Mark Bernstein’s FESTIVAL OF NARRATIVE AUTOMATA explores more than 70 storytelling toys that provide interesting insights into the future of fiction and technical writing. Critical Theory for fun!
2. A FESTIVAL OF NARRATIVE AUTOMATA
▸ Stories 1.................................................................................................................
▸ Art 5.......................................................................................................................
▸ Automating Narrative 21......................................................................................
▸ The Death Of The Author 29................................................................................
▸ Are You My Mother?: the social construction of character 39................................
▸ Serious Hypertext 47............................................................................................
▸ One Damn Thing After Another: the master narrative 63.....................................
▸ My Friend, Hamlet 87............................................................................................
▸ Gears and Pulleys: building the automaton 101......................................................
▸ That Kind Of Movie: theory made manifest 109.....................................................
▸ The Exuberance Of The Automaton 121...............................................................
▸ Errors 133...............................................................................................................
▸ Lessons For Hypertext Narrative 137...................................................................
▸ The Path Ahead 141...............................................................................................
▸ Appendix: The Game In Fiction 149.....................................................................
▸ Glossary 153...........................................................................................................
5. THANKS TO…
▸ Mark W. R. Anderson
▸ Paul Czege
▸ Charlie Hargood
▸ E. P. James
▸ Diane Greco Josefowicz
▸ George P. Landow
▸ Morgan Macri
▸ Stacey Mason
▸ David Millard
▸ Jason Morningstar
▸ Stuart Moulthrop
▸ Souvik Mukherjee
▸ Emily Short
▸ Rosemary M. Simpson
6. THE PLAN
THE PLAN
▸ Interrupt with questions!
▸ Yes, do!
▸ Lunch break
▸ After lunch, I’ll try to wrap up in time for the last 2 papers in
the Engelbart session
15. People have always told stories. Until
very recently, if you wanted to hear a
new story, you invented it yourself or
you asked someone else to tell you a
story, either in person or in print.
The Book, p. 1
STORIES
16. STORIES
NARRATIVE AUTOMATA
▸ Machines that tell stories
▸ Sometimes alone, often in conjunction with one or more
people
▸ Sometimes computer programs
▸ Often, rules and procedures
17. STORIES
WHY?
▸ Individual storytellers cheat
▸ The short 20th century was built on propaganda
▸ Automata let us see complexity of the story
▸ To learn something, try to teach it
▸ Automata provide context for thinking about narratology
▸ To teach a machine to do something that has always been a
perquisite of humanity
21. ART
▸ Once upon a
time…
▸ And then…
▸ But there was
one thing they
had forgotten.
I believe that today is Jan Hus Day, Den upálení
mistra Jana Husa
29. ART
▸ Literary Hypertext / Hypertext Narrative
▸ Interactive Fiction
▸ Digital Storytelling
▸ Electronic Literature
▸ Games Studies
▸ Interactive Digital Narrative
▸ AI
▸ Tabletop games and narrative automata
OUR FRAGMENTED COMMUNITIES
Moreaboutthisinthebook
32. AUTOMATING NARRATIVE
TWO CORE INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITIES
▸AUTOMATING THINGS THAT HAVE
ALWAYS BEEN EXCLUSIVELY HUMAN
▸IDENTIFYING THE LIMITS OF
COMPUTATION
38. WHAT’S AUTOMATED
Dungeons and Dragons
WHAT’S FIXED
‣ Random encounters
‣ Combat results
‣ The Dungeon-Master’s
World
‣ Trajectory of Victory and
Experience
40. CONFLICT #696
PLOTTO
696: (715c, 695b) The protagonist, a patriot,
but a wanderer and an outcast, is deprived of
all news of his native land. (823)(826)(859)
43. BELIEF
Little Fears
IT'S ALL JUST A GAME
If the roll failed with Failing Grades:
Oh my. Your child believed in something and it not only didn’t work, it completely
failed. Maybe it’s not just broken. Maybe magic’s not as powerful as he thought.
If you failed with Failing Grades and you were not using Stuff, you lose the original
token and another token as well. No matter how many Failing Grades there are, you only
lose one extra token.
Only the person who rolled the dice loses the extra Belief token. So if you believe in
another, and that person fails with Failing Grades, you lose your original Belief token but
he or she loses the extra one.
If the person losing the extra token has no tokens, there is no penalty.
EXAMPLE: Let’s say Hugo didn’t make the leap. In this scenario, his friend was Believing in
him. In fact, Hugo not only fails, he completely botches the attempt. He need to meet or beat a
44. WHAT’S AUTOMATED
LITTLE FEARS
WHAT’S FIXED
‣ Combat
‣ Lots of improv/
explaining what the dice
are saying
‣ Game Master’s World
‣ The Enemy
‣ Each character’s
gradual loss of
innocence or belief
46. LOVE, WEARINESS, LOATHING
MY LIFE WITH MASTER
VILLAINY AND SELF-LOATHING
Carlotta
Sebastian and Volya
Prue
The life of a minion is a hard one.
The horrific things
you do make it
difficult to feel
good about
yourself.
If only someone
loved you...
49. THE VILLAGE
COLLECTIVE
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD KOBOLDS
No Country for Old Kobolds
23
FUCK YOU, WE HAVE A...
