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Microscope: A Fractal Roleplaying Game of Epic Histories
What is Microscope?
Humanity spreads to the stars and forges a galactic civilization...
Fledgling nations arise from the ruins of the empire...
An ancient line of dragon-kings dies out as magic fades from the realm...
These are all examples of Microscope games. Want to explore an epic history of your own creation, hundreds or thousands of years long, all in an afternoon? That's Microscope.
You won't play the game in chronological order. You can defy the limits of time and space, jumping backward or forward to explore the parts of the history that interest you. Want to leap a thousand years into the future and see how an institution shaped society? Want to jump back to the childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find out what made him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.
You have vast power to create... and to destroy. Build beautiful, tranquil jewels of civilization and then consume them with nuclear fire. Zoom out to watch the majestic tide of history wash across empires, then zoom in and explore the lives of the people who endured it.
Mock chronological order.
Defy time and space.
Build worlds and destroy them.
A role-playing game for two to four players. No GM. No prep.
"Microscope is incredible! A truly brilliant design. Also, the book is extremely well done. Highly recommended."
-John Harper, designer of Agon & Danger Patrol
"Ben Robbins' Microscope may be the clearest-written game text I've ever read - which is helpful, because it is also one of the most innovative games I've come across in a long time. Microscope engagingly challenges assumptions and upends long-held conventions of play while delivering a singular and satisfying evening of gaming. And "fractal role playing" is no joke - the minute you finish, you'll want to dive back in and explore some interesting sliver of the vast history you just built."
-Jason Morningstar, designer of Fiasco
"It's been a long time that a game captures my attention like Microscope. Bypass the hype, it's a truly remarkable well-instruction'd game"
-Andy Kitkowski, founder of story-games.com
Humanity spreads to the stars and forges a galactic civilization...
Fledgling nations arise from the ruins of the empire...
An ancient line of dragon-kings dies out as magic fades from the realm...
These are all examples of Microscope games. Want to explore an epic history of your own creation, hundreds or thousands of years long, all in an afternoon? That's Microscope.
You won't play the game in chronological order. You can defy the limits of time and space, jumping backward or forward to explore the parts of the history that interest you. Want to leap a thousand years into the future and see how an institution shaped society? Want to jump back to the childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find out what made him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.
You have vast power to create... and to destroy. Build beautiful, tranquil jewels of civilization and then consume them with nuclear fire. Zoom out to watch the majestic tide of history wash across empires, then zoom in and explore the lives of the people who endured it.
Mock chronological order.
Defy time and space.
Build worlds and destroy them.
A role-playing game for two to four players. No GM. No prep.
"Microscope is incredible! A truly brilliant design. Also, the book is extremely well done. Highly recommended."
-John Harper, designer of Agon & Danger Patrol
"Ben Robbins' Microscope may be the clearest-written game text I've ever read - which is helpful, because it is also one of the most innovative games I've come across in a long time. Microscope engagingly challenges assumptions and upends long-held conventions of play while delivering a singular and satisfying evening of gaming. And "fractal role playing" is no joke - the minute you finish, you'll want to dive back in and explore some interesting sliver of the vast history you just built."
-Jason Morningstar, designer of Fiasco
"It's been a long time that a game captures my attention like Microscope. Bypass the hype, it's a truly remarkable well-instruction'd game"
-Andy Kitkowski, founder of story-games.com
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
10 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
August 2, 2013
"You can also use Microscope to build settings for other game systems. Play one session, and you have a world that everyone at the table knows and likes. Make up some characters and go exploring."
This quote, from nearly the end of the book, neatly defines Microscope's purpose. Mr. Robbins' work is not a "game" so much as it is a "generator of collaborative history."
DESIGN: The design is well laid out, with the concept laid out, the rules in a neat order after that, several diagrams and then a "how to teach" section, which is a cool concept but is executed in a very pretentious storygame way ("literally read this stuff out loud to the players, constantly stress that there is no game master but also constantly make metafictional references to the rulebook and author")
CONCEPT: The concept--exploring a broad sweep of hitsory thematically with total freedom to focus on any part of the chronology so long as it doesn't contradict--is cool. The execution is for want of a better word mushy. More on that below.
GAMEPLAY: The game divides history into periods, events and scenes. Which is a useful way to think about gaming generally--the period is the campaign, the event is the session, the scenes play out in the session. Again with the "mushiness" though--there aren't any rules beyond process, and the process rules are very much "do what you feel so long as nothing contradicts" which, by itself, isn't a terrible idea. However the utter dearth of decision mechanics makes the game feel inconsequential--all you've done is wedge your parts of a story into other people's narrative ideas. The most elaborate rules are for playing out a scene, but you can totally avoid that by simply dictating an entire scene, which is allowed in the rules.
DECISION MECHANIC: There's exactly one. If you want something to happen and someone doesn't, or if you want a character to act on information nobody knows the character possesses, you have to "push"--essentially make a pitch for your idea, with other people making competing pitches should they choose. Then each person gets to vote for their favorite two pitches, with the number of fingers pointed on each hand indicating relative weight of their choices. Like I said. Mushy.
OVERALL: Dude added some good stuff about game theory and how people tell stories and why being chronologically "free" is important for the purposes of maintaining good group dynamics--it's very geared towards the introvert. Which is fine. I think getting introverts to open up in games is fantastic. I just wish the people who tried didn't write games that didn't feel like games.
WILL I PLAY IT? As written? Doubtful. With bolted-on crunch (tarot card pulls to define each character's personality, some sort of concrete resolution mechanic for conflict/difficult tasks, perhaps using the I Ching or some other suitably "nontrad" mechanic)? Potentially. Will I use it as a story plotting framework for my other campaigns? Likely.
