A small piece of work

The writer Austin Kleon called his blog a refrigerator:

I make something, or I clip out something I like, and I put it on the refrigerator. The next day, I go and find something else to put on the fridge.

I’m currently trying to make this blog more like my refrigerator - which involves my accepting that blog posts may include unfinished works, drafts, stuff which isn’t quite perfect yet. Consider it combatting perfectionism if you will.

That project has a good long while to go. In the meantime, here’s an excerpt of a game I’m working on.

At all points, one pigeon within the group must be the face. Find a shiny stone, an old chip packet, a piece of bread, or some other valuable item: this is your face token. Whichever pigeon has the brightest plumage starts as the face: they should take your valuable face token and place it in front of them at the start of the game. If there is ever disagreement in the party, everyone should turn to the face to make a decision. If there is ever a tie when two pigeons are acting against one another, the face decides who wins.

At any point, a player may dispute the face by saying “NO NO NO etc.” to their face. Others may join in as required. At this point, the face and whoever started the dispute vie for dominance. Both players describe how they show their superiority: examples include puffing out your chest, yelling at each other, fixing everyone with a mad stare, or trying to climb on top of the other pigeon. Both players roll the appropriate skill, and the player with the more successes becomes the face. They take the face token and describe exactly how they flaunt their new rank over the other pigeons.

In the event of a tie, any other member of the group may attempt to assert their dominance over both contestants. They describe what they do to assert their dominance, and also roll. If they get more successes than any other competitor, they take the face token. This may result in more than three pigeons vying for dominance. If, as a result of all this, two pigeons are still tied for dominance, everyone loses interest and the current face remains in possession of the face token.