Graham Walmsley recently hosted a game of Ribbon Drive and his group encountered an interesting situation – two characters were locked in intense struggle, and the players didn’t know how to resolve this tense situation. To really zoom in on the issue, although either of them could have just decided what happened, they wanted the game to support them by providing some kind of structure (whether concrete resolution, flags, choices or else). A game should indeed do this for its players. Ribbon Drive gives you those tools, but they aren’t very obvious. This how to post will explain what those tools are and how to use them, in the context of resolving intense, interpersonal situations between characters.

Specifically, Steve posted the following situation:
I played Rashid. My character’s futures were “I hope I find someone” and “I’m never going back”. Rashid was on the run from the gang from whom he’d stolen drugs. Basically he was an asshole, causing Jenni to clip a jackknifed lorry.

In the scene with the crash, Rashid pinned Jenni’s foot on the gas pedal. It was a good moment of tension but it didn’t have any clear method of resolution.

I think part of the problem might have been that there wasn’t any clear way of resolving issues between the travellers. They didn’t seem like obstacles. I mean, could I have made Jenni not leave the band by using my drugs trait to keep her happy? That didn’t seem right either.

The first thing to keep in mind is that Ribbon Drive differs from many games that you’ve played, in that it is not a game that cares very much about what happens. That sounds like a big statement, and indeed it is. What do I mean by it? Well, this: the system doesn’t offer “conflict resolution” tools, because even in the midst of the conflict, it has different priorities. Two of those priorities are music and Futures, and I’m going to unpack how to turn to them in such a situation:

The Music. Ribbon Drive loves music! Ribbon Drive uses music to catalyze situation. It also uses music as context for the situations that unfold. What do I mean by “context” in this case? What you narrate will be coloured by the music playing in the background, and the actions will take on different meanings as a result (in this sense, past narration and meta-game influence and many other things also add context… but music is a key one, and something that isn’t common in other story games).

If you’re stuck, or you don’t know how to resolve an in-game situation, turn to the music. Imagine the actions and decisions that would draw context from the song that’s playing. When Rashid pinned Jenni’s foot to the gas pedal, was there an edgy grunge song? If yes, I’d personally envision a crash. If the song is trying to give you a suggestion, take it.

Futures. Futures tell us where a character thinks they’re going in life, and how they interact with and invert that Future tells us what they are going through right now. You can tell that a situation matters to a character if it is woven into their Future.

If you’re stuck, or don’t know how to resolve an in-game situation, turn to your Futures. Ask how a certain outcome might reflect the ongoing struggle a character is having. Allow the situation at hand to become a medium for exploring that struggle. When Rashid pinned Jenni’s foot to the gas pedal, what was really going on? Was Rashid trying to prove his I’m Never Going Back Future? If so, Steve was given a perfect opportunity to introduce that internal struggle, and crashing the car would be just one tool he had for demonstrating it. Alternately, removing his foot at the last second could demonstrate that, indeed, he was losing certainty on it. Perhaps, instead, Steve could have focused on Rashid’s other Future, I Hope I Find Someone. What better way to show how Rashid was losing that war, than to have him fucking up yet another relationship in such a violent way! Perhaps Jenni’s character could have come in to support that exploration of his Future, by narrating how Jenni was extremely attracted to Rashid, and how this terrible struggle was destroying her image of him!

Alternately, maybe this was a moment for Steve to look at Jenni’s Futures. Did she have a Future that revolved around gaining control of her own life? If so, Jenni’s player should have seized control of the situation to explore whether Jenni does all that is in her power or not. Shoving Rashid away, steering them back to safety and reaming Rashid out would be a perfect way to achieve that Future!

Finally, there were probably others in the car. Did any of them have Futures that would affect the situation or be well reflected by it? Perhaps this was the perfect moment to jump in and explore those Futures. If I had a Future like I will learn to help others, then I might narrate how I overcame my panic and talked Rashid down (all the while referencing, whether implicitly or explicitly, my Future). Steve would be given the opportunity to support this Future, by having Rashid back down and cool off.

What these suggestions all have in common is that they offer a shift in priority. The resolution of the situation (in this case, Rashid pinning Jenni’s foot down) isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing is how these characters, and the context of the trip, is reflected in the situation (and its resolution). “Does Rashid cause a crash?” is less important than “Does Rashid want to crash?” and less important than “Is Jenni in control of her own life” and less important than the Joy Division song playing in the background. Use the situation as a launching point to exploring what they want, how they view the world and who they think they are. Allow the resolution of the situation to spill, secondarily, from that.