Cheatsheet

Set the tone: What three adjectives describe the city we want to explore? What genres or settings interest us?

Laying the foundations: Every player adds one card to the table, either a Neighborhood or a Landmark. There is no Compass during the foundation round.

every round...

Declare a Compass: One player chooses an aspect of the city to explore and investigate.

Wander the City: Moving clockwise around the table, each player takes a turn adding a card to the city.

Neighborhoods have a title, a reputation, and a true name, all chosen by one player.
Landmarks have a title, an address, and a true name, all chosen by one player.

Residents have a title and pronouns chosen by one player, and a true name created communally.

Hold an Event: Finish the round by showing how the city changes! Whoever declared the Compass declares the Event. Starting with the player to their left, every player takes on a voice of the city and either asks a question, states an opinion, or shows a consequence.

Remember to alter the city during the Event. Change the text or placement of cards to reflect how the city evolves. The player who declared the Event has the last word, and closes out the round.

When you are done, take a Rest Stop and check in with each other, then move onto the next round!

Playing the game

Rounds of play

The basic overview of a round of iʼm sorry did you say street magic is as follows:

To begin, one player declares the Compass (pg. 19), the theme or subject of exploration for this round of gameplay. This helps set the tone for the round.

That player wanders the city (pg. 20), adding a new card ̶ a Neighborhood, Landmark, or Resident ̶ to the table. This card reflects the Compass in some way.

Moving clockwise around the table, each player takes a turn wandering the city, adding a new card of their own to the table.

Finally, the player who declared the Compass holds an Event (pg. 29) to close out the round. During an Event, each player takes on a voice of the city and offers a perspective on the way the city changes around them.

Once the Event is finished, the round is over. Players should take a Rest Stop to check in with each other. When everyone is ready to continue, the next player declares a Compass, starting a new round.

Declaring a compass

**After you have laid the foundation, read out the following:

“Cities are dense, packed with stories stacked atop each other. In order to give each round focus, one player chooses a Compass to keep the story moving in the same thematic direction ̶ at least until the next round.”

Anything can be a Compass! A Neighborhood, a Landmark, a Resident, an institution, a lineage, an object, a broad theme or concept: as big or as small as you want. A Compass can be an idea that already exists in play, or something that you make up right on the spot.

For the first few Compasses of the game, consider building off of ideas that your fellow players have already expressed excitement in, especially ideas not already explored during the foundation.

Keep a running list of each roundʼs Compass and which player chose it, so that everyone can look back at it as your city unfolds. If a player wants to revisit a Compass that was already examined, they can always pick the same one again, or pick a similar Compass that examines that aspect of the city from a slightly different angle.**

Wandering the city

Starting with the player who declared the Compass, every player takes a turn adding a new card to the city. During this part of a round, a player can do one of the following:

Explore a Neighborhood (pg. 22): The broadest of the three categories of cards, Neighborhoods bump up against each other. They contain all other cards within the game.

Visit a Landmark (pg. 24): Landmarks are unique features and places within the city. Each Landmark is nested within a Neighborhood.

Meet a Resident (pg. 26): Residents are the inhabitants of the city, who fill it with vivid and colorful life. A Resident is always associated with a Landmark.

Every card played during the “wandering the city” phase should have a clear thematic connection to the Compass. If youʼre unsure whether your idea fits the interpretation of the Compass, just ask!

Moves

Exploring a neighborhood

Neighborhoods are the broadest, most overarching type of cards that you can play to build your city.

To explore a new Neighborhood, take a blank index card and write an “N” in the top left corner. Give it the following three key elements: a title, a reputation, and a true name.

A title: This is what denizens of the city call this Neighborhood on a daily basis. It could be named after the local geography, the history of its Residents, or the types of business that are conducted there, to name just a few examples. Write this at the top of the card.

