ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that power and guide designers toward using procedurality to cultivate the kinds of stories they want their players to tell. The leading lament of designers considering a foray into the world of emergent narrative is the loss of authorial voice. The power of a scripted narrative lies in the author's use of literary elements like theme, tone, voice, and mood. Fiasco is a collaborative, tabletop role-playing game published by Bully Pulpit Games in 2009. It follows in the tradition of other pen-and-paper role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, but it distinguishes itself in a few key dimensions. The first step in approaching a procedural design that yields a particular story volume is to identify game developers themes. It looks at how simple touches can help players narrativize the events they experience in game. The chapter argues for how systems themselves can work toward shaping story volumes.
