The Story Stack of The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

I picked up The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood by Deconstructeam with high hopes for a cozy, witchy Halloween experience that many of my friends recommended, and I wasn't disappointed.

Well, until I was.

In this analysis, I'll use the story stack as a tool to dissect the moments where The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood shines and where it falls short.

The story stack is a game analysis tool first presented by Jesse Schell in a GDC Talk (his part begins at 51:00.) Like many up-and-coming game writers, I learned about it through The Narrative Department, a game narrative masterclass taught by Susan O'Connor.

At a high level, the story stack is a list of elements of a game, ordered from least flexible (player fantasy) to most flexible (story). I won't explain the details of the story stack in this post, but you can learn more in Jesse Schell's talk, linked above, or by reading a previous post of mine that goes more in depth.

Player Fantasy

In The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, the player fantasy is to be a fortune-telling witch, connect with other witches, and shape the fate of yourself and others.

I believe that the game strays from this fantasy a little after the halfway mark, but I'll get into that in a moment.

Action

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood backs up its player fantasy by allowing the player to create their own divination deck and give readings, by drawing cards and assigning meanings. The social aspect of the game is supported through choosing dialogue options. Both of these things have significant branching consequences to support the fantasy of shaping the future.

Economy/Progression

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood has two main resources that support each other and contribute to your fortune-telling actions: elemental energies and the cards of your deck. When you do a reading, certain cards have certain energies attached, either Earth, Wind, Fire, or Water or a combination. You collect those energies when you choose a card interpretation. The energies can then be spent to craft more cards for your deck.

I found the loop fairly satisfying, although it does have a significant weak spot. After a point early on in the game, there is no mechanical benefit to crafting new cards. At least, that I could find. I continued to craft new cards because I enjoyed the process, but, with the exception of a few cards which unlock more interpretation choices, there was no logical reason to keep expanding my deck.

World

The world of The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is one in which witches are basically gods: immortal, able to travel the cosmos, and often meddling with mortal affairs. The witches have an overarching law enforcement body, the Arbiters, and have covens which function like smaller governing bodies.

Story

Fortuna is a fortune-telling witch banished by her former coven leader for fortelling the downfall of the coven. She's served out 200 years of a 1000-year sentence of isolation on an asteroid when she can't take it anymore and summons a Behemoth–an act of magic forbidden to all witches. Whether through the Behemoth's help or by coincidence, Fortuna's sentence is altered and she is allowed visitors. Thus begins a journey of reconnecting with her friends and learning about the state of the greater world of witches, all while keeping her summoned Behemoth a secret.

So what's the problem?

Everything I described so far was effective. All elements of the stack supported the player fantasy, and it was a player fantasy that I enjoyed.

But a little over halfway through the game, it added a new player fantasy: running a political campaign. The change is not unprompted; it's dictated by the direction that the story takes. Aedana, the coven leader who banished Fortuna, has died, and the coven plans an election to find her replacement. The player has the options to support the campaigns of one of her friends or to have Fortuna herself run.

The new player fantasy necessitates new actions and new progression. Now, the player can instruct friends to do campaign tasks for you, such as searching for allies, promoting your platform, or digging up dirt on your opponents. Your campaign's success is constantly tracked through a bar chart showing the percentage of your coven who intends to vote for each candidate.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this new fantasy, and I imagine plenty of players enjoyed it. It's not as if this section of the game completely ignores the original player fantasy; you can interact with allies and opponents, read their fortunes, and make hard decisions that will affect the future of your entire coven. The problem is that this new fantasy is not what players were expecting or signed up for. All of the marketing and even the reviews of the game focus on the original player fantasy, and touch on the campaign very little, if at all.

So, with all that being said, after I finished The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, my little writer brain started spinning. The player fantasy changed because the story necessitated it, so what would an alternate story be that keeps the original player fantasy intact?

And, to be clear, I don't think the existing story of The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is bad! In fact, I would thoroughly enjoy the story in a movie or a book. The problem for me was that the new fantasy created new actions and progressions that I wasn't interested in engaging with.

Alternate Story

In my version, Aedana still dies, but instead of an election to replace her, she appoints a successor. She visits Fortuna after her death and requests a card reading to help her identify the best witch for the job. The reading has three possible outcomes: Fortuna herself, or her friends Dahra or Jasmine, who would ask Fortuna to be an advisor if either of them were chosen.

Thus, instead of setting a platform of policies on which to campaign and then working on convincing the coven that yours is best, you take your time to get to know the issues the coven faces and make an informed decision about how to govern. The game would keep some of the strongest parts of the campaign storyline, such as meeting new witches to learn about their experiences and lives and making challenging decisions that will shape the direction of all witches, but remove the campaign element.

Without the campaign, the story loses some narrative tension and stakes, so I would re-introduce Cupressa, originally one of the candidates in the election, as an antagonist. Cupressa thinks the coven's policies should remain the same as they were when Aedana was in charge, and is attempting to sow dissent among the coven. An old law states that the coven can overthrow their leader by unanimous vote, and Cupressa intends to make that happen.

At the climax, the player still has to defend their position to the assembled coven, but it's as an announcement of their official policy plan. Cupressa announces her bid to overthrow you, and the two of you debate your positions. The coven is still engulfed in flame during this event, but the deciding factor to quench the flame is no longer choosing a candidate, but convincing every member of the coven that Aedana's policies were regressive and yours are the right fit for the community.

This analysis served as a good reminder for me that the story is the most flexible element in the story stack, even in a narrative-heavy game like The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood. Changes to the story can still deliver a complete plot with the same characters and themes, but changes to the player fantasy can take the player out of game with an experience they didn't sign up for.