Polaris

Author: Ben Lehman.
First published: 2005.

Nearby question

Must resolution be a calculation or roll, or can it reside in the form of conversation itself?

In Ben Lehman's Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at Utmost North, authority is distributed among several roles around a scene's protagonist, including Heart, Mistaken, and Moons. Conflicts are structured through ritual phrases that allow acceptance, conditions, escalation, refusal, or concession.

What it makes possible

Negotiation syntax becomes a mechanic. Tragedy is not only a theme; it is sustained by how participants are allowed to answer one another.

Burden normally carried by one GM is redistributed, although that redistribution asks players to learn and respect a precise conversational form.

For Resonance

Polaris shows that conversation itself can be a device. It is an important case for asking not merely what rules resolve uncertainty, but what form of human interaction makes the intended experience practicable.

Sources: RPGnet — Polaris, Polaris Notes.