a new one and put it on top.
Remove any contradiction tokens from this Period card, but not from Events
in the Period. The new Period must match what we know about the history,
so it cannot generate new contradictions.
128
Judgment
At the end of each round, you judge whether either faction achieved
their goal. Was the history altered so that it now leads to the future they
wanted?
But tampering with history is not without perils. Drastic changes can have
unpredictable consequences. If the alterations to the history are too extreme,
the past may become so different that it no longer leads to the factions’
future at all. It may spin off into a new, totally-unrelated future, erasing the
world they came from, resulting in utter failure for both factions.
To decide, we vote. Remind everyone that no outcome, no matter how dire,
will end the game unless we want it to. Do not discuss what you think the
outcome should be ahead of time. Read the options below, then everyone
holds out one hand and votes simultaneously. The Roman numerals at the
top of the faction cards match how many fingers to hold out to vote for
them.
First faction is achieving their goal: one finger.
Second faction is achieving their goal: two fingers.
History is broken: thumbs down. The past is so different
that it no longer leads to the factions’ future at all. Both
factions lose.
No change yet: open hand flat. The past is not different
enough to meaningfully alter the future.
The choice that gets the most votes is how the history turns out. It does not
have to be a majority of the votes. If there’s a tie, we can’t see the answer. We
haven’t explored the new history enough to understand the consequences.
It could go either way.
If one faction achieved their goal, briefly describe what the future is like
now. But even if one side wins or the history is completely destroyed…
well it’s time travel, right? You can keep playing and go back to try to fix it.
The factions themselves are insulated enough that nothing in the past can
unravel them before they have a chance to do something about it. Even if
their present is erased, they can still go back and try to save things unless
the players have decided to end the game.
129
ECHO
If the second faction’s goal is simply to maintain the history’s original
outcome, do not include the “no change” option since that would be the
same as voting for that faction. Only include the first three choices.
Echo in Play: Fall of Atlantis
I
II
EXILES
PROPHETS
SAVE ATLANTIS
DESTROY ATLANTIS
ATLANTEAN
TYRANNY,
MAINLAND
ENSLAVED
GOLDEN AGE
OF
ATLANTIS
ATLANTIS
DECADENT &
WEAK
(START)
ATLANTIS SENDS SCHOLARS
TO AID MAINLAND
CITY-STATES
2
WHAT DID THE
PREACHER
KING OF ATLANTIS
SPARES
DOOM-SAYER
1
TYRANT ETROS BUILDS
COLOSSUS IN
HIS IMAGE
SCHOLARS GO INTO HIDING,
PRESERVE LORE
2
CITY-STATE ALCYRA
LEADS REVOLT TO FREE
MAINLAND
CITY-STATE ALCYRA
LEVELED, CITIZENS
ENSLAVED
1
TO BURN
DO THE PEOPLE
APPROVE OF THE
KINGMARRIAGE
OF ATLANTIS WEDS
BRIDE FROM MAINLAND,
ROYAL BLOODLINE TAINTED
THEY FEAR THE
ACHON TOO
MUCH TO
DISAGREE
130
FOCUS
YES
NO
t4$*&/$&
t(0%4"11&"3
t4-"7&3:
t3&"-."(*$
t461&345*5*0/
RETURN OF
VIRTUOUS
RULERS
1) KING ETROS
2) THAUMATURGES
3) BATTLE OF
THALAMAS
THAUMATURGES
UNLOCK
MYSTERIES
ATLANTIS
SINKS
(END)
KING OF ATLANTIS SEEKS
SECRET OF IMMORTALITY
FROM THAUMATURGES
HIM WHAT
HE WANTS TO
HEAR
COLOSSUS
TORN DOWN
MASSIVE BLOOD SACRIFICE
IN VAIN ATTEMPT
TO APPEASE GODS
COLOSSUS TOPPLED
BY ANGRY MOB
1
3
MAD KING BURNS
PALACE DOWN AROUND
HIMSELF
KING OF ATLANTIS
EXILES
THAUMATURGES
3
131
ECHO
3
DO THE THAUMATURGES LIE
BATTLE OF THALAMAS,
REBEL SHIPS DEFEAT
CRAVEN KING
Ending the Game
Like other Microscope games, it could never end. The factions could keep
tampering with the past indefinitely. But also like normal Microscope, in the
real world the game is limited by the time you have to play.
