Narratopia Print and Play

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: This is the print and play version of Narratopia. For the ready-to-play version see https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/narratopia

What do I need to print the game?

• a color printer (ink-jet or laser; double-sided is better)
• about 25 pages of card stock
• about 60 pages of multipurpose (plain) paper
• something to cut paper with, like a paper cutter or scissors

What's in the downloads?

Narratopia Connection Cards.pdf

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

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

Narratopia Question Cards.pdf

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

• What would have happened if (something)?
• What did (someone) know about (something)?
• How do you think (someone) would feel about (something)?

Narratopia Tokens.pdf

Narratopia Token Mats.pdf

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

Narratopia Story Forms.pdf

Narratopia Game Forms.pdf

Story forms (180) and game forms (40) that help you remember the stories you told and the game you played. (You can print more if you need them.)

Also:

Narratopia Print and Play Instructions.pdf

Narratopia Instructions.pdf

Narratopia Box Labels.pdf

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!)