The Rise or Fall of [INSERT NAME HERE]

A Solo Storygame in Three Acts

by Anders Gabrielsson
v 1.1

Introduction
The Rise and Fall of [INSERT NAME HERE] is a storytelling game for one player where you guide
a character through a story of success and failure towards an uncertain end.
All you need to play are these rules and an ordinary deck of playing cards.

Character and Setting

Decide on a setting and a character you want to follow. This could be anything: A high school
student at a new school, a private detective working a case, a knight on a perilous quest, a scientist
working on a new discovery, a young child who has found a secret door to a realm of magic and
adventure, a crewmember on a spaceship that has picked up some strange salvage from an
abandoned colony, or a revolutionary fighting an oppressive government are just some examples.
Also consider the tone of your story. Will it be a light-hearted adventure or a grim horror story? Do
you want a romantic comedy or a serious drama?
Next you should come up with four areas where your character has goals or ambitions, called
spheres. Make a note of each sphere and match it to a suit. If you don't want to make up your own
spheres you can use these as a starting point:
• Relationships – Hearts
• Excitement and adventure – Diamonds
• Material possession – Clubs
• Social standing – Spades

Preparing the Deck

Take an ordinary deck of cards and split it into separate piles for aces, jacks, queens, kings, jokers,
and number cards.
Each type of card has a different meaning in the game. All cards except the aces will be arranged
into a draw deck as described below.
The number cards represent your character's successes and setbacks, the face cards other important
characters in the story, and the jokers the act breaks where the tension rises and the stakes are
raised.
The aces show your character's goals and current priorities.
Creating the Hierarchy of Goals
The aces are arranged in a column that shows your characters current priorities, called
your hierarchy of goals or just hierarchy. The ace at the top of the column shows which
sphere your character currently considers most important, the one at the bottom is one
they care little about right now, and the ones in the middle fall between those.1
You can set up the hierarchy in a way that seems fitting to your character or you can
shuffle the cards and arrange them randomly, or something inbetween. Perhaps you
know that your character's top priority is to find their true love but not what else they
value, so you put the ace of Hearts at the top of the hierarchy and put the others in a
random order below it.
However you set up the hierarchy, take a few moments to consider what each goal
could be.
Creating the Storyline and the Draw Deck
Shuffle the number cards facedown.
Flip over two to form the Prologue, and set aside two
cards facedown as the Finale.
Divide the remaining cards into three roughly equal piles: Act I, Act II, and Act III.
Shuffle the jacks facedown and put one on top of each
of Act I and Act III. Leave the remaining two facedown
near Act II.
Repeat the process for the queens and the kings.
Shuffle the six face cards near Act II and put four of
them on top of Act II, then discard the other two without
looking at them.
Shuffle the Act piles, then place one joker on top of
each of Act II and Act III.

You should now have two faceup cards and four piles of facedown cards: Act I with roughly ten
number cards and one each of a jack, queen, and king; Act II with roughly ten number cards and
four unknown face cards with a joker on top; Act III with the same composition as Act I but topped
with a joker; and the Finale with two number cards.
Now stack the piles on top of each other, from top to bottom: Act I, Act II, Act III, and Finale.
This creates your draw deck.

1 In some cases it can make sense to consider the second and third cards as representing instrumental goals, stepping
stones on the character's way to their most important goal. For example, if the ace of spades is at the top of your
hierarchy, indicating that your character's top priority is to improve their social standing, and the ace of hearts is
below it, you could choose to interpret this as them trying to improve their social status by gaining powerful or
influential friends.
Take the two cards of the Prologue and place them side by side with the second partially
overlapping the second in your playing area. These two cards form the beginning of your storyline
and show your character's current situation. (See Interpreting the Cards below for more on what
they mean.)

Playing the Game

The game is played in turns.
During each turn you draw cards from the deck until you have drawn two number cards.
Then you choose one of those two cards to represent the next part of your character's story, with the
face cards showing the involvement of important characters and the jokers telling you when the
tension escalates and the stakes are raised.
Your interpretation of the cards placed on the storyline is the core of the game. This is when you
decide what happens to your character, what events they get involved in, and what the outcomes
are.
In some cases you will show a change in your character's priorities by altering the order of the aces
in the hierarchy.
Each of these steps is explained in detail in the following sections.

Drawing Cards and Extending the Storyline

At the start of your turn, draw cards from the top of the deck until you have exactly two number
cards. Place any jokers or face cards on the storyline by partially overlapping the previous card,
forming one contiguous line of partially overlapping cards.
Pick one of the two number cards and play it onto the storyline and discard the other.

Interpreting the Cards

The following three sections describe how to interpret the cards when they appear. While this may
appear complex at first, it should quickly become intuitive.

Interpreting Jokers
As previously mentioned, a joker represents an escalation: The stakes are raised, the action
intensifies, or the tension mounts. Things become more important, more dangerous, or there's a
sudden reveal that changes the whole situation.

