Crumpisms

Lit Game System

For those interested in how lit games are actually played, here's the "system" we generally use.

First, the thing you have to understand about lit gaming, and most gaming in general, is that what is said In Character (IC) is different from what is said Out Of Character (OOC). During the actual game chat, once game has started, OOC coments are bracketed [like so]. Anything withing those brackets is the player talking, not the character.

We begin a game from where we left off in the previous game, with the DM posting the last few lines or paragraphs of the last game so the players can get a feel for where they left off. The DM will usually either let the gamers continue with the previous game, or start a new situation if the players have finished a previous situation.

Players take turns by writing what their character does and how it reacts to a situation. Unlike some RPGs, turns are not determined by "who goes next", but instead by who responds first, thought the DM tries to ensure that everyone has a turn. If, in some instances, a player is having a hard time quickly typing what they want their character to do or say, they will usually mark their turn, either with an asterik [*] or by typing the first word or two of the sentence into the chat. Whenever two players claim a turn at the exact same time, the DM usually decides whose turn it is, letting the other player go after. A turn ends when the player finishes their sentence or paragraph and types a bracketed clear signal, [clear].

This is the system for a game that's based in a chat room. WE uses an AIM chat room where all the players are invited in by the DM. Other Lit Games often use a thread in a message board. In this case, players post blocks of the story as they can, usually not all in one night. These games often take a while to complete, since new posts to the game can take several days to appear.

This form of gaming seems to originate from author communities. In the case of WE, the original five players were all members of the same fanfiction archive. WE developed as a chat-based Lit Game so that the game would progress faster and so that the DM would have a little more control over what happened in the game. Instead of having to delete posts from a thread, the sentence can just be deleted and the player can retype a new turn that will work. In a thread-based game, this maneuver could take a whole month, whereas in a chat-based game, it only takes a few moments.

Tune in Next Post for a look at a before and after shot of a game, as well as interviews with the DM and with another player.