A reputation: In a couple of sentences, describe out loud the Neighborhood's general vibe. Is it predominantly residential or commercial? How do its Residents think of themselves? What do other Neighborhoods think of them? Invite other players to ask questions, and build on their answers. Write a quick summary near the middle of the card, right below the title. Keep the reputation brief! What you say out loud is more important than what you jot down; just note a few words to jog your memory.

A true name: Every Neighborhood has a magic all its own. To confer a true name, come up with two or three descriptive, sensory images that paint a clear picture of the Neighborhood in your mind. Write these at the bottom of the card. True names can be tactile details of the space, but they can just

as easily be metaphorical or symbolic abstractions, intended to elicit an idea or personality more than a literal representation.

Think poetically and play to the  
senses when coming up with true  
names. Dizzying mirror-glass windows,  
cobblestone boulevards, a funicular railway, sidewalk patios, burnt coffee, painted fingers, a forever sunset, hushed secrets, an abandoned dream: any of these could be facets of a true name.

A Neighborhoodʼs reputation might be what people think of it, but a Neighborhoodʼs true name is what makes it unforgettable.

Visiting a landmark

Landmarks are the second-highest tier of cards that you can play to build your city. They must be played within a pre-existing Neighborhood card. A Neighborhood can, and often will, contain multiple Landmarks.

To visit a new Landmark, take a blank index card and write an “L” in the top left corner. Give it the following three key elements: a title, an address, and a true name.

A title: Just like a Neighborhood, each Landmark should have a common name that people call it in their day-to-day lives.
Write this at the top of the card.

An address: If it feels appropriate, this can be a literal address ̶ after all, street names are another tool to reveal details about the world ̶ but it could also be something more poetic. Is it in the heart of the Neighborhood, or off the beaten path? Is it several stories up, or perhaps below street level? Write this Landmarkʼs address under the title, near the middle of the card.

A true name: Similar to a Neighborhood, each Landmark has its own true name. However, this should be even more specific than the true name for your Neighborhood. How does this Landmark exist within the Neighborhood it is being placed inside ̶ does this Landmark match the Neighborhoodʼs style, or push against it? What makes it unique? What makes it irreplaceable? What can you touch, smell, or taste? Imagine the Landmark as you consider these questions, and let its true name reflect your answers.

When you are finished, place the Landmark so that one corner rests on top of its corresponding Neighborhood card. Be sure not to cover up any of the important information on any cards and make sure that everyone can read the text. The next player then begins their turn.

Meeting a resident

Residents are the individual characters and people who inhabit the city, and are nested inside of Landmark cards. A Landmark can contain multiple Residents.

To meet a new Resident, take a blank index card and write an “R” in the top left corner.

Like Neighborhoods and Landmarks, each Resident needs a title, a common name known to all. Let a Residentʼs title inform their personality, and vice versa. Write their title at the top of the card, and write their pronouns next to that.

Describe this Resident briefly to the table! If they have a noteworthy profession or other important qualities, feel free to write that information down, but donʼt spend too much time writing: just use a few words. What you say aloud is more important than what you write.

Like Neighborhoods and Landmarks, every Resident also needs a true name. Unlike Neighborhoods and Landmarks, however, a Residentʼs true name is established through collaboration during a vignette: a short scene in which all players participate.

Framing a vignette

A vignette is a brief glimpse into a Residentʼs daily life. To begin a vignette, the current player decides where the scene takes place.

The location should be connected in some way to the Landmark where the Resident is nested ̶ when in doubt, setting the vignette at the Landmark itself is always a safe bet.

The current player embodies the Resident. Other players play various aspects of the setting: the weather, music, local flora and fauna, sights, smells, tastes, the passage of time, or other characters in the scene.
The player embodying the Resident may make broad scene requests of their co-players, e.g., “Could someone play one of my family members?”, or “Letʼs frame this as a montage of my regular customers,” or “Iʼd like this to be a solo scene! Please only be abstract elements of the space.”

The current player begins by describing the Residentʼs interior thoughts and actions; other players respond, freeform, engaging in loose and improvised conversation. Describe sensory details, as well as the Residentʼs desires, beliefs, and appearance. Feel free to speak both in and out of character: narrate the characterʼs actions, or say things they would say in their own voice.

