:: Zelazny :: [polish] :: sparks that fly from the ironsmith's hammer ::
::. Friday, July 25 .::
Lost and Found: South Wing Annex:
Morgenstern: a few calculations Okay, I'm indulging in too much knowledge of horses and an urge to do math here.
'Morgenstern was six hands higher than any other horse I'd ever seen...' ---Corwin (NPiA, ch. 4)
This is absolutely wonderful. And high praise from Rikibeth on top of that!
I'd say your 'size' examples are right on the money.
He is eight foot at the shoulder. He weighs 3760 pounds.
Morgenstern can better the normal stride rate (he is twice as strong and vibrant) by anywhere from 50% to 100%. Leading to a near two-ton animal moving at somewhere between 150 to 220 mph at top speed.
Perverse Access Memory:
WISH 57: System, Setting, Style, and Play:
"Do you find that you play differently when you play in different game systems? For instance, do you approach D&D or Champions the same way you approach Vampire or Werewolf the same way you approach Amber or Nobilis? Do you build the same kinds of characters? What are some examples of different characters in different systems, and why do you think they evolved that way?"
Oh, the infinite variety!
Yeah--I'm enough of a gamer that I do start each game system differently. For Champions characters, I'm often thinking about nitty-gritty combat scenes, where I'm too aware that clunking up the system will hobble your character no matter how good they look on paper.
The Champ rules are really niggling about END spends, and often I build carefully to make sure that I either don't need to track END, or I have some reserve to really do the stuff I want to do with my PC. As a GM for Champ, I don't want to do a lot of bookkeeping while running a game, so this attention to detail carries over to my NPCs.
In the World of Darkness, I'm usually trying to get a theme/visual/context for my character that hangs with the "backstory groups" provided, but adds some sort of unique twist.
So my Mage or Slaugh will have something that ties them directly to the WOD backstory, but allows me to explore other combinations as the game develops. They might evolve as "crossing drawn lines" because the hierarchy of the game is so well drawn.
In Over the Edge, I feel free to really make something Extremely Surreal happen. Its a game where there are no boundaries, no balance to speak of.
My fav character here was able to fly like Peter Pan, just by thinking happy thoughts. Did it make sense in that gritty conspiracy laden world? Nope, but it was cool. Sadly, I never got more than a few sessions with the PC.
In my D&D days, I was mostly concerned with getting a decent set of hit points through my first few levels so I didn't die before my PC developed into a person.
Yes, I lost a lot of beginning characters. That's a hard game system on characters. So you don't invest a lot up front, but you do anyhow--and then bang your head on the table if you lose them. Or I do.
In my home-brew systems, such as Twylighters or Legends (note: all of the above systems get tweaks from me to make them 'easier to play'), I am usually more concerned about adding a character that really shows how the "GM vision" can use the system provided--so my characters might be more illustrative archetypes or spotlight NPCs.
So Dancing Tiger was both mentor and quirky non-conformist to the backstory of Twylighters, while the Black Knife was a serious and mysterious fella who weighed each PC with his ancient eyes looking out from the face of a 12 year-old. This was a combination of showing players how far they could go and getting memorable stories right away.
In Amber DRPG, I usually am thinking about the canon cast, and how my new character is going to interact with those folks, and yet keep my head above water with fellow PCs (or underwater, as with Sserella or Celina.)
So Kirwyd was a complete challenge because he, by design, had no access to Pattern. One of my more challenging PCs and quite exciting because of it. As things worked out, I think he was one of my more memorable efforts because of the start premise driving me to more quickly establish a strong character interacting with the royals of Amber.
...and in the category of desperately trying to distract myself from wanting to kick someone's ass...
we present :: itSoG International Trivia !!! Let's have a big "thank you" to all those far flung visitors!
You +9 and -11 folks know who you are!
Roll the Bones :: View topic - Genre! Ginger & Jack nail down a point I agree with regarding RP gaming and getting players. System slants you towards play style.
Roll the Bones: Is it time to hang it up?:
"We've come to a point in the hobby where if one wants to do more, to step outside the maze of 10'x10' corridors, people wonder why bother? That can't be good."
I'm going to reply to this here, and also send a small reply to the blog in question.
James, I feel for you.
You're right in a way, but it's a limited window that you're gazing through. Certainly I've talked to others who say the same things. My own experience is this, I've been doing this a while and I've never settled for a gaming group where maze corridors is the only attraction and/or Fellow Players don't know civilized behavior or manners. Sometimes this means I only play once a month, or only play with one other person. Sometimes that means I don't play. That's better than the alternative which is bad play, I think you agree with that.
