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Bad Bishop • 2018 rpg

Patrick O'Leary • www.proleary.com

This game needs two players, knowledge of basic chess rules, and a historic chess game. Go online and find one. It doesn't matter which but it helps to not know the outcome.

You will be telling the story of two warring families. Discuss the setting. Medieval Europe? Fantasy? Western? Space opera? Stretch the definition of "family". Don't add too much detail.

Open the chess game and fast-forward 15 moves. What does the board look like? Think of characters that represent each piece. Who is missing? Who is powerful? Who is in danger? Flesh out the story up until now.

Each player chooses a side to control. Black or White. You are not competing.

Play out the remainder of the game using the historic record. One move at a time. 

For each move, what has changed in the story? What is that character doing? Who is opposed? Is a grand sacrifice in the works? The controlling player narrates what that means in the fiction, as descriptively as she likes. The other player adds details. Collaborate.

Go back and forth until the chess game ends. Who won? Was it a draw? What does that mean for the fiction?

Together create an epilogue.

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