M O

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T
T The Princess Game X

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M O
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X

This is a game about a little girl.

The only little girl in the whole wide world.
The only person there is, really.

This is a game about her dreams and her imagination,

about make-believe and magic, and the world of
stories. But mostly it’s about the girl.

You play different parts of her — her love, her fear, her
curiosity, and more. Together with her Imagination,
you go out to see what there is in the world, and
invent some of it yourself.

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X Parts to Play T
T
You’ll need at least four people to play this game,
S but not more than seven. The first four people decide
who gets to be...
O M
* Love
* Curiosity O
T * Fear
* Imagination X

Love makes the girl want to help and talk to other

X
people. Love is what makes her create the world and
the people in it.

Curiosity makes her want to investigate. The little

girl wants to know everything and meet everyone.

Fear makes her want to run away. When she’s scared,

she has to find a different way to do things. The
person who plays Fear has a tough job, because we
don’t always want to be afraid, but sometimes it
happens.

Imagination has the biggest job: making the world.

The person who gets to be Imagination tells everyone
else what the rest of the world looks like, what the
people in it are doing, and how they act. Imagination
has to be very descriptive without using too many
words, and sometimes has to say mean things —
because sometimes scary things happen to the girl.
But in the end, she won’t be afraid forever, so it’ll
be ok.

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T If there are more people who want to play, they can X

T pick one of these to be:

* The Companion
S
* The Toy
M * Responsibility O
O The Companion is the girl’s BEST FRIEND EVER.
X It could be her kid brother or sister, a cat or a T

dog, a teddy bear, or even some kind of magic fairy.

The companion gives the girl advice and helps her
when things are hard. You should decide what kind X
of Companion you are, just so everyone knows.

The Toy is magical and powerful and wonderful,

and everyone wants to play with it. Sometimes the
girl gets bored with the Toy, though. If you have
someone who wants to play, but can’t stay for the
whole game, they can be the Toy. Dolls make better
Companions than Toys.

Responsibility is what makes the girl help even the

people she doesn’t want to love. It’s yucky and
sometimes it’s no fun, but I’ll tell you a secret:
it’s what makes little girls into big girls.

Once you know who’s playing what, you can turn

the page.

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X Now We Can Start T
T
Now that everyone has a part to play, we can start
S the game.

O We talk in a special way when we play this game. M

Every time Love, Curiosity, or Fear talks, they pretend
they’re the little girl talking to herself, because she O
T does that a lot. The Companion and the Toy can
talk for themselves, though sometimes the Toy X
can’t talk. Responsibility talks like the girl’s mother,
telling her what she has to do even if she doesn’t
X
like it. Imagination talks like someone reading a book
to the girl, one of the big kind with pretty stories
but without many pictures.

The girl’s Imagination starts by describing a place.

It can be any kind of place, anywhere at all. Since
this is a fantasy kind of game, it might help to have
a fantasy kind of place, like a castle or an enchanted
forest or the middle of the night sky.

Everyone listens carefully, because when they hear

something that fits their part, they think out loud
about it. Curiosity starts first, then Love, then Fear.
If there are other people, they have to wait for right
now — they can talk later.

If the Imagination talks about a beautiful green

forest with an old cottage near a stream...

... Curiosity might say, “I wonder who lives in that

house,” or, “I wonder if there’s a woodchopper out
back,” or even, “I wonder whether there are talking
fish in that stream.” Curiosity makes the first move,
you see?

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T And then Love might say, “Oh, how old and run-down X
T that house is! Let me help them make it better,” or,
“I have to keep the woodchopper from cutting down
the whole forest,” or even, “Don’t worry little fish!
S
I’ll make sure no one catches you!” The little girl
M wants to do things because of Love. O
O But then Fear talks, and Fear might say, “But how
X could I do that when I don’t know how to build T

a house?” or, “But the woodchopper is so big and

scary!” or even, “But fish are gross and icky and I’m
afraid of them!” Fear talks about what makes things X
hard for the girl.