Great to read for perspective on storygames and the way narratives work within your own games, worth playing if you're into that sort of gaming experience (and if you are what are you doing reading my review, you already knew the game was worth playing).
This quote, from nearly the end of the book, neatly defines Microscope's purpose. Mr. Robbins' work is not a "game" so much as it is a "generator of collaborative history."
DESIGN: The design is well laid out, with the concept laid out, the rules in a neat order after that, several diagrams and then a "how to teach" section, which is a cool concept but is executed in a very pretentious storygame way ("literally read this stuff out loud to the players, constantly stress that there is no game master but also constantly make metafictional references to the rulebook and author")
CONCEPT: The concept--exploring a broad sweep of hitsory thematically with total freedom to focus on any part of the chronology so long as it doesn't contradict--is cool. The execution is for want of a better word mushy. More on that below.
GAMEPLAY: The game divides history into periods, events and scenes. Which is a useful way to think about gaming generally--the period is the campaign, the event is the session, the scenes play out in the session. Again with the "mushiness" though--there aren't any rules beyond process, and the process rules are very much "do what you feel so long as nothing contradicts" which, by itself, isn't a terrible idea. However the utter dearth of decision mechanics makes the game feel inconsequential--all you've done is wedge your parts of a story into other people's narrative ideas. The most elaborate rules are for playing out a scene, but you can totally avoid that by simply dictating an entire scene, which is allowed in the rules.
DECISION MECHANIC: There's exactly one. If you want something to happen and someone doesn't, or if you want a character to act on information nobody knows the character possesses, you have to "push"--essentially make a pitch for your idea, with other people making competing pitches should they choose. Then each person gets to vote for their favorite two pitches, with the number of fingers pointed on each hand indicating relative weight of their choices. Like I said. Mushy.
OVERALL: Dude added some good stuff about game theory and how people tell stories and why being chronologically "free" is important for the purposes of maintaining good group dynamics--it's very geared towards the introvert. Which is fine. I think getting introverts to open up in games is fantastic. I just wish the people who tried didn't write games that didn't feel like games.
WILL I PLAY IT? As written? Doubtful. With bolted-on crunch (tarot card pulls to define each character's personality, some sort of concrete resolution mechanic for conflict/difficult tasks, perhaps using the I Ching or some other suitably "nontrad" mechanic)? Potentially. Will I use it as a story plotting framework for my other campaigns? Likely.
Great to read for perspective on storygames and the way narratives work within your own games, worth playing if you're into that sort of gaming experience (and if you are what are you doing reading my review, you already knew the game was worth playing).
August 1, 2024
Super Erzählspiel, sehr klare Anleitung, loved it!
October 4, 2015
I've just become aware of the new trend in roleplaying games: "Storytelling games." The basic idea is not really new, of course - there have been experimental, GM-less RPGs before, but it seems right now a lot of people are publishing games explicitly designed to be collaborative efforts between players to create worlds and "run" games without a GM.
Microscope seems to have the advantages and flaws of all such systems - it would probably work best with a group really willing to commit themselves to it, and could possibly run aground with players who are too uncertain, too shy about investing themselves in the story, or have problems with the structure.
I say this without having played yet, but I will say it is intriguing enough to make me want to try it out.
The basic idea behind Microscope is that you are creating a saga, an epic, a world - whatever the players agree on. It begins with a one-line summary, which the author assures us can be as generic and cliched as can be, because the result is what matters. So you begin with "Humanity spreads to the stars" or "Expansion into the West, in a world in which dinosaurs never died out" or "Vampire cultists are trying to bring about Armageddon" or "King Arthur is dead, and Britain now faces another Saxon invasion."
Players take turns adding Periods, Events, or Scenes into the story. You can move forward or backward in time, you can focus in on individual moments in history involving named characters, who are roleplayed (a Scene) or zoom out to simply add another period in the history telling you something about it. Rules exists largely to determine who can introduce elements when, give everyone a turn in the spotlight and with equal creative power, and a minimal set of dos and don't.
One of the most interesting, and I think useful, restrictions is the admonition not to collaborate or "design by committee." I.e., when it's your turn, create what you want, don't ask other people for ideas, don't seek a consensus. The author assures us this is what will make each game surprising and keep it from falling back on predictable tropes, because each person is going to pull out something unexpected and that makes the story go in ways no one else anticipated. It's deliberately meant to allow people to do things other players might not have wanted - you can create a city, but another player can destroy it. You can introduce a golden age, but there is nothing preventing another player from adding a Period following it that describes a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
I am very much intrigued but waiting to see how it actually plays out.
Microscope seems to have the advantages and flaws of all such systems - it would probably work best with a group really willing to commit themselves to it, and could possibly run aground with players who are too uncertain, too shy about investing themselves in the story, or have problems with the structure.
I say this without having played yet, but I will say it is intriguing enough to make me want to try it out.
The basic idea behind Microscope is that you are creating a saga, an epic, a world - whatever the players agree on. It begins with a one-line summary, which the author assures us can be as generic and cliched as can be, because the result is what matters. So you begin with "Humanity spreads to the stars" or "Expansion into the West, in a world in which dinosaurs never died out" or "Vampire cultists are trying to bring about Armageddon" or "King Arthur is dead, and Britain now faces another Saxon invasion."
Players take turns adding Periods, Events, or Scenes into the story. You can move forward or backward in time, you can focus in on individual moments in history involving named characters, who are roleplayed (a Scene) or zoom out to simply add another period in the history telling you something about it. Rules exists largely to determine who can introduce elements when, give everyone a turn in the spotlight and with equal creative power, and a minimal set of dos and don't.
