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Exercises

Play a scene in which you either amplify or build on each offer that the other player makes.

Exercises

Players mingle and find a partner. Player A tells Player B how to respond—either by accepting, blocking, following, resisting, building, or amplifying. Then Player A makes an offer and Player B responds as instructed. The players trade roles and the process is repeated. After that, the players go find new partners and repeat the process.

Topics
to define an ambiguous offer

There’s something elegant about using oblique offers to imply characters, relationships, activities, locations, and objects. However, if implication leaves things ambiguous, it’s hard for others to play. This is why you need the skill of clarifying.

Topics
an offer that fits well with another offer, without being identical

A complementary offer adds something new and relevant to another offer.

Topics

When one offer makes another offer seem untrue, that’s a block.

Topics
an offer that clearly establishes a story detail

Defined offers establish story elements in unambiguous ways. When the details of the fiction are clear, it’s easier for everyone to play.

Topics
verbal particulars that make a fictional world seem real

There’s a big difference between “I like your house.” and “ I can’t believe you own a beach bungalow here in Malibu.” The difference is the detail that paints a specific picture.

Topics
expanding the context to include an apparently contradictory offer

Once in a while, the spect will make an offer that appears to violate the context that has been established. An effective way to handle this situation is to encompass the spect’s offer by expanding the context. Find a way that the spect’s offer can make sense within the story.

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Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance