Update #22: Peeling Back the Curtain

Note: This is a copy of Update #22 from my Kickstarter campaign. 

[Spoiler Alert]

Please note: If you're new to this Kickstarter project and you would like the full experience, it's best if you go back, read the front page, and then read the Updates starting from the beginning. However, if you just can't stand all that blathering, this announcement will tell you explicitly what Emperor's New Clothes is and isn't.

 
Peeling Back the Curtain

A wise man once said: "You can please some of the people all of the time; you can please all of the people some of the time; but you can never please all of the people all of the time." Oh, wait: it's actually "fool," not "please." I'd always heard this attributed to P.T. Barnum, the great deceiver, but it turns out that it may in fact have been Honest Abe. (Not the Pixel version.)

Still, my version holds true, too: no matter what I say today, I doubt it will please everyone. But, like I've said from the beginning, my project isn't for everyone, and I don't mean that in an elitist, "this game is too good for you" sort of way, "real gamer" remarks notwithstanding. I mean that in a humble, realistic, "how could I possibly make a game that pleases everyone?" sort of way.

Now that I'm actually pulling back the curtain, it's a bit like pulling off a bandage. I'm tempted to peel it off a tiny bit at a time, but I know it's probably best (and least painful) to just give it a hard yank. But that's the thing: I love anticipation. Sometimes the anticipation of something is the best part of the experience, that delightful in-between moment when you know something's coming but you don't quite know what it is yet. In today's world of instant-everything, it's hard to get that sort of delayed gratification anymore. Kickstarter might be one of the best sources of it, in fact: you pay money and then wait for the results, unlike ordering something online with free two-day shipping. You have months to anticipate what's coming, to talk about it, to look forward to your purchase—it puts off the buyer's remorse that nearly inevitably comes after you actually receive something and add it to your collection.

All right, enough stalling.

First, what Emperor's New Clothes is NOT:

• a joke Kickstarter project.
• a scam.

The funding goal was set at an attainable value that will actually make feasible the delivery of a product. We will charge credit cards (if it funds). We will not be canceling this before it ends. We will deliver a physical, tangible product. We aren't taking the money and running.

Yes, there are a lot of jokes scattered throughout the project. They were meant to be obvious, the sort of thing that nobody would actually fall for. The ROOS ruse, Wysiayg ("What You See Is All You Get") Press, Hoke's Games hoax. I'm surprised nobody called me out for pledging to "kick back" with my profits or argued that John Kovalic isn't actually a muskrat. There is, sadly, no intangible invisible fleece—you wouldn't be able to find it once you set it down anyway.

But those jokes were meant to be the equivalent of jokes told during a lecture to loosen up the audience, rather than the main point. While some of you have been arguing for a month about whether or not showing a photo of white components is funny, I've been trying to have a (mostly) sincere discussion about the nature of play and imagination and games.

Now, what Emperor's New Clothes IS:

• a set of blank components (in white or color).
• a Create Your Own Game Kit.
• a meta game about a game in the form of a Kickstarter campaign (which you've already played).
• a game you can actually play.

It was also a social experiment about Kickstarter, a collection of essays about game design, a trial-run for me in running a Kickstarter campaign and working with Game Salute, and a lesson for me in unintended consequences.

First, the set of components: The components (cards, board, wooden bits, dice, box) are all real, but unprinted. You can see the current set of all the components on the main Kickstarter page, under the "Pledge Levels" section. We've updated those to include everything that is currently included.
There WILL be a printed sticker sheet in the box with the Emperor's New Clothes logo, so that you can decide whether you want to stick it on the box or keep the box blank, or use the box for whatever else you're doing. The sticker sheet may also include smaller logos for Hoke's Games, Game Salute, a "player number/play time/recommended age" sticker, and potentially some custom stickers to play my included mini-game, which I'll tell you about tomorrow. The optional PennyGems are real, though of course they are white. The optional T-shirt is real, too, and it is white with the Hoke's Games logo on the back. And the "Double Your Fun" goal is completely real: if we hit 500 backers at the $25 or higher level, we WILL double the pertinent components, making it a much better value for your dollar.

