The short version
Three Storytellers, swappable at any time
Maxence is balanced, Ricardo Castello III is harder, and Stella — a Bernese mountain dog — is gentler. You are not locked in: switch from the … menu in the top-right corner at any point in a save. The Customize Storyteller option in that menu is not a fourth character; it lets you tune a preset's individual values.
Comparison
How the three presets actually differ
Less than the difficulty labels suggest. Of the thirteen settings, the presets disagree on only four — and two of those are disputed between sources, so we flag rather than guess. Everything else starts identical; the real difficulty knob is you editing the panel.
Maxence
Fair and balanced — the default experience, and the one the game hands you if you never open this menu.
Anyone who wants the game as designed. Oddly, it also carries by far the highest twin and triplet odds.
Ricardo Castello III
Brings more challenge into your Parafolks' daily lives.
Players who found the default too forgiving. His preset differs from the balanced one in fewer places than you would expect.
Stella
A Bernese mountain dog who shields your Parafolks from life's lowest lows.
Story-first players and anyone building a legacy they do not want derailed. Also starts you with more money.
The panel
Every Storyteller setting and its default
Thirteen settings across four groups. Slider minimums and maximums are missing below on purpose — no source has ever published them, only the defaults.
This list is a snapshot, not a live count
These thirteen rows reflect the panel as documented in May 2026. Patch 0.1.6 reworked vacation days and stated outright that they "vary depending on the chosen Storyteller" — which almost certainly added at least one row to the Careers group. Treat thirteen as the floor, not the current total.
Time
| Setting | Default | Maxence | Ricardo Castello III | Stella |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Household Paras Age | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Non-Household Paras Age | No | No | No | No |
| Duration of Life Stages | Normal | Normal | Normal | Normal |
| Minutes Per Real-Life Seconds | 0.66 | 0.66 | 0.66 | 0.66 |
Pregnancy
| Setting | Default | Maxence | Ricardo Castello III | Stella |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trimester Duration | 21h | 21h | 21h | 21h |
| Labor Duration | 2h | 2h | 2h | 2h |
| Chance to Get Pregnant When Attempting | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Chance to Have Twins | — | 20 | 5 | 5 |
| Chance to Have Triplets | — | 10 | 1 | 1 |
Careers
| Setting | Default | Maxence | Ricardo Castello III | Stella |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job Performance Threshold for Strikes | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Automatically Eat At Worksources disagree | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatically Use Toilet At Worksources disagree | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Money
| Setting | Default | Maxence | Ricardo Castello III | Stella |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Funds | — | 30,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 |
Two sources give different defaults for the automatic eat and toilet rows on Ricardo's preset — one says he switches them off, matching his harder billing, the other says all three presets leave them on. With no third source to settle it, check in game before relying on either.
When in-game time starts slowing down
This is a known, unfixed issue, and the official patch notes name the workaround. The notes say in-game time appears to gradually slow down after about 70 in-game days, that a fix is in progress, and that in the meantime you can adjust your time per minute in the Storyteller settings. Note the wording gap: the notes say "time per minute", while the row in the panel is labelled Minutes Per Real-Life Seconds and defaults to 0.66. Raising it makes time pass faster; lowering it makes days longer. The notes do not say which direction to go, so change it in small steps and watch a full day before deciding.
70 · 2026-05
Switching mid-save
Open the … menu in the top-right corner and pick Storyteller. It is also listed in the pause menu, where the entry both selects a different Storyteller and reconfigures a custom one. Every setting can be changed at any point, no matter how long a save has been running.
Not yet verified
Open questions we are not going to fill in with guesses:
- The current number of settings, now that 0.1.6 has almost certainly added vacation-related rows.
- Every slider's minimum and maximum. Only the defaults have ever been published.
- The automatic eat and toilet defaults on Ricardo's preset — two sources contradict each other.
- What the "10" in Job Performance Threshold for Strikes actually measures, and in which direction it triggers.
- What happens to existing progress when you switch Storyteller mid-save — ages, banked vacation days, accumulated strikes.
- The exact rules by which a Storyteller reshapes the nightly Story Card pool. It is confirmed to happen, adjusted to the set difficulty, with no published detail.
- Whether the three Storytellers also exist as townies in Melino. The wiki says this is currently unknown.
Storyteller FAQ
- How many Storytellers are there in Paralives?
- Three: Maxence (balanced), Ricardo Castello III (harder) and Stella (gentler). The Customize Storyteller option is not a fourth one — it edits a preset's values.
- Can I change Storyteller after starting a save?
- Yes, at any point. Open the … menu in the top-right corner and choose Storyteller. Individual settings can also be changed whenever you like, however far into a save you are.
- Which Storyteller is the easiest?
- Stella. She is described as protecting your Parafolks from life's lowest lows, and her preset also starts you with more money than the other two.
- How do I fix Paralives time slowing down?
- The official patch notes acknowledge time gradually slowing after about 70 in-game days and point to adjusting your time per minute in the Storyteller settings as the interim workaround. In the panel that row is Minutes Per Real-Life Seconds, default 0.66.
- How do I stop townies from ageing?
- You do not have to — Non-Household Paras Age is already off by default on all three presets. If your townies are ageing, that setting has been turned on.
- Which Storyteller gives the best chance of twins?
- Maxence, by a wide margin: 20 for twins and 10 for triplets, against 5 and 1 on both other presets. It is counter-intuitive for the balanced option, but two independent sources report it.
Keep reading
Settings that touch other systems
Ranks and promotions
The strike threshold in this panel decides how much bad performance a job tolerates.
Vacation days
0.1.6 tied vacation days to your Storyteller choice.
Aging & lifespan
Lifespan presets and the household / non-household aging toggles live in this panel.
Needs
The automatic eat and toilet settings decide whether work fills needs for you.
Pregnancy
Trimester length, labour duration and the twin odds all live in this panel.
Challenges
Legacy and 100-baby runs depend on ageing and pregnancy settings — set them before day one.
Storytellers verified against build 0.1.7c on 2026-07-27. Settings list documented 2026-05 and may be incomplete for this build.