Finally, Imagination gets to bring in the first Character.

A Character is a person or a creature or even a magic
spirit. In this story, it might be an old lady who
lives in the cottage, or the big ogre woodchopper,
or the king of the fish. What makes Characters
special is that they can talk to the girl, even though
they’re just made-up parts of her imagination. (Did
we mention she thinks out loud a lot?) And from
that first Character will come the rest of the game,
and many more places and Characters, until the story
comes to an end.

How does it go from here? Just turn the page...

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X Talking to People T
T
This game is all about the girl talking to Characters.
S Every Character, from the first one to the last one,
is part of the adventure.
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The girl is still very young, and needs help often. Any
character could help her, but each of them needs O
T something in return. She’ll go from one person to
another, asking for help, getting more things to do X
before she can fix what needs to be fixed. However,
eventually, she will find someone who needs just
X
what she has. Maybe it’s a hand crossing the street,
or a kiss on the cheek, or a little piece of her hair to
remember her by. That person will help the girl help
the last Character, who helps the one before that,
and eventually the original problem will be solved!

The Imagination talks for all the Characters.

Usually there’s just one or two around at a time.
The Imagination tries to use the Character’s voice
and do things that Character would do.

When the girl talks, the different parts of her can’t

talk all at once — that would sound silly! Instead,
they have to take turns. Everyone will get some pennies,
and when you spend a penny, you get a short turn at
talking for the girl. (If you don’t have pennies, you
can use other things, like buttons or toy blocks.
We’ll tell you how many you get later on.)

The first part of the girl that talks is always the

part that the Character brings out. Some Characters
bring out Love, some bring out Fear, some bring
out Curiosity. That part of the girl talks to the

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Imagination, and they have a conversation, as if they
T were the girl and the Character. X
T
If a different player wants to have the girl say
something, or even just make the girl think hard about
S
something, they pay a penny. Once everyone is done
M talking, and no one wants to use any more pennies, O
figure out who spent the most pennies. That person
O “led the conversation,” and gets to describe what the
X girl does next. If there’s a tie, the kind of Character T

it was is who wins.

If Love led the conversation, the girl gets the Character X

to help, in exchange for something. Love gets to
say what help the girl asks for, but Imagination
(speaking for the Character) says what the girl has
to do in return.

If Curiosity led the conversation, the girl asked too

many questions! The Character is insulted, or tired
of talking to her. The girl will find out what needs
to be done next (and Curiosity gets to say what that
is), but the Character won’t help.

If Fear led the conversation, the girl has to run away.

She can’t talk to this person any more, and has to
find a different way to do things. Fear describes the
girl running away, and where she runs to. Imagination
says who she finds there.

Love, Curiosity, and Fear should never just say, “I

love you,” or, “I’m curious,” or, “I’m scared.” They
should always say WHY.

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The Companion, Toy, and Responsibility talk in special
X cases.
T
T
The Companion only talks after you find out who
S led the conversation. If the Companion doesn’t like
what happened, he or she pays TWO pennies to make
O things go differently. The Companion might talk to
M
the girl and change her mind, or talk to Characters
and convince them to help, or even just refuse to run O
T
away, making the girl turn around and stay instead of X
running in fear. She can have someone else talk next,
without that person spending any more pennies, or
X just say who ends up leading and why. The Companion
doesn’t get many pennies, but they’re very powerful
pennies. Remember: TWO pennies.

The Toy doesn’t talk, but can give pennies to other

people, saying how the Toy helps. Sometimes people
will help the girl just to play with the Toy. Other
times the Toy itself is magical. The Toy has a BIG
stack of pennies in the beginning of the game, but
doesn’t get any more later on — once people are tired
of the Toy, it doesn’t work any more.

Responsibility has a special role. When the girl

meets someone that she really should help, but she
doesn’t, Responsibility can spend TWO pennies to
step in. Responsibility talks to the rest of the girl
and makes her help, even if she doesn’t love that
person. When Responsibility acts, it’s as if Love led
the conversation. Like the Companion, Responsibility
doesn’t get very many pennies, but is very powerful
when she speaks. Remember: TWO pennies.

