TEXT: Mahar Abrera Mangahas
  
  I have 36 questions for you, 36 very tough questions.  
   
  They aren’t tough because they are hard to answer.  
   
  They’re tough because they can be easy to answer. 
  Can be. If you allow yourself to be vulnerable, to be 
  in a place where you can share intimate details, then 
  the questions would be easy to answer.  
   
  If not, if vulnerability is a space that is hard to ﬁnd, 
  then this game will help you.  
   
  Falling is game about spheres and questions. It is a 
  game about ﬁnding and establishing the emotional 
  spaces we need to explore feelings, and share them 
  with another person.  
   
   
  Based on the New York Times’ article 36 Questions 
  That Lead to Love, Falling aims to provide an 
  opportunity for people to create intimate spaces 
  between them. While falling in love is a possibility 
  (and yes, the questions, when answered, have done 
  this for a number of people), it is not the objective of 
  this game.  Rather, crafting the intimate space, where 
  restoration and connection is made possible, is where 
  we’d like to go.
  A note on safety:  
   
  Roleplaying games can give players the ability to 
  inﬂict wounds without meaning to. Safety ﬁrst in all 
  things.  
   
  Consent is key. Should any player not want to 
  elaborate on their answers, then they should not be 
  pressured to. Boundaries are to be expected for this 
  game.  
   
  On establishing boundaries: players are encouraged, 
  before play, to state which topics make them 
  uncomfortable. These are to be written down and 
  noted by everyone in a gaming session. Questions 
  that are triggers can be skipped, with no explanation 
  needed. 
   
  The rule of free departure is deliberately written into 
  this game. Should any player want to leave, they can 
  leave, without judgement from other players. 
  Finally, an intimate space can only be built with 
  trust. So swear it: in this circle, all is private, and not 
  to be shared.  
   
  More safety tools for general use can be found here,
  
  Spheres
  This is a game comprised of three spheres. Each 
  sphere represents a circle of intimacy that leads 
  deeper into your core. The Three Spheres are:  
   
  The Face: of realizations of what and how you 
  interact with in the outside world.
  The Mind: of sharing how you make decisions 
  against the values that you have. 
   
  The Personal: of probing into the things you have 
  kept from the world,, including your self.  
   
  One should imagine each Sphere as a globe of locks. 
  Each Question should provide a way deeper into the 
  Sphere.  
  Questions
  Use each Question to unlock more of the Sphere.  
   
  You may ask for more details, or withhold from 
  answering.  
   
  Keep your answers truthful.  
   
  Answers may contradict each other.  
  Take turns asking the Questions, one at a time, in 
  order.  
   
  Each pair should answer each Question together, 
  before moving on to the next. 
   
  Materials
  For this game, you will need  a sheet of paper, and a 
  pair of pencils.
  
  The Sphere of Many Faces (1)
  Before answering questions, take your sheet of 
  paper, and draw a large circle on it, one whose 
  diameter is as wide as the page.  
  Draw a second circle on it, and then a third, such 
  that your page resembles a bullseye target. 
  As we get get deeper with each question, we will get 
  closer to the center of these circles.  
   
  We start with the Sphere of Many Faces. As you 
  answer these questions, share who you are when 
  subjected to the gaze of the world.  Write your 
  answers in that outermost circle.
  1 - Given the choice of anyone currently living, whose house 
  would you like to be invited to?  
  2 - Assuming you had to choose between yourself and a close 
  friend: who would you choose to live a life of fame? Why? 
  3 - Do you rehearse how you would introduce yourself to a 
  person? Why or why not? 
  4 - What would constitute “the worst day ever” for you? 
  5 - Do you try to entertain others? Why or why not?  
   
  6 - When someone tells you to dress in  “business casual (an 
  informal presentation),” what do you wear? 
  7 - What kind of life do you want for yourself when you retire?  
   
  8 - Name 3 things about yourself that have made people laugh. 
  9 - What in life gives you the most hope?  
   
  10 - Assuming that you could travel to the past, what parenting 
  tips would you give to your parents?  
   
  11 - Take 3 minutes to describe the best parts of your favorite 
  book, movie, video game, or television show (epic tale, bard’s 
  poesy.) Warn for spoilers. Give a spoiler free version as best as 
  you can. 
  12 - Name one thing so far that you are glad to have learned 
  about your partner.
  
  Let’s continue now to the second circle, the Sphere 
  of the Mind. From here, let’s share and contemplate 
  how our thoughts shape ourselves and the places and 
  people around us. 
  Write your answers in the middle circle. 
  13 (1) - Are you a self-aware person? What would a self-aware 
  person say about themselves? 
  14 (2) - Share your most recent or memorable dream to your 
  partner. Ask your partner: what do you think this means? 
  15 (3) - What are you most proud of? 
  16 (4)  - What is something that you’re told you should be proud 
  of, but are not?  
  17 (5) - Assuming that you could literally trade memories or 
  experiences with your partner, what is the most precious thing you 
  would share with your partner? (You get to keep the experience.)  
   