It is best to decide that you are going to end your game at the start of a
round, when a new Lens begins, so that everyone knows this will be their
last turn and they can go for broke.
Your last Judgment decides the ultimate outcome of the history. If one
faction wins, they overcome their enemies and get the future they desired.
And if the past becomes so different that it no longer leads to their present,
then the factions and their future are lost forever. Your final vote decides it
all.
If you put away your cards to continue later, just stack them the way you
would a normal Microscope history. When you deal them back out, any
crossed-out cards sit underneath the card above them.
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Afterword
There are two particular challenges to playing Echo compared to a normal
Microscope game. The first is identifying or imagining critical moments
in history that would change the future if they turned out differently. The
second is thinking of ways an agent could physically intervene and alter
those events. Both are really tests of a player’s fluency with cause and effect.
What could a single person do to change the course of an entire empire? If
you can’t work backwards and think of an action that would generate the
outcome you want, you will have a hard time playing Echo.
No Status Quo
Because time travelers cannot return to Events that a faction has already
Intervened until they’ve been overwritten with an Echo, there’s no neat and
clean way to stop the changes the other side has made. You can’t go back to
right before a time traveler shoots the King and stop the assassin. Instead,
you have to go farther back and make a change that will ripple forward and
alter the situation before they even interfere. But that also creates more
unpredictable consequences.
By removing the option to just cancel what the other side did, the rules
remove any easy route back to the status quo. The situation and the history
always gets more complicated, not simpler. That’s entirely by design.
Who Needs Time Travel?
It’s an easy switch: instead of making factions, just pick two goals you are
interested in exploring. Then use the “Omnipotent” method so you can
just describe parts of the history turning out differently without anyone
causing it. No other changes are necessary. The “no time travel” option is
particularly good for exploring alternate real world history. What if General
Lee had called off Pickett’s Charge? What if Hannibal had not been politically
unpopular in Carthage and had gotten the reinforcements he needed to
conquer Rome?
But you don’t have to limit yourself to just the past. Are you worried about the
future? Think you have a good about idea where we are all headed? Climate
change, financial collapse, corporate take-overs or one world government?
Make that the end point of your Echo history and then explore what would
have to change to avoid it. Again, skip the factions and the time travel. Start
with real historical events and then turn things around—if you can. Explore
what society would have to do differently to change that outcome.
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ECHO
Want to just tinker with history and do “what if” experiments? You can
remove the concept of time travel entirely and just use the Echo rules to
see how things turn out differently when you make changes to history.
Echo, the Adventure Game
It is surprisingly easy to combine Echo with a regular adventure game.
You can run adventures where the player characters are the agents of
one faction going back in time to change history (“We’ve got to stop the
Venusian ambassador from signing the treaty!”). Then you jump back and
use Echo to see the repercussions, which spurs more adventures to deal
with the fallout. Piece of cake.
And that’s before you even throw in the enemy faction sending their
own agents to sabotage the past. If you want some good old-fashioned
time traveler versus time traveler combat, break the normal rules and run
adventures where both sides (player characters and their enemies) go
to the same Event and fight to make things turn out the way they want.
Instead of one side deciding the outcome of the Intervention, you play the
adventure to see what happens, which could make the resulting Echoes
even more unpredictable. After the session is over, that Intervention is
closed to further time travelers as usual.
Disco Must Die
“Hey, where’s the comedy time travel?!? I want to go back in time and prank
a rival fraternity!”
