SnaBaTa

Entry for the Contest of One - Designer Menno Smit

SnaBaTa is a journalling story telling game for one. The game consists of two parts, the mechanic and a Scroll of meaning. The game mechanic provides you with borders to let your creativity thrive. The Scroll of meaning lets you translate the the data into your story. The name of the game is derived from “Snag it, Bag it and Tag it.” A catch phrase from the TV show Warehouse 13. And one of the Scrolls of meaning reflects this. And each play through all 4 parts of the game mechanic will constitute one episode of the show. Obviously the concept of The Scroll of meaning is open to interpretation off your own. You could even go so far as to change the associations entirely and wind up with a totally different kind of object. The second scroll provided is geared towards spells and each play-through will provide you with the story of your studies into one spell.

## The Mechanic

### Part 1: What am I going to study today?

To start you shuffle all the cubes together and take six without looking.

Lay the cubes in front of you on the table.

The colors will define what the spell will be that you are trying to create.

**Write**: Look at the scroll of meaning. Here you will find what each color represents. Based on these elements you will think about and write down what the spell you are going to research today will do and what its name will be. More of the same color will make the spell stronger in that aspect. Write down as much as you like about this part. Will your character be searching for a spell with a specific use or need in mind?

### Part 2: Will I find the necessary ingredients?

Next you shuffle the entire deck of cards.

You take five cards as your hand.

To use a card you need to throw dice. 1D6 for cards with numbers 1, 2, 3 or 4. And 2D6 for cards with numbers 5 or 6. You need to throw a higher nr. then what’s on the card for you to be able to use it, or put it away in the case of the one’s. If you have put a card away from your hand you take a new one from the draw pile.

From your hand you need to match the card’s color to the cubes already on the table. One color matching card for each cube. But cards with a one can’t be used for this. If you throw a 2 or higher while trying for a 1 card you may put it aside on the discard pile. But if you throw a 1 the one card wil go in the problem pile. Ones can never be used to match a cube. They will be discarded or pose a potential problem later on. The other cards can be matched to a cube. But if they are not passed, e.g. thrown number lower or equal to card nr. Then these go to the problem pile as well. As soon as your problem pile is larger than 12 cards the spell will not be successful. Write about this step and stop for this spell. Go to part 4 for your lesson learned. If you get a card bellow each cube without going over 12 cards in your problem pile the spell will have a chance to be a succes. Write about this step and continue to part 3.

**Write**: Look at the scroll of meaning. Based on the symbols on the cards below the cubes you can write about your succes or failure in acquiring your ingredients for the spell. If you have 13 cards in your problem pile you know you failed in this step so write about what went wrong and most importantly how it went wrong.

### Part 3: Can I cast the spell successfully?

Lay out the cards beneath the cubes. First row are the six successfully matched cards to the cubes. And below those you will spread out the problem pile. Easiest in two rows of six.

To see if you can cast the spell successfully you will draw the tiles without looking at them. Now you match the tile to a symbol on the cards. First you will look if the symbol matches a card in the problem row. If so then put the tile with that card. If not then look at the spell cards, below the cubes, if the tile matches that then it will be put below said card. If it matches no card available you turn it over to the star side and put it below a problem card of your choice. If your problem row is full with tiles than the star can go under one of the spell cards.

If you fill the 6 cubes before you fill the 12 problems your spell will be a succes. If the 12 problemsare filled before the 6 cubes it will have failed to do what you hoped/wanted.

**Write**: Look at the scroll of meaning. Based on your result write about what happened. Did it do wat it said but was it not what you wanted/hoped? Did it go awry? The larger the difference between the achieved problem cards and the spell cards the more spectacularly it fails.

### Part 4: Lessons learned for future use.

Pick one of your meeples without looking at them.

The color will provide you with an insight that will help you in your future endeavors.

**Write**:

Write down what you can take away prom the story for future use. Als remember to use these extras in future sessions.

## Scroll of meaning:

### Spells variation

#### Part 1: The colors and their meaning:

Yellow = 🜂 Fire agent of transformation, purification, psychic abilities, divination, activation, destruction

Red = 🜁 Air gas, mind, intelligence, knowledge, imagination, clairvoyance, astral travel, contacting spirits

Green = 🜃 Earth solid, manifestation, protective energy, subdue negative energy, growth, nature spirits, healing

Blue = 🜄 Water liquid, dreams, reverse spells, change, renewal, holding secrets

White = ☾ Moon night, dark,

Black = ☉ Sun positive, light,

#### Part 2: The symbols and their meaning:

Two hammers = effect What appears when the spell reacts? What happens?

Three disks =interconnectedness off ingredients How does a main ingredient react with a lesser one? Are there alternatives?

Four bricks = side effects. Are there any unintended side effects? Unseen consequences?

One drop = ingredients What do you know of the basic components? Where to find them?

One cog = technique How does it all go together? What do you do to the ingredients to get a result?

One arrow = dangers. Are the forces you are using pulling back? Is there some dark influence?

