Soap - the game of completely illogical emotional pain and suffering

Welcome to the game of Soap where your character is likely to be shot by ex-lovers, have a life-threatening operation, save a familymember and have a carcrash, all in the space of 30 minutes. To play this game you need only a few scraps of paper, a cup full of tokens (bottlecaps, coins, poker chips whatever) and a couple of friends who don't mind overacting.

Preparations

As said before, all you need to play this game is a scrap of paper, perhaps the odd pencil, some tokens and a few friends who can play honestly. This isn't a game where every possible situation can be simulated with a formula, so play nice. If you know you are just being disruptive, be the wiser one and just shut up.
Everyone will have to make a character. You will learn how to do this in a few easy steps.

Characters

By default, actors in soap operas portray gross exaggerations of people (the gambler, the nice girl, the wicked witch, the criminal and so on). Don't expect to make three-dimensional complex characters. That's not what this game is about. There is only one golden rule about making characters: all characters must have a connection to eachother. You can decide on this connection beforehand or attach individual characters to others at character creation time.
Below are the things you need to do in order to be able to play your character. A italicized example follows after each step.

1. Pick a name
   A name is very important. It should be easy on the ears and the mind, so no hard to remember names like Sir Gerhardt von Sturmbruckenschlossestein. This is also a good thing with which to attach characters to eachother. Families feature heavily in soaps (think Dynasty, the Bold and the Beautiful and dozens of others). Picking the same last name will make a nice connection.
   
   Example: Ferry chooses to play Michael Ridgeway.
   
   
2. Pick 3 traits
   As I said before, no role in a soap is three-dimensional, so neither will your characters. You can select 3 traits to describe your character in the most exaggerated way. For instance, you could choose the traits vengeful, cunning and conniving to describe your typical bad guy/girl from any given soap. These traits are not set in stone (i.e. no set list of traits) and you can undoubtedly think of more than I can list. Basically, if it's an adjective, you're on the right path (i.e. a vengeful man, a alcoholic detective, a cute girl). It does pay to take narrow traits rather than broad general traits (for example: attractive is better than nice-looking), since these traits will be used to win points for your character.
   
   Example: Ferry decides Michael is handsome, cunning and rich.
   
   
3. Write down a secret
   This is the core of your character. If anyone else ever figures out your secret, your character can be killed (that's right, you can't normally die). Possible secrets could include:
   
   
   • killed a man in a car accident and drove on
   • slept with his sister-in-law
   • made his best friend's wife pregnant
   • is a criminal
   
   Write this secret down on a beercoaster, another scrap of paper, the palm of your hand or anywhere else you feel like, but don't ever show it to anyone else in the game. Also, if you should choose to play a series of connected games, keep it in a safe place.
   
   Example: Ferry thinks for a while and then decides that Michael did indeed run someone over and then fled. Tssk tssk.
   
   
4. Write down a goal
   Your character will be trying to accomplish something. Knowing your goal can give the other players a chance to thwart you at every turn. This goal comes into play when we talk about the rules of the game itself. For now, just formulate a goal for your character and write it down on a piece of paper. Other players have to be able to see your goal to make sure you don't claim Plot Tokens without having the right to do so (see positive sentences).
   While your goal can be linked to your secret, it does not have to be. In fact, the more connected it is to your secret, the easier it is for others to guess it.
   
   Example: Michael is trying to keep everyone else from finding out about the accident that cost that poor man's life. Bad man.
   
   
5. Take 2 of the tokens
   As your character advances his plot to attain his goal, he will accumulate Plot Tokens. These are used to determine the outcome of situations (see Contested sentences) and to determine the winner (see Winning the game). These first 2 tokens represents your starting Plot Tokens.
   
   Example: Ferry takes two of the tokens and puts them by his side

Congratulations!

You now have a character. Nice feeling isn't it? A sense of triumph. A victory over the forces of...ah well. On with the show.

Rules

Now that you have your characters, you might want to know how to play the game.

The player to begin the game (selected by pulling straws, checking who is oldest or by whatever other way you want to devise) starts by opening the particular episode. You open the game by forming a sentence in which your character and his actions are described. This first round is always the same. Everyone must name their character, describe his state and the surroundings. Only in the second round can you start using positive and negative sentences (see below). A player that is forming a sentence is called the active player.