  18 (6) - What  is a memory that you could permanently erase if you 
  could? 
  19 (7) - If you could pick someone to hold on and keep treasured 
  memories for you, who would it be, and why?  
   
  20 (8) - What needs to happen before you tell people that you love 
  them?
  21 (9) - What needs to happen before you end a friendship? 
   
  22 (10) - What is your ideal family life? How closely does your 
  own family resemble this idea? 
   
  23 (11) - If there was anything about yourself that you would 
  change for your friends’ and family’s beneﬁt, what would that be?
  24 (12) - Name ﬁve more things so far that you are glad to have 
  learned about your partner.
  The Sphere of the Mind (2)
  
  The Sphere of the Personal  (3) 
  We will ﬁnish with the third Sphere, the Sphere of 
  the Personal.  Here, we share our deepest and most 
  core values.  
   
  Write your answers in the ﬁnal circle. 
  25 (1) - Tell your partner 3 things about yourself that you wish 
  were true. Explain why. 
  26 (2) - Complete this statement: “The most satisfying thing 
  I’ve shared with you so far is…”  
  27 (3) -Describe your ideal best friend. How close is your 
  partner to this ideal? Explain the difference in a positive way.  
  28 (4) - Share with your partner the last time you felt safe. 
  What  was it like?  
  29 (5) - What needs to happen before you feel secure around a 
  new person?  
   
  30 (6) - Share with your partner what you would do to help 
  them feel safe and secure. 
  31 (7) - Name three things about your partner that you think is 
  a gift to the world, and the the world should know about.   
   
  32 (8) - Share what you would do to exit an embarrassing 
  situation without drawing attention to yourself. 
  33 (9) - What topics are too important to joke about?  
   
  34 (10)  - What advice would give to someone who is trying to 
  live down their shame?  
   
  35 (11) - Share with your partner something that you feel you 
  might have inadvertently revealed. Did you both guess the 
  same thing?  
  36 (12) - Based on today’s conversation: what do you think you 
  can promise to your partner? 
  
  Exiting the Spheres
  Activities like these tend to with providing a partner 
  with the full focus of one’s attention.  
   
  Agree on one of the following, and do so. For the 
  duration of 4 minutes: 
   
   - Gaze at your partner. 
   - Hold your partner’s hand. 
   - Make plans of when you will see each other next.
   - Exchange who else you would plan to share this experience 
  with.
  Fictional and 
  Campaign Uses
  Falling can be used to create and strengthen ﬁctional 
  characters’ relationships as well. Use any of the 
  questions as prompts for meaningful dialogue. 
  Storytellers, game masters, players, etc.,, can use the  
  questions  to facilitate conversations between them 
  that mark moments of growth or intimacy after a 
  fateful  encounter.   
  If unable to pick, simply roll 1d3, then a 1d12 to 
  randomly select  a question  for a player character to 
  answer with their party at the end of a session to see 
  how their relationships might have grown during 
  downtimes and other similar periods of rest and 
  recovery.
  Prompts for anachronistic campaigns are modiﬁed 
  and are contained in parenthesis.   
  
  Paired Character Creation 
  Consequently, ﬁguring out the back story of 
  campaigns and player character relationships before 
  a game can be difﬁcult.  
   
  Pairs can use the table below, under preferred 
  descriptors of their character, to use questions and 
  their answers to craft bonds between each other. Use 
  the question where the descriptors intersect to start 
  the conversation for character creations, and the 
  bonds they have before the start of the adventure. 
  Type
  Warrior/Melee 
  Combat
  Priest
  Magic-User/
  Ranged 
  Support 
  Magic-User/
  Ranged Attack
  Rogue / Black 
  Ops
  Specialist - 
  Tinker/
  Technologist
  Iconoclast
  All-Around / 
  The Face
  Warrior
  25
  31
  21
  19
  32
  22
  30
  13
  Priest
  31
  14
  30
  15
  34
  5
  26
  19
  Magic-User/ 
  Ranged Support
  21
  30
  17
  29
  7
  4
  18
  10
  Magic-User/ 
  Ranged Attack
  19
  15
  29
  35
  8
  3
  10
  27
  Rogue 
  32
  34
  7
  8
  16
  20
  28
  36
  Specialist - Tinker/
  Technologist
  22
  5
  4
  3
  20
  27
  21
  29
  Iconoclast
  30
  26
  18
  10
  28
  21
  1
  2
  All-Around 
  13
  19
  10
  27
  36
  29
  2
  11
  
  Acknowledgements & Credits
  Much of this exercise was inspired by previously 
  mentioned articles in the New York Times, in 
  particularly articles from the Modern Love columns. 
  The musical podcast 36 Questions provided a 
  soundtrack to work to.
  All text and cover art is by the author. 
  This work is covered by CC-BY 4.0 Attribution 
  license, and is available for commercial use, 
  providing proper attribution to the author. 
   
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Collections/Self-Exploration, Emotional, & Relationship/Falling.pdf