Fabula Rasa: Seemannsgarn
Fabula Rasa: Seemannsgarn Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 55 motif cards
- 1 die
- 1 hourglass
Note: If you have already played a Fabula Rasa game, you already know the basic rules. Just read the introduction (previous page) to get into the storytelling situation.
Game Goal
You tell each other, in turn, a constantly changing story. You are required to pass the parts of the story on by word of mouth, so that you each memorize the components of the story. Whoever manages to tell the story flawlessly, including its newest twist, receives a card as reward. The first player to collect a certain number of reward cards wins.
Setup
Shuffle the cards and place them face down as a draw pile. Determine a starting player, who takes the role of the storyteller first.
The first storyteller draws six cards and holds them face down in hand, in any order. He then begins his story by working in the terms for the motifs of all six cards, in the order he has chosen. This can also be a figurative meaning.
Every story begins with the words: "Cheers, folks! You won't believe..." Then he tells the story, and whenever he has used the term for a card, he reveals that card.
Gameplay
Play proceeds clockwise. The player to the left of the starting player becomes the next storyteller. He takes the storytelling pile and turns it over. The motifs are now all on the underside, so the card with which the story was begun lies face down on top.
Example: "Last week I was on watch up in the crow's nest¹ and saw the ship's rats² weeping on deck. A monster³ from the depths of the sea had gripped their chatty friend⁴ and pulled him overboard. The only thing left to him as a memento was a silver spoon⁵..."
Rules for telling the story
The revealed cards form the storytelling pile. They are stacked so that only the motif of the most recently revealed card is visible.
The story is always told at a leisurely pace, so that all listeners have enough time to look at each card's motif.
The storyteller, i.e. the player who is currently revealing the cards, may freely choose the term for each card. It must, however, have a recognizable connection to the card.
Setting the Reward
To determine the reward for telling the story, the storyteller rolls the die and must then remove a card from the storytelling pile:
- If he rolls a 1, he removes the top card of the storytelling pile.
- If he rolls a 2, he removes the second card of the storytelling pile.
- And so on.
He places this card face up in the middle of the table as the reward. You can thus see which motifs no longer appear in the story.
Later in the game, the reward may consist of more than one card.
Retelling the Story
Now the storyteller must retell the story. That is, he tells his own story, in which he uses the terms for the storytelling pile in the correct order. Whenever the term for the next card of the face-down storytelling pile has come up, he reveals that card. The revealed cards form a new storytelling pile.
The storyteller may not use the removed card when telling the story. The story therefore changes inevitably. In addition, the player is free to choose new terms for each card, as long as there is a recognizable connection to the card. He may thus, at will, tell a very similar story or an entirely different one.
The revealed cards serve as a check that the player kept to the correct order of the cards. It is therefore important that the player reveals each card only after he has used its term in the story, but before he uses the term for the next card.
Example: Aaron becomes the new storyteller, rolls a 3, and removes the 3rd card from the face-down pile. He places the card with the onion face up on the table. Then he begins to retell: "Cheers, folks! You won't believe what I experienced on my last great voyage. I was just keeping watch for enemy ships when suddenly the ship's cook, that miserable rat², grabbed me from behind with his arms¹. I nearly lost my breath, but luckily the captain's parrot⁴ came flying in. It bit into the cook's ear and stretched it as long as a spoon⁵..."
End of a Story
If the storyteller tells the new story flawlessly, he receives as reward all cards from the middle of the table. In the example above, that is the one card with the onion. He places the card(s) face up in front of him, so that every card stays easy to see during the rest of the game. You then know which cards no longer appear in the story.
The player then draws two new cards and continues the story. He puts the two cards in any order, continues the story, and works terms for both cards into it. Whenever he has used the term for a card, he places it face up on the storytelling pile.
Example (continuation of the story): "... The ship's cook screamed and let me go. I quickly grabbed my sabre⁶ and told him to go straight back to his galley and take care of the food⁷."