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T Exploring Her World X

T
The girl often travels from one part of the world to
another. The Imagination always decides who the girl S
runs into, but other parts of her can decide where
M to go. O
O The part of the girl who led the conversation can
decide where the girl goes — whether it’s into a T
X forest, or up a mountain, or across a huge desert.
Because the girl is a magical princess, she can go
anywhere, even up into the sky.
X
If the last leader doesn’t know where to go next, the
Imagination takes over, as the girl wanders across
the world of her creation, looking for someone who
might help.

No matter where she goes, what matters most is

who the girl talks to. The things she wants can only
be found from other people.

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X Numbers and Stuff T
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Here’s how many pennies everyone gets to use.
S
At the beginning of each game, give out this many
O pennies to each person: M
* Give Love, Fear and Curiosity five pennies O
T each.
* The Companion and Responsibility get two X
pennies each.
* The Toy gets 30 pennies.
X
* Imagination doesn’t need pennies.

At the beginning of each Conversation after the first

one, give out this many pennies to each person:

* Love, Fear and Curiosity get three more pennies

each.
* The Companion and Responsibility get one
more penny each.
* The Toy doesn’t get any more pennies. When
the game starts, the Toy gets 30 pennies,
but no more.

Love, Fear, and Curiosity spend one penny every time

they talk. The Companion and Responsibility spend
two pennies. The Toy gives pennies to other people.

Everyone keeps any pennies that they don’t spend,

until the end of the game.

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T Secrets X
T
Here are some secrets for playing this game.
S
You don’t want to spend all your pennies every time.
M Because you can’t win every time, you should save O
your pennies for the times when you think it’s more
O important.
T
X Here’s a Secret for the Imagination: Characters
should always have something to do with what
happened at the start of the game, even if it’s only a
X
little bit.

You can never lose the game — the fun comes from
pretending to be the girl, and talking to the different
Characters.

The game is all about starting with one sort of

Character, and realizing that they’re different from
how they looked at first. This will happen a lot.

Every Character is an important person. A lot of

them are kings and queens, princes and princesses,
but even the ones who aren’t are very important.

The little girl can’t hurt anyone, except with her

words. Even if she is very cross, she can only yell at
someone or storm off.

I think the little girl might be a little lonely.

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X People, Places, Things T
T
Characters who are unusual, funny, or interesting
S bring out Curiosity. If you talk to them long enough,
they could become either lovable or scary, but if you
O ask too many questions they’ll stop talking to you. M
Characters who are creepy, scary-looking, or who O
T act mean create Fear. If the girl overcomes her fear,
some of these are really good people, or are just X
misunderstood. However, if she stays afraid of them,
she has to go away from them.
X
Characters that are cuddly, beautiful, or sad bring
out Love. Characters who love the girl back will help
her, but sometimes even people you love turn out to
be scary or weird in the end.

Here’s a list of Characters you might want to use.

It’s just their names; you get to make up more
about them.

STRANGE Characters
The Storm Crow Father Time
Grandfather Clock The Old Mariner
The Schooleroo The Hopping Flock
The Fisher Boy The Clock King
The Sporting Lad The Turtle Queen
Pibbitybop the Gnome King
The Captain of the Toy Soldiers

SCARY Characters

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The Great Dragon Grandmother Ogre
T The Three Trolls The Spider Queen X
T The Scorpion Horde Slug Colony Four
The Fire Breather The Night People
Lord Elk The Beast
S
M LOVABLE Characters O
The Phoenix Queen The Nameless Prince
O The Princess of Stars The Whale King
X The Singer of Stones The Silver Unicorn T

Piggy Bear Green Maia

Lady Ermine The Butterfly Woman
The Sad Loon X

Here are some places the girl might go:

The Jungle of Danger The Dark Forest

The Starlit Realm Fairy Village
Gnome Home The Lantern Court
The Misty Mountains The High Seas
Beyond the Stars The Unicorn Forest

