What is Morton's List?
Trying to explain Morton's List to a Bored (non-List folk) is rather difficult. As soon as you say the word game they get an idea of a PS2 or PC game in their head. Then it evolves into a vision of a board game as soon as your bring up the dice. Then their vision is of a D&D type game after a bit more explaining. Soon they start to get the idea but yet still they have no clue. As Listalos know it is about letting go and letting Karma take over. It is about gathering with an elite circle of homies and diving deeper into the meaning of everything. It is something you can only understand if you roll. One can be sure of this however; when you play, it will change you. Be it for the better or for the worst, Morton's List will change something about you. This game runs deep, it is the end to boredom as promised. Much thanks to Dark Carnival Games for this Masterpiece. Jumpsteady, Tall Jess, Nathan... thank you, Listalos are indebted to you. You have indirectly helped my and many others along our way. It will make its mark in history yet again; just wait and see. This section of the site will look at the List itself and how it works. Starting off with how to play. How it works is not really understandable unless you have reached a higher level. It is dealing with Karma and faith. Bottom line here is; how it works is different for everybody. The Horde shows the mechanical insides or a map if you will of the Lists. Also later in the page we get into maintaining and preserving the game in a physical sense.
How To Roll
MORTON’S LIST - how to experience...
Enter: Host
1. Inner Circle
I. Determine who’s playing - Those who choose to play become the Inner Circle
A. Any number of people except 13
II. Warning
A. Those who break the oath of Morton’s List be wary:
“Bad karma and unforeseen dangers await”
III. The oath: to be taken by all members of the Inner Circle
A. Do you give your word to the Inner Circle to complete whatever quest is rolled?…
B. Form Inner Circle…
i. As members of the Inner Circle we must vow to put in at least one hour of honest effort towards enjoying the game and participating in the quest…(Vow)
IV. Assurance of suspense
A. Karma will decide our course as we pass through Morton’s List into a realm of limitless possibilities; while keeping in mind warnings, impracticalities, and moral issues
V. Those not involved
A. Those who do not take the oath may not participate in the quest; further more they must leave the immediate area before we move on
i. Because we want only positive karma – without outside interference
ii. If they do not leave, the Inner Circle must relocate
VI. Needs (Besides Morton’s List)
A. Each player should have at least six dollars.
i. If you have no money then you must add it to the quest
B. Time piece for the Table Master to keep track
C. Inner Circle Member Profile
D. Quest Journal
Enter: Inner Circle
2. Table Master
I. Leader
A. Listens to all ideas then makes a decision if a group consensus cannot be reached
B. Works along side everybody to ensure the quest is as fun as possible
C. Does not give orders; they make fair decisions to turn an otherwise chaotic mob into a focused group.
D. Privileges and Responsibilities
i. Only one to roll the Morton Boulder to determine a quest
ii. Only one who declares the quest is over
II. As to determine who is the Table Master
A. Everyone who wishes engages in an elimination-style roll-off
i. For each player participating, one six-sided die is needed
ii. A player rolls all of the dice and totals the result
iii. The person to the left picks up the dice and rolls
iv. Remaining players continue to re-roll in said fashion
v. Lowest total is eliminated – along with one die
vi. Those left repeat steps i. - v. this is done until ONLY ONE IS LEFT - The Table Master
Enter: Table Master
3. Morton’s List
I. Only the Table Master may reference Morton’s List
II. Karmic Gathering – Lead by Table Master (their ideas) but to include all players
A. A ceremony to invoke higher levels of Karma unto both the Inner Circle and the Boulder
i. Making use of all six senses
III. Table Master Starts the process of rolling either in Morton’s List or 360°
A. When rolling with a Bored, Morton's List is used for any new members initiation
B. If all members of the Inner Circle have played Morton's List before 360° of the Inner Circle can be used.
i. Experienced players (played ML at least once before) can still choose to use Morton's List and pass over 360° of the Inner Circle.
IV. The Morton Boulder is used for the rolling process; it is a 30 sided die (30d)
A. Rolling of the Boulder is done by the TM off of Morton's List or Morton's List Revised (using 360°) or off other List as per the TM's Powers.
B. The most frequent path of rolling is as follows:
i. Morton's List (1 out of the 5 possible Lists to be rolled off of) to a Table (1 out of the 13 possible Tables to be selected from) to a specific quest within that Table (most Tables have 28 or 29 quests to be selected from) The TM will roll the Boulder for this entire process, and the end result will be one quest the Inner Circle must now attempt to complete.
ii. Possible Mutations and or Deviations, changes to the players and or changes to the game respectively; can also be rolled during this process, usually would come up between rolling off of Morton's List and Rolling onto a Table.
Enter: The Quest
4. Winds of Change
I. One hour minimum starts now
II. Discussion on how best to complete the quest (use resources if needed) is done by the Inner Circle at this time.
A. All suggestions from the Inner Circle are considered by the TM, whose responsibility is to make the final say of what is to be done for the questing activities.