Your village gains a mighty protector! Of course, they want some-
thing in return…
This move can be taken multiple times, but only in the order listed
below.These sorts of creatures aren’t known for sharing; each time
a new creature moves into your territory they run off the previous
protector (and you no longer have to fulfill the previous protector’s
wants).Thus, you can only have one protector at a time.
You may spend additional xp to skip protector levels, e.g. 14xp to
go straight to Troll, 21xp to go straight to Necromancer.
…WIZARD!
A wizard of some variety has taken up residence in your village!
What sort of wizard is it? Gain four 1d6 damage, 10 hit point
homunculi units for future raids. Add a new want to the village.
Describe what it is and where it can be acquired.
…TROLL!
A mighty troll has taken up residence in the village! What’s its
name? Gain one 1d12 damage, 20 hit point troll unit that regen-
erates three hit points per round. Add a new want to the village.
Describe what it is and where it can be acquired.
…NECROMANCER!
A terrible necromancer has taken up residence in your village!
Gain five 1d6 damage, 8 hit point skeleton units. Gain 2 additional
units each time your village breeds. Add a new want to the village.
Describe what it is and where it can be acquired.
…DRAGON!
A mighty dragon has taken up residence in your village! What sort
of dragon is it? Gain one 2d8 damage, 40 hit point dragon unit.
Add a new want to the village. Describe what it is and where it can
be acquired. If any unit gained by this move dies, the unit is gone
forever. You may, however, still buy the next level protector. If a
protector leaves the village for any reason, their want goes with
them. You don’t have to find rotten fish to feed to your troll protec-
tor if he’s been killed by a murderhobo.
52. QUEER FATE
NIGHT WITCHES
65the game master: threats
OUR BELOVED 588TH REGIMENT
„ Confess love or pregnancy or both.
„ Brew up petty rivalries, spread rumors, and gossip.
„ Bury the dead—or the living.
„ Celebrate a victory, award, wedding, or name day.
„ Deliver very bad news from home.
„ Introduce green recruits or know-it-all veterans.
„ Our Gallant Flying Comrades
„ Send Major Popov of the all-male 218th Night
Bomber Regiment over.
„ Take credit.
„ Laugh at the women of the 588th.
„ Make the Night Witches act like men—or women.
„ Spotlight an ace from the mostly female 586th
Fighter Regiment.
„ “Borrow” resources and equipment.
„ Break the rules and get away with it.
REAR-ECHELON HEROES
„ Delay vital supplies or paperwork.
„ Deliver the wrong things; deliver late or not at all.
„ Rat them out.
„ Loiter around the airbase looking for a party.
„ Demand a “consideration”—or steal from them.
„ Have the Central Directorate of Rear Services of the Soviet
Army Air Forces, 4th Air Army Logistics and Supply
Commissariat call them to account.
THEGAMEMASTER
57. DOGS IN THE
VINEYARD
D. VINCENT BAKER
8Dogs
Vineyard
in
the
A Roleplaying Game
Written by D. Vincent Baker
ad mmiv
58. THE FAITH
DOGS IN THE VINEYARD
There’s something wrong, of course.
Pride (manifests as injustice).
...leads to...
Sin (manifests as demons attacking
from outside, in the form of famine,
plague, raiding outlaw bands, or
whatever).
...leads to...
False Doctrine (manifests as corrupt
religious practices and heresy).
...leads to...
False Priesthood (manifests as
demons within the congregation:
sorcery, possession and active evil).
...leads to...
Hate and murder.
60. INYOUR
COURSE
MATERIALS!
THE CLAY
THAT WOKE
PAUL CZEGE
9
A new, immersive
roleplaying game
like nothing you’ve
seen before.
Paul
CZEGE
Minotaurs in
a human civilization
sundered by a surreal,
trackless jungle.
𐑓𐑰𐑤 𐑞 𐑕𐑳𐑯𐑪𐑯𐑘𐑹 𐑣𐑲𐑛 $27.00
61. SILENCE
THE CLAY THAT WOKE
Be courageous. Act with wisdom.
Work for justice and the social
good. Do not use the names of
women. Do not want. Do not
express your emotions.
62. WHAT’S AUTOMATED
THE CLAY THAT WOKE
WHAT’S FIXED
‣ Combat
‣ Interactions
‣ Townspeople
‣ The forest
‣ The krater of lots
‣ The world
‣ The silence
‣ The arc
64. TOMB TABLES
GLORY FADES
Choose and mark. For anything affecting a single skeleton,
choose which however you like.
† The magic compelling one of the skeletons to service—
but not its undead energy—is beginning to fade.
† Something the skeletons are protecting is lost—stolen or
simply missing. What was it?
† A memory that a skeleton had previously regained is
false, and the truth asserts itself. Which memory, and
what truth?
† The place where a skeleton stands watch is covered in
debris and impassable.
† A skeleton loses some bones permanently. What body
part is missing? Note it on the character sheet.
† Something the skeletons are protecting is damaged.
What, and how?
GODS LAUGH
Choose and mark. For anything affecting a single skeleton,
choose which however you like.
† A skeleton’s weapon is broken, bent or rendered useless.
What will they do? Note it on the character sheet.
† A skeleton’s appearance is altered in some way. Perhaps
they are marked by fire or magic.
† A memory that a skeleton had previously regained slips
away and is lost forever. Which one?
† Something the skeletons are protecting is destroyed.
What is it?
† Something from a skeleton’s past has been accidentally
revealed What was it, and why was it hidden? Note this
on the map.