There is, as you have surely figured out by now, no such thing as Regulated Optical Operator Screenprinting. Mac Barnett (from the Wysiayg Press video) is in fact Mac Barnett, children's book author. Will Whedon from the American Association for the Advancement and Understanding of Gaming Humor (AAAUGH) is in fact Scott Brown who writes for Stage Dive on Vulture.com. John Kovalic is not actually a muskrat.

So why go to all this trouble to sell you a box of blank bits? Isn't this just a prank gift?
Well, sure, if you want to use this as a prank gift, you could do that. It'll last about as long as it took you to watch my Kickstarter pitch video and then scroll down to see the photos of the game. "Ha ha, Emperor's New Clothes, I get it." Or if you want to take it out and play a prank on some friends, pretending to play a game while others look on and try to figure out what's going on—that is another way to play it, a cooperative game in which the folks at the table are all acting as the Swindlers, and everyone else looking on ends up playing the Emperor or the Child. But we've already played that game, too: in the form of this very Kickstarter campaign.

For some people, the Create Your Own Game Kit is where the value lies. That's really where Game Salute's involvement comes in, because they're starting up a GameBits line of components. You can buy them piecemeal or in pre-packaged boxes, and the idea is that if you're a game designer this is just one more source of quality game components to use for prototyping. I'll admit that one of the inspirations for this project came from seeing all those production proofs from other Kickstarter projects, where they get a box of white components to see what the final quality of all the bits and cards and boards is. The first time I saw a photo of one of those, I really wanted one for myself. I figured maybe other people might want one as well. How many? I didn't know. That's what Kickstarter is for.

As far as Game Salute was concerned, this was a much more interesting way to launch this product line; for me, it meant that I didn't have to figure out how to set prices and deliver a hundred boxes out of my living room. But I would wager that the number of people who are actively designing games but don't have a source of prototyping components isn't that big. That's sort of a niche product.

That's where the real game comes in.

Part of the idea of Emperor's New Clothes is emergent behavior that arises from a few simple rules. Carcassonne, for instance, has a fairly small rule set (in the base game) but it can lead to a lot of deep strategies. By providing a basic structure (pick roles, roll dice, collect resources, get points) I allowed for a number of different behaviors. But on top of the rules of this "game" there is another layer of meta-rules: you pretend you can see what's going on. You can be a rules lawyer, but you don't say "that card doesn't say that." The theme is Emperor's New Clothes, so you're not going to play a card that involves sports cars or the zombies or Rick Astley. Things have to feel like they fit. Sure, in a game where the cards are blank, you could play a card and say "This card says I automatically win." But while that may win the "game," this is in fact a game that is more about the playing than the winning.

But even as I demonstrated the game, describing various characters and what they would do in the game, a game began to form. It was emergent behavior of a different sort: the way that people responded to the campaign affected the way I was running the campaign. By the time I went to PAX East to run demos of my game, I actually had a much more fully fleshed game—in my head, at least. When I taught the game, I knew what the three resources types were, what the dice looked like, what each of the 12 characters did and how they interacted with each other and scored points. I knew a good number of action/event cards, and the board itself was basically a simple scoring track. By explaining the game and playing it, I helped other players "see" what was on the cards and the board.
You'll get a blank glossy "rulebook" to use as part of the game, but I've also written out the rules I've been using, which you can download now as a PDF. Some people will be able to take the set of components and just run with it. Others will want a little structure, and some will want a lot. Here you can see you what I have (basic turn order, all 13 roles and their descriptions, etc.) and you can actually play it. You can decide if you want to write it out on the cards, or play with them blank. Or use a little bit of the structure I provide and throw away the rest.

Just take a look at the Undead Viking video review. We sent Lance a box of components with just a vague description of the game and its theme. That whole description with the Emperor moving on a track, and different types of townspeople, and the real-time lightning-round with the sand timer … that all came entirely from Lance's head, and it's brilliant! I want to codify it and play it and see if it works! (The Deluxe version will come with a sand-timer and I'll see if we can be sure to have some meeples so that you can play Lance's version.)

What I plan to do eventually is to set up a place where you can submit your own creations as well. I want to see videos or read session reports of people playing my version, or Lance's version, or their own versions. Will every game that everyone makes actually be fun? Probably not—but we'll have fun making them.