One of the most interesting, and I think useful, restrictions is the admonition not to collaborate or "design by committee." I.e., when it's your turn, create what you want, don't ask other people for ideas, don't seek a consensus. The author assures us this is what will make each game surprising and keep it from falling back on predictable tropes, because each person is going to pull out something unexpected and that makes the story go in ways no one else anticipated. It's deliberately meant to allow people to do things other players might not have wanted - you can create a city, but another player can destroy it. You can introduce a golden age, but there is nothing preventing another player from adding a Period following it that describes a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
I am very much intrigued but waiting to see how it actually plays out.
December 24, 2025
Um sistema de RPG bastante curioso em que você joga para criar um mundo colaborativo; suas ações são inserções de Períodos/Eventos/Cenas em uma linha do tempo. Você pode jogar no intuito da criação em si, você pode jogar como preparação para outras aventuras em outros sistemas.
Muito interessante.
Muito interessante.
September 15, 2022
The structure can be a little confusing at first, but the inherent premise of co-designing an entire world and history is extremely cool. I could definitely see playing a session or 2 of one premise in order to build a setting for a future campaign.
December 14, 2012
Microscope describes itself as "a fractal role-playing game of epic histories." This is a big claim, perhaps insanely ambitious, but Microscope might just be able to pull it off. I haven't had a chance to play Microscope, so this based just on reading the text, but that said:
I've theorized roleplaying games as about Structured Negotiation. In that regard, Microscope gives you a very powerful and elegant way to narratively generate histories. The nested structure of Period-Event-Scene intuitively let players control the scale of the game. Scenes, the core roleplaying bits, are cleverly framed by use of a Question which must be decided. The rules themselves give a lot of power to each player in turn, demanding contributions from everybody in the hotseat, and discouraging collaboration and play by consensus. Your epic history is supposed to be a spiky mess.
Where I am less sure about Microscope is it's ability to resolve impasses, when players disagree or have no good idea. The game is a little shaky on how long (in real time) everything is supposed to take. Like most story games, tMicroscope needs a high trust, imaginative groups.
Regardless, I'm very excited to get a chance to play Microscope and see how it works.
I've theorized roleplaying games as about Structured Negotiation. In that regard, Microscope gives you a very powerful and elegant way to narratively generate histories. The nested structure of Period-Event-Scene intuitively let players control the scale of the game. Scenes, the core roleplaying bits, are cleverly framed by use of a Question which must be decided. The rules themselves give a lot of power to each player in turn, demanding contributions from everybody in the hotseat, and discouraging collaboration and play by consensus. Your epic history is supposed to be a spiky mess.
Where I am less sure about Microscope is it's ability to resolve impasses, when players disagree or have no good idea. The game is a little shaky on how long (in real time) everything is supposed to take. Like most story games, tMicroscope needs a high trust, imaginative groups.
Regardless, I'm very excited to get a chance to play Microscope and see how it works.
June 17, 2013
OK, this is fascinating.
Microscope claims on its cover to be a role playing agme of fractal history. I'm not sure that RPG is the right label though. I can see how starting with veteran role-players (and I mean character- or story-driven role-players, not crunchy-bit or min-maxing roll-players) is a good place to start.
OK, start over. What's the idea? To create a fictional history. Kind of like being a GM or author doing your world building.
Cool, so a framework to build worlds around, allowing collaborative building? Kinda, but kinda not. Yes, all the players (suggested 3-4 but 2 or even 5-6 can work) are building a history, and riffing off each other, but you are not collaborating. Each person can dictate parts of history.
And here's the interesting part. This is not narrative-focused. You aren't working to see how it all turns out. You already know what the end-point is - it's one of the first things written. Game-play is focused on the fractal, interstitial spaces. What happens between the beginning and the end.
I know, all deep and stuff.
It sounds like it can really work, especially with the right group.
I'm really interested in giving it a try.
Microscope claims on its cover to be a role playing agme of fractal history. I'm not sure that RPG is the right label though. I can see how starting with veteran role-players (and I mean character- or story-driven role-players, not crunchy-bit or min-maxing roll-players) is a good place to start.
OK, start over. What's the idea? To create a fictional history. Kind of like being a GM or author doing your world building.
Cool, so a framework to build worlds around, allowing collaborative building? Kinda, but kinda not. Yes, all the players (suggested 3-4 but 2 or even 5-6 can work) are building a history, and riffing off each other, but you are not collaborating. Each person can dictate parts of history.
And here's the interesting part. This is not narrative-focused. You aren't working to see how it all turns out. You already know what the end-point is - it's one of the first things written. Game-play is focused on the fractal, interstitial spaces. What happens between the beginning and the end.
I know, all deep and stuff.
It sounds like it can really work, especially with the right group.
I'm really interested in giving it a try.
February 27, 2016
One of the best roleplaying games (story games) of the 21st century. It's very innovative in both its idea of using a game to create a history and in the way it approaches it by moving back and forth in time and "fractally" creating periods, events, and scenes.
Though it's fun just to play on its own (and I could see regularly revisiting the same histories again and again) what I really love is the ability to use it to create histories for other mediums — be it a novel or a tabletop roleplaying game.
Though it's fun just to play on its own (and I could see regularly revisiting the same histories again and again) what I really love is the ability to use it to create histories for other mediums — be it a novel or a tabletop roleplaying game.
May 9, 2020
Die deutsche Übersetzung des Regelwerks zu Microscope.