† The magic animating one of the skeletons—but not its
compulsion to service—is beginning to fade.
WORLDS CRUMBLE
Choose and mark. For anything affecting the tomb itself,
note it on the map and adjust accordingly.
† A wall comes down, blocking part of the tomb. Which
part? Adjust the map.
† A tomb-robber is successful. What object did they steal?
Choose from among those already introduced if you are
able. Adjust the map.
† The great sarcophagus splits open, spilling out
its contents. What was within? Adjust the map.
† The tomb is flooded. What is ruined, mold covered,
or decayed after the waters recede? Adjust the map.
† Gold and silver dull. Iron rusts. Colors fade to a
sepulchral grey. Note this on the map.
† A thick layer of dust covers every surface. Note this
on the map.
TIME DEVOURS
Choose and mark. For anything affecting the tomb itself,
note it on the map and adjust accordingly.
† The webs of tomb spiders form an intricate filigree over
the walls and ceiling. Note this on the map.
† The tomb is infested. What signs of vermin remain long
after the infestation ends? Adjust the map.
† A crack develops, creating an opening for robbers and
other vermin. Where? Adjust the map.
† Something collapses, leaving a large pile of debris. What
has failed? Adjust the map.
† Wood, cloth, hide, horn and un-enchanted bone all turn
to powder. Note this on the map.
† An earthquake rocks the tomb, drastically altering
its shape and utility. Many things are destroyed.
Adjust the map.
DESECRATION
THE SKELETONS
67. TOMB TABLES
GLORY FADES
Choose and mark. For anything affecting a single skeleton,
choose which however you like.
† The magic compelling one of the skeletons to service—
but not its undead energy—is beginning to fade.
† Something the skeletons are protecting is lost—stolen or
simply missing. What was it?
† A memory that a skeleton had previously regained is
false, and the truth asserts itself. Which memory, and
what truth?
† The place where a skeleton stands watch is covered in
debris and impassable.
† A skeleton loses some bones permanently. What body
part is missing? Note it on the character sheet.
† Something the skeletons are protecting is damaged.
What, and how?
GODS LAUGH
Choose and mark. For anything affecting a single skeleton,
choose which however you like.
† A skeleton’s weapon is broken, bent or rendered useless.
What will they do? Note it on the character sheet.
† A skeleton’s appearance is altered in some way. Perhaps
they are marked by fire or magic.
† A memory that a skeleton had previously regained slips
away and is lost forever. Which one?
† Something the skeletons are protecting is destroyed.
What is it?
† Something from a skeleton’s past has been accidentally
revealed What was it, and why was it hidden? Note this
on the map.
† The magic animating one of the skeletons—but not its
compulsion to service—is beginning to fade.
WORLDS CRUMBLE
Choose and mark. For anything affecting the tomb itself,
note it on the map and adjust accordingly.
† A wall comes down, blocking part of the tomb. Which
part? Adjust the map.
† A tomb-robber is successful. What object did they steal?
Choose from among those already introduced if you are
able. Adjust the map.
† The great sarcophagus splits open, spilling out
its contents. What was within? Adjust the map.
† The tomb is flooded. What is ruined, mold covered,
or decayed after the waters recede? Adjust the map.
† Gold and silver dull. Iron rusts. Colors fade to a
sepulchral grey. Note this on the map.
† A thick layer of dust covers every surface. Note this
on the map.
TIME DEVOURS
Choose and mark. For anything affecting the tomb itself,
note it on the map and adjust accordingly.
† The webs of tomb spiders form an intricate filigree over
the walls and ceiling. Note this on the map.
† The tomb is infested. What signs of vermin remain long
after the infestation ends? Adjust the map.
† A crack develops, creating an opening for robbers and
other vermin. Where? Adjust the map.
† Something collapses, leaving a large pile of debris. What
has failed? Adjust the map.
† Wood, cloth, hide, horn and un-enchanted bone all turn
to powder. Note this on the map.
† An earthquake rocks the tomb, drastically altering
its shape and utility. Many things are destroyed.
Adjust the map.
HONOBONO
RYUUTAMA
Travelers,
Step by Step:
Step 1: Before we embark, let’s get ready!
❁ Get to know what sort of game Ryuutama is.➙Read through the rulebook.
❁ Prepare the game. ➙ Review character creation
❁ Gather the necessary materials. ➙ Writing utensils, dice (one each of 4,
6, 8, 10, and 12-sided dice), copies of each character sheet.
❁ Create the traveling companions together. ➙ Gather your party, discuss
everyone’s party roles and give self-introductions.
❁ Create the town that will become the destination.➙“Town Creation” rules
Step 2: The Voyage! What’s a single day of travel like?
TRAVELING RULES
❁ Determine how good or bad you
feel that day.➙Condition Check
❁ Are you able to travel without
getting hurt? ➙Travel Check
❁ Are you able to find your way
without getting lost? ➙Direction
Check
❁ Are you able to spend the night
safely and without incident? ➙
Camping Check
ENCOUNTERS ON THE TRAIL
❁ What happens if I don’t feel well?
➙ Status effects rules
❁ Monster encounter! ➙Combat
rules
WALK AROUND TOWN
❁ Enjoy shopping. ➙ Shopping
rules
❁ Services and facilities in town.