Players take their turn by forming a so-called positive or negative sentence. You also have the option of starting a cheesy soap dialogue after a positive sentence (and only after a positive sentence - see Dialogues).

Positive sentences
These are sentences in which a player describes his own character (and possibly supporting cast) doing something. The character can do anything it wants in the sentence, but there are limits to the sentence itself. You can give summary descriptions about the background, but cannot drone on endlessly about the properties of anything other than your character. Sets aren't usually very interesting in soaps either after all. For example: saying that "Michael is standing in his livingroom and is pacing up and down while the clock behind him ticks away at an annoyingly loud volume..." would be okay, but saying "Michael is standing in his spacious and luxurious livingroom and is pacing anxiously up and down while the large antique wooden French clock behind him ticks away at an annoyingly loud volume..." would be overdoing it a bit. That is not to say that it is completely against the rule to describe the room or the clock, far from it, but these things could be established in a few words over several sentences. You only need to hear about the clock once to know what it is like.

You can involve other players' characters in a positive sentence, but this will initiate a contest (see Contested sentences below). If you do involve others, it must be logical for them to get involved. For instance, when you have just heard the last player declaring that her character is in Paris, you cannot describe that character walking into the room. The trick is to leave as little space for others to exploit your character, while trying to attain your own goal.

When you form a positive sentence you will usually be either working towards your goal or Protecting your secret.

• Working towards your goal
  Trying to accomplish your goal should be one of your priorities. Whenever you form a sentence that shows an action that works towards your goal and uses one of your traits, you get an Plot Token (see Contested sentences and Winning the game). Other players may ask to see your goal if they suspect you've taken a Plot Token when you were not entitled to. If this is the case, you will lose the new Plot Token and an additional one. As you might have guessed, these points are pretty damn important.
  
  
• Protecting your secret
  Other players can find out about your secret. If this is the case, you will be in a very tricky spot. Normally, characters cannot die. In the world of Soap, everyone has nine lives, except if their secret is out in the open. Take away the tension and you severely shorten a character's lifespan. In short, whenever someone guesses your secret correctly, your character can be killed (see Life and Death).

Negative sentences
These are sentences in which a player describes something that involves another player's character. For example, if Mary has just described her character Lydia Rosenbaum staring wistfully at the seagulls on her oceancruise, Ferry could describe a waiter trying to catch her attention. It is up to Lydia to respond to Ferry's sentence in whatever way she sees fit.

Negative sentences always involve other players' characters and are used thwart others. For example: if Lydia was to walk over to the waiter and order a drink, he could be trying to poison her (perhaps she's made some powerful enemies or she's just very rich and people want her money). This is called a Contested sentence (see Contested sentences), since Mary sure as hell doesn't want Lydia to be poisoned and Ferry does. If you win a contested sentence, you will not have advanced your character's plot, but you will probably have crippled another player's.
Of course, there are loads of other things you could do to thwart other player's plans. If a character is in the hospital after a carcrash, a player could state that the doctor mixed up medications and that a character has a seizure after being injected with atropine. Or if a character has been working on a deal with another fashion design firm, another player can form a sentence of how the company is set fire to. As you can see, it is a matter of imagination.

As you might have noticed, it is important to find a balance between advancing your own plot and thwarting that of others.

Beside forming the sentence, you also have a chance to blow the lid off someone's secret. If you do find out what another player wants to keep hidden about their character, you can try to "call their secret". You get one chance and if you're right, the character whose secret you exposed, becomes eligible for a nice plot in Shady Pines Cemetery (see Life and Death).

Once a player has formed a sentence (and perhaps resolved a dialogue (see Dialogues), play passes over the player to the left and so on and so on. This is called "changing scenes".

Dialogues
If, during a sentence, you feel the need to express your oratory talents and deserve some extra Plot Tokens, you can start up a dialogue.
Sentences are finite and can be a bit too short for all that pathos and hurt you want to convey. A dialogue gives you the chance to pull out all the stops and express your character's emotions to the public.