Most of the settings I talk about are serious, but there is no reason you
couldn’t use Echo for much lighter fare. Go back and prevent Disco
from taking over the world. Bring back bellbottoms. Help goldfish win
World War II.
You don’t need to change a single rule to play Echo as a gonzo game of
time travel hijinks. Just agree that this is the kind of game you want to play
at the start.
The Unexamined Life
Want to get personal? In every person’s life, changing the past is the one
thing you absolutely never get to do. You will never know how things would
have turned out differently—if.
Instead of the epic scale of history, use Echo to examine one life—maybe
even your own life. Will it change your past? No, but it might tell you
something about what you want out of the future.
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EXPERIMENTS
If you want to experiment and push your Microscope game into unexplored
territory, here are some variations you can try. Some are the creations of
brave Microscope players who decided to push the envelope, and there are
probably many more I have never even heard of.
The experiments I describe here are just a few examples of what’s possible.
Some change the premise of the history or are based on a particular
concept, like a history that describes a voyage and uses Periods to represent
locations as well as the time the travelers spend there. Others are purely
mechanical shifts that you could use in any Microscope game, like showing
how threads of Events are related by lining up the cards a certain way
beneath the Period.
But a word of warning: the Microscope rules are very carefully tuned
to balance creativity with consensus and let everyone have fun in the
process. Seemingly small changes can have sweeping impacts on the play
experience. Unlike Chronicle, Union and Echo, these experiments have
not been carefully tested. Some have never even been attempted. Gamer
beware!
136
Reincarnation
Death is not an ending. We’ve met before and we’ll meet again, in new lives
and with new faces. Our fates are intertwined.
A reincarnation history centers around a small cast of characters who keep
crossing paths in one life after another. The characters may know nothing
of their past lives, but the players get to witness how their tragedies and
triumphs follow them from one existence to the next. They could be starcrossed lovers meeting lifetime after lifetime or bitter enemies trapped in
an endless cycle of vengeance. Or both. You can also span very different
eras in your history to put their lives in sharp contrast: your rival once cut
you down in a gladiator arena, but now you’re facing off in a corporate
boardroom.
The main challenge is that, initially, you know nothing about the characters
who are going to keep returning. What do you call them? How do you keep
track of who’s who? A simple solution is to assign the characters abstract
labels that identify them no matter what life they are now living. This also
lets you establish how many characters you are following. Shuo Meng,
Pat Kemp, Marc Hobbs and Caroline Hobbs came up with the idea for the
reincarnation history and when I played it with them we used card suits to
identify our four primary characters: Heart, Diamond, Spade, Club.
As abstract as those symbols are, they influenced the way we thought of
the characters and their relationships to each other: the red suits, Heart
and Diamond, were romantically involved and were generally seen as the
protagonists while Spade and Club often had darker stories unfold. And
since we knew there were four characters, we knew whether or not there
were characters still unintroduced in each lifetime. More than once they
were brought in unexpectedly, casting the situation in a very different light.
No one had introduced Spade yet in this life. Was she the jilted lover of
Diamond? Or the killer lurking outside Heart’s window?
Following the same reincarnated characters across the entire history
contradicts the usual advice to avoid immortal characters in a Microscope
game, but it works if the characters have no knowledge of their other lives.
They can turn out to be very different people in different parts of the history,
and the players have a lot of freedom to change the situation instead of
being stuck playing the same characters over and over again.
You can play a reincarnation history in any genre without ever exploring
why it is happening, or you could make the cause part of your story. In
a fantasy setting, they might be chosen ones, blessed (or cursed) by the
gods to return to the mortal world until some deed is accomplished. In a
science fiction setting, there might be technology that grants this strange
form of immortality, translating dying essence to a new body without all
the burdens of memory.