Perhaps you are on the short end of statistical probability. Those 'select' gamers are hard to find, hard especially compared to the greater pool of gamer minds you can "reach out and touch" online where there is less limit to your creative boundaries. The location list of gamers that fire my creativity has expanded to Australia, England, Colorado, Texas, Maryland, Vermont, and a whole slew of others I don't have at the tip of my finger right now. I bring that creativity back to the one or two Players I've been working with F2F (face to face).
Your experience demonstrates the RPing hobby is taking a nose-dive. Mine says that the hobby struggles but gets better. For RPing gamers, Nobilis is a success according to the folks who wrote it and play it. Is it raking $$$ in like 'James Bond' or 'Harry Potter' ---don't think so--- that's a different sort of success. But even if I don't play 'em, d20 and D&D3 look like hot items. That's great, even if those products mostly are used by the 'average' RP gamer (and/or zombie freak gamers you've been exposed to.)
As the stereotype football coach always says, "shake off that hit and get back in there." Your online GMing of 'Passions' is not to be 'sneezed at.' For some folks, rural or urban, online is the only field of play.
Lately, I'm proud to also play with teenage kids of friends who used to be in my games (they visit a few times a year.) They come visit my city and want to play as soon as they cross the threshold. The gamers are out there, they may not have the critical mass you want that would make it easy to connect with them.
But Kaycon promises to pull a bunch of folks from all over to your door. That's a very healthy sign. Isn't it?
(yeah, I know, half-empty or half-full... would I love it if my hobby was 'mainstream'? Maybe. The world would be a strange place, I guess, if such intellectual pursuits of improvisational gaming were everybody's cup of tea. Perhaps there is a game idea in that.) [updated :: word tweaks]
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IMC: Villainous Opposition ...with great power comes Bad Things to kick your ass
--- Robert Fannion delighted us with:
> Rather than talk about examples of specific villains, how about
> thinking a bit about what makes a good Amber villa in the abstract?
Robert touches several excellent points, and his comments really need no elaboration. The 'Amber genre' isn't an easy game to run by comparison to some others, and getting a handle on your villainous opposition is a great start to having some momentum in your game.
Villains:
-threaten values
-provide common story
-challenge PC niches
-challenge PC choices
-engages PC emotions
-challenge PC creativity
-lead to rewards/consequences
I'm going to try and briefly sketch the structure of VO (villainous opposition) in the Eternal City game and point to some elements that have helped the GM (me) keep that game running for 6+ years. The Eternal City is a 'canon' game taking place after everything Roger Zelazny wrote, accepting the entire writings as common hearsay. YMMV
canon VO elements:
Courts of Chaos
Oberon
Dworkin
Amber Elders
spikards
Chaos Elders
vendettas
Eternal City VO elements:
BlackAdders
UnderShadow
Primal Reflections
Embre
It
OK. You can see the above 'canon' list is longer than the GM-generated list. Just an indication of how many elements and loose threads Zelazny was juggling by the end of the short stories. A few words about each and their VO elements.
Courts of Chaos: obvious but tricky, there's this Peace Treaty holding both in check. IMHO, the threat of another Amber-Chaos war should keep politics humming, but tipping over into actual battle is a loser for both sides. The more you make the Chaosians real story bits, the better this distant threat works. "Black Operations" of various Chaos Houses are a constant danger of my campaign. Elements: common story, rewards/consequences, engage emotions, all the others if you invest time in fleshing out Chaos.
Oberon: dead, but there's all that history. IMHO, he was larger than life on both hero and villain scales. Current day characters will always have to deal with the choices Oberon made. He's a dead guy that still drives current events. His secrecy still delivers plot points that can shock. Elements: all of them.
Dworkin: alive, but there's all that history. IMHO, while Oberon carried the banner through thousands of years, Dworkin's "crimes against the universe" are still resonating in current game. Dworkin is more villain than hero--look what happens to Coral. You don't tug on the Serpent's cape and not have VO influence in the universe, if for no other reason than you provoke Chaos. Elements: all of them.
Amber Elders: yep, your uncles and aunts. This one need not be overplayed, as is suggested in many a overblown interpretation of the ADPRG rules. Underplay it. You have plenty of other choices, and if you underplay, you get more emotional attachment between PCs and Elders. Elements: all of them.