Here are some toys she might carry:

The Robe of Feathers The Wand of Stars

The Vanishing Cloak Grandmother’s Scarf
A Paper Lantern A Singing Sword
An Umbrella A Heart Ring
The Girl’s Secret Diary
The Wicked Witch’s Amulet
The Good Witch’s Broom

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X A Taste of a Game T
T
Starting the Game:
S This is a short game with five people.
Love, Curiosity, and Fear start with five pennies each,
O and Imagination gets none. The Companion gets two. M
In this section, we use letters to abbreviate things. O
T I = Imagination, F = Fear, C = Curiosity, L = Love. The
companion (a little sea urchin) is CO, but doesn’t X
talk often.
X
I: I bet there’s a place where you can swim forever,
with mermaids and seahorses. It has castles made
from snail shells -
C: And look at them with their pretty spirals! I
wonder who lives in there?
L: It’s a lot of people, who need more homes! I
could help them find another shell.
F: But the shells are SO BIG. A snail that big could
eat me right up...

The First Character:

(L, C, and F still have five pennies each. CO has
two pennies.)
I: Along comes the Queen of the Mermen! She’s
green all over, with strange squiggles on her arms and
legs. Funny bubbles come up from her mouth when
she talks. She says, “Oh, if only...” and gazes sadly
into the sea.
(This is a Strange Character.)
C (spends a penny): “If only what?”
I: “If only we had a new shell for our people, so
they could have somewhere to live! There are too
many people who have no place to come home to.”

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L (spends a penny): “I can find one for you! I’ll go
T out and get you a new shell.” X
T F (spends a penny): But should I? This queen is a
little creepy...
C (spends a penny): Yeah, what’s with those
S
squiggles?
M L (spends a penny): But she seems to care about her O
people. I should really help.
O C (spends a penny): “Hey lady! What are those
X squiggles from?” T

(No one else spends a penny. Curiosity wins.)

C: “Hey, what are those squiggles?” I asked, and she
said I’m not cool enough to know! So now I’m going X
to the Snail Trails to get a really big shell to show
her how cool I am. The Snail Trails are underwater,
on a huge rock, with hundreds of ‘em everywhere!

The Second Character

(L, C, and F get three more pennies each, and CO
gets one. That means L has 6, C has 5, and F
has 7. CO has 3 pennies.)
I: The girl swims along until she comes to an
underwater cliff. She can see the Snail Trails in the
distance, when suddenly up the cliff came a Gigantic
Snail! It’s huge and slimy and gross! It has big
feelers and it’s looking right at the girl, saying, “What
are you doin’ here?”
(This is a Scary Character.)
F (spends a penny): “AHHHHHHH!”
L (spends a penny): Maybe he’s not so bad? Maybe
he’s so strong he doesn’t even need his shell?
F (spends a penny): No, he’s ferocious and horrible
and I d-d-don’t want to be here!
C (spends a penny): How did he get so big?

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F (spends a penny): I don’t care! It’s time to go! He
X could eat me whole!
T
(No one else spends a penny. Fear wins.)
T
F: She swims swims swims away as fast as she
S can! She goes into a little hole in the sand nearby to
hide until the Giant Snail can’t find her.
O M
The Third Character O
T
(Pennies are handed out. That means L has 8, C X
has 7, and F has 7. CO has 4 pennies.)
I: Eventually, inside the hole, she sees two lights
X floating around. They turn out to be the eyes of a
huge Hermit Crab, hiding in the hole. He stares at the
girl silently, moving his big pinchers back and forth.
(This is a Scary character.)
F (spends a penny): Oh no... it’s worse than the
snail...
L (spends a penny): But he’s hiding too. “Hey, Mister
Crab. Why are you hiding?”
I: “It’s Miss Crab, and I’m hiding because I’m about
to change my shell.”
C (spends a penny): “Why?”
I: “I’m getting older and bigger, and I’m going to need
a new shell because this one’s getting smaller. Oh,
if only I knew where one was...
L (spends a penny): “I know! I know! Miss Crab, I
can show you where there’s a really big shell, but
there’s a catch...”
I: “Is is that big snail? Oh, that would fit perfectly,
but I can’t fight him.”
C (spends a penny): “Why not?”
L (spends a penny): “Because you’re not mean,
right?”

