Multiplayer User Manual Mode: 2+ Players (2-6)
This gameplay Mode uses the Signifer Mod and can use the Feedback Mod.
This gameplay Mode is based off the podcast Polyamory Weekly’s exercise for creating a “user manual” for yourself and sharing with others to help each other understand individual preferences, history, quirks, and how each like to be treated.
“Do you feel like everyone you’re meeting doesn’t get what you’re about? Have you ever wished that someone you liked or cared about came with a user manual? A user manual is a tool that provides detailed information on a system’s inner workings in order to optimize a user’s interactions with that system. Or, in this case, with a particular person: YOU! While you can’t change other people, you CAN develop a manual to help others understand just how you like to be treated in the world of dating and relationships. “-Polyamory Weekly
The User Manual created by the podcast Polyamory Weekly was made particularly with ethically non-monogamous individuals and relationships in mind, but it can be equally useful for monogamous relationships, aromantic relationships, friendships, and other forms of social relations. You can create a User Manual for yourself that is more general, or that is more targeted to a specific desired relationship or person.
- Players will be making their User Manual with the other player(s) in mind, they should consider what kind of relationships they want to cultivate with each other, and so what decks they would like to include for this gameplay Mode.
- Choose which decks of FoF you all would like to include for this gameplay Mode.
- Each player should separately complete the Single Player User Manual Mode. Going through one deck of FoF at a time, they pull out cards with prompts that relate to something they would like to write about themselves on your User Manual to share with the other player(s).
- Using a journal or a computer, each players writes/types answers to the card prompts they have selected to help them create their User Manual. Try to separate them into sections based on larger topics such as: Family Background, Personal History, Relationship Goals, Emotional Turn-Ons/Turn-Offs, Flirting, Sexual Turn-Ons/Turn-Offs, Kink History and Preferences, etc. See Polyamory Weekly for their example of a dating User Manual.
- Once all players have completed their User Manual in the single player mode, come together and take turns, going clockwise starting with the person with the next closest birthday, each reading different items from your User Manual to each other. After an item is read, players can discuss it before moving on to the next player.
- (Optional) Include the Feedback Mod with this gameplay Mode. Create/find previous Character Sheets for each player and fill them out as you share your User Manuals, giving each other Experience Points and Feedback.
- Continue sharing items from User Manuals together until everyone has shared what they want to share with the group or all items in the Manuals have been shared.
- (Optional) Players share copies of their User Manual with player(s) of their choice to keep. Players should discuss first their desired privacy with their User Manuals.