➙ Facilities
❁ Bring animals. ➙ Animals
Step 3: Things you can do to make your trip comfortable
❁ Make use of your skills ➙ Skills, Type
❁ Use tools and items. ➙ Items
❁ Use medicinal herbs. ➙ Healing Herbs
❁ Use magic. ➙ Magic
Step 4: Growth upon completion of your journey
❁ Add up your EXP and level up. ➙ Level up
The Player’s Role
• Control a single character.
• Cooperate with the other players and
make the session fun for everyone.
• Proceed through a scenario with the GM.
• Follow the rules of the game.
76. “Why, you know, Sir Thomas’s
means will be rather straitened if
the Antigua estate is to make
such poor returns.”
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
77. The goal of literary work is to make the reader no longer a consumer, but a producer of the text.
Roland Barthes
Photo: BBC
“The goal of literary
work is to make the
reader no longer a
consumer, but a
producer of the text.”
81. The Drifter's Escape
Spades
Ace of Spades This character just ruined another character’s life.
King of Spades This character is involved with another in a tentative
deal with a lot of money.
Queen of Spades This character is related by blood to another.
Jack of Spades This character owes a great debt to someone.
Ten of Spades This character is white
Nine of Spades This character is vastly wealthy.
Eight of Spades This character has never been in love.
Seven of Spades This character has a gun.
Six of Spades This character is a soldier or veteran.
Five of Spades This character holds political office.
Four of Spades This character has appeared in a previous story. (If this
is your first time playing, ignore this.)
Three of Spades Nothing.
Two of Spades Nothing.
Clubs
BenLehman,TheDrifter’sEscape
82. A
The community becomes obsessed with a single project. Which one? Why? Choose one:
Add 3 weeks to the project die.
All other projects fail.
If there are no projects underway, the community becomes obsessed with a grandiose vision.
Hold a discussion about this vision, in addition to your regular action for the week.
2
Someone returns to the community.
Who? Where were they?
or...
You find a body. Do people recognize who it is?
What happened?
3
Someone leaves the community after issuing a
dire warning. Who? What is the warning?
or...
Someone issues a dire warning, and the community
leaps into action to avoid disaster. What is the warning?
Start a contentious project that relates to it.
4 The strongest among you dies. What caused the death? or...
The weakest among you dies.
Who’s to blame for their death?
5
The Parish arrives. Who are they? Why have they
chosen your community, and for what?
or...
A small gang of marauders is making its way
through local terrain. How many are there?
What weapons do they carry?
6
Introduce a dark mystery among
the members of the community.
or...
Conflict flares up among community members,
and as a result, a project fails.
7
A project just isn’t working out as expected.
Radically change the nature of this project
(don’t modify the project die). When it resolves, you’ll
be responsible for telling the community how it went.
or...
Something goes foul and supplies are ruined.
Add a new Scarcity.
8
Someone sabotages a project, and the project fails
as a result. Who did this? Why?
or...
Someone is caught trying to sabotage the efforts of
the community. How does the community respond?
9
The community works constantly and
as a result a project finishes early.
or...
A group goes out to explore the map more thoroughly,
and finds something that had been previously overlooked.
Autumn
AveryAlder,TheQuietYear
83. Tadeusz Rajszczak Maszynka (left) and two other young soldiers from Miotła Battalion, 2 September 1944
Photo: Jerzy Tomaszewski
89. PEOPLE ARE TEXTS, TOO…
IDENTITY IS (IN PART) SOCIALLY
CONSTRUCTED. WE WRITE
OURSELVES, BUT WE ALSO ARE
WRITTEN UPON.
Narrative Automata, p.39
ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
92. ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
CONSTRUCTING A CHARACTER
Strength 17
Intelligence 11
Wisdom 6
Dexterity 8
Charisma 7
Constitution 14
93. IN PRINCIPLE, IT COULD BE
INTERESTING TO EXPLORE
THE ROLE OF A DIMWITTED
WIZARD.
Narrative Automata, p. 40
ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
94. Alice is Bobby’s aunt, and was Clarice’s teacher in
sophomore English.
Clarice hated that class, and used to have a crush
on Bobby years ago, before he went to prep school
and got so full of himself.
Alice and Bobby expect to inherit a lot of money
someday, but right now they’re flat broke and the
rent is due next week on the fast food joint Alice
owns, Bobby manages, and where Clarice works.
It’s time for crime.
JasonMorningstar,Fiasco
95.
96. IT’S ABOUT SUBMITTING
TO THE MECHANICS OF
AN ALIEN WORLD.
Paul Czege, The Clay That Woke
ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
97. ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
These are my courage tokens.
As icons they look like c.
I refresh to two c when we see me having
a conversation with a leader minotaur
about a civic issue.
These are my mind tokens.
As icons they look like m.
I refresh to four m when we see me
reacting emotionally to a cultural problem.
These are my name tokens.
As icons they look like n.
I can spend two n to ensure a gamemaster
character will be successful in a planned future
action for which no player minotaur will be
present.
I refresh to ___ n when we see me tell
an advocate or leader minotaur a truth or
possible truth. I also get n from
several Krater outcomes.
These are my silence tokens.
As icons they look like s.
I get more swhile I’m in the jungle.
These are my gift tokens.
As icons they look like g.
I get more g when I leave the jungle
and I’ve had a gift lost, destroyed, or expire
recently.
This is my life token.
As an icon it looks like l.