#### Part 3: Card colors could be of influence.

For example if there are some colors in the problem pile that are not in your spell this might be of importance. See part 1 above for their meaning. Or you could look at the symbols in the problem pile and see what influence they are. For meaning look at part 2 above. You could even look at the stars and see which symbol is on the other side.

#### Part 4: The meeples and their meaning:

Black = An opposing force has interfered

White = A friendly force has helped

Grey = Your own shortcomings are visible

Yellow = The main energy of the spell, color, becomes a little easier to work with next time

Red = The main energy of the spell, color, influences your personality a little

Green = The general process of constructing spells becomes clearer to you.

Blue = You think of a possible spell that is the reverse of this one.

## Scroll of meaning:

### Artifacts variation

#### Part 1: The colors and their meaning:

Yellow = storage,

Red = communication, message, information

Green = energy, power, electricity

Blue = entity, life, intelligence

White = movement, teleportation

Black = illusion,

#### Part 2: The symbols and their meaning:

Two hammers = Event in which the item shows itself, history

Three disks = People currently in possession of the item, history

Four bricks = Other people trying to get the item

One drop = Damage done, lasting effects, changes and effects on you or your opponent

One cog = What does it do and how to use the item, effect radius,

One arrow = Travel, where to find the item, hiding place

#### Part 3: Card colors could be of influence.

For example if there are some colors in the problem pile that are not in your artifact this might be of importance. See part 1 above for their meaning. Or you could look at the symbols in the problem pile and see what influence they are. For meaning look at part 2 above. You could even look at the stars and see which symbol is on the other side.

#### Part 4: The meeples and their meaning:

Black = An opposing force has interfered.

White = A friendly force has helped.

Grey = Your own shortcomings are visible.

Yellow = The artifact, or its history, points to a second one thus making it easier to find that one.

Red = The artifact is stored or hidden away and can be used in the future or it’s whereabouts are now known.

Green = The artifact has influenced you in a significant way.

Blue = You have learned something that wil help you in future endeavors.

## An example:

### A story using the artifacts scroll of meaning:

The item can transfer a message from my brain to the brain of a recipient I think about. There is some form of rudimentary programming/intelligence in the device that helps direct and organize the brain for this to effectively work. It needs to be plugged in to an energy source for it to work. It looks like a half orb on a small octagonal base with a wire coming out of it. The orb is nicely sized for me to lay my hand over it. It looks ornate, mostly wood and brass, victorian styled. I don’t know more about it since this information is found in a journal of an antiques dealer from half a century ago.

There is a message in a local newspaper halfway across the world where a whole village claims to have received a message via telepathy. Although everyone appears to have received the same message it is quite unclear what its meaning is. I need to travel by plane and bus to get there but there is a mixup and I get on the wrong bus. Arriving late in the village and trying to figure out what happened I see a face I think I have seen before exit the village in a car. Slowly I piece together what has happend. A family received an inheritance from an uncle. He was a collector of weird antiquities and the items where being inventoried for sale to the local pawn shop. The son got his hands on the orb of messaging, as it was known in an accompanying journal. Since he is interested in electronics he connected the orb to a power supply and although the story gets fuzzy after that it appears that he transmitted some of his thoughts to the entire village. The kid was unconscious for three days and is still hazy on what has happened. Then a local government agency shows up and confiscates the orb of messaging. The description of the person given is the one I have seen leaving the town. The journal was missed and I purchase the journal. In the journal I read that the Orb of messaging was created by Johan Clausburger, an inventor that ended up in a mental institution. It appears that he lost his mind while the entire town he lived in received a message. It was thought he lost his mind as a side effect of receiving the message. There were more people who had lasting effects. There had been more of these kind events in the previous years but none after. I now suspect Johan was the source of the message and that might be why he lost his mind. This thing appears to be dangerous. In my hotel I somehow receive a mental message, but it also appears that I can message back. I sense somehow that is not what was expected on the other side and the message is cut short. It feels like they were expecting to send only but were started to receive as well. When I read on in the journal I find that someone has experimented with alternating current and that that is what apparently creates a two way connection. So my opponent is trying to dissuade me from finding the orb of messaging but does not yet know how to use it fully. However for him to reach me he must know me and I have only a vague face in a car to go on. After reading on in the journal I see that Johan was experimenting with a combination of electronics, minerals and some form of unidentified energy or waves. There appears to be a detectable signature to his inventions when they are working. Now I need to look for a way to detect his inventions and the journal mentions something that might be of assistance that Johan used in his laboratory.

Afterthoughts:

The story above is what I created based on the situation I created seen in the photograph. As you see it is al about your own creativity and not so much about a strict adherence to the rules. The game is there to spark your creativity and imagination. To make you ask questions like: How does this specific color or symbol fit into my story. Obviously you can adapt the provided scrolls of meaning to your liking or create entirely new ones. And if you have an idea that you really like then that idea takes precedence over the rules. This game is about enjoying your time while creating a story. A story that may be reused somewhere else as a plot hook or background story for an RPG for example.