Das Spiel selbst ist total faszinierend. Weltenbau als Spiel kannte ich bisher nur aus "Ein ruhiges Jahr" und da läuft es ja doch auf bescheidenerer Ebene ab. Mit Microscope werden ganze Universen geschaffen (und wieder pulverisiert^^). Die Regeln unterstützen das Spiel. Auch wenn sie beim Lesen gelegentlich etwas umständlich daherkommen, ergeben sie im laufenden Spiel einfach so viel Sinn. Was mir wahnsinnig gut gefallen hat, war die Anleitung zum Erklären des Spiels am Ende (Wie bringe ich anderen auf verständliche Art das Spiel näher?). Das ist sowas von hilfreich, das sollte eigentlich jedem Spiel beigefügt werden! O__O! Interessant auch, dass der Autor sich die Zeit nimmt, die Überlegungen und Entwicklung der Regeln zu erläutern - warum sind bestimmte Regeln enthalten, was sollen sie bewirken, welche wurden verworfen. Auch die Hinweise, welche Arten von Inhalten und Fragestellungen dem Spiel guttun und welche sich als eher hinderlich erwiesen haben, sind toll.
Die Übersetzung liest sich flüssig weg und ich bin froh, darauf gewartet zu haben. :) Die Entscheidung fürs Gendersternchen passt so supergut zu diesem umfassenden und inklusiven Spielprinzip, dass ich die auch nur begrüßen kann. Liest sich zunächst ungewohnt, passt aber (zumindest für mich). Einzelne Sätze werden jedoch durch eine Aneinanderreihung von Genderoptionen ziemlich umständlich und die musste ich mehrfach lesen.
Zitat
"Der*die Spieler*in, der*die die Szene erstellt, wählt die Frage und erschafft die Spielwelt, aber wenn jede*r Spieler*in seinen*ihren Charakter aussucht oder seine*ihre Gedanken enthüllt, beeinflussen seine*ihre Entscheidungen, was die nächste [sic!] Spieler*in über die Szene denkt."
Zugegebenermaßen bin ich auch abends nicht mehr so ganz aufnahmefähig. Gut möglich, dass ich mit solchen Absätzen keine Probleme hätte, wenn ich mittags statt spätabends lesen würde. Zugänglicher für Menschen mit geringerer Lesekompetenz macht es das aber freilich nicht. Gerade solche Absätze wie der zitierte dürften für meinen Geschmack etwas entschlackt werden. Der ist auch ohne Gendersternchen schon irgendwie umständlich.
Und persönliches Problem: Das Symbol für "umgekehrte Reihenfolge" (ein kreisförmiger Pfeil), ist in meinem Kopf immer "reihum wiederholend", sodass ich zunächst fürchterlich verwirrt war, warum jetzt plötzlich alle der Reihe nach immer wieder dieselbe Aktion ausführen sollen. (Keine Ahnung, ob das Symbol im englischen Original auch schon drin war?) :o ;D
Alles in allem aber Jammern auf hohem Niveau! Ich freue mich, dass ich mir die Übersetzung geholt habe und ich freue mich, dass sie in Form eines schönen Büchleins vor mir liegt und nicht nur als schnöde pdf. <3
Wird bald auch am Tisch ausgetestet.
Das Spiel selbst ist total faszinierend. Weltenbau als Spiel kannte ich bisher nur aus "Ein ruhiges Jahr" und da läuft es ja doch auf bescheidenerer Ebene ab. Mit Microscope werden ganze Universen geschaffen (und wieder pulverisiert^^). Die Regeln unterstützen das Spiel. Auch wenn sie beim Lesen gelegentlich etwas umständlich daherkommen, ergeben sie im laufenden Spiel einfach so viel Sinn. Was mir wahnsinnig gut gefallen hat, war die Anleitung zum Erklären des Spiels am Ende (Wie bringe ich anderen auf verständliche Art das Spiel näher?). Das ist sowas von hilfreich, das sollte eigentlich jedem Spiel beigefügt werden! O__O! Interessant auch, dass der Autor sich die Zeit nimmt, die Überlegungen und Entwicklung der Regeln zu erläutern - warum sind bestimmte Regeln enthalten, was sollen sie bewirken, welche wurden verworfen. Auch die Hinweise, welche Arten von Inhalten und Fragestellungen dem Spiel guttun und welche sich als eher hinderlich erwiesen haben, sind toll.
Die Übersetzung liest sich flüssig weg und ich bin froh, darauf gewartet zu haben. :) Die Entscheidung fürs Gendersternchen passt so supergut zu diesem umfassenden und inklusiven Spielprinzip, dass ich die auch nur begrüßen kann. Liest sich zunächst ungewohnt, passt aber (zumindest für mich). Einzelne Sätze werden jedoch durch eine Aneinanderreihung von Genderoptionen ziemlich umständlich und die musste ich mehrfach lesen.
Zitat
"Der*die Spieler*in, der*die die Szene erstellt, wählt die Frage und erschafft die Spielwelt, aber wenn jede*r Spieler*in seinen*ihren Charakter aussucht oder seine*ihre Gedanken enthüllt, beeinflussen seine*ihre Entscheidungen, was die nächste [sic!] Spieler*in über die Szene denkt."
Zugegebenermaßen bin ich auch abends nicht mehr so ganz aufnahmefähig. Gut möglich, dass ich mit solchen Absätzen keine Probleme hätte, wenn ich mittags statt spätabends lesen würde. Zugänglicher für Menschen mit geringerer Lesekompetenz macht es das aber freilich nicht. Gerade solche Absätze wie der zitierte dürften für meinen Geschmack etwas entschlackt werden. Der ist auch ohne Gendersternchen schon irgendwie umständlich.
Und persönliches Problem: Das Symbol für "umgekehrte Reihenfolge" (ein kreisförmiger Pfeil), ist in meinem Kopf immer "reihum wiederholend", sodass ich zunächst fürchterlich verwirrt war, warum jetzt plötzlich alle der Reihe nach immer wieder dieselbe Aktion ausführen sollen. (Keine Ahnung, ob das Symbol im englischen Original auch schon drin war?) :o ;D
Alles in allem aber Jammern auf hohem Niveau! Ich freue mich, dass ich mir die Übersetzung geholt habe und ich freue mich, dass sie in Form eines schönen Büchleins vor mir liegt und nicht nur als schnöde pdf. <3
Wird bald auch am Tisch ausgetestet.