137
Divided History: Now & Then
Archaeologists unearth a hidden tomb, but instead of the royal sarcophagus
they hoped to find, there is only a jumble of bones littering the floor. Then
we jump back thousands of years earlier and see the new Pharaoh condemn
his rival brother to be buried alive, sealing him in the chamber that their
father prepared for both of them…
A divided history is much like a standard Microscope game except that,
instead of exploring the entire timeline, we limit ourselves to two eras
separated by a gap that we skip over. There’s a future and a past, and we
ignore the middle. The game revolves around the differences between
those two distinct eras and how they influence each other. In the example
above, one era would be ancient Egypt, when the Pharaohs walked the
sands as living gods and the great pyramids were raised, while the other
is the time when colonial archaeologists first plundered their tombs and
unearthed their ancient secrets.
Each era is almost like its own history. Each has a start Period and an end
Period, and everything thing you add to the history has to be within one of
those two eras. The gap between the end Period of the first era and the start
Period of the later era is left vacant and cannot be explored during play.
A divided history works best when there is a clear connection between
the two eras but also a distinct difference between them. The discoveries
that the modern archaeologists uncover have a direct connection to the
events that unfold in ancient Egypt, but at the same time the two eras are
unmistakably different. In one we have priests and god-kings erecting
immortal monuments and in the others we have academics and treasure
hunters standing on the very same ground, sifting through the sand to
understand the past or plunder its treasures.
The advantage of the divided history is that you are driven to create sharp
connections (and contrasts) between the two eras you have chosen to
explore because you leave out all the material in-between. If you create a
divided history exploring the early days of space exploration and the height
of the galactic federation it established, you are more likely to examine
whether or not the outcome was what the original explorers intended, how
the pioneers were remembered by their descendants, etc.
138
Parallel Histories
In one history, soldiers burn the temple to the ground. In another, cooler
minds prevail and the tragedy is averted. How does that one pivotal event
change all the history that follows? Does destroying that one temple inspire
holy wars? Does saving it prevent them?
Before I made Echo, I experimented with ways to explore alternate histories
by playing with two parallel times instead of one. The cards of the second
timeline sat as a mirror image above the first, the rows of Periods next to
each other and Events in the top history stacked up instead of down, etc.
On their turn, each player could opt to add to either history to show how it
was the same or different.
J.C. Lundberg came up with an even better approach: you start with a
normal history, but then you decide on a point of divergence, something
important enough that it could change the history if it turned out differently.
You describe two different outcomes, and from there on the Periods split
into a “Y”, with one timeline before the incident but two different futures
afterwards, each the result of one of the outcomes. On their turn, players
are free to make history in any of the three sections of the history: the
undivided early history or either of the two alternate futures.
Territory Not Time
At its heart, a Microscope history is simply a three-level outline, generated
by a procedure that ensures that players contribute independently but also
build on each other’s ideas. Players have experimented with using that
same structure to make other things, like building geography instead of
history.
Lowell Francis created a clever adaptation of Microscope to build a city
with his players as a setting for an adventure game. Periods become
neighborhoods of the city. Events become places, things or notable people
within specific neighborhoods. Then instead of Scenes players can dictate
rumors about one of the places, people, etc.
Later, Terry Franguiadakis tried an unrelated experiment to make a
Microscope game that explored a region. In the game I played with him, our
“history” was an island, and Periods were locations like the sacred volcano
and the sundered city. Beneath the Period level, we played Events and
Scenes much like normal Microscope, exploring what happened in each of
the locations at different times, creating a mix of history and geography.
139
Journey
Wandering mariners, cursed by the Gods. A caravan bearing spices to
distant lands. A rag-tag fugitive fleet seeking a new world to call home.
In a journey history, your game spans a trip or voyage. Each Period
represents a location the travelers pass through, so it is both a place and
a time in the journey. If we have a Period where our ship drops anchor at
a verdant tropical island, then anything that happens before we leave that
island is an Event in this Period. Some Periods might be brief, others very
long: we wandered in the desert for years, but spent only a few days at the
strange ruins we found. You could make a tight history about a small group
of travelers or a vast story covering the migration of an entire population.
