I think generating the oracles almost constitutes a game in itself!
Better yet, trading oracles with other people!
Reading the oracles for our storyjam got me so revved up I started writing my own right away, sourced from my own waking dream-anteroom full of the surreal undigested crumbs of daily life that constantly litter the floor right at my feet, just to get the feel of it. (Maybe Iâll post it.) And holy cow, the story-bits that felt so stuck while playing (yes, you can call me the reluctant story-gamer, I feel a strange mix of pleasure and pain playing, but I canât stop! ;)) just started flowing out onto the paper!
Anyway, the process of writing that helped me see my lifeâs daily story as, whoa, story. Then somehow I started shapeshifting my ârealâ story into more of a âjamâ storyâor even a âdreamâ story. Events that day had thrown me seriously off balance, like âfer chrissakes, why donât I just jump off a bridge?â off balance. But once the elements took on their new shape as trees, rotting roots, robots, dancing demons, and a torrential rain of tearsâre-telling my own story to myselfâ I could get a grip on my tale in a way I couldnât in the guise of your everyday, pedestrian gutwrenching drama, and pull myself back together.
So if simply trading out my personal story elements for âanother oracleâ rocked so hard, maybe my crazy life-story elements could swap out and transform someone elseâs life story in the same way. . . by just handing off a âpile of cardsâ. . . fucking awesome! pokemon therapy for folks-who-rewild!
AND, all this interaction with story starts to blur the line with dreaming. . . I can already feel the fence between dream-time and not getting all melty. Huh. Can story change us that much?