III. Table Master approves final details (must be close to ordinal meaning of the quest rolled)
A. Table Master must usually establish criteria for the quest
B. Table Master can set up an ultimate success goal along with a minimal success goal (if quest allows for this)
IV. Re-roll – As Table Master – Either on same Table or same List if the following reasons may apply:
A. One or more of six reasons arises in the warning icon section allowing you not to pre form the rolled quest
B. Quest is deemed overly impractical
C. An individuals moral code would be violated
D. One of two special tables is rolled
i. Solar Rise – requires daytime
ii. Nightscape – requires nighttime
5. The Quest
I. Before the Inner Circle embarks on the adventure, preparations may need to be made – now is the time
A. This is considered time spend doing the Quest
B. The Table Master may need to extend the one hour rule (before embarking) if needed – it must be announced
C. As previously sworn – the group should spend no less than one hour participating in the quest
6. End Time
I. After one hour players my leave the Inner Circle and stop playing
A. Others can continue on if it is needed or they just want to
II. The Game is over when the Table Master declares it so
III. And so the quest ends and the game is over
A. The Inner Circle members gather to sign off quest logs
B. The Inner Circle dissolves until Morton’s List is reopened
7. 360°
I. Usage
A. Optional to use – must have 3+ players and no new player(s)
i. If less than 3 players then 360° cannot be used and no degrees are earned
ii. If not using because of new player degrees are still earned but no powers can be used
iii. In both cases above – Daredevil’s power (fresh karma) stills applies
II. Disagreements
A. About using 360° (before the game starts) vote or roll-off to decide
B. During the game while using 360° - decisions go to the Table Master or a roll-off
Summary:
A person or group of people (any number is fine, except for 13 members), gather for a game of Morton's List. Each person wanting to play takes a vow to spend at least an hour working towards the quest. Those wanting to try for chance at Table Master take part in an elimination style roll-off or some other way unanimously agreeable way to determine the TM. Once the TM is chosen, a Karmic Gathering can happen if the TM decides for that option. Next the TM will roll out the quest for the Inner Circle to attempt to do and or fulfill. The group spends at least one hour doing the rolled quest. Examples of quests would be as follows:
Go Bowling
Treasure Hunting
Pulling a Prank
See a Drive-in Movie
Go out to a fine eating establishment
Seduce a Date
Go to a Park
There are tons of possible choices; I have only listed a few that are very standard practices by most people. However Morton's List also can throw in a twist or a turn to the quest via Mutations or Deviations. Mutations change the way a player acts, such as all members of the inner circle must pretend they have a disability. A Deviation will change the way you play the game, such as requiring the Inner Circle to document the quest (maybe you would take a camera along and take photos, or video tape the whole quest.) So for example you and 2 other ninjas get together to play Morton's List. You win TM privileges, and say you got lucky and rolled a Mutation, (rolled about 13-20% of the time) Sick Ward (Inner Circle has a illness or disability for the quest and acts it out to the fullest extent.) You then roll a Deviation (rolled about 10-13% of the time) Document (The Inner circle documents the actions of their quest.) The TM (you) then rolls for the Circle's quest, and your roll Strike 300 off Cosmic Law. Now Winds of Change occur and the group figures out what you will do for your hour. Each Member would select and start acting out an illness or disability and the camera would flash and or start rolling to keep track of what is going on. Then the group would decide how to/or where to bowl. The TM would make final decisions and the IC would go to a nearby bowling ally (just for example) and try to bowl with their illness or disability, while getting it all on film.
The examples I just gave may seem rather normal to some, however the range of quests held within the game of Morton's List vary from much tamer activates to quite a bit wilder activates. It is really the yin and the yang of everything. With your vow at the beginning of the game, you are allowing yourself to partake in what ever is rolled. It could be quite lame to what you were expecting, but with your vow you have to do it for at least an hour. And this also works the other way; you might be expecting something chill and get something that is off the hook good. One just never really knows, and the cool part of it all is... it is only lame if you allow it to be lame. There are many gray areas in Morton's List; it is the Inner Circle's job to define their quest that closely resembles the quests objective. Sometimes the quest will seem very hard to do for many reasons, but with creativity and some good brainstorming the Inner Circle can make any quest within this game the time of their lives.
The results of your Inner Circle's quest could be just about anything you can think of and tons more you never even thought of. The game will tell a story to every player who accepts it, and that story will reveal truths in life to the player. There is powers beyond imagination with in this great game. So much can be learned and experienced as a result of this this game. It gives you something to do when your board, and it gives you very fond memories of quests with your homies. This summary, does not do the game justice, this web page does not do the game justice, this web site does not do the game justice, every web site that has ever and will ever write about Morton's List cannot do it justice. The game is just too powerful for words, Boreds and Juggalos alike, I urge you to give it a roll; the the List help you in your quest of life.
Map
When I first started to play Morton's List, I wanted to figure out how it all worked out. That may not be the best way to say what I am trying to convey here but too bad. I spent hours working with designs and tables to break the game down into a form that is easy to understand. However I never really got it the way I wanted. I was trying to incorporate the Tables as well as the Lists. But sooner or later it came to me. That there is a better way . Forget the Tables and focus on the Lists. Well that is how I came to this. Click on the map icon below and you will see how I understand the game. You will find that some arrows go both ways and some only go one way. These are the different paths that you can take to get from Morton's List to an unknown destination. So take a peek and I hope it helps out someone.
Updating
The first ninja I have seen do this is my homie OddBall. I am talking about pimping out your Morton's List book. OddBall and I had many talks about our books falling apart. And every one we know was having at least a few pages coming lose. So OddBall came up with an answer. He took his book into Kinkos and got it spiraled bound. I got mine done at Office Depot in Manitowoc. I put 360 and Morton's List together, and got each cover, front and back, total of 4, all laminated. This keeps your book in prime condition, plus you can have it customized to your liking. All this for under $12 at most office/copy shop places. Other things you could do for example is to put all the Lists in one section, followed by both Mutations and Deviations Tables. Then follow it all up with the 13 Tables. Office places like this will usually allow you to do just about anything you desire. Get the entire book laminated if you can afford it, and start rolling your quests under water. The possibilities are endless for customization, and the best part is the book will last you much longer than if you did not get this done. The Horde highly recommends you spend the cash and get this done to your Morton's List copy.
|