If your journey returns to a previous location, you could use the same place
for a new Period. A round-trip could even end up exactly where it starts…
or maybe things don’t turn out that way. If our journey is a mission to Mars,
the first location could be the NASA center where the mission is originally
thought up and planned, long before a rocket is built. Shall we make our
last location a celebration at the same space center where the mission was
born, or the surface of Mars where a doomed expedition has no way to
return?
Journeys work well with the Chronicle rules since your whole history is
about one trip, but you could just as easily use normal Microscope rules.
Micro-Histories
Instead of an epic history, what about a history that spans one person’s life?
Or a single day? A few years back at Story Games Seattle, Terry Franguiadakis
experimented with Microscope games that compressed the entire history
into a extremely small timeframe and scope, like a single day in the life of
a person.
As I discussed in the original book, a history with lots of room gives you
more creative freedom, but that doesn’t mean that “micro-Microscope”
can’t work. It just means you won’t have the same flexibility as a normal
game. Just like in Chronicle, a tighter concept or scope trades freedom for
focus. If your entire history is about one person, then anything a player
reveals about that person is going to have a major impact on the game for
everyone. There’s no avoiding it.
If you start with some mystery or apparent contradiction, you can play
your micro-history as an elaborate jigsaw puzzle. It can be a challenge just
fitting all the pieces together in a way that explains everything. How did an
ordinary day at office end in… murder?! Go back and find out.
140
Threaded Events
At the far edge of the empire, the horse clans trample city after city into the
dust. But far away in the heart of the capital, the queen has been replaced
by her twin sister. Intrigue boils!
Those Events are all in the same Period, but they are really describing two
different chains of events. If you want to make those connections clearer,
you can use Event threads to show how items are related even if they are
not right next to each other in time.
To create an Event thread, instead of lining up all the cards directly beneath
the Period, shift related Events slightly left or right to make distinct columns.
Other Events that are not part of a thread remain in the central column. A
simple Period might have only two columns (the default column and one
recurring thread) while a complex Period could have several more. You do
not need to shift the cards very far. Just stagger them enough to make it
visually clear that they are in separate columns (a quarter of a card width or
less). Move the neighboring Periods farther apart to give yourself room.
Event threads do not change the rules of the game since all Events are still in
chronological order within the Period. They just make it easier to see things
that are connected at a glance. You can even start threading Events in the
middle of a game if you decide it would make the history easier to follow.
141
Mega-Periods
Sometimes a single Period is not enough to describe a phase of your history.
Instead of creating just one Period, you might want to break it into several
distinct but clearly-connected stages to explore all the ups and downs.
But how do you do that? Alexis Dinno asked this very question. Luckily,
the solution is very simple: just create separate adjacent Periods and give
them all the same title that describes the mega-Period (e.g. “the Red Kings”)
followed by the individual description that shows what happens in this
particular part.
RISE OF THE
WEST
RED KINGS
RED KINGS
THE NEW
REALM
MERCHANT
REBELLION
CRUSADE
IN THE
EAST
Mechanically, they are perfectly ordinary Periods. The labels just clarify their
relationship. And since you would only be able to create one Period on your
turn anyway, you would initially only make one part of a mega-Period, but
you could declare your intention that it was part of a broader era. Later, you
or other players might make more Periods to flesh out the mega-Period, or
you might not.
Long Focus
If you want to spend more time digging into each subject, you can try
extending all Focuses to two rotations around the table instead of one.
When you come back to the Lens the first time, they take a turn like any
other player and you keep going around. When you come back to the Lens
a second time, they take their normal end-turn, making two nested things
if they want. Then you play the Legacy phase and rotate to a new Lens as
usual.
Obviously, this option makes each Focus you pick much more important
since it lasts twice as long. In any Microscope game, the next Lens always
has the option to repeat the same Focus (or even a Focus from much earlier
in the game), but this is different because it doesn’t require a Lens to use
up their choice to extend someone else’s creation. It just makes each Focus
longer. Playing with long Focuses is better suited to a longer game (or
multiple sessions) where it won’t rob other players of their chance to make
a Focus.