I get my l back when the jungle comes for
me in the Dégringolade, or the Dégringolade
comes for me in the jungle.
I have abiding gifts
I have essential gifts
Silence
Be courageous. Act with
wisdom. Work for justice and
the social good. Do not use the
names of women. Do not want.
Do not express your emotions.
I have broken silence
THE CLAY THAT WOKE—MINOTAUR SHEET
A PHILOSOPHER MINOTAURSILENCE
▸ Be courageous.
▸ Act with wisdom.
▸ Work for justice and the social
good.
▸ Do not use the names of women.
▸ Do not want.
▸ Do not express your emotions.
98. Peter reels from the blow, clutching his broken left
forearm. He hesitates, then plants his feet and pulls
himself up to his full height of 49 inches. “You’ll
never get past me!” he shouts, knowing that he is all
that stands between the monster and Lisa.
Jason L. Blair, Little Fears
ARE YOU MY MOTHER?
99. ARE YOU MY MOTHER
GAINING DISTANCE
▸ Framing stories
▸ Third person
▸ Ironic detachment
▸ Formalism
▸ Ritual
▸ Joint responsibility
▸ Sentimental (false, conventional) outcomes
102. INYOUR
COURSE
MATERIALS!
SERIOUS HYPERTEXT
THE GREY RANKS
A1
N d12
A2
d12
A3
d10
A4
d8
A5
N d8
B1
d12
B2
d10
B3
d10
B4
d8
B5
d8
C1
d10
C2
d10
C3
d8
C4
d6
C5
d6
D1
d8
D2
d8
D3
d6
D4
d6
D5
d4
E1
N d8
E2
d8
E3
d6
E4
d4
E5
N d4
Love
Winmission,winpersonal
i
Hate
Lose mission,lose personal
i
Enthusiasm
Winmission,losepersonal
i
Exhaustion
Losemission,winpersonal
i
M
artyrdom
D
erangem
ent
NervousBreakdow
nSuicidalD
epression
In this game, you will
assume the role of a young
Polish partisan before,
during, and after the
disastrous 1944 Uprising
against the Germans.
Together with your friends,
you’ll create the story of a
group of teens who fight to
free their city.
103. SERIOUS HYPERTEXT
WHAT’S WRONG WITH GAMES?
▸ Untrue: fictions lie
▸ Frivolous: fictions waste time
▸ Irresponsible: who can blame an automaton?
▸ Sentimental: many automata compel your answer
▸ Prevaricating: closure is a suspect quality
▸ Arbitrary:
If God is God, he is not good; if God is good, he is not God.
104. Narrative Automata 47
Hypertext 2017
SERIOUS HYPERTEXT
“The puritan dogma that seriousness is one thing and pleasure another. The
puritan mistakes pleasure for frivolity because he mistakes seriousness for
solemnity.”
Many of the earliest notable narrative automata—Gygax and Arneson’s
Dungeons Dragons and Edward Packard’s Choose Your Own Adventure
books—were relentlessly cheery melodramas in which romantic heroes faced,
and ultimately overcame, a host of obstacles. Computer games followed their
lead, first in arcades and then in personal computing. Some thought this a result
of the primitive graphics of the time, others attributed the preponderance of
melodrama to the pre-adolescent audience of the early arcades and Toys ‘R’ Us
aisle. Exceptions can be found, but the overall picture is clear. As a result, film
critic Roger Ebert, who throughout his career favored popular entertainment
over the more cerebral fare preferred by his competitor and collaborator Gene
Siskel, famously speculated that games could never be art—that they were inca-
pable of serious thought or emotion. The world of the computer game has long
been dominated by cartoonish figures, slashing their way through derivative
pseudo-Arthurian landscapes to rescue The Princess.
But let us turn to Jason Morningstar’s The Grey Ranks, where the picture is very
different.
The puritan dogma: Eagleton, Terry. Af-
ter Theory. New York: Basic Books, 2003.
The earliest notable narrative
automata: I omit here any number
of conventional games, computer
games, programmed learning texts, and
computational experiments that might
conceivably be viewed as precursors. I
also omit William Wallace Cook’s Plotto
(Ellis Publishing Company, Battle Creek,
Mich., 1928), which was a very different
artifact with a completely different
purpose and which, by the 1974 publica-
tion of Dungeons Dragons, had been
thoroughly forgotten. Whatever one
thought of DD when it first appeared,
it was new.
Roger Ebert: “Video Games Can Never
Be Art”, (16 April 2010) http://www.
rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/video-
games-can-never-be-art
The Grey Ranks: Jason Morningstar, The
grey ranks (Bully Pulpit Press, 2007)
105.
106. BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN (VACHEL LINDSAY)
She wore in her hair a brave prairie rose.
Her gold chums cut her, for that was not the pose.
No Gibson Girl would wear it in that fresh way.
But we were fairy Democrats, and this was our day.
107.
108. IT IS UNLIKELY THAT, FOR
EXAMPLE, THE 1944 WARSAW
GHETTO UPRISING COULD BE
INTERPRETED EQUALLY WELL AS
ROMANCE, FARCE, OR TRAGEDY
ALUN MUNSLOW
SERIOUS HYPERTEXT
112. THE WAR STORY IS NOT
CHIEFLY INTERESTED IN
SWORDPLAY AND GUNFIRE,
STRATEGY AND TACTICS:
COMPUTER GAMES ARE.
