Hey everyone!

I played Downfall with Tim and Caroline (facilitator) last Thursday. The game is beautiful. I wrote up the full report here.

I wish I actually read Play Unsafe BEFORE playing this game instead of after. I only started it before this game, but during it and now after, I realize my strengths and weaknesses as a player in the game.

Our game of Downfall wasn't easy, though. We chose a challenge flaw to tackle: complacency and our setting was graspable, but not the same in our heads. This led to a little bit of confusion here and there, but I think that different mental picture led to more creative, additive discussion than destructive disparagement.

Our ability to keep tying back in the same themes and characters over and over and over again in our game made it feel very intimate and alive. Our characters felt more real and dynamic. This game was less epic and more intimate and close. I'm always a fan of the later moreso than the former, so I was alright with that.

I think we could have spent more time hammering out some details of the setting but I think this game went about as expected! I'm excited to play this game again.

I wish I actually read Play Unsafe BEFORE playing this game instead of after. I only started it before this game, but during it and now after, I realize my strengths and weaknesses as a player in the game.

Oooh, what did you figure out? Share your epiphany!

I like Downfall a lot because it plays to a lot of my strengths as a story gamer. One thing about story games I really enjoy is symbolism and reincorporating elements.

I'm so drawn to Downfall because, in a lot of ways, it is a game about that. The downfall of a haven is explicitly told by juxtaposing symbols over time. I'm convinced this is why part of the tradition making is coming up with a physical representation of it. Seeing the symbols change in context over the game as the world warps is extremely satisfying to me as a gamer.

Another thing Downfall plays with is the status between Hero and Fallen. Hero and Fallen are almost never of equal status, relationshipwise. Even if they are, they never maintain that same exact status over the whole game. This awareness of the trajectory of who has the higher or lower status for Hero and Fallen is a key to unlocking the potential of the game.

One of my weaknesses is responding additively during scenes. I think I play characters too rationally? Or at the very least portray them in a way that doesn't play with drama. In other words, I need to get better at understanding when to tilt.

Play Unsafe is helping to go back and approach scenes with the lens of status. View dynamics between characters in terms of status and then poke that status with a stick in some manner.