Read
October 25, 2024How? Library borrowed.
What? Less a roleplaying game than a story game, with some roleplaying, "Microscope" is a collaborative way to tell some big historical shift: "humanity spreads across the stars, an empire rises and falls," etc.
How this works seems really smooth and innovative: one person each round declares a focus for the round, and then people add on details, from the macro to the micro scenes which are actually roleplayed out. But that focus is usually both broad and specific and you can play around with time, bouncing around to describe the things that interest you. (And Robbins is very clear: the game is collaborative, but not consensus-driven: if something interests you, you can add it. (As long as that thing was not in the list of things your group wanted to avoid.))
There's a few other rules, mostly around resolving disagreements, but that's kind of it.
Yeah, so? I really like this, and I know people have used it for backstories to their RPG games, and I sure would like to try it some day.
What? Less a roleplaying game than a story game, with some roleplaying, "Microscope" is a collaborative way to tell some big historical shift: "humanity spreads across the stars, an empire rises and falls," etc.
How this works seems really smooth and innovative: one person each round declares a focus for the round, and then people add on details, from the macro to the micro scenes which are actually roleplayed out. But that focus is usually both broad and specific and you can play around with time, bouncing around to describe the things that interest you. (And Robbins is very clear: the game is collaborative, but not consensus-driven: if something interests you, you can add it. (As long as that thing was not in the list of things your group wanted to avoid.))
There's a few other rules, mostly around resolving disagreements, but that's kind of it.
Yeah, so? I really like this, and I know people have used it for backstories to their RPG games, and I sure would like to try it some day.
September 4, 2021
To be frank, it sounds like it will work but I lack the friends to give this a go.
Trying to imagine a solo variant, if I can scramble something up, will let my imaginary friends know.
Also skimmed through the Explorer "expansion" but it specifically is written for people that already had some runs, so will reread it after a while.
Trying to imagine a solo variant, if I can scramble something up, will let my imaginary friends know.
Also skimmed through the Explorer "expansion" but it specifically is written for people that already had some runs, so will reread it after a while.
December 8, 2013
Presents itself as a game, but would probably only work in the most forgiving of game groups. What Microscope has got going for it, however, is an excellent exercise in world building. 4stars as the latter, 2stars as the former.
June 18, 2023
Conceptually five stars. Now let me play and get back to you.
May 7, 2016
Something I've noticed about reading a great deal of role playing games is that one of the best parts of them is the initial premise. Roleplaying games tend to come at you with promises: experience a world of adventure, relive tales of heroism, build worlds like your favorite book/TV show/movie only this time you get to be the main character, so on and so forth. This is the hook that draws us in, makes us want to read through the numbers and find out what really lets us live in worlds composed of our creativity.
Quite a few of these written promises fall short.
Nobody has time to do what they usually do during the day, much less sit in a room for an hour and play pretend. Or, say you do end up having time on your hands, now you have to figure out how the game actually works. Say you do figure out how it works, and you get a few friends to synch up their schedules with yours, and you've put in all the effort that the game demands before you start: maybe you don't like the system. You don't have time to playtest all the rules (clearly neither do some companies that put out the books in the first place) to figure out which ones you like and don't like, you can fix the system on the fly but unless you're one of the few people who can call themselves a game designer (and I'm definitely not one of them) you might end up breaking it even worse. You can just ignore things you don't like, but you won't figure that out until you see it in action or you've played or read RPGs for a while to know what you like. Usually you have to get some kind of dice (and not just your standard six sided), a few more books and by the time you have everything you need to play this game is not just a game anymore, it's a serious investment. You can get e-published copies (usually in .pdf) format, but a lot of people just want the book itself because they're not used to reading it off of a screen or they just like the feel of it (I used to be one of these people). Getting dead tree versions are more expensive now overall, either because the places currently publishing them are doing print on demand or certain books have become collectors items, especially as companies are pushed out of the business for one reason or another.
So, with all of that infodump, what does Microscope do to warrant your precious time?
Simply put, it doesn't waste any of it. This book is 81 pages long, the game is no prep to start, is simple enough that you could probably teach the entire game to someone in five or ten minutes and all you need is a few index cards, something to write with and a table for everyone to sit at for a little while. You could probably play a game of this for just as long or for hours if you wanted. There's nobody in charge refereeing everything, so no extra pressure onto any of the players except maybe the person who teaches everyone else. The book itself is twenty five bucks for physical and ten for electronic (a little expensive if you ask me) but is a fairly low investment compared to a lot of other games in this genre (usually around $50-90 just to start and way beyond that if you're really into it). Of the eighty pages mentioned above, you probably need about ten really well memorized and once you take a glance through it there's a page at the very end of the book that literally summarizes the entire game so you don't have to go looking through it again if you really don't want to.
That said, is this a fun game? It seems like it. Is it a roleplaying game? It is. Is it like a lot of other roleplaying games? Not really. Most role playing games have you play one or a small collection of characters that are more or less persistent: if it's a dungeon crawl you can end a long campaign of many sessions of play with the character you started with when you were first learning the game if you like. If it's a horror game, you might take a character through weeks of terrifying experiences before you all decide to do something different, and who knows by that point your character might be a vampire or something stranger.
In Microscope, you play a timeline.
