Microscope: Chronicle (playtest)

The exile who came to the city to start a new life. The mason who carved blocks for its walls. The merchant getting rich in its marketplace. The thief rotting in its dungeon. The emperor who watched it burn. The child who plays in its ruins…

All these lives are part of the story of a city. You tell its story by exploring theirs.

This is a playtest of an alternate version of the award-winning, world-building game Microscope, the fractal game of epic histories. These new rules are (hopefully) even faster and easier than the original game, as well as a testing ground for a variety of improvements.

• Microscope: Chronicle tightens the history to a specific thing, like a frontier town, a legendary sword, or an old space freighter, so it’s easier to pick and stick to a topic.

• It's also much more focused on people and their lives. We'll make multiple characters throughout the history and then see how they are intertwined with the Chronicle.

• And just like normal Microscope, you don't create the history in chronological order, you build it from the outside in, jumping back and forth in time to explore the parts that interest you.

I'm making the playtest public so more people can try it out and have fun, because I think in 2025 we all need more fun. And after you play, tell me how your game went!