What You See Is All You Get

If all you choose to see is a bunch of blank components, then that is in fact "all you get." If you see it as a prank gift to give to your gamer friend, then that's all you get. But if you choose to see a game, then you will get a game. In fact, maybe the game that you see is better than the one that I see. Think about what you "saw" when you first came across this Kickstarter page and watched the videos and read the descriptions. Chances are, you "saw" something there. I challenge you to play that game.

Here's one interesting aspect of playing with blank cards, though, even with codified rules. When you're doing the role selection and rolling dice and grabbing resources, that's imaginary to some extent: nobody can see what you rolled. However, once you've taken resource cubes from the supply, people can see what you took, even if they're all white. There's some element of memory, but if you keep them in separate piles, people can glance over and see what you have. Then, when roles are revealed, things get pretty interesting. If somebody claims to be Emperor, then you know that you can't be Emperor—so you have to pick something else, even if your current set of resources would be great for the Emperor. Since there are specific scoring mechanics for each character, it is possible to win or lose at the game, by choosing the right role at the right time.

On top of that, though, you could also layer on a meta game in the form of achievements. I have a short list of achievements (which I will also release later, for free) that you could include, letting each person draw a few before the game begins. They might be things like "Have one die stolen" or "have three cards played on you by other players in one turn." They'll be things that you cannot control directly, and each time one of them occurs, you earn points in the meta game. It turns what started as an exercise in improv into a game of trying to get other players to perform certain actions within the scope of this game.

Just yesterday I was sent a link to Yoko Ono's "Play It By Trust" white chess set. It's sort of a high-brow art project, but at the same time it makes sense to me. I imagine there are chess masters who would be able to play this because they can hold all of the pieces and ownership in their head, whether they're white or not. They might even be able to play a game of chess with no actual pieces on the board whatsoever. But for people who don't know chess that well, it becomes a game of convincing the other player: arguing over whether a piece is yours or not before you can move it. It's no longer just chess, but it is still a game.

As a bonus for International TableTop Day, here's another game that you can play using the components from Emperor's New Clothes. It's called The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and it's a simple dice-rolling bluffing game I co-developed with Darrell Louder. Download the rules for The Boy Who Cried Wolf here. I also have an Emperor's New Clothes press-your-luck card game, but that wasn't really an essential part of this campaign and I wasn't sure whether or not to include it. I may throw that in later.

So why is Emperor's New Clothes worth backing?

Like I said, it's not for everyone. (Really, now, how often have you seen a Kickstarter campaign that tells you that?)

Not everyone wants a storytelling game or a Create Your Own Game Kit. Most people browsing Kickstarter tabletop games are looking for a conventional game, something that has art they can see and an inflexible rule set. That's what I'm usually looking for myself. But with things like Superfight! and Story Wars and Machine of Death, clearly there are people looking for something that involves more imagination and subjectivity, games with a lot of wiggle room.

Can you get all of these components yourself? Sure. Except for the stickers and the T-shirt, everything you see here is available elsewhere. You might even be able to cobble together your own set by cannibalizing existing games. With a little legwork, you can probably find all of the components we're including (or something similar) for a little bit less. However, if we hit that Double Your Fun stretch goal, then everyone benefits, because you'd get more components for the money than you could by buying them yourself. Now we all get to play another game called The Prisoner's Dilemma: if some people pull out funding and some people stay, then the people who stay don't get as good a deal and they may feel like they should've pulled out. But if everyone keeps their funding in, then it's a better deal for everyone.

But, as I said in my very first update, what you're buying isn't just a box of components, or a Create Your Own Game Kit, or even a weird meta game that I think you might enjoy actually playing. What you're buying is the story. I hope that I've given you an interesting experience this month, a rare instance of not being able to simply consult Google or Snopes to find out if something is real. It hasn't been just a one-man show: you have participated here in the comments, on BoardGameGeek and Twitter, by making up your own rules or arguing about whether or not there's anything there at all. As hokey as it sounds, the Kickstarter campaign has been a collaborative piece of performance art, one that won't cost you a dime unless you feel like spending it.

I've spent most of this month telling you a long story about a fantastic game. The price of the story is pay-what-you-want: I purposely made all of my updates public rather than backer-only. If you've enjoyed reading along, I'd love if you put a tip in the jar. If you liked it enough that you want a memento of the story, then that's what the physical game is.

It's a tangible artifact that serves as a souvenir of this tale—and one that I hope inspires you to play (and invent!) many more games.