That Fatal Strawberry Ice Cream
One Damn Thing After Another
117. ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER
On Hypertext Narrative
Mark Bernstein
Eastgate Systems, Inc.
134 Main Street
Watertown MA 02472 USA
+1 617 924 9044
Bernstein@eastgate.com
ABSTRACT
Annals and chronicles may be the foundation of accounting, but
writers of stories and histories have long known that they seldom
render a satisfactory account of complex events. In place of a
simple chronological list, narrative instead organizes our account
in new sequences in order to illuminate the interplay of actors and
events. We want hypertext narrative to do things we cannot
achieve in print; though we may occasionally use links to
introduce variation in presentation or in story; it is now clear that
hypertext will most frequently prove useful in changing (or
adapting) plot. After discussing the ways in which plot may be
varied, I describe the use of stretchtext as a reaction against the
perceived incoherence of classic hypertext narrative, demonstrate
the limitations that conventional stretchtext necessarily imposes
on hypertext narrative, and describe an implemented
generalization of stretchtext that matches the expressive and
formal capabilities of classical hypertext systems while appearing
to be a mere stretchtext and while running within the confines of a
Web browser.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H5.4 [Hypertext/Hypermedia]: Theory. I7.2 [Document
Preparation]: hypertext/hypermedia. J5 [Computer
Applications]: Arts and Humanities. Literature.
General Terms
Documentation, Design, Human Factors,
Keywords
Hypertext narrative, fiction, stretchtext, patterns
1. ANNALS AND CHRONICLES
Narrative describes events that unfold in time: stories, memories,
histories, and procedural descriptions. Some narratives may be
imaginary, others historical, and still others might describe future
events.
Hypertext narrative matters not only to artists and entertainers, but
also to a wide range of hypertext writers. From historians to
technical writers, from documenting the incidents that gave rise to
a court case to specifying a treatment protocol for medical clinics,
narrative is vitally important. Because hypertext is, by definition,
non-sequential while narrative is fundamentally about sequence,
hypertext has always challenged our understanding of narrative. If
the reader may experience a hypertext in different sequences,
what happens to the reader’s understanding of the sequence of
events?
When we first consider crafting a record of complex events, we
might in the first instance contemplate a chronological record of
occurrences – a diary or chronicle that lists events sequentially.
This representation is ancient; we find it in Babylonian clay
tablets, in the Roman Fasti, in biblical chronicles, in weblogs. In
the form of the journal and ledger, it remains at the center of
accounting.
Even the earliest historians recognized that chronicles or annals
provide an inadequate account of history. For while a simple
chronological list might clarify questions of temporal priority, it
often obscures questions of causation. Unrelated events occur at
the same time, while daily experience reminds us that causes
precede consequences. Extraordinary events, such as a natural
disaster or invasion, may easily overlap other events that, while
ordinary in themselves, give rise to significant consequences.
Events of immediate significance, a royal marriage or a solar
eclipse, may coincide with events whose significance will not
emerge for many years, such as the introduction of a new crop
plant or the birth of a child who will, many years later, lead a
successful revolution.
Even our oldest histories and stories depart from strictly
chronological organization.
2. NOTES ON HYPERTEXT NARRATIVE
We want hypertext narrative to do things we could not achieve in
print.
The study of narrative is, unfortunately, a terminological
quagmire, and is further complicated by inconsistent usages and
linguistic borrowings [27]. Broadly following Lowe, the story is
the sequence of events that the narrative describes. These events
are recounted to us in a (hyper) text. The text may be written, but
it need not be: it might be cinematic, or a audible, or might
combine writing and image in a variety of ways. The narrative
text may not — indeed usually does not — describe events in the
same sequence in which they occurred, but may depart from that
sequence for clarity, emotional effect, or simply because two
events took place at the some time.
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies
are
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that
copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy
otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists,
requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.
HT’09, June 29–July 1, 2009, Torino, Italy.
Copyright 2009 ACM 978-1-60558-486-7/09/06...$5.00
118. ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER
CONSTRAINTS
8 Game Rules
Step 4: Maid Special Quality Table
Roll Special Quality Description
11 Glasses You wear glasses and can’t use contact lenses. The frame design can be whatever you want.
12 Freckles You have freckles.
13 Sickly You’ve got an incurable disease. However, this doesn’t adversely affect your attributes. Choose your
own symptoms.
14 Quiet You have a cool, subtle demeanor. No, there are no rules regarding how often you speak.
15 Easygoing You take things slow and calm, at your own pace. This doesn’t affect your attributes.
16 Neat Freak You’re obsessed with cleanliness, and can’t let the tiniest bit of dirt go unnoticed.
21 Brown Skin Your skin is a dark brown color. It could be natural, or a tan.
22 Albino You have no pigment. You’re not necessarily completely colorless, this could simply be a very pale complexion.
23 Shy You’re very shy. Don’t forget to remain silent when encountering NPCs you haven’t met before.
24 Actually A Guy You’re actually a guy (cross-dresser?). Or possibly a hermaphrodite.
25 Overactive
Imagination
You frequently get caught up in your own imaginary world, or else tend to daydream a lot.
