So I have an idea for a Carta Mod. I’m calling it Story Mode. It does involve a lot more writing then normal on the designers part, but I think it could make for a deeper session (not that sessions aren’t already deep, I got emotional during one).

So the premise is that each card (save for the Starting Point and Goal cards, the latter of which I’ll explain shortly) isn’t a single prompt, but instead an arc; 3 prompts with the basic structure of Exposition, Conflict, and Resolution, though you can of course add more, it’s your call. The specific prompt you use from a given card depends on the current Act of the game, which begins at 1 and increases during play. 

Whenever you reach the Goal card, you either move to the next Act, or end the game if there’s no Act to move towards. When you change Acts, you turn all face up cards in the board except for the starting point face down and return to the starting point. You could have the player shuffle and remake the board for an element of randomness. This may seem a little redundant, but that’s because it’s lacking the final piece of Story Mode: the Choice mechanic.

The choice mechanic uses the built in memory Carta provides (as opposed to just drawing cards), making choices the player makes in one Act effect choices they can make in future ones. 

Each prompt contains a yes/no question for the player that they factor into their journaling.

If they say yes to the prompt, they continue play as normal.

If they say no, they discard the card in question. This card is replaced by one you didn’t use in the setup of the session when you move to the next Act.

Saying yes keeps an arc alive. Saying no cancels the arc. It’s important for writers to note that though the prompts of an arc should be similar, they should only rely on the players journal for continuity. 

For instance, let’s say you write an arc for a side character the player can meet and hire. Let’s say the First Act prompt is meeting them and the Second Act prompt is hiring them. But the player only encounters this arc in the second act. Keep situations like this in mind, and be broad with your prompts. This could possibly be avoided by having each card function at different Acts, simply starting late, but this could be daunting for the player to keep track of.

This is just an early idea, nothing’s set in stone. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them. I hope you have a nice day.