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NEW UPDATED RULES – CHRISTINE URSINY

Tale Weavers: Official Rules

Game Description

Tale Weavers is a competitive storytelling game, with cards that you might find in Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, in which a group of players builds a narrative by drawing from a deck of character, setting, and plot cards to create and build a story amongst players. 

Objective

The main goal is to collaboratively build a story. The player who contributes the most compelling or humorous plot points, as judged by the Storymaster each round, wins the game. The player with the most successful Plot Cards, represented by Point Tokens, is the winner.

Setup

  1. Gather 3-5 players.
  2. Shuffle the Character, Setting, and Plot decks separately and place them face down.
  3. Deal five Plot Cards to each player. This is your starting hand.
  4. Place the Point Tokens in a central pile.
  5. Designate one player to be the Storymaster for the first round. (The player who most recently read a book for fun.)
  6. Use a 30-second sand timer to add urgency in selecting plot cards.
    • 30-second timer → wait until the timer runs out to start the round
    • Everyone has to have a card placed down by the end of the sand timer
    • What happens when the timer runs out and you don’t pick? → You take the top card

Card Color Key:

Coral Color – Character Card

Magenta Color – Setting Card

Lavender Color – Plot Card

How to Play:

The game is played in rounds, with the role of Storymaster changing after each round.

1. The Storymaster’s Turn 

  • The Storymaster draws 2 cards from the Character deck and 2 from the Setting deck.
  • They choose 1 Character and 1 Setting card from their hand to use and then discard the others.
  • The Storymaster begins the story with an opening sentence or two, introducing the character and location.

Example:
If the Storymaster draws:

  • Character Cards: “A paranoid mother” and “A surprisingly eloquent badger”
  • Setting Cards: “The inside of a zoo food court” and “A wizard’s tower turned into a daycare”
    • “Once upon a time, a paranoid mother who frantically scoured through the jungle known as the zoo food court…”

Note: Everyone has to have a card placed down by the end of the sand timer

2. The Players’ Turn 

  • Starting with the player to the Storymaster’s left and going clockwise, each player takes a turn.
  • On your turn, place one Plot Card from your hand, play it face-up, and read it aloud.
  • Weave the card’s concept into the story, building only on the setting and character card, not any other players’ plot cards
    • Plot cards are independent of other players’ plot cards.
  • After playing your card, draw one new Plot Card to replenish your hand to five.

3. The Storymaster’s Turn (Judgment)

  • After every player has played one card, the Storymaster considers all the Plot Cards that were submitted.
  • The Storymaster selects the most compelling or entertaining Plot Card as their favorite for that round.
  • The Plot Cards that were not chosen are placed in a discard pile. If the draw deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new one.

4. End of the Round 

  • The player whose card was chosen collects 1 Point Token.
  • The winning player becomes the new Storymaster for the next round.
  • The new Storymaster can then decide to either continue the existing story or start a completely new one by drawing a new Character and Setting card.

Ending the Game

1. Point-Based Victory 

  • First player to reach 5 Point Tokens wins.
  • Optional twist: If multiple players hit 5 in the same round, the Storymaster chooses the funniest/most creative winner.
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Tale Weavers – Playtest 1

Date of Playtest: 10/02/2025

Playtime Observed: 6 minutes 25 seconds (first round)
Learning Time: 2 minutes 41 seconds (to learn rules)

1. Player Questions

  • Does the story flow from player to player, or is it told individually?
  • How do players weave their cards into the story, build on the last or reset each round?
  • What happens when the timer runs out and a card hasn’t been played?
  • Should a specific book be read to determine who goes first?
  • How does the game end — tokens, alternate endings, or another system?

2. Learning Curve

  • It took 2:41 minutes for players to learn the rules.
  • Players commented that the setup was easy.
  • The example card in the rules was helpful.

3. Player Interactions

  • Players laughed, smiled, and nodded throughout gameplay.
  • Conversations about cards applied to characters and settings.
  • Debated whether the story should be told cumulatively or individually.

4. Points of Confusion

  • Story flow: cumulative vs. sectioned/individual.
  • How exactly to “weave” cards into a story.
  • The role of settings in character and plot cards.
  • Game endings: whether to use tokens or multiple end conditions.

5. Sources of Excitement

  • Randomness of card draws (“random is better”).
  • The tension created by a sand timer mechanic.
  • Room for interpretation and creativity in storytelling.
  • Loved leading humor in the narrative.

6. Player Enjoyment

  • Making connections between cards and the story.
  • Building individual story sections rather than a single collaborative plot.
  • Experiencing humorous or unexpected story twists.

7. Sources of Frustration

  • The collaborative story felt confusing and less engaging.
  • Settings on cards felt restrictive.
  • Multiple game-ending options created uncertainty.