Essentially, you start the game knowing how that timeline will begin and how it will end. Instead of someone being in charge, everyone has a measure of control: you don't collaborate on the parts of the timeline you add, for the most part, you just add what you find interesting as long as it doesn't contradict something already on it. For the most part, the other players have to respect that: if you say a city is established on the moon and it was allowed to begin with, you simply do, that happens, it's done. Nothing stops another person from blowing up that same city further down the timeline, but that's fine, you can come back to the point where it existed and examine what happened while it was functional in greater detail, maybe even expand on why it failed. The idea for the majority of the game is that players affect the timeline how they see fit, creating a sort of collage of ideas from a birds eye view, the sort of history channel version of a world you're all making up.
There are characters, though, and characters can define eras and events all their own, but if you want to play them, you have to add specific scenes. The characters don't have statistics, you define them as you go, and define the world around you as you go. If someone doesn't like the way you defined something not explicitly under your control, they come up with something else, it comes to a vote at the table on which is better, the higher vote gets to be the accepted version and after it's resolved the game moves on.
That's really most of the game right there. I think this is a very smart idea: the mechanics are minimal, easily understood and even if someone's never played a roleplaying game before it lets them pick up on the core of it, which is playing a role. As someone who's read (not really played) a lot of RPGs, it's a refreshing idea.
That said, it's not being a hero. Sure you can play one, but largely the characters in Microscope are disposable. You get to define large swaths of history, but sometimes you just want to play one person and explore their intricacies. Thankfully, most of the other tabletop rpgs out there are perfectly willing to help you do that, and some of them about as complex as Microscope if you want. This is fun as a collaborative world building, storytelling game, but it casts aside a lot of standard RPG elements, so if that's what you want this probably isn't for you.
Do I think it's good? Sure, I'm all for simple designs that work, and I'm bad at math so the less math the better honestly. Would I want to play it all the time? Probably not. I think this would be valuable to me as a writer simply because it's an excellent world building tool and is perfect for outlining things easily, not to mention getting my friends to surprise me with their creativity (that I can subsequently steal from) to make the history feel a little more real. That said, if I want to explore one protagonist in a setting this wouldn't be so great for that, mostly. And, honestly, the RPG standard is that way for a reason: sometimes you really do just want to be the knight that slays the dragon or the starship captain that blows up the death star.
That said, I think this game is worth the expense. It's simple, interesting, and probably flexes creative muscles everyone could exercise a little more.
Quite a few of these written promises fall short.
Nobody has time to do what they usually do during the day, much less sit in a room for an hour and play pretend. Or, say you do end up having time on your hands, now you have to figure out how the game actually works. Say you do figure out how it works, and you get a few friends to synch up their schedules with yours, and you've put in all the effort that the game demands before you start: maybe you don't like the system. You don't have time to playtest all the rules (clearly neither do some companies that put out the books in the first place) to figure out which ones you like and don't like, you can fix the system on the fly but unless you're one of the few people who can call themselves a game designer (and I'm definitely not one of them) you might end up breaking it even worse. You can just ignore things you don't like, but you won't figure that out until you see it in action or you've played or read RPGs for a while to know what you like. Usually you have to get some kind of dice (and not just your standard six sided), a few more books and by the time you have everything you need to play this game is not just a game anymore, it's a serious investment. You can get e-published copies (usually in .pdf) format, but a lot of people just want the book itself because they're not used to reading it off of a screen or they just like the feel of it (I used to be one of these people). Getting dead tree versions are more expensive now overall, either because the places currently publishing them are doing print on demand or certain books have become collectors items, especially as companies are pushed out of the business for one reason or another.
So, with all of that infodump, what does Microscope do to warrant your precious time?
Simply put, it doesn't waste any of it. This book is 81 pages long, the game is no prep to start, is simple enough that you could probably teach the entire game to someone in five or ten minutes and all you need is a few index cards, something to write with and a table for everyone to sit at for a little while. You could probably play a game of this for just as long or for hours if you wanted. There's nobody in charge refereeing everything, so no extra pressure onto any of the players except maybe the person who teaches everyone else. The book itself is twenty five bucks for physical and ten for electronic (a little expensive if you ask me) but is a fairly low investment compared to a lot of other games in this genre (usually around $50-90 just to start and way beyond that if you're really into it). Of the eighty pages mentioned above, you probably need about ten really well memorized and once you take a glance through it there's a page at the very end of the book that literally summarizes the entire game so you don't have to go looking through it again if you really don't want to.
That said, is this a fun game? It seems like it. Is it a roleplaying game? It is. Is it like a lot of other roleplaying games? Not really. Most role playing games have you play one or a small collection of characters that are more or less persistent: if it's a dungeon crawl you can end a long campaign of many sessions of play with the character you started with when you were first learning the game if you like. If it's a horror game, you might take a character through weeks of terrifying experiences before you all decide to do something different, and who knows by that point your character might be a vampire or something stranger.
In Microscope, you play a timeline.
Essentially, you start the game knowing how that timeline will begin and how it will end. Instead of someone being in charge, everyone has a measure of control: you don't collaborate on the parts of the timeline you add, for the most part, you just add what you find interesting as long as it doesn't contradict something already on it. For the most part, the other players have to respect that: if you say a city is established on the moon and it was allowed to begin with, you simply do, that happens, it's done. Nothing stops another person from blowing up that same city further down the timeline, but that's fine, you can come back to the point where it existed and examine what happened while it was functional in greater detail, maybe even expand on why it failed. The idea for the majority of the game is that players affect the timeline how they see fit, creating a sort of collage of ideas from a birds eye view, the sort of history channel version of a world you're all making up.
There are characters, though, and characters can define eras and events all their own, but if you want to play them, you have to add specific scenes. The characters don't have statistics, you define them as you go, and define the world around you as you go. If someone doesn't like the way you defined something not explicitly under your control, they come up with something else, it comes to a vote at the table on which is better, the higher vote gets to be the accepted version and after it's resolved the game moves on.
