One of the first collaborative storytelling games I ever played was the beautiful game “For the Queen” by Alex Roberts and Darrington Press (owned by the people behind Critical Role) just announced a special reprinting of the game with new art, updated cards and other quality of life improvements.
“For the Queen” is entirely card based, GM-less, no prep collaborative storytelling game that can be played in an hour or more (depending on how many cards you keep in the deck and how verbose your friends are feeling).
The game is simple to setup - everyone sits down and takes turn reading a rules card aloud to the group, which guides you through basic game play and vague description of the world you inhabit - a land in turmoil and you are venturing to the neighboring country as part of the Queen’s entourage.
Before moving on to the questions, you flip over one of the Queen cards in the deck and see who your current ruler is. A warlock? A warrior? Is this ancient times or the far flung future? A fantasy realm or the real world? From that one image, each player begins to form ideas and thoughts in their mind of who this Queen is and what she might mean to them.
Then you draw from the prompt cards and with each card, each question, you create your character, the world and, most importantly, your relationship with The Queen.
The game ends when you flip over the card with the prompt:
“The Queen is under attack. Do you defend her?”
It’s so simple and elegant and beautiful and it can engage both seasoned roleplayers and those new to this kind of gaming and I ADORE IT.
This is an epic glow-up! I love my original printing but I will be picking this up to add to my collection. The style for the Queens varies even more than the original and the box itself looks gorgeous.