26 Greedy You will do absolutely anything for the sake of money.
31 Elf Ears You have long, pointed ears.
32 Nekomimi This varies a bit depending on the setting, but you’re a catgirl, with the ears and possibly tail of a cat.
33 Android/Gynoid You’re not human, but rather a human-looking robot. Parts of your body are very obviously artificial.
34 Vampire You are a vampire, with long fangs. Be sure to act . . . vampiric.
35 Princess You’re actually the daughter of a family of even greater standing than the master. Depending on the setting,
you could even be from another country’s royal family. Whether you are in disguise or not is up to you.
36 Angel/Devil You are a being from another world charged with judging good and evil. The design and the details
of your origins are up to you.
41 Uniform ★ You’ve managed to make a special modification to your uniform. → To the Uniform Table
42 Symbol ★ You have some kind of special mark on your uniform or headdress. → To the Symbol Table
43 Delinquent ★ Something about you is very much like a delinquent. → To the Delinquent Table
44 Accent ★ You have an unusual way of speaking. → To the Accent Table
45 Hairstyle ★ You have a special hairstyle. → To the Hairstyle Table
46 Accessory ★ You have a special accessory attached to your uniform. →To the Accessory Table
51 Relationship or
Perversion ★
LighterGame? You have a relationship to another player character (Maid). → To the RelationshipTable
Darker Game? You have a bizarre perversion of some kind. → To the Perversion Table
52 Criminal
Tendencies ★
You have an inclination towards criminal acts. → To the Criminal Tendencies Table
53 Injury ★ Because of mistreatment or an accident, you have some kind of permanent physical injury.
→ To the Injury Table
54 Tragic Love ★ You have had sad or tragic experiences with love. → To the Tragic Love Table
55 Dark Past ★ There is something dark in your personal history. → To the Dark Past Table
56 Trauma ★ After some terrible incident, you were traumatized. → To the Trauma Table
61 Secret Job ★ You’re not just a maid; you’re secretly holding another job. → To the Secret Job Table
62 Membership ★ In addition to being a maid, you’re also a member of a certain organization. → To the MembershipTable
120. ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER
As I am leaving, Mrs. DeWinter reaches out a hand to stop me.
She closes the door. She locks it. She sits on the couch. She
points to a small stool at her feet. I sit. Leaning close, she
begins to tell me a whispered story about a dead girl who
finds the moon made of rotten wood. She leans very close, her
hand brushing the back of my neck.
And then, very slowly, she removes my mask.
121. ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER
TRAVEL
▸ I hate it here
▸ There and back again
▸ The world as a character
123. ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER
BREAKING THE LINE
▸ Heart Suit
▸ Robert Coover
▸ Composition #1
▸ Marc Saporta
124. 2 Stalin wants a story
It is 1928, and Stalin has retreated to his personal chambers. In the world
outside, his agricultural reforms have been unsuccessful, leading to a food
crisis. He doesn’t want to hear a word about that. The peasants are hiding
the scarce food from the state collectors, and it is only at gunpoint that they
are ‘willing’ to give it up. But Stalin doesn’t want to hear a word about
that either.
What he does want to hear is an old Russian folk tale of the kind his
mother used to tell him. A tale of a poor boy going out into the world to
slay a dragon and win the hand of a princess, as simple as that, nothing
fancy. Especially nothing fancy.
To that end, Stalin has invited some of his closest companions to join
him in his sitting room. Also present is a troupe of actors, ordered at a
moment’s notice to come and improvise a fairy tale for the pleasure of their
great leader.
Everybody is on their toes. In these times of crisis, it is only too easy
to displease Stalin. And if you displease Stalin, bad things happen to you.
And so the actors play their tale, and the courtiers scheme for power
and favour, and Stalin – capricious and inscrutable – decides over life and
death.
128. MY FRIEND HAMLET
GALATEA (EMILY SHORT)
▸ Galatea is a sculpture who talks
▸ A sculptural hypertext! (2003)
▸ Conversational
▸ Based on Inform
▸ In the tradition of IF
129. MY FRIEND HAMLET
BLACK BOX(JENNIFER EGAN)
Being alone with a violent and ruthless man, surrounded by
water, can make the shore seem very far away.
You may feel solidarity, at such a time, with the beauties
just visible there in their bright bikinis.
You may appreciate, at such a time, why you aren’t being
paid for this work.
Your voluntary service is the highest form of patriotism.
Remind yourself that you aren’t being paid when he climbs
out of the water and lumbers toward you.
135. THE ACTOR DOES NOT NEED TO
BECOME THE CHARACTER…
THERE IS NO CHARACTER.
THERE ARE ONLY LINES UPON A
PAGE.
David Mamet
MY FRIEND HAMLET
True and False: Heresy and Common Sense For The Actor, p. 9
141. Much of the Twine world equates
hypertext research generally (and this
writer specifically) with The Man; I think
this, too, is an unfortunate misperception
on their part. But, then, I would.
Narrative Automata, p. 103n
GEARS AND PULLEYS
142.
143.
144.
145. Doll Player
The doll knows everything but isn’t always
honest. Begin the game by deciding whether the
child’s parents are evil or wonderful. Don’t tell
the other player until the story is over.
Whenever the child asks you a question about a
different character or Event, both players should
snap fingers, nod heads, or in some other way count
to three. On three, turn the doll’s head left, turn it
right, or face it straight ahead. If the doll and the
Child Player match directions, the doll must not lie.
Otherwise, the doll may choose whether to answer
questions truthfully.