8. Design Adjustments

  • Clarify Flow
    • Emphasize that each player tells an individual story, not a cumulative one.
  • Simplify End Conditions
    • Establish one clear win condition (ex., first to 5 tokens?).
  • Refine Card Design
    • Remove settings from character and plot cards; make prompts more open-ended and funny.
  • Timer Rules
    • Require players to place a card before the sand timer ends; if not, they must take the top card.
  • Rules Support
    • Keep and expand example cards in the rules to streamline learning.
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5 New Ideas with same Theme – Languages

languages are a hobby of mine and any “gaming” i usually do by myself has to do with learning languages – i wanted to be able to incorporate this into some of my games in this class since I enjoy them so much and would love to share with others

  1. Traditional Matching Game but with different languages – there are two cards in square of like 100 cards with the same interpretation of the two languages and several players try to remember what they mean and match them and get most matches

2. like TacoCatGoatCheesePizza and War combined but different greetings in languages – each player has a hand of cards and when they match you must shout that greeting and whoever has the closest pronunciation to what it actually means gets that round (have google translate at the ready)

3. Accent game – very simple trying to guess languages by sound – more collaborative with less “winning” just having a good time

4. National Market/Menu Game – each player has a menu/list they must complete by drawing ingredient cards BUT CATCH they’re not in english – there’s also tokens and event cards mixed in to spice it up – you accumulate a hand as you play and place ingredients that match to your menu/list and finish by completing it first and have money and stuff. Each list though is a different language/nationality and you must complete it in that language. So sort of go fish/bartering sort of game

5. For people who already know a little bit of a language, there are different language stacks that basically work as vocab review so obviously is a very niche game since you’d have to have a rudimentary understanding of a language… as many players as possible, single players to collective playing, racing to point out the words fastest.

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Week 5 Game Ideas

  1. Leprechauns is a card game in which players collect the most gold by drawing cards and strategically stealing from the other players.
  2. Front Lines is a board game in which the players collect troops to fight the other players by taking over the armies of others.
  3. Producer is a card game in which the players collect instruments to make the best band by collecting cards and making trades with others.
  4. Trinkets is a card game in which the players obtain the best trinkets by collecting cards that change rules, give players abilities, and trading with other players.
  5. Headlampers is a board game in which the players collect the most gems and jewels by mining for gems on the board.
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Carcassonne Game review

Madison Hurst

Was it fun? I felt that Carcassonne was fairly good. I enjoyed the concept of placing the tiles to build a unique and creative map. I liked the simplicity of the mechanics but it was not the most engaging game. It was enjoyable at times but it took a long time to complete and there were lots of moments where not much was occurring.

What were the player interactions? The player interactions were based on chance, whether that was what tile you picked up or how people chose to place their tiles. You can’t really affect other players’ decisions but depending on how you play your tiles and meeples, it can impact how other players might choose to play. 

How long did it take to learn? It didn’t take too long to learn, the rules were very straight forward as well as the point system. 

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? I would say that the most frustrating part of the game was the length and scale. The winner was whoever had the most amount of points after all the tiles were played. This took up lots of space and time. Also the pieces were very easy to knock out of place, which could cause confusion because the flow of roads and buildings mattered. 

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? My favorite aspect of the game was that it was a simple game. There were set rules for how to play and how to keep score. There were a lot of moving parts but the simplicity made it easy to follow. 

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I wish that you could complete different structures without having to have all sides match. This would have a new strategy to the game because you could sabotage what other people are trying to create and how they have placed their meeples.

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything

from the experience, what would it be? I would add the ability to complete a structure or road without needing to match all sides. 

Is this a game you would play again? No, because in the long run it was not a very engaging game. There were fun parts of it but over all across the whole game there was not a lot that kept us players fully focused on the game. It was easy and flowed but not an entertaining pace. In the pandemic it was hard to learn but every turn there was something different that could throw players off or help us get closer to winning. 

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. In the first act of the game we are just setting up the game and board, there were not many tiles on the table or points being scored. Just players setting up different avenues for where they might be able to gain points in the future. Players are also learning how to place their tiles and meeples to build connections and earn points. 

In the second act of the game players are creating more strategy when it comes in as players start to expand their tiles and start to earn points. The board is growing and more meeples are placed to hopefully gain points in the future. Players are more specific about where they are placing their tiles to help benefit themselves. 

In the third act players are incorporating farming and adding up their points. The board has become quite large with many different complete roads, monasteries, and castles. At the very end all tiles should have been played. 

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? Carcassonne has a lot of competitive aspects but not many collaborative ones. The competitiveness comes from the players fighting to score the most points and “out meeple” other players to restrict them from gaining points. There is a little bit of collaboration between players because a player’s action can influence where someone else places their next tile.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out? The game’s metaphor is about shaping and claiming the landscape. As if you are watching a countryside develop piece by piece. A mechanic that stood out to me was how unfinished tiles like half built roads and cities can still influence the game. This created different routes of strategy choosing between getting guaranteed points or to keep building for more points in the future.