Levity: An Improv Roleplaying Game

This is a GM-less, comedic, collaborative storytelling game for 3-5 people that's heavily inspired by Fiasco. Has been used to run stories of undersea scams, horror in the alpine woods (featuring a llama farmer), a call me by your name knockoff with identical twins ("call me by my brother's name), and the killing of the human embodiment of climate change. 

Will post the Word Lists and Twist Table (necessary for play) later.

Rules

1. Set the genre/tone to unify player expectations. For example, romance, drama, over the top silly. Pick a Word List or make your own. For example, Taiga Tales, Shakespeare in a Blender, Undersea Adventures.

Ex. not too over the top silly. Using the Shakespeare in a Blender Word List.

2. Pull 2 cards or roll on a number generator from 1-52. One will be the Hinge card, a unifying trait, motivation, or detail. The other is to inspire the first scene.

Ex.

• Hinge: Lovers and more
• Starting scene: Innuendo

3. Pull 1-2 cards each to define and motivate your character. You also will want to define a relationship with the characters to your left and right based on your cards. Shape the world as you see fit.

Ex. 

• Player 1: Wine; sonnets about gay love
• Player 2: Queen Titania; the Romans
• Player 3: Who loves who; bloodstain

We dropped Queen Titania and bloodstain and this is what we came up with. Saul and Marcus are twin brothers that own an Italian vineyard. They're identical. The main difference is their loves - Saul loves a worker on the vineyard, Prospero (and writes him anonymous sonnets), while Marcus loves archeology but has never had the chance to practice it. Meanwhile, poor Prospero is unclear which brother is which. He's afraid to make a move in case he mixes them up and loses his job. The starting scene is Saul working on the innuendos in his sonnets.

4. Take turns running 2-3 scenes.

Ex. The players play out a few scenes of life on the vineyard and the oopsiedaisy moments where Prospero tries to discern which brother is which. There is confusion mixing up the sonnets Saul and Prospero quietly write each other with the letter Marcus has been waiting for allowing him to go on an archeological dig. One or the other of the twins loudly discusses waiting for a letter while Prospero is present.

5. Whoever has the character who is having the worst luck should roll on the Twist Table and tell the others. Integrate the twist into your last few scenes!

Ex. Player 3 rolls on the Twist Table and gets an 18, heroic rescue. The players decide the culminating moment will occur at the vineyard's annual bonfire for the workers. Saul is drunk and wanders a bit too far down the hill and comes across a wolf. Prospero rescues him; they confess their love. At the end of the game, Marcus receives his letter, allowing him to go on his dig!

Tips

• If you ever feel stuck, feel free to draw another card and use it as inspiration
• Not everyone needs to have the same relationship to the Hinge. They just should all have one.
• This is a collaborative, not a competitive game. While characters may be at odds, players shouldn't be.