Porchlight › How to play › Skein
How to play Skein
A storytelling game for three to ten players. The table writes a story together, one line per round, voting on which line goes in.
The aim
Write the lines the table likes best. You score a point for every vote your line receives, and one more when your line makes it into the story. The real prize is the story itself.
Setting up
The story starts from an opening line: a famous first line from a classic book (shown with its author and title), "It was a dark and stormy night…", or a blank page. With a blank page, the first round writes the opening.
Playing
Each round has three steps.
- Write. Everyone writes the next line of the story in secret, up to 200 characters, within 75 seconds. Once sent, a line can't be changed.
- Vote. The lines are shown without names, in shuffled order. Vote for the one that should go in. You can't vote for your own line, and you can't change your vote. Voting lasts 15 seconds plus 3.5 seconds per line, up to a maximum of 50 seconds.
- Reveal. The line with the most votes joins the story, and everyone's names and votes are shown.
Writing and voting end early once everyone has finished. The last round asks for an ending.
- Ties. The audience's votes break a tie (see Watching, below). If they don't settle it, the winner is chosen at random.
- One line or none. If only one player writes, their line goes straight in without a vote. If nobody writes, the round passes with no new line.
- Sitting out. If you miss two writing rounds in a row, you sit out, and rounds stop waiting for you. Press I'm back to rejoin, or simply write a line.
Scoring
| What happens | Points |
|---|---|
| Each vote your line receives | 1 |
| Your line goes into the story | 1 more |
Audience votes don't score. They only break ties.
Winning
The story ends when the last line is in. The most points wins, and equal points share a place. If fewer than two players are left, the story ends early.
Table options
| Option | Choices | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Story length | 6, 8 or 10 lines | 8 lines |
| Opening line | A classic first line, A dark and stormy night, or Write our own | A classic first line |
| Turn timer | Normal, Relaxed (twice as long), Quick (half as long) | Normal |
Story length counts the lines the players write, not the opening. The turn timer scales every clock in the game; the times given above are for Normal.
On Porchlight
- The story grows on a sheet of paper at the top of the screen, with the round's writing box, ballot or reveal below it.
- Type your line and press Enter or Add my line. In the last round the button reads Add the ending.
- Click a line on the ballot to vote for it. Your own line is marked.
- Joining. People can join a story already under way with Join game in the room, and players can leave without ending it.
- Watching. Watchers vote as the audience. Their votes only break ties between the players' favorites, and watchers can change their minds until time runs out.
- Language. Lines containing slurs are refused. Ordinary swearing is allowed, but hidden from anyone who has the profanity filter on. Each revealed line has a Report link.
- When the story is finished, Copy the story copies it as text.
Skein has no computer players and is never ranked. It needs people.
Tips
- Short, vivid lines tend to win. Leave the next writer something to pick up.
- Reread the story before you write. Paying off an earlier detail goes down well.
- A twist gets votes. A line that ignores what came before usually doesn't.
- Endings are hard. Start thinking about yours a round or two early.