Premise: Setting, Character, Plot

Key Facts

• 2-7 players
• 30-90 minutes 
• Zero prep

Pitch

Premise is a collaborative worldbuilding and storytelling game.  There are three sub-games – Setting, Character, and Plot – and you can play them independently or chain them together to explore a world in depth. Each sub-game has it's own template and play consists of simultaneously filling out parts of the templates, passing the sheets, and building on each other's ideas.

More Info

Premise works great on it's own but can also be incorporated into other games. You can use Setting to build out locations for a campaign or Character to quickly create NPCs. The game also lends itself well to creative writing exercises and I'm working to get it used in classrooms.

The basic approach for Premise (passed templates) is extremely extensible and I'll likely be adding more sub-games over time. If you're inspired to make your own sub-games, good luck and please share the results!

Included Files

I've broken the game into several files to make things easier for you:

• The game's rules and half-page templates
• Just the half-page templates, for easy printing
• Full-page templates, with more room to write
• Google Slides templates, for easy online play

With Deep Gratitude To...

Premise was originally published on my Patreon, with the support of many excellent backers: Alice Kyra, Andrew Fox, Avital Lubin, Corrin Elizabeth, Dustin Freeman, Eric Brunsell, Eric Wilson, Greg Lubin, Hailey Austin, Harry Pottash, Laurel Halbany, Madelyn Miller, Nick Punt, Patrick Ewing, Raphael D'Amico, Rob Abrazado, and Wendy Lubin.

Additional thanks to the many, many playtesters who have provided feedback since I started working on this in 2016! Unfortunately, I've lost track of the  main list of testers but a special call out to Avital Lubin, Raphael D'Amico, and Nick Punt who have provided extra feedback on the drafts of the game.