A vignette should portray the Resident in their element: this is a snapshot of a moment when this character is truly, unequivocally themselves. Spotlight their strengths, skills, and shortcomings. What unique spark does this Resident bring to the city that nobody else can offer?

The scene is over when the current player knows the Residentʼs true name in its entirety. Write the facets of their true name on the card, and place the card so that it rests partially on top of its corresponding Landmark card. The next player then begins their turn.

End of a round

Holding an event

After everyone has wandered the city during the current round, the player who first declared the Compass finishes the round by creating an Event that changes or alters the city in some way.

Your Event should be related to the Compass that you set at the beginning of the round, or to a card that was played during the round. Events are a good way to tie up loose ends on questions that arose during a round. However, an Event can also be a chance to highlight an aspect of the Compass that was unexplored, or to recontextualize other elements of the city that were discovered during play.

An Event is always connected to a Neighborhood, Landmark, or Resident. On your turn, describe the Event in a sentence or two, then choose the one card on the table that it most closely relates to. Something has changed within the community: what is it? If it isnʼt already clear, explain how this Event serves as a connecting point between the card you have chosen and the Compass currently in play.
Take a new index card and fold it in half vertically, tented upright. Write a quick summary of the Event on one side. Place the Event card tented upright on the card it is connected to.

An Event might affect multiple Residents, Landmarks, or even multiple Neighborhoods; however, choose the one card in play that best corresponds to the Event. If youʼre having trouble deciding, try to localize your focus: even if a festival spans the entire city, consider examining its impact on a single Neighborhood, or a specific Landmark.

Place the Event tented upright on top of the card it is connected to.

Voices of the city

Each player gets a chance to respond to the Event by taking on a voice of the city. In doing so, the players are not embodying specific Residents, but rather the myriad perspectives and viewpoints of the community, especially members of the city who may be impacted by the Event.

Once the person who chose the compass has created the Event, start with the player to their left and move clockwise around the table. As a voice of the city, each player does one of the three following actions:

Ask a question about the origins, implications, or repercussions of the Event. This question is always rhetorical; let it hang in the air.

State an opinion, in one or two sentences, that some members of the community hold toward the Event.

Show a consequence, in a sentence or two, of people in the city reacting to the Event. A consequence can be about a specific Resident, or more abstractly about the community at large.

Altering the city

Events change the city around them. At any point during the Event phase, the player who declared the Event may select a card or cards on the table that they feel have been changed by the circumstances of the Event, and reflect those changes on that corresponding cards. This could take the shape of rewriting a Landmarkʼs address or a Neighborhoodʼs reputation, moving a Resident from one Landmark to another, or altering a cardʼs true name or title.

This adjustment might take place multiple times during an Event, but it should always happen at least once. Anybody is free to suggest adjustments, but the player who declared the Event has final say on what stays and what changes.

When changing the city, never destroy or completely remove a card from play. Even if a Landmark is destroyed or a Resident moves away, these parts of the city still exist in ripples: in their legacies and in the memories of the cityʼs other inhabitants.

Completing the event

The player who declared the Event is the last player to take on a voice of the city; in this way, they have the last word on the Event, as well as this roundʼs Compass.

Events are never monolithic, and no single perspective has all the facts. After the leading player takes on the final voice of the city, they should end the Event phase by writing a second perspective on the back of the tented card (or directly underneath the first perspective, for an online game). The Eventʼs other side should complicate it: add a new point of view that came up during the conversation, or one that was previously unconsidered.

Note that the completion of an Event phase in the game does not necessarily mean that the Event is over within the fiction of the city; it might still have ongoing consequences for the story.

After the Event is finished, the round is over. Take a quick Rest Stop; check in with your fellow players about how you all are feeling, and about the direction of the game so far. When everyone is ready to start another round of play, the next player declares a new Compass, and the next round begins.