Writer's Block

Last Friday, at a local pub, you met up with some of your best mates. They’re like you: artist types, broke, kind of smelly. You tell them of your plan to write a hit sci-fi story and suddenly it catches fire! You rush home to your flat in an inspired haze and start writing that million-dollar story: The one about a bunch of Martians and a time machine. One week later, you return to the pub buzzing with excitement. Just as you are about to fill them in, Susie arrives boasting about her new tale, “Doomsday: The Martian Shrink Ray.” Moments later, Frank counters with a different story: “The Robot Toxin.” It would seem that your friends have all got the same idea. Happily, you laugh through the night comparing, modifying and sharing ideas. As Steve pours another round, a friendly wager arises: Who can write the best science fiction story in five weeks time? Looking down at your beer-stained draft, you toss twenty-dollars into the pot. This one’s in the bag, your pals don’t stand a chance. . . This is a game of draft building. Each turn, players will add and subtract cards from a shared deck. Then, players will draft cards from this deck. After players have chosen a set of cards, they will take turns playing them. In a turn, players can choose to either discard cards (in order to save ink), or to spend ink to play cards (developing plot-lines). The plots players develop will then influence the next weeks workshop, as they help players to add and remove cards from the shared deck.