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AFTERWORD
Leap of Faith
In some ways, I am astounded every time someone agrees to sit down and
play Microscope. Because until you start making your history, you have no
idea what you are in for. You cannot know what your game will be about
ahead of time. It is impossible, by design.
You’re taking a leap of faith, every single time. You are hoping and trusting
that you’ll sit down with these people and build something together
that you enjoy but which you cannot predict. And when you finish, you’ll
stand up and look on your works and marvel, “Only hours ago, none of this
existed.”
It’s an even bigger leap when you’re playing with strangers. Want to
schedule a game at a con? How are you going to pitch Microscope? “We’re
going to make an entire universe together, but I can’t tell you anything
about what it’s going to be like or even what genre it will be because it
doesn’t exist yet. It can’t exist until we all sit down and start talking. But it’ll
be great! Probably.”
Yes, a game like Microscope asks for a lot of trust. But the leap of faith
has rewards. Because the fiction doesn’t exist until we all sit down, it truly
belongs to all of us. We are the authors, together. We’re all equals in its
creation, so we can all be proud of what we’ve made, together. We know we
made something out of nothing.
Honestly, the mere idea that people are willing to make this leap, that they’re
willing to take a risk and trust that they can make something marvelous
with other people (including total strangers) is nothing short of amazing.
It’s not just faith in the procedures of the game: it’s faith in other people. It’s
your faith in humanity, and I love you for it.
A Different Future
A while back, I got an unusual email from a Microscope player. They wanted
to use Microscope to help save their city. Their real city. Detroit.
Jacob Corvidae’s idea was to bring together people in the community to
envision a possible future for the city—one with difficulties and hardships,
no doubt, but a future with a positive ending. The future-history they
created in Microscope would be the basis for art installations around the
city: fictional landmarks commemorating events that had not happened
yet—would probably never happen.
Detroit was facing a lot of problems, but it also had a lot of opportunities to
innovate and start fresh. Would seeing an imagined future help someone
on the street see their community in a whole new way? Would it inspire
144
them? Would it challenge them? Would it change the way they think? At
all?
We know art can change minds. It always has. But could you come together
and use a tool like Microscope to break free of the past and visualize the
world and the future you wanted?
I don’t know the answer. But I’m blown away by the question.
In an interview, game designer Emily Care Boss said that Microscope
“sweeps away blinders of limits we enforce on the medium, which, I hope,
will help us better realize the full potential of this form. There is so much
more we could be doing.”
“There is so much more we could be doing” is exactly right, not just in how
we design games, but in what we could be doing with games in the world—
in communities, in classrooms, in businesses. Those are not just blinders we
put on the medium of games: they are blinders we put on ourselves. How
many people are convinced that they are not creative, that they could not
make stories themselves instead of only consuming books or movies that
others make for them? But what I find when I play with new people is that
they surprise themselves. They are more creative than they thought. We all
are. But we are called upon to be creative so rarely in our day-to-day lives.
We need the tools and opportunity to see it, to prove it to ourselves.
I’m not a teacher. I’m not a therapist. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a
community activist. I don’t know all the ways we could be using games in all
those walks of life to make our world a better place. I’m the wrong person
to ask. But since I made Microscope, I’ve heard from teachers and therapists
and entrepreneurs and activists who are looking at games and thinking
about how to use them. And that gets me excited.
Microscope is just a game. It can’t build roads or feed the hungry. It can’t
leap off the table and fix Detroit. But Microscope, and other games like it,
can help us see that we all have a lot more potential than we may realize.
And they can help us think differently, to break free of our assumptions.
And that can do a lot.
145
Thanks
This seemed like such an easy project when I first imagined it: just put
together some useful tips for Microscope. How hard could that be? But as
I came up with more and more things I wanted to include, it grew into a
somewhat fearsome beast.