There are a few basic dialogue rules:

1. It can go on indefinitely or until one of the other players bids at least one Plot Token to shut the active player up. If anyone wants the dialogue to continue (including the active player), he can bid at least one more Token than the player who wants the dialogue to conclude. Whoever bids the highest amount of Plot Tokens, decides wether the dialogue ceases or carries on.
   A dialogue that has been shut down does not end abruptly. The active player must end it within thirty seconds of being outbid.
2. If you do start a dialogue, you must work at least one of your traits in and must give a clue to your secret. This can be as vague or as explicit as you want, but be careful. Secrets are deadly in this game.
3. If you manage to work all three of your traits into the dialogue, you receive 3 Plot Tokens.

• Character and Supporting Cast
  Sometimes you just want to tell your lifestory to that waiter in the hotelbar.
  When starting a dialogue with one of the Supporting Cast, you have free reign over the proceedings. Just start blabbing.
• Character and Character
  If you want to open a dialogue with another character, that character must (obviously) be in the same room or locale (or be on the phone). The dialogue is played out by two players and both players get a chance to receive 3 Plot Tokens. Both players involved in the dialogue may also bid to stop it (as per the guidelines above).

Contested sentences

Whenever a negative sentence is used by a player, a situation arises in which players want different outcomes. How the situation is resolved depends on a system of bids.
The active player (the one using the negative sentence) states his desired sentence and bids a number of Plot Tokens. The reactive player then gets the chance to either accept this bid and the corresponding outcome or make a bid of his own. This only has to tie the active player's bid to win. The active player then has the option to bid higher. This process is repeated until either of the contesting players step down. The sentence can only be altered, not erased, by the reactive player. In the case of the pyromaniac at the fashion design firm above, if the reactive player managed to win the bid, he would be able to say that the fire brigade arrived just in time, but not that the pyromaniac in fact did not set fire to the building.

If the reactive player steps down, the active player loses as many Plot Tokens as he bid and the reactive player loses none. The sentence is formed as the active player stated.

If the active player steps down, the reactive player loses as many Plot Tokens as he bid and the active player loses none. The sentence is then formed by the reactive player.

Life and death

Obviously, as a character in a soap opera, you're going to get shot, stabbed, bombed, kidnapped and perhaps even attacked by midgets in lederhosen. However, whatever the outcome of contested sentence, characters cannot die. We've seen people return in soaps that we're mowed down by automatic gunfire in the last episode (Dallas really took the cake there, or was it Dynasty? *ponder*). However, there is a penalty for getting yourself killed. Whenever a player is faced with the outcome of a situation that would leave his character dead, that player is out of the game for two rounds.

There is a way to die in Soap however. If someone ever guesses your secret at the end of his turn, your character is then able to be killed off permanently (in other words, the audience does not have a mystery to cling to anymore). If a character is killed after his secret is found out, the player controlling that character is out of the game. He does get to add up his remaining Plot Tokens when determining the winner however.

Winning the game

After thirty minutes (the approximate running time of many soap operas), the active player gets to finish his sentence and then Plot Tokens are added up. Expended Plot Tokens do not count for the purposes of winning the game. The player with the most Plot Tokens has won. Please note that it is entirely possible that a player whose character as died, wins.

Example of play

Ferry, Louise and Silvia have decided to play a game of Soap and sit down to make characters. Ferry has decided to play Michael Ridgeway, an yuppie lawyer, who ran a man over and fled from the scene (secret). His goal is to become partner in the law firm where he works by having John Stockton, one of the current partners, killed.
Louise wants to play Michael's sister Phoebe, who has a drug habit and recently stole several thousands of dollars from her father (secret). Her goal is to kill her restrictive father, who always favoured Michael anyway.
Silvia will play Michael's girlfriend Charlotte, who is pregnant with his child, but doesn't want to tell Michael (secret). Her goal is to ruin Michael, since he neglects her in his pursuit of success.

They decide that Silvia will begin. She thinks for a moment and then starts her first sentence.
"Charlotte sighs as she sits down on the couch in the apartment she shares with Michael."
Play then passes to Ferry (sitting left of Silvia).
"Michael drums his fingers on the dashboard as he speeds home after a busy day at the law firm."
Louise's turn comes around.
"Phoebe stands at the door to the apartment complex where Michael and Charlotte live, staring at their doorbell and wondering if she should ring it."
It is now Silvia's turn again and she decides to try a negative sentence.
"Humming along to the tune of Aerosmith's Crazy, Michael accidentally runs a red light and ploughs into a cement truck."

