Ivory Towers

An academic collaborative storytelling game about individuals and an institution.

Ivory Towers, a renowned institute of learning, is in trouble. Having survived for centuries, educating generation after generation, it is now on the brink of closure. In a bid to secure its future, it has reached out to students and staff, past and present, seeking endowments, bequests and donations to keep its doors open. 

Players take on the roles of those students and staff. A deck of playing cards presents a series of questions about Ivory Towers, to be answered by players on their turn. As they answer, they weave a story about a storied institution with an illustrious, if not entirely scrupulous, history. The real protagonist of the game is the educational establishment itself, yet its identity and complicated history only emerges through the (perhaps contradictory) accounts given by the characters. Their reminiscences will highlight its grand achievements, traditions, reforms, discoveries, rumours and scandals. 

By the end of the game, players will be asked to determine the fate of the institution. Will they band together to support its continuing work and lasting legacy? Or will they guarantee its demise, ensuring it closes its doors forever? 

Beyond these basic parameters, all other story elements are co-constructed during play through each player’s subjective viewpoint. The educational institution is adaptable to any present-day, historical, futuristic, or fantastical setting of the players’ design: a real-life university, a medieval academy of alchemy, or a space-age research centre studying time-travel. Players can assume the roles of students, alumni, teachers or administrators of Ivory Towers, each having been shaped by their time in its hallowed halls… for good or ill.

Resources Requires

A deck of playing cards (including 2 jokers)

Copyright

This work is based on For the Queen (found at http://www.forthequeengame.com/), a product of Alex Roberts, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

For the Queen™ is a trademark of Alex Roberts.

The Descended From the Queen Logo is © Alex Roberts, and is used with permission.

The X-Card was originally developed by John Stavropoulos and is adapted for use in this game. To learn more about The X-Card, visit http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg.

Cover photo by Vitalik 🇺🇦 on Unsplash