Running Free

Photo by Dominik Schröder

Running Free is a story game for two or three players about teens on a journey to find connection, wonder, and mischief.  Using a deck of cards and a map created before the game, players narrate the experiences of a group of teens who have ventured out on a spring or summer night, violating the local curfew to wander the streets of their small hometown.

You will need to create a setting and cast of characters.  The story takes place in a town of 5000-10,000 people.  Going around the table, quickly sketch out the major streets of the town and add a few key landmarks and labels for different areas (e.g., a circle for "trailer park behind lumber mill" or a star for the old grade school the characters attended).  You can also use the map to note events during the game.  The story can take place any time during the last quarter of the twentieth century.  Cell phones are non-existent or extremely uncommon in your small town.  You might want to pull up a playlist of songs from the year you’ve chosen for your story.

You will also need to describe the teens taking the night journey.  Take turns adding traits to each of the two or three characters.  Each teen should have three or four traits or tags.

The player who most recently went for a walk at night goes first.  At the beginning of each scene, the narrator draws a card to establish the focus and another player draws to determine a subtheme.

• Hearts:  connection (friendship and romance)
• Spades:  wonder (awe and sublime beauty)
• Diamonds:  mischief (shenanigans and delinquency)
• Clubs:  curfew (cops and other authorities)

The narrator crafts a scene, weaving together the themes determined by the cards and the story that has unfolded so far.  Other players can ask questions or make suggestions if the narrator is stuck.

A mischief/wonder scene finds the characters discovering an unlocked door at the Methodist church.  Two start to write a note from Satan to leave on the pulpit, but the third character calls them up to the bell tower where they look out and see stars shining over the town.

During a connection/curfew scene the characters go to a friend’s house to see if they want to join the trek.  Just as they toss a pebble at the friend’s window, headlights flash across the lawn and a cruiser shudders to a stop as the characters run between houses to escape.

Keep cards drawn by the narrators in stacks by suit.  When a narrator draws a card that would put the total over twenty-one the scene describes some kind of turning point related to that theme.  The characters could declare their love for one another during a connection scene, or see a shooting star during a wonder scene.

There is no sub-theme if the narrator draws a club.  Instead, the second player draws to determine how the characters escape.  If the card is black, they use their wits.  If red, they rely on sheer speed and adrenaline.  Although they escape from the cops, the close call casts a shadow over the journey.  Randomly discard a card of the suit drawn by the second player to reflect the setback.  Do not discard a setback card from a theme that has reached a turning point.  Do not keep a running total of curfew cards.

The characters end their journey after they've reached turning points in connection, wonder, and mischief (for a shorter game you can use only one or two themes).  One scene unfolds after the night the teens spent wandering the town.  Players draw cards and the high card narrates a scene that takes place ten years after the journey.  One of the characters has returned to the town, and as they visit old haunts the events of the night come to mind.  The player describes how the character feels about the events, focusing on ways that life events in the decade since the journey and changes in the town itself shape their reflection.