That's really most of the game right there. I think this is a very smart idea: the mechanics are minimal, easily understood and even if someone's never played a roleplaying game before it lets them pick up on the core of it, which is playing a role. As someone who's read (not really played) a lot of RPGs, it's a refreshing idea.
That said, it's not being a hero. Sure you can play one, but largely the characters in Microscope are disposable. You get to define large swaths of history, but sometimes you just want to play one person and explore their intricacies. Thankfully, most of the other tabletop rpgs out there are perfectly willing to help you do that, and some of them about as complex as Microscope if you want. This is fun as a collaborative world building, storytelling game, but it casts aside a lot of standard RPG elements, so if that's what you want this probably isn't for you.
Do I think it's good? Sure, I'm all for simple designs that work, and I'm bad at math so the less math the better honestly. Would I want to play it all the time? Probably not. I think this would be valuable to me as a writer simply because it's an excellent world building tool and is perfect for outlining things easily, not to mention getting my friends to surprise me with their creativity (that I can subsequently steal from) to make the history feel a little more real. That said, if I want to explore one protagonist in a setting this wouldn't be so great for that, mostly. And, honestly, the RPG standard is that way for a reason: sometimes you really do just want to be the knight that slays the dragon or the starship captain that blows up the death star.
That said, I think this game is worth the expense. It's simple, interesting, and probably flexes creative muscles everyone could exercise a little more.
August 8, 2021
I enjoy history and I enjoy tabletop roleplaying games, as well I often have fun idly worldbuilding and dreaming up settings and histories. That all being the case Microscope is a game I had my eye on for a long time before I finally got around to reading it.
Anyone familiar with Kingdom is going to see a lot of its DNA in this game. Ben Robbins follow the familiar pattern of a cooperative, narrative game wherein a group works together to tell a story. There are mechanics, but the mechanics are there more to give authority, make sure players are sharing the spotlight and resolving tricky decision points.
In Microscope players collectively create the history of a place. That place can be a family or a galactic empire. It can be set in a fantasy kingdom, the far-flung future, or anything in between. The versatility and flexibility of the system really lends itself to many different applications.
Players divide their timeline (represented by cue cards with details written on them) into good/positive or bad/negative events. So, a history of Rome might begin with a 'good' event of the founding of the city and a final 'bad' event of the sack of the city of Rome. Between these end points players describe intervening ages and periods that layout the major events. Readers of history would recognize the clear delineation made in narrative that doesn't exist so neatly in reality.
Unfortunately I have not yet had a chance to play the game, but the rule set and the writing was clear and accessible and definitely provides fodder for worldbuilding-style gamers.
Anyone familiar with Kingdom is going to see a lot of its DNA in this game. Ben Robbins follow the familiar pattern of a cooperative, narrative game wherein a group works together to tell a story. There are mechanics, but the mechanics are there more to give authority, make sure players are sharing the spotlight and resolving tricky decision points.
In Microscope players collectively create the history of a place. That place can be a family or a galactic empire. It can be set in a fantasy kingdom, the far-flung future, or anything in between. The versatility and flexibility of the system really lends itself to many different applications.
Players divide their timeline (represented by cue cards with details written on them) into good/positive or bad/negative events. So, a history of Rome might begin with a 'good' event of the founding of the city and a final 'bad' event of the sack of the city of Rome. Between these end points players describe intervening ages and periods that layout the major events. Readers of history would recognize the clear delineation made in narrative that doesn't exist so neatly in reality.
Unfortunately I have not yet had a chance to play the game, but the rule set and the writing was clear and accessible and definitely provides fodder for worldbuilding-style gamers.
Read
January 15, 2023Incredible game that will probably always be one of my favorite game from broader tabletop RPG family. Ultimately, if you are fan of worldbuilding, like myself, you probably will enjoy this game. There is something beautiful in the way that this game gives you flexibility to shape world of your imagination, but doesn't leave you with nothing and provide structure that will guide you. Of course, it's also collaboration game and through its structure and guidance emphasize the way we should build on top of each other ideas, instead of trying to force others to follow our own ideas.
This game is landmark in development of tabletop "roleplaying" games and it shows how much more space there is for completely different modes of playing. I recommend this game to absolutely everyone, even if someone never played RPGs or any games like that before. It's amazing how much we could imagine and experience together.
This game is landmark in development of tabletop "roleplaying" games and it shows how much more space there is for completely different modes of playing. I recommend this game to absolutely everyone, even if someone never played RPGs or any games like that before. It's amazing how much we could imagine and experience together.
June 12, 2017
Un interesante y muy diferente juego narrativo con las elementos de role play. En Microscope todos los jugadores tienen el mismo poder y la misma licencia creativa para crear historias épicas que se extienden por tantos períodos con los jugadores quieran. No hay game máster o director del juego; todos los jugadores toman turnos para crear y modelar la historia. Se puede jugar desde una épica espacial, un mundo distópico, el nacimiento de un reino de una tierra fantástica, o incluso recrear desenlaces alternos de un capítulo de la historia del mundo. Lo mejor de Microscope es que es sencillo de aprender y no necesita preparación previa para empezar a jugar. Es sin lugar a dudas un nuevo paradigma en juegos tabletop narrativos.
February 7, 2022
Beautifully succinct rule-set, an incredibly handy guide to teaching new players, and a major emphasis on collaboration by means of working with others as opposed to democratic consensus.
I am eagerly looking forward to my first session of Microscope. As an avid storyteller and compulsive concept creator, I am very pleased to have a game that allows for simple elaboration on a given world concept. There are so many stories I have been dying to tell that haven't gotten past the premise, and this book seems an invaluable tool to breathe life into these ideas that gather dust in my backlog library of ideas.
