Choices in the new SSS

As I’ve yapped about at length in the past, how much freedom to go with in a story comes with pros and cons of all kinds.

For this summer’s SSS, we are going with a relatively tight outline. Some choices will contribute more to invisible scores than to immediate consequences. We’ve done this before in different ways with stories like Batgirl Against Everyone. An example of how this looks:

Suppose the movie we were basing the story on was FRIDAY THE 13^TH, which is about horny camp counselors getting chased with a machete. A choice might be: “Cover for the lifeguard or go start making lunch.” Immediately, either choice will lead closer to excitement of some kind. Lifeguard is swimsuits and flirting while making lunch is an opportunity to get closer to the cook. However, the LIFEGUARD choice would be a +1 to ‘Responsible Counselor’ while going to the cook might be +1 to ‘Good listener.’ Later in the story, in some situations like running from the killer, if we have a certain ‘Responsible Counselor’ score, we will pass a check that will lead to a better outcome or reduce a negative outcome, maybe saving someone’s life. Or that ‘Good listener’ score would lead to us remembering some helpful detail that makes a difference, like where someone left the key to the shed that has the rifle in it.

In a Twine game, choices like “Go down on her vs tease her” are fun because they’re immediate, but in weeklies, choices like that just slow things down. Big, game-changing choices like “Go to Red Bull or stay on FUTA” are really cool, but they make it impossible to outline, so they have to be used sparingly.

So, in this summer’s SSS, we will have a mix of those lower impact “Score” choices and more classical “Save this person or that person” choices—these all meaningfully influence the story, but still allow us to stay on track with a plot and something resembling pacing. And there will always be lewd-exclusive choices, where it’s just a matter of “Flirt with the brunette or with the blonde,” which probably has no impact on people living or dying, but does affect who we end up kissing later.

That’s the plan this time! We’ll see how it goes. I hope to have the first chapter of the new SSS ready to go on Saturday, 5/30/2025.