Tip: The last card you place from the storytelling pile you took over does not have to form the end of the story. If you leave the end of your story open when retelling, it is easier to continue it with the new cards.
The next player is then on turn. He takes the storytelling pile, turns it over, and determines a new reward by rolling the die.
Mistakes in the Story
If the storyteller makes a mistake while retelling the new story, he may not finish the story. The storyteller receives no reward and may not add any new cards to the story. The storytelling pile can therefore also shrink.
All cards already revealed in the new storytelling pile return, in unchanged order, to the old storytelling pile. The player passes the storytelling pile face down to the next player.
A mistake occurs when the player:
... does not remember the next card,
... uses a wrong term for a card,
... uses a term for a card that has already been removed from the storytelling pile,
... reveals the card for his chosen term too early or too late.
The card on which the player made the mistake is removed from the story and placed face up in the middle of the table. This mistake card increases the reward currently on the table. However, the next player does not determine any further reward by rolling the die.
Helping While Telling
If a player cannot remember the next card while telling, he may ask the other players for help, in order to avoid making a mistake. Each other player may offer him their help. Once the player has chosen one fellow player to help him, the two of them tell the story together to the end. The two players are free to decide how they do this.
(For example, the storyteller may continue telling the story himself, while the helping player merely reminds him of the motifs of the next cards.)
The card for which help was first requested is placed sideways into the storytelling pile while the story is told.
During his turn, the player may receive help from only one fellow player.
If the two players tell the new story flawlessly together, the storyteller takes the reward card(s) from the middle of the table, as usual, and draws two new cards to continue telling the story. The fellow player who helped him receives as reward the first card from the storytelling pile, namely the card for which he was asked for help.
If both players together make a mistake, play continues as if the storyteller alone had made a mistake.
The Hourglass
During the story, the fellow players may turn the hourglass over at any point in time, for example if the storyteller gets stuck or pauses for too long. Before the sand has run through, the storyteller must either correctly reveal the next card, or look for a fellow player to help him.
If the storyteller continues the story and reveals the next card, or has sought a helping player, the hourglass has no further significance. The hourglass may only be turned over again once the sand has completely run through.
If the storyteller neither continues the story nor seeks a helping player until the sand has run out, the turn ends with a mistake. The next (face-down) card is the mistake card, which is placed face up in the middle of the table, adding to the reward.
Example: Aaron is stuck while telling his story. His fellow player Silke finds that this takes too long, turns the hourglass over, and offers her help. Aaron is not ready to accept this help, but tries to remember the next card himself. He cannot do so before the sand has run out in the hourglass. That ends Aaron's turn. The card he could not remember is revealed and placed next to the reward card already lying in the middle of the table. Silke, who is next to tell the story, now has the chance to take two reward cards at once if she tells the story flawlessly. No additional reward is rolled for this, because the reward has already been increased by the mistake card. Silke simply takes the storytelling pile, turns it over, and begins to tell.
If a player asks for help and several cards are lying as reward in the middle of the table, the helping player is allowed to bargain for further cards as reward. The helping player always receives the first card from the storytelling pile at which he helped. In addition, the storyteller must himself receive at least one card at the end.
Example: Aaron is the storyteller and cannot remember the card with the sabres. He asks Silke for help, and she helps him back onto the right track. He then recalls the card with the tin can. Thanks to Silke's help, he tells the story correctly to the end and may take the reward card of this round from the middle of the table and place it face up in front of him. Silke receives the card with the sabres as reward and places it face up in front of her as well. Aaron then draws two new cards from the pile and continues the story, before he passes the word, and the storytelling pile, on to his fellow player to the left.
Game End
As soon as a player has collected a certain number of cards as reward, he has won and the game is over.
- With 2 players, the winner is the first to collect 7 cards.
- With 3 players, the winner is the first to collect 6 cards.
- With 4 players, the winner is the first to collect 5 cards.
- With 5 players, the winner is the first to collect 5 cards.