I can see this book being and excellent tool for aspiring writers and world-builders, and plan to use it as such in the future.
I am eagerly looking forward to my first session of Microscope. As an avid storyteller and compulsive concept creator, I am very pleased to have a game that allows for simple elaboration on a given world concept. There are so many stories I have been dying to tell that haven't gotten past the premise, and this book seems an invaluable tool to breathe life into these ideas that gather dust in my backlog library of ideas.
I can see this book being and excellent tool for aspiring writers and world-builders, and plan to use it as such in the future.
June 4, 2020
Holy nuts. I want to run right out and try this one. By itself, this seems like a really fun way to spend an afternoon. If you're in the mood for something like "Once Upon a Time," where you're collaboratively creating a story, this one lets you create a history. If you're thinking about creating a setting for a tabletop RPG, this could be an extremely useful tool. And if you're a writer, this has tons of great opportunities. As a game, as a creative exercise, it seems deceptively simple. Taking a 'big picture' look at history and then drilling down into the details, hopping around time, building on other players' ideas. It's good stuff.
Read
July 20, 2019A fascinating game. Many other GM-less RPGs I’ve read and played spread the narrative duties around, microscope passes the reins from one person to the next instead. There is no discussion of “what might happen” instead a player declares significant changes to the history that’s being developed. The power and authority in that is really neat, and gives people the opportunity to make big swings.
The rules for playing out scenes are a little crunchier than I would have expected, only because periods and events are so much more open ended.
The rules for playing out scenes are a little crunchier than I would have expected, only because periods and events are so much more open ended.
March 14, 2020
A unique take (in my experience) on the storytelling RPG genre, and one I can't wait to try with my friends.
It also occurs to me that this game also provides an interesting framework for creating and exploring setting suitable to writing fiction, as it creates a dynamic where multiple people contribute to the creation of a fictional narrative that has unexpected twists and turns, something an author could then build on and explore in greater depth later, primed by the output of multiple creative people riffing off each other. I may give that a try as well.
It also occurs to me that this game also provides an interesting framework for creating and exploring setting suitable to writing fiction, as it creates a dynamic where multiple people contribute to the creation of a fictional narrative that has unexpected twists and turns, something an author could then build on and explore in greater depth later, primed by the output of multiple creative people riffing off each other. I may give that a try as well.
June 7, 2023
The concept of this book is interesting - play out an epic history in any order, between two book ends. The rules are short but detailed and look to layout a roadmap of how to get where you want to go, and even to where you don't expect to go.
My initial rating is on the read through and the expectations of what this system can do. But to get a real rating, I'll need to revisit this once at least the first session is in the book. The hope is this can build a collective history for another campaign where the players help build the world they are about to live in.
My initial rating is on the read through and the expectations of what this system can do. But to get a real rating, I'll need to revisit this once at least the first session is in the book. The hope is this can build a collective history for another campaign where the players help build the world they are about to live in.
July 30, 2023
Se me ha hecho muy fluída la lectura. Sinceramente le veo un potencial brutal tanto para partidas de rol independientes sin más como para desarrollos de worldbuilding entre escritores o grupos de personas que quieran crear su propio universo sobre el que montar partidas para el sistema que sea. Además habiendo probado una partida de verdad se ve desarrollarse ese potencial. Eso sí, creo que vendría bien que al menos dos personas del grupo sepan jugar o lo hayan probado una vez, más que nada para que sea más fácil aplicar algunas de las mecánicas.
January 29, 2024
I've played this game many times, but never read the manual, as I wasn't the one running it. Nothing much new, other than some specific advice here and there that hadn't come up in the games I've played, but very well written and nicely laid out, with good examples.
That said, I suspect it would have been slower going if I hadn't already played the game quite a bit. Someone brand new should probably take their time going through this before running a game.
That said, I suspect it would have been slower going if I hadn't already played the game quite a bit. Someone brand new should probably take their time going through this before running a game.
September 20, 2019
I will revisit this review after playing the actual game, rather than just reading the rules to the game.
However, the book is very clear in presenting its ideas. It also doesn't shy away from letting the voice of the author shine through. This is a good thing, one ends up holding something very bland, otherwise.
However, the book is very clear in presenting its ideas. It also doesn't shy away from letting the voice of the author shine through. This is a good thing, one ends up holding something very bland, otherwise.
July 28, 2020
Twice this week I've heard somebody mention that "playing a game of Microscope" is their favorite way to create and begin a new RPG campaign. I was curious, so I grabbed a copy.
I love the idea of this both as a standalone game and as a campaign generator. It's given me a great framework with which to explore my own homebrew setting.
I love the idea of this both as a standalone game and as a campaign generator. It's given me a great framework with which to explore my own homebrew setting.
August 27, 2020
i'm not sure if i can really rate this because it's an instruction book for a game i had to play for creative writing class...??? i will say the game is very fun and although it seems intimidating at first it's really not once you get into it.
January 12, 2022
This is a great tabletop game to play with friends. It can be single session or span many sessions, all depends on how detailed you want to make your Histories. Index cards and writing implements are all you need to get started.
January 16, 2024
I keep five starring books but this was such a clear explanation of how to play and a tight game. While playing, there were several moments where I realized the efficacy of mechanics and it was just so well put together.
Really beautiful and clean game.
Really beautiful and clean game.
December 7, 2024
this is a very fun rpg where you make a timeline in whatever world you want to create. honestly the most fun i've had in an evening since playing pretend as a kid. rules are really clean, very easy to play and teach others.
11/10, would force every friend i have to play this.
11/10, would force every friend i have to play this.
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