Polycentricity
A roleplaying game of networked agreements
What is it?
Polycentric is a structured roleplaying game that simulates the complexity of collaborative governance in distributed environments. Players take on unique roles (e.g. farmer, policy advocate, coop) and must negotiate agreements with others by exchanging obligations and benefits.
Instead of “winning,” the aim is to practice creative problem-solving and reflect on real-world governance challenges:
- How do coalitions form?
- What’s fair?
- What breaks trust?
- What creates shared value?
Core Concepts
Actors:
You play as a stakeholder with values, goals, constraints, and assets.
Agreements: Formalized exchanges between actors. These can be bilateral (asymmetric) or multilateral (symmetric).
Obligations: What you commit to do.
Benefits: What you get in return.
Board of Agreements: Visually maps actors ⇄ agreements with string and post-it connections.
Game Flow (110 minutes total)
Setup (20 min)
- Intro + rules overview (Z)
- Scenario overview (D)
- Role cards distributed (V)
- Explanation of board and materials (V)
Free Play (60 min)
- Players discuss their roles in relation to the scenario
- Negotiate creatively within your character’s values and constraints
- Form agreements with other players and connect them on the board
Debrief (30 min)
- Walk through the agreement network
- Reflect: What worked? What was hard? What patterns emerged?
What We ‘ll Learn
- How values and constraints shape negotiations
- How governance models emerge from interaction
- How complexity can be visualized and navigated
- How collaboration requires trust, creativity, and compromise
Materials We’ll Use
- Role Cards (your character)
- Cork board or whiteboard
- Tacks (nodes), string (edges), post-its (terms)
- Markers for annotations
Facilitator’s Role
- Set tone: This is about learning, not winning.
- Keep players engaged and reflective.
- Help document agreements on the board.
- Prompt discussion, not decisions.
Let’s play agreements :)