Etoiles & Souhaits
Other versions
Stars & Wishes is a debriefing technique I discovered in Brindlewood Bay. It came first in the article Stars & Wishes by Lu Quade on the Gauntlet blog. I invite you to read it to find out a little more about where it came from.
How it works
At the end of the session, once the game is over but before leaving, each player states their Stars and Wishes.
The stars are the highlights of the game you've just played, what you particularly enjoyed. Whether it's a general mood, a particular moment in the story, or the resolution of a mechanic.
The wishes are desires for the next session. Perhaps we'd like to see a specific plot pursued, a particular mechanic brought to the fore, the end of a mystery...
So we go around the table, and each player, including the GM, states their stars and wishes. This usually takes 5 to 10 minutes. Formalizing this ritual cuts through the fiction and immersion at the end of the session. It's a little decompression, and as both elements are benevolent, it's also a moment of sharing.
My experience
Since January, I've been running a weekly Brindlewood Bay campaign. We use Stars & Wishes at every session. And it's a tool I can't see myself doing without in a campaign setting. I experimented with it on Apocalypse Keys, several months ago. But now the epiphany has arrived.
When you're in the middle of a game, as the GM, it's sometimes hard to feel whether or not what you're offering has caught on with the players' desires. That's where the stars come in. When one of the participants puts in their stars a key moment that you've worked on, prepared, or even improvised, it's a great ego boost. In a very positive way. This is also the case between players. We can highlight a roleplay phase, a contribution. We say thank you to others. And that's super important for group cohesion, but also for the well-being of each individual. We're all building a story together, and it's important to remember that.
As far as wishes are concerned, this is a tool that I now find indispensable for campaign play. Each participant expresses clearly what they wish for the future. During a game of Brindlewood Bay, I pushed the weird quite hard. And I wasn't sure how the group would react. During the wishes, “explore the Void even more” was one of the requests. OK. Let's go with that. There's also a relationship that was only sketched out at the beginning between one of the Mavens and Sheriff Dalrymple. This relationship has become very important. Not because I, as the GM, decided to. But because there were several of us who wanted to push this plot.
Because the GM can also have wishes. Of course they can. Sometimes it's to explore a particular mechanic, to see how a character will develop. I make a note of all the wishes at the end of the game, and I reread them before the next game. This allows me to favor certain things. It's one of the best preparation tools I have.
In one-shot, in debrief, I plan to use these tools again. Because, in the playtest phase, it allows me to put my finger on what is liked (stars). Even if there's no follow-up, I intend to use the wishes. First, to introduce the tool to participants. But also as an interesting exercise. What would you like to see if there were a follow-up to this game?
So there you have it, a little feedback on a tool that has become essential to me. I hope to see it in many games, and I hope you'll use it in most of your games.