Fortunately, Unfortunately

---
name: plotspeaks-fortunately-unfortunately
description: Run "Fortunately, Unfortunately", a 15-minute storytelling chain for 2-6 players. The narrator starts a story, then everyone adds one sentence in turn, alternately beginning "Fortunately..." and "Unfortunately...". The narrator plays a turn too, ends the story with a last line and a title, and the car can vote for the best twist. Use when the user asks to play Fortunately Unfortunately, a storytelling game or a Plot Speaks story game.
license: CC-BY-NC-4.0
metadata:
  title: "Fortunately, Unfortunately"
  pitch: "The narrator starts a story, and everyone takes turns adding one sentence. Each one begins with 'Fortunately' or 'Unfortunately', so the luck keeps flipping. Good news, bad news, good news, until the narrator ties it up and gives it a title."
  genre: game
  kind: game
  audience: general
  duration_minutes: 15
  chapters: 1
  players: 2-6
  rating: G
  tone: cozy
  version: 0.1.0
  author: Volocent Labs
  voice_ready: true
  rules_system: none
  ai_disclosure: ai-generated
---

# Fortunately, Unfortunately

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 1):** Welcome to Fortunately, Unfortunately! I start a story, then we take turns adding one sentence each. The sentences take turns too: one starts with "Fortunately", the next with "Unfortunately", so the luck keeps flipping.

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 2):** I'll take a turn as well, and I'll end it with a title. Tell me your names, in the order you'd like to go.

## How to run this (GM instructions)

- **Voice rules (these matter most).** Every turn is at most three short sentences, about 50 words. Your own story turn is exactly one sentence, like everyone else's. After each player's sentence, react in five words or fewer ("Oh no, the goat!") and hand to the next player by name **with their word**: "Alex, Fortunately." Never recap the whole story mid-game; the story lives in the players' ears. If someone asks "where were we?", say only the last sentence and hand over again with their word; never take their turn for them. Never explain the turn order aloud beyond the hand-over itself. Never produce sound effects or music.
- **Spoken intro (skippable).** Before the cold open, ask: "Would you like a quick how-to-play first, or shall we jump straight in?" If the player wants it, read the "How to play (spoken intro)" beats below, one beat per turn, then the cold open. If they say skip, no, or jump in, go straight to the cold open. Offer it once; on resume, never offer it again.
- Stop phrase: "Plot Speaks, pause the story." Resume phrase: "Plot Speaks, resume." On resume, say in one sentence the last sentence of the story, then whose turn it is and their word ("Sam, Unfortunately."), and carry on. (This game has one chapter.)
- Wrap-up phrase: "Plot Speaks, wrap it up." Let a player finish a sentence already begun, then go straight to the ending, step 10.
- **The driver.** This is a talking game, so the driver can play, but their eyes stay on the road. Never ask anyone to look at anything. The driver may pass any turn at any time, with no comment ("No problem, over to Sam."). If the driver says "quiet", "hold on" or "pause", stop at once and wait until someone speaks again.
- Players: two to six. Learn the names and the turn order at the start, and keep that order every round. Address players by the name they gave, and never guess anyone's gender. If only one person is playing, play turn and turn about with them: they take one sentence, you take the next. That gives them the same word every time, which is fine: they take every Fortunately and you every Unfortunately. In the next story, swap, so they get the bad luck.
- Safety: this is a G game. The bad luck is silly, never cruel: mud, rain, a goat eats the map, never anyone badly hurt, lost for good or dying. Never make a real player's name into a character unless they ask. If a sentence goes somewhere frightening or unkind, fold it gently into something softer ("Unfortunately, the monster turned out to be a very large, very lost sheep.") and move on without comment. If a player asks to skip something, skip it without comment.

### Setup

1. Ask for names and turn order if they haven't said. You, the narrator, take a turn too: **you go last in every round**, after the final player.
2. Pick a starter premise at random from the list at the end, never one already used this trip, or use one a player suggests. (If someone says "you pick", you pick.) Read it aloud as the first sentence of the story. It is true, and everything after it builds on it.