Interpreting Face Cards

A face card shows the involvement of an important character.
The first time each rank of face card - jack, queen, or king - is drawn, a new character is introduced.
The jack represents an opponent, rival, competitor, or foil2, the queen represents a friend, mentor, or
ally, and the king represents a powerful or influential person who serves as an obstacle or primary
antagonist.3
Note that while the jack and the king can both be opponents, the jack is someone on your own level
while the king is clearly more powerful. While this doesn't mean the king can't be defeated, if that
happens it's probably at or near the climax of the story.
The suit of the first card of that rank shows which sphere the character is primarily involved with.
For example, in a game using the standard spheres, the jack of hearts could represent a romantic
rival, the jack of diamonds someone who spoils your fun adventures by getting there first, the jack
of clubs someone who is trying to steal your things (or someone you are trying to steal from!), and
the jack of spades someone you're jockeying for position with in the social hierarchy.
All three important characters will show up in the first act, since there is one jack, one queen, and
one king in the Act I portion of the draw deck, and all three will return in the third act, but it's
uncertain which of them will appear in the second act.
Any further face cards you draw of the same rank represent the same character. If you want you can
let the suit of the new card guide you in how you place them in the story, but you can also ignore it
if you prefer.

Interpreting Number Cards

The number cards are the most involved to interpret since they look back at earlier cards.
The card you are about to play is your new card, while the closest preceding number card (skipping
over any face cards and jokers) is your previous card.
The exact meaning of your new card depends on four things:
• Its suit
• If its suit is different from or the same as the suit of the previous card
• If it is rising, falling, or flat
• If the previous card is rising, falling, or flat

A card is rising if it is higher than the closest preceding number card, falling if it is lower, and flat if
both cards have the same rank.
Example: You've just drawn a five and an eight. The previous card is a seven, so the five is falling
and the eight is rising. Since the card before the seven is also a seven, your previous card is flat.
If your new card is flat, it shows a shift in interest or activity from one sphere to another as
represented by the suits of the two cards.
If the previous card is also flat, this can indicate a flurry of activity in different areas or a flightiness
and lack of focus.

2 A foil is a character who draws attention to a certain quality of another character by being an opposite, or at least
very different. In stories involving both Batman and Superman they often act as each other's foils through their
different outlooks and methods.
3 In the overarching story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor's jack is Loki, his king is Thanos, and the
strongest contender for his queen is probably the Hulk.
If the previous card is rising or falling, consider if the previous success or failure it indicates could
be the cause of this shift in interest.
Example: ...
If your new card is rising and the previous card is falling and the cards are of the same suit, your
character rebounds from their previous failure.
If the cards are of different suits, your character is spurred on by their failure in one area to increase
their efforts in another.
Example: ...
If your new card is falling and the previous card is rising and the cards are of the same suit, your
character suffers a setback following their previous success.
If the cards are of different suits, your character's success in one area has caused a setback in
another.
Example: ...
If both cards are rising and the cards are of the same suit, your character builds success on success
in that sphere.
If the cards are of different suits, your character leverages success in one area to push forward in
another.
Example: ...
If both cards are falling and the cards are of the same suit, your character's fall in the sphere
continues.
If they are of different suits, the failure in one area brings setbacks in the other as well.
Optionally, you can use the ranks of the cards guide your interpretation, with higher ranks showing
greater success or more modest setbacks and lower ranks showing minor steps forward or more
terrible failures. Additionally, a two or a ten could be interpreted as events of particular importance
that can turn the whole narrative.

Integrating Jokers and Face Cards

When interpreting your new card you should also take into account any joker or face cards drawn at
the same time.
As previously noted, a joker indicates that the stakes are raised or the tension rises. This should be
reflected in your description of what happens.
Similarly, if you drew one or more face cards, the corresponding characters should be involved in
the action in some way. They may be the driving forces or stand on the sidelines, but they should at
least have an interest. Note that they don't necessarily have to interact directly with your character.

Changing the Hierarchy

The hierarchy shows your characters current priorities, which areas they consider most important
and which they aren't as interested in.
When you play a flat card, you may move the corresponding ace up one or more steps in the
hierarchy to show your character's interest shifting to the corresponding sphere.
When you play a card of the same suit as the previous card, you may move the corresponding ace
up or down one or more steps in the hierarchy to show your character's growing interest in their
current activities, their obsession with getting back what they have lost, a shift in focus as they are
content with their success, or a loss of interest in an area where they fail to move forward.
When you draw a joker or some other monumental event occurs, you can optionally gather up all
the aces and shuffle them, completely randomizing your hierarchy to show how your character's
priorities are upended by a sudden reveal. You may want to do this before settling firmly on your
description of what happens to make sure your character's new priorities make sense in the new
situation.

Ending the Game

When you draw the last two number cards, they (together with any preceding face cards) will
describe the final events of your story, or at least this chapter. Does your character get a happy
ending or is theirs a tragic story? Is the end final or a cliffhanger? This is all up to you.

Variants
If you want a more sprawling story or one with more of a rotating cast you can let each face card
represent a different character. You can also shuffle up all the face cards and distribute them
however you like among the piles, or even shuffle them in with the number cards, though you
shouldn't do that until you have separated out the Prologue and Finale since those need to be
number cards.
You could also move the scale up by replacing the individual player character with a larger group or
organization. In this case one or more of the face card ranks could be repurposed as individuals in
the group rather than characters external to the group.
If you feel like the act breaks are artificial you can play without the jokers.
If you want a bit more control over the ending you can draw until you have four number cards on
your last turn.
Documenting your game through some kind of journal is optional but recommended.

Designer's Notes
I created this game in a burst of creative energy over a couple of days. The first version is
documented on the Gauntlet forums along with the first playtest, and other than a few minor
changes this version is identical to that one. The inspiration for the rising and falling cards initially
came from Christopher Grey's game The Great American Novel, though the terms are used
differently there.
Please note that the illustrations in this version are placeholders. I intend to create clearer and more
printer-friendly versions at some point.
I may also create some playsets where some number cards have more specific meanings.
If you want to contact me the easiest way is to send me an email at [email protected].