After twenty minutes, the story is over. Tell the
Child Player to guess whether the parents are
evil or wonderful.
Play in public. Bring a doll, puppet, or other toy.
You play the doll and speak for the doll. The other
person, the Child Player, narrates the story, but you
can add supernatural details to the story.
Doll by Josh Jordan, Ginger Goat 2013
149. Although people sometimes have a hard
time deciding whether or not something
is art, they are rarely fooled into thinking
they are having a good time when they
are not.
Louis Menand
THAT KIND OF MOVIE
150. THAT KIND OF MOVIE
If you are to have the thought of a rough and
untaught man, you must have it in a rough and
untaught way; but from an educated man, who can
without effort express his thoughts in an educated
way, take the graceful expression, and be thankful.
Only get the thought, and do not silence the peasant
because he cannot speak good grammar.
▸ John Ruskin, Stones of Venice II p. 167
151.
152. THAT KIND OF MOVIE
It was Kael’s therapeutic advice to the overcultivated
that if they just concentrated on responding to the
stimulus, the aesthetics would take care of themselves.
What good is form if the content leaves you cold?
The academic term for the kind of antiformalism Kael
promoted is “postmodernism.” Postmodernism in the
arts simply is anti-essentialism.
Louis Menand, “She Found It At The Movies”
153. You Me Rock Water Fire Stick
Hairy Bang! Sleep Smelly Small Big
Cave Food Thing Shiny Go
OG
154.
155. THAT KIND OF MOVIE
A new, immersive
roleplaying game
like nothing you’ve
seen before.
Paul
CZEGE
Minotaurs in
a human civilization
sundered by a surreal,
trackless jungle.
𐑓𐑰𐑤 𐑞 𐑕𐑳𐑯𐑪𐑯𐑘𐑹 𐑣𐑲𐑛 $27.00
THE “EXTERNALS”
“They lie because they don’t trust
language or the motives of those who
use it…they’re the ultimate
revolutionaries, impassioned and
pathological, gorgeous and vigorous.
160. METAFICTION
“What is this place, Mr. Chang? Do
you know? I’m afraid I have only the
faintest idea, and that doesn’t make
much sense.”
Chang laughed harshly. “Well now,”
he said. “That’s a long story.”
“I know. It’s my story. But it seems
very real at the moment. Is it?”
“As real as you and me. Which is to
say, not very, but all we have.”
ARCADIA
164. THE EXUBERANCE OF THE AUTOMATON
“For instance, a bronze helmet that was the symbol of the
dwarven duchess was lost on site after the duchess passed
on from natural causes, and it took several years for
another dwarf to find it and give it to the next duke --
the handover process is now more routine. Kobolds are also
no longer allowed to make claims on artifacts (they still
steal them, of course). They always store them in the
trophy room now -- finding a single artifact held by a
kobold somewhere in the living area was too difficult.
Artifacts were disappearing out of my backpack, and that's
sorted out.”
DWARF FORTRESS
165. CONFLICT #696
696: (715c, 695b) The
protagonist, a patriot, but
a wanderer and an
outcast, is deprived of all
news of his native land.
(823)(826)(859)
167. THE EXUBERANCE OF THE AUTOMATON
BREAKING THE LINE
▸ Heart Suit
▸ Robert Coover
168. EXUBERANT AUTOMATA
2 I have a disability you don’t know about.
3 I’ve changed religions.
4 I’ve been sober for three months.
5 I used to steal from your parents.
Josh T. Jordan, The Sky Is Gray and You Are Distressed
170. LESSONS FOR HYPERTEXT NARRATIVE
IDENTIFICATION AND DISTANCE
▸ Framing stories provide emotional distance
▸ First person narration promotes identification, while third
person encourages reflection on and analysis of the
character’s faults and actions.
▸ Second person is fraught.
▸ You will never the the Prince of Denmark
171. LESSONS FOR HYPERTEXT NARRATIVE
THEORY
▸ The hypertext author is neither more or less dead than any
other.
▸ Socially constituted characters are new. They should not be
restricted to mere labels intended to flatter the immature.
▸ Story and plot both matter.
▸ Everyone is a subject, and every element that can be a
signifier will become a signifier.
172. LESSONS FOR HYPERTEXT NARRATIVE
COMPUTATION
▸ Sparse character models can be manipulated, but that
readers understand them to be false
▸ Rich character models are unpredictable; this can be an
advantage or a liability.
▸ Automata must argue explicitly for their own seriousness.
▸ A story in which the narrator is the only interesting
character is problematic; when we ourselves are the only
interesting character, the problem is worse.
▸ A character is a character because it says so.
173. LESSONS FOR HYPERTEXT NARRATIVE
LANGUAGE AND MEANING
▸ A story in which the narrator is the only interesting character
is problematic; when we ourselves are the only interesting
character, the problem is worse.
▸ The breakdown of meaning in the age of modernity is not
new. Ask Kafka.
▸ The tyranny of the line can be broken; recovering the line
when we want narrative coherence is sometimes a challenge.
▸ The landscape can be a character and, indeed, is often a
romantic hero.
174. “…a world in which there is indeed no
salvation, but on the other hand nothing
to be saved. This is the post-tragic realm
of postmodernism. Postmodernism is too
young to remember a time where there
was (so it was rumoured) truth, identity,
and reality, and so feels no dizzying abyss
beneath its feet.” (Eagleton, p. 58)
