RandomChris

RandomChris runs C.H.R.I.S., a tool that serves improv short games in a random order and with random players.

We forgot what C.H.R.I.S. stands for, but it must have been one of these:

• Could Hosts Randomly Inspire Scenes
• Could Humor Run Improvised Sets
• Chaos Happens Randomly In Scene
• Could Hilarity Reside in Surprises
• Chaotic Humor Random Improv Scene
• Comedy Hilarious Rehearsal Improvisation Shuffler
• Comedic Hosting and Randomization Integrated System
• Curated Hilarious Random Improv Setup
• Creative Hilarious Role Improv Sequencer
• Cast Hosting and Random Improv Selector
• Comic Hosts Random Improv Scene
• Comedy Hosts and Random Improv System
• Cleverly Hosted Randomized Improv System
• Comedian's Helper for Random Improv Selection
• Comedy-Hosted Randomized Improv Scheduler
• Could Humor Randomly Influence Scenes
• Comedic Hosting Randomization and Improv Selector

C.H.R.I.S can be customized for the following aspects:

• The names of cast members, among which players will be drawn for each game.
• The games, among which the games to play will be picked, with their respective characteristics.
• The total duration of a game session.
• The background image for the screen.
• A list of prompts to use randomly for game which do not explicitely given a specific prompt.
• A set of constraints for the games

How it works?:

• Each time the Start/Next button is clicked, a new game is randomly picked.

• For each game, the correct number of players is drawn from the cast, and one cast member is drawn as host. Players are randomly picked from the cast in a way that keeps cummulative participation by each member as player and as host more of less equal when many games are played.
• The game name, the selected players and the host are brought to the screen, as well as a prompt. When the game requires audience members to join on stage, their number will be indicated as well.
• A count down is started when the first game starts, from the defined total duration. When the counter reaches zero, the game session ends.
• A sound is played at each game transition, when the session starts and when it ends.

Customization:

• By default, the package will look for configuration information in file config.cfg, if it exists, and in file config-default.cfg otherwise. The default configuration file comes with repo.

• The configuration file defines six parameters (see below for default values):

  • duration-minutes = 45
  • cast = cast.txt (the text file name where the cast member names are stored)
  • games = games.json (the JSON file name where the games info are stored)
  • prompts = prompts.txt (the text file name where the random prompts are stored)
  • cfg-folder = (a folder under config where custom configuration files are stored, by default, files are directly under config)
  • background-image = bg_1100x700.png

• A jupyter notebook in the project root cast-configuration-tool.ipynb makes it easier to change cast member's names, update games and update prompts.

  

• For each game, it is possible to exclude one or several cast members as player or host. When names are in the exclusion list for a specific game, their name will not be picked in the corresponding role. It is also possible to restrict hosting to a specific list of cast member, that is the host will only be picked in the list provoded for the game.

  

• The games.json file has the following structure, with the same entries for each game. Note that "description" and "tips" are currently not used:

{
    "1": {
        "name": "A Date with Me",
        "nbr_players": 0,
        "nbr_audience": 0,
        "prompt": "A date with me is like <object/occupation>.",
        "exclude": [],
        "host_include": [],
        "host_exclude": [],
        "description": null,
        "tips": null,
        "category": "All Play"
    },
    "2": {
        "name": "Double Reverse Alphabet",
        "nbr_players": 2,
        "nbr_audience": 0,
        "prompt": "A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z What is a non romantic relationship.",
        "exclude": [],
        "host_include": [],
        "host_exclude": [],
        "description": null,
        "tips": null,
        "category": "Limitation"
    }
}

• It is possible to create a configuration using a cfg-folder, which means the package will use the cast, games and prompts file under that cfg-folder instead. This allows to create several custom configurations and switch from one to the other only by changing config.cfg or config-default.cfg.