Narratopia

Narratopia is a game where you tell stories, but it's not one of those games with lists of things you're supposed to tell stories about. When you play Narratopia you tell stories about anything you want, and you connect them together to build a story out of stories. If other story games are like video games with quests and experience levels, Narratopia is like an open-ended sandbox game. Talk about cats! Talk about road trips! Talk about babies! The sky's the limit - and it's your sky.

Note: If you like DIY or want a cheaper game, check out the print and play version.

What's in the box?

Connection cards (42 of them) that represent the ways people typically string stories together, like:

• I remember a _ _ _ like that. Once...
• What you said about _ _ _ reminds me of the time when...
• I made the same mistake once, when...

Question cards (42 of these too) that represent questions people often ask about stories in conversation, like:

• What would have happened if _ _ _?
• What did _ _ _ know about _ _ _?
• How do you think _ _ _ would feel about _ _ _?

Tokens (30 each of five types) that represent the ways people give each other feedback during story sharing, like:

• you surprised me
• I was moved by what you said
• I learned from you

Story forms (100) and game forms (40) that help you remember the stories you told and the game you played. (You can download and print more if you need them.)

What is Narratopia based on?

Narratopia emerged from decades of published (and fascinating) research on conversational story sharing that studied how we:

• connect stories together
• negotiate telling rights
• play stories off against each other
• ask for and give feedback
• use stories to make sense of things

If we already do this naturally, what do we need Narratopia for?

We're out of practice. Today our story diet is so dominated by packaged, processed stories that we've forgotten how to enjoy our own home-grown stories. Narratopia is like a paleo diet for storytelling. You'd be amazed how much fun it can be to tell your own stories to people who know you exist.

Travel back in time and master the ancient art of conversational story sharing! Or just have some fun with your friends and family! (It's the same thing!)