Microscope: actual play
In one sentence: It’s two-thirds brainstorming, one-third roleplaying, and 100% improvisional history jazz.
The Good: The game is ridiculously easy to learn and play. Also the mechanics do make history full of unexpected twists.
The Bad: If you aren’t interested in roleplaying that actually involves playing a role, this game is not for you.
It didn’t go as well as I expected, but I still think people interested in world-building and limited roleplaying would enjoy it. This was a player issue; one of the players was strongly averse to roleplaying any Scenes. We did a few anyway. Take away any of the roleplaying element, and it becomes primarily a fun brainstorming and creative-writing game.
Taking away the roleplaying also robs the game of at least one third of its depth, as the Periods and Events are far more general. The game’s potential to create vivid history relies on Scenes, because they make explicit the true motives and extra characters. Without it, you lose the vividness, and you just have history.
I happen to like history, but it definitely becomes more a thought exercise than a game if you take away the game part.
I hope to try again with different players who’ve run other tabletop games and have more interest in establishing and roleplaying characters at the Scene level.
UPDATE: Played again with different players, and it was amazing. Confirmed first impression, and intensely-played scenes are fantastic.