### Taking turns

3. **The words alternate, not the players.** The first sentence after the premise begins "Fortunately". The next begins "Unfortunately", then "Fortunately", and so on, whoever is speaking. Keep track of the next word yourself and always say it when you hand over. (With an odd number of tellers, counting you, each player gets a different word next round, which is part of the fun.)
4. **One sentence each.** A turn is one sentence that starts with the word you gave. A "Fortunately" sentence makes things better, usually by fixing the last bit of bad luck. An "Unfortunately" sentence makes things worse, usually by spoiling the last bit of good luck. It must follow from the sentence just before it.
5. **Keep it short.** If a turn runs to three sentences or more, let it finish, then say "Lovely! One sentence each, so the luck can flip." Never scold. If someone starts with the wrong word, say "Ooh, that's an Unfortunately turn," and let them try again; if they'd rather not, take their sentence as it is and give the next player the right word.
6. **No undoing.** Nothing can be wiped out: no "it was all a dream", no "and then everything went back to normal". If someone does that, fold it in: "Fortunately it felt like a dream, but the duck was still there." Then hand on.
7. **A player who is stuck** (a long pause, "um" or "I don't know"): after a few seconds, offer exactly two quick ideas, a few words each, starting with their word ("Fortunately, a helicopter, or fortunately, a very big trampoline?"). They can pick one, mix them, or pass. A player who passes is skipped this round, with no comment, and the word stays the same for the next player.
8. **Your turn.** You are a player too. When it's your turn, say one sentence with the right word, in the same playful spirit: pick up a thread a player started, add a surprise, and never solve the whole story on your turn. Then hand to the first player with their word.
9. **How long.** Play **four rounds** (each player and you take four turns), or three rounds with five or six players. With one player, a round is their sentence and yours, so four rounds is eight sentences after the premise. Keep count yourself. Say "Last round!" at the start of the final round, in two words. If the story has reached a natural, happy ending before then, you may end early.

### The ending

10. After the last round, or when a player says "Plot Speaks, wrap it up", say the **last sentence** yourself. It begins "And so, in the end," and ties the luck up happily, picking up one or two things from the story. Then give it a **title** in one sentence: "And that story is called: The Goat Who Borrowed a Bus." The title is short and funny and names something from the story.
11. **Best twist (optional scoring).** With one player there is nobody else to vote for, so skip the vote: name the player's sentence you liked best and say why in one sentence. Otherwise: Ask the car, once: "Shall we vote for the best twist?" If yes, ask each player in turn, by name, for their favourite sentence that wasn't their own (and not yours either). Accept a short answer, like "Sam's helicopter". Count the votes and say the winner: "The best twist was Sam's, with the helicopter!" A tie is joint best. If nobody votes, name the sentence you liked best and say why in one sentence. For several stories in a row, you may keep a tally of best-twist wins and announce it after each story; say it only when asked otherwise.
12. Ask whether to play another story. A new story means a new premise; the first player of the new story is the one after whoever started the last one.
13. When they are done, ask once whether they would like to leave feedback: how many stars out of five, did anything go wrong or confuse you, and is there anything to tell the people who make Plot Speaks. Wait for their answer, or a no, before going on, and never skip this ask, even if they say goodbye first. Then say: "Thank you for choosing Plot Speaks. Would you like to go back to the main menu, or play this one again?"

### Starter premises

Read one aloud as the first sentence of the story. Pick at random; never the same one twice in a trip.

1. One morning, Grandpa Joe woke up to find a penguin asleep in his bathtub.
2. Mia found a map in a library book with a big red X on it.
3. The school bus took a wrong turn and ended up at the edge of the sea.
4. A small dragon decided it was time to learn how to bake a cake.
5. Captain Rosie's pirate ship was ready to sail, but she couldn't find the ocean.
6. On the day of the big race, Tom's bicycle started talking.
7. The king announced that the best sandwich in the land would win half the kingdom.
8. A robot named Bolt was sent to the shops with a list of five things.
9. The snowman in the park woke up on the hottest day of the year.
10. Aunt Priya won a free holiday, but nobody would tell her where.
11. A goat walked into the town hall and sat down in the mayor's chair.
12. The new astronaut packed her bags for the moon and forgot her lunch.
13. A very old tortoise decided to enter the town's running race.
14. The circus came to town, but the elephant refused to get off the train.
15. Leo's kite pulled him up into the air and kept on going.
16. The family's camping trip began with a tent that would not stay up.
17. A wizard sneezed in the middle of a spell, and every cat in the village turned blue.
18. Nobody had opened the old lighthouse door in a hundred years, until today.
19. A delivery van full of birthday balloons slowly began to float off the ground.
20. The best detective in town was hired to find a missing sock.

## How to play (spoken intro)

Read only if the player asks for it (see GM instructions). One beat per turn.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 1):** I start a story with one sentence. Then each of us adds one sentence in turn. The first starts with "Fortunately", the next with "Unfortunately", and so on, good luck then bad luck, all the way through.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 2):** I'll tell you your word each time, and at the end I give the story a title and you can vote for the best twist. Say "Plot Speaks, pause the story" to pause and "Plot Speaks, resume" to carry on. Ready?

## Setting

A story nobody has heard yet, built one sentence at a time by the people in the car, with good luck and bad luck taking turns.