There are a lot of different bits and pieces in this book and a lot of different
people helped me figure them out. They all deserve so much more thanks
than could fit in these pages:
My truly tireless editor, Carole Robbins, who made finishing this book
possible. And the entire Robbins family for their love, support and keen
insight into the end of the world.
Pat for always being ready to hear new ideas (not to mention being one of
my favorite people to play Microscope with) and, along with Feiya, hosting
so many Make Stuff nights where so much vital work got done. Alex for
always fearlessly trying new Microscope ideas. The three of us hammered
out important details of time travel in Pat’s kitchen while he burned loaded
dice.
Mike for braining up the finger-dice, among many other things. Trey for
reminding me to steal (ahem, recycle) my own ideas.
Ashley, who demonstrated an unexpected knack for time travel. I suspect a
faction sent her from the future to ensure this book got done.
And, finally, thanks to my unstoppable partners-in-game-design-crime,
Marc & Caroline, especially for providing essential therapy by letting me
rant about their games when I needed a break from my own (Have you tried
Downfall yet? Go play it!). Guilt Con is where the magic happens.
…and thanks for playing
When you’re designing games, bad sessions are often the most educational,
but the great ones hold a special place in your heart. It’s hard to pick
favorites, but these sessions absolutely set the mold for what each of the
Microscope spin-off games should be:
Drew and Tim for giving Union a beautiful and poignant start.
Tim, Aaron and Greg for the “Citizen Kane of spaceship stories.”
Pat, Erik and Andy for twisting the Cold War until the Star-Spangled Banner
only waved on the Moon.
146
Playtesters
Players are the oxygen of game design. Lots and lots of players have put
their valuable time and energy into trying out the new material in this
book. My sincere thanks to every one of you:
Aaron Herbert, Aaron Lussier, Adam Drew, Adam Moffett, Albert Bellefeuille,
Albey Amakiir, Alex Guerrero-Randall, Alex Motola, Alexandre Capra Fritsch,
Allie Baker, Andi Carrison, Andrea Morgando, Andy Michael, Anna Kanter,
Anthony Giovannetti, Ariel Gustsack, Ayal Resnick, Brandon Sawyer, Brian Raff,
Camila Roa Poveda, Carlos Herrera, Caroline Hobbs, Cassandra Rae, Cathy B.,
Chirag Asnani, Chris Williams, Clara Warford, Darin Shepit, David Fooden,
David Kanter, David Leaman, Derek Smyk, Doug Bartlett, Doug Bonar,
Drew Besse, Ed Turner, Eduardo Rodriguez, Eli Hardwig, Elin Roe Ramsey,
Elliot Halloran, Emma Clark, Emmy Bates, Eric Levanduski, Eric Logan, Eric
Volk, Erik Hamilton, Erin Keeney, Eunice Hung, Evan, Evan Jeshka, Feiya Wang,
Flinn Lawson, Garth ‘The Shadow’ Rose, Geoff Moffett, Geoff Vogel, George
Austin, Greg, Gregory Ponto, Gustavo Pinto, Hans Messersmith, Harrison
Parker, Heather Currey, Hobbit, Holly Feray, Ivor Moody, J.C. Lundberg,
Jacqueline Ashwell, James Glover, James Graham, James Torrance, James
Wardle-Parker, Jason Elkins, Jerome Virnich, Jim Hibbard, Joe Iglesias, Joe
Wandyez, John Keyworth, John Pender, Joshua Keeney, Kim Motola, Kristian
Haugsdal, Lucien Smith, Marc Forbes, Marc Hobbs, Mary Fortune, Matthew
Gilmore, Max Hervieux, Michael Paulini, Michael Prescott, Michael Such,
Michelle Nix, Mikael Andersson, Mike Carozza, Monica, Nick Marshall, Noel
Warford, Nurit Karni, Oren Bernstein, Pat Kemp, Patrick Walsh, Ray Metz,
Richard Borland, Richard Scott, Richard Williams, Robert Bruce, Robert
Rees, Roger Duthie, Rush Wright, Rustin Simons, Sam Zeitlin, Sarah, Shamus
Cassidy, Shaul Katznelson, Shimon Alkon, Stephen Shapiro, Steve Czeck,
Steve Nix, Steve Werner, Suzanne Wallace, Taz, Terry Franguiadakis, Tim
Bedard, Tim Groth, Tim Madden, Tim Mauldin, Timothy Young, Tod Foley,
Tom Cleghorn, Tom Massari, Tony Egan, Veles Svitlychny, Will Chung, Will
McGinty, Winston Bunting, Ziv Wities
147
GOLDEN RULES
CHRONICLE
ECHO
Make your ideas clear and complete
Setup
1) Your Chronicle
2) Bookends
3) Palette
4) First Pass
Make Factions
1) Goal
2) Opposition’s Goal
3) How Can You Change History?
