Stuffed Fables: Stories Within Stories
A look at Stitch's fables
“I didn’t like that guy,” grumbled Flops as she cast a glare back at the stuffed rhino by the signpost.
“He seemed a little too eager to attach himself to us,” agreed Theadora. “Like he thought we looked fun and it would be amusing to just jump right into our story.” Mr. Stitch chuckled at this.
“All creatures see themselves as the lead in a great story. And perhaps we are for much of our lives. But how many of us have the wisdom to know when we are but players in someone else’s tale?”
Welcome to the second preview of Stuffed Fables. Each week we will highlight a small portion of the Stuffed Fables world to give you an idea of what the game is all about. This week, we are looking at the fables themselves.
A Modern Twist
Stuffed Fables was partly inspired by classic fables that all of us become familiar with in childhood. A classical fable is a very short story, usually involving talking animals or objects, and is intended as a way to deliver a moral lesson to youth. The fable’s message is often open to interpretation, and commonly there will be an entertaining bit at the end of the fable where the author delivers the moral.
For Stuffed Fables, the goal was to create fables that were actually playable. In this case, the talking animals are stuffed plush toys, and the fables are all experienced through the course of a little girl’s nighttime sleep. Each fable here is new, created just for this game, but will feel like it belongs with fables of old.
How it Works
At the start of each story in Stuffed Fables, there is a sidebar portrait of old Mr. Stitch, the heirloom rag doll that has been passed down through several generations of the little girl’s family. The old doll is telling a fable to the younger, new stuffies. Players can read this fable before they begin to play. It will hint at the intentional lesson the players might contemplate during that play session.
The fables in Stuffed Fables are not a game mechanic. They are there purely for immersion, and as conversational tools should players want to explore them. They are not in any way necessary to the gameplay, nor do we even include guidelines for their use.
Something to Talk About
At the end of each story in Stuffed Fables, we offer a series of simple questions we call talking points. It is our hope the these will be used to spark conversation. We do not give any guidelines for their use, and players are free to use them as they see fit. Talking points are a particularly effective way for parents to discuss the meaning of a fable with their children, or for a group of thoughtful adults to add their own spin on the story they were just a part of.
Stories Within Stories
Fables offer us a connection to the wisdom of generations of people who have the shared experience of simply being alive. We look forward to sharing these fables with you, and hearing some of your responses to the questions raised in Stuffed Fables!
Previous Stuffed Fables Previews:
Announcement, Game Page, Pre-Order
Charactes: Theadora
|
Written by Jerry Hawthorne |
 |
