Author-led Role-playing

ALRP: a role-playing game played in writing, one post every two weeks.

One person is the author. Every two weeks the author publishes a post to the book, and the book is how stories become canon. Everyone else is a player. There may also be readers, who follow the book without sending ideas in.

The author and the players take turns writing. After a post goes up, the players have one week to read it and send the author their comments and ideas; a couple of sentences can be enough. The author then spends a week writing the next post, and uses as much or as little of what came in as they like.

Players never meet face to face, so it is a game of information and influence: spies and henchmen, alliances and betrayal. A player can take only a few actions, and waits for the next post to learn whether they worked.

Play

  • The ALRP rules The whole game and its variations: session zero, secrets, split timelines.OpenPDF
  • Play online Run a game or join one: the book, your players' ideas and your secrets in one place.Open
  • Writing Prompt Game Roll a random genre, setting and character to start a story.Open
  • Dice Test Roll a die enough times to find out whether it is biased.Open

Prepare a game

For whoever runs the game, at a tabletop or as an ALRP author: roll what you need, keep what fits, roll the rest.

  • Character Personality, motivation, profession, standing, a tie to a player character, and a secret.Open
  • Encounter What happens, where, who is there, what they want, and the complication.Open
  • Genre and setting Genre, time period, location and tone for a new game.Open
  • Plotline The hook, who is behind it, what they want, the stakes, and the twist.Open