Amid Upheaval

Frame · Time relations temporal

Right now everything is collapsing – or being made new. The old order no longer holds, the new one is not yet in place. Anything is possible.

Design question – Your game takes place in the middle of an upheaval. What is falling apart – and what could take its place? Who profits from the chaos?

Reference example – Assassin’s Creed Unity: Paris in the middle of the revolution, no one knows who will still rule tomorrow. Valiant Hearts: the First World War from the perspective of people it tears out of their lives.

Associations

• Typical Activities – Adapting, Choosing sides, Rebuilding, Surviving

Coherence

Mechanisms: Variable Rules (the rules change), Event (unpredictable turns), Legacy (permanent change), Area Control (contested terrain). Activities: Adapting, Choosing sides, Rebuilding, Surviving. Ludic Narrational Structure: parallel narration (several strands at once), Kishōtenketsu (the upheaval itself as the turning point).