It’s I’m Sorry, Did you Say Street Magic.
Since he was about seven years old, Mark Vanhoenacker has liked to imagine his own city.
“Its location changes occasionally, as does its name.
Vanhoenacker is a British Airways pilot, and the author of two of my favourite books.
It’s the melancholic starting point for a generous, enveloping, far-ranging book.
You must read it.
But anyway…
Over the last few weekends my daughter and I have been imagining cities too.
But we’ve had a bit of help.
I’m Sorry was originally conceived as a hack of Microscope, by Ben Robbins.
In Microscope, players construct the history of a civilisation, role-playing without dice or a GM.
In I’m Sorry, players construct a city - a city, but not a map, crucially.
“Maps,” Asercion writes, “are inherently reductive.”
Instead players build outwards in turns and rounds.
The city is built of neighborhoods, landmarks and residents.
The title is a common name that people use.
In Brighton, say, this might be Hanover or Montpelier.
In LA it might be Silver Lake or Baldwin Hills.
True Names, though…
True Names are where the game really lives, if you ask me.
This would be enough, I think.
A place of words, descriptions, pieces of imagined memory.
Big or small, it doesn’t matter.
There’s a fire.
There’s a festival.
There’s a birth.
It’s this layer of time passing that makes I’m Sorry truly fascinating.
One last thing, and it connects to this idea very strongly.
Beyond acknowledgement, consider making a donation to your local Native community.
This could be your time, your voice, goods, money, or other requested help.”