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I: “Oh, I could be mean if I wanted, and there’s no
T one who deserves it as much as he does. But my X
T claws can’t cut through the shell.”
(No one else spends a penny. Love wins.)
L: I didn’t know what to do next! I wandered for a
S
while, trying to think of something...
M CO (spends two pennies): When suddenly, I thought O
of something! “Princess,” I said, “there’s a place
O where there are sunken Pirate Ships. Pirates had
X swords, and they must have kept them sharp - so T

we can take whatever they used to make the swords

sharp, and sharpen Miss Crab’s Claws!” And so we
went to Shipwreck Reef to find the sunken ships. X

The Fourth Character

(Pennies are handed out. That means L has 8, C
has 8, and F has 9. CO has 3 pennies.)
I: But instead of finding a pirate, the little girl found
a strange thing: the ghost of a young woman, sad and
beautiful. She was drifting around the sunken ship,
playing with the things she found there.
(This is a Lovable character.)
F (spends a penny): I’m scared of ghosts. She might
turn out to be a bad ghost.
C (spends a penny): Why is she going around playing
with everything?
F (spends a penny): I bet it’s because she took the
toys away from the children!
L (spends a penny): No, that can’t be. See how nice
and friendly she looks?
F (spends a penny): But looks aren’t everything.
(No one else spends a penny. Fear wins. But...)
CO (spends two pennies): While the girl hesitated, I
knew the ghost couldn’t hurt me. I went right up
to her and said, “Hi there. Why are you sad?”

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I: “Because there’s no one here to be my friend. I
X died in a shipwreck long ago. Even the mean old pirate
T
ghosts are gone.”
T
CO: “I think I know someone who could be your
S friend, if you gave her a helping hand. But you have
to be careful: she’s afraid of ghosts.” And I want
O Love to talk now.
M
I: The beautiful ghost smiled and floated up towards
the Girl. “Hello!” O
T
L: “Um... Hi. Nice to meet you.” X
I: “I hear you need some help. I could use a friend.
Will you be my friend, even though I’m a ghost?”
X L: The little girl nods.

I: And from there, the ghost showed the girl the

stones that the pirates had used to sharpen their
swords. They brought the stones to the crab, who
used them to sharpen her claws to fight the Giant
Snail and take his shell. The girl showed the Merman
Queen the crab’s old shell, and the Queen loved it!
It was big enough to hold a lot of mermen, who
were so happy that they made a little home in the
shell just for the Beautiful Ghost.

What about the girl?

She went off to have more stories, and

each one was different.

Now it’s your turn.

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T The Last Page X

T
My name is Colin Fredericks, and I wrote this while
thinking about the Childlike Empress and the Never- S
Ending Story. I made the background and did the layout
M on my Macintosh. The font is Dakota Handwriting, O
with the titles in Harrington.
O
I found the little girl pictures on iStockPhoto.com, T
X and she was drawn by KOSON.

Thank you for reading my game! I hope you enjoy it

X
and play it with lots of people.

http://www.valentgames.com/

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X The Princess Game T
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A game of childlike storytelling and make-believe.
S

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IIIII “The Princess Game is a really charming

storytelling game about a magical little girl exploring
a wondrous world of her own creation. First off,
the games non-confrontational nature gives the girl’s
adventure a fun and innocent aspect absent in most
other games... Secondly, the game is very mechanically
light... Thirdly, and I know I said this before; the
game is just charming to read. I felt like I wanted to
hug it. ...I have trouble imagining a group of friends
who couldn’t be playing this game in just a few
minutes. “

--Jake Richmond, RPG.net

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