4) Describe Factions & Future
Play
Everything you make must relate to
the Chronicle.
Make History
1) Big Picture
2) Bookends
3) Palette
4) First Pass
5) Second Pass
Zoom in, make people, name things
No collaboration
No contradictions
No surprises after the Palette
Talk before you write
Always explain Light & Dark
Enforce the rules
Listen charitably
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE!
Pick something from recent turns and
ask yourself which parts of its story
have not been described yet.
REFERENCE SHEET
This is quick overview of the rules you can refer to quickly,
but always follow the complete instructions in the book. For
more information about Microscope visit lamemage.com.
Copyright © 2015 Ben Robbins
Birth: Their creation or starting point.
Victory: A moment of triumph, even if
we know they fail later.
Failure: A moment of defeat or doubt,
even if we know they succeed later.
End: Their death or destruction.
Make the part that hasn’t been made
yet. Want more options? Try these:
Foreshadow: The situation that lead up
to their origin.
Fulfillment: The moment when they
become the thing we know them as
(the king is crowned, the city grows
into a metropolis).
Legacy: Memories or repercussions of
them after they are gone.
If you are making the first Event in
a Period, you also make the Anchor
character first. Everything in a Period
must relate to the Anchor.
UNION
Setup
1) Family Tree
2) Hero’s Deed
3) Necessity
4) Hero’s Traits
5) Palette
6) First Pass, Make Ancestors
PARENT
life before
the union
UNION
how they came
together
PARENT
Play
1) Lens Declares Focus
2) Lens Makes History
3) Other Players Make History
4) Lens Finishes Focus
5) Update a Period
6) Judgment
7) New Lens
3
THE WITNESSES
DESTROY KEY PAGES
OF RITUAL TEXT
life before
the union
FATE
what happened
after the child
Play
1) Lens Picks Focus Card
2) Make History: Fill in a blank section
(Parent, Union, Fate or Offspring) or
make a scene in a filled section.
3) Lens Finishes the Focus
4) Explore a Legacy
5) New Lens
INTERVENE
CULTIST RITUAL ENDS
IN DISASTER
3
ECHO
Take Microscope Farther…
Whole new ways to play Microscope, the fractal role-playing game of
epic histories! Microscope Explorer is loaded with tools and strategies
to get the most out of your games.
Need an idea for your history? More than a dozen step-by-step SEEDS
can get you playing quickly, or use an ORACLE to randomly generate
one of over forty-thousand possible histories to spark your
imagination.
Want to try something different? Play one of three new Microscope
spin-off games. Explore family history with UNION. Tell the story of a
single city or a sword of power with CHRONICLE. Or travel back in time
and re-write history with ECHO.
There’s much, much more, like tips for improving play, techniques for
collaborative WORLD-BUILDING, and experimental variants like
reincarnation histories. Lots of new stuff for you to try out!
Microscope Explorer: History will never be the same.
Requires the Microscope role-playing game.
ISBN 978-0-9832779-2-7
52499 >
Lame Mage Productions
www.lamemage.com
9 780983 277927