Of course, Ferry isn't taking this lying down, so bidding starts. Silvia has to bid at least 1 Plot Token to use the negative sentence. Ferry also puts up 1 Token. He has no intention of seeing Michael in the hospital this soon into the game. Silvia then backs down (she just wanted to deprive Ferry of 1 of his starting Plot Tokens), so Ferry wins the bid (remember that if one of the participants steps down, the other player automatically wins). Ferry grumbles and reforms the sentence. He can't actually change the fact that Michael ran a red light, but he can change the "ploughs into cement truck" -part.

"Humming along to the tune of Aerosmith's Crazy, Michael accidentally runs a red light and manages to just avoid ploughing into a cement truck, ramming his foot down on the brakes just in time."
Ferry's turn.
"After being questioned by the police, Michael gets in his car and grabs the carphone, calling Jimmy Chazev, a local lowlife."

Ferry decides that he wants a dialogue between Jimmy and Michael. This dialogue will continue until Silvia or Louise has had enough or until Michael finishes it.

"Hey Jimmy, wassup?"
"Save that shit for the homies. What is this about?"
"I just wanted to know if you took care of my little problem?"
"You mean, have I whacked the old guy?"
"Shut up! They could be monitoring this conversation."
"Then they're on to you anyway. But no, I haven't taking care of it."
"Hurry up then. The old guy is getting pretty nosy at the office."
"Yeah yeah, you just make sure that money is deposited in my account, you rich bastard." - First Trait (rich) mentioned
"Gotta go Jimmy, I nearly crashed my car just now, so I gotta take it in for repairs."
"Rich kid like you, money means nothing, eh?"
"You'd be surprised at what they charge for a job that needs to be kept quiet." - Hint at Secret
"What did you do to have to pay a greasemonkey to keep his mouth shut?"
"Nothing, Jimmy. None of your business. I'll call you later."

Ferry decides to stop the dialogue there. Neither Louise or Silvia have tried to stop the dialogue, but if Ferry had gone on and tried to mention his other traits somewhere in the dialogue, Silvia or Louise might well have tried to shup him up.
It is now Louise's turn again.
"Phoebe rings the doorbell with trembling hands as she looks around her in near-panic."
Silvia responds with:
"Charlotte picks up the intercom and asks who it is."

After this play continues with Ferry.

Options

Serial games
In true soap style, your games can be linked into a series. If choose to do this, the following special rules apply:

• All players must keep their characters over the course of the series, unless they are killed. In this case, a new character may be introduced in the next game or the player may pay 3 Plot Tokens to revive his old character (which must be explained to the other players, not the other characters(!) - i.e. he didn't die in the huge inferno, because [fill in your explanation here])
• After thirty minutes, the game does not end immediately. It can only end in a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger is a tense situation in which the outcome is not immediately clear. It could be a character hanging from the edge of a building or it could be a scene where the enraged wife storms into the room and confronts the character with his adultery. Regardless, after thirty minutes, if any of the players sees a cliffhanger, he can yell "To be continued..." and the game stops immediately then and there. This means that if the sentence was a contested one, it is not resolved until the start of the next game.
• If you are playing a serial game, the player that ended the last game has to begin the next one in the cliffhanger situation he was left in. That player then resolves the contested challenge with whoever initiated the contest in the last game. After that, the game goes on as normal.
• Plot Tokens can be noted on a score chart over several games to keep track of who wins the most games.

Using Soap as a cardgame
There are loads of possibilities to turn soap into a variant of Once Upon a Time, the excellent storytelling cardgame by Atlas Games. In time I will put up a cardgame variant. Bear with me...

Basically, that's the game. If you have any remarks, helpful hints or constructive criticisms, feel free to mail me at crayne@dds.nl.

Soap cannot be copyrighted I suppose, but I damn well hold the intellectual rights to it. Hah! Please inform me if you want to copy texts or modify the game. I won't restrict you or forbid you to do certain things, but I would at least like to know what you are doing. Also, if possible, include my name as a credit.
Thanks. Fer