Just Arrived - A Thousand and One Nights

A flowing red-haired woman holds a large crystal above her head. A snake wraps around her arm.
"A Thousand and One Nights" by Meguey Baker

Today I came home to this beautiful little book waiting for me in the mail.

I have had my eye on A Thousand and One Nights: A Game of Enticing Stories by Meguey Baker since its successful Indigogo campaign, but have never pulled the trigger – until last Friday.

I have always loved the idea of Magic the Gathering’s Shahrazad card and Kris Burm’s GIPF project. A game within a game and by extension a story within a story.

A Thousand and One Nights is a game in which the players play Courtiers who in turn play characters in a story that everyone is collaborating to tell. Did I mention I have three daughters who are all eagerly writing their own stories and enjoy playing games?

Stick figures gather around a table to play a role-playing game. Stick Figure 1: 'Your party enters a tavern.' Stick Figure 2: 'I gather everyone around a table. I have the elves start whittling dice and get out some parchment for character sheets.' Stick Figure 1: 'Hey, no recursing.'
"Tabletop Roleplaying" by XKCD

I purchased this game for several reasons:

  • Meguey Baker rocks! She is an engaging person and an all around positive force for good.
  • I have few, if any, Role Playing Games (RPGs 📖) design by women and frankly that needs to change.
  • Travis Scott’s Campfire hack of the game is a testament to the underlying game; If a gamer I love gaming with is willing to hack a game to a different genre, it tells me there is something fantastic going on in the base game – Lets call it the Apocalypse World Conjecture.
  • I need some RPGs that are less intimidating to my wife.
  • As a “blended family” with a rotating family structure – on any given day I have 0 to 4 kids in my house. So having a game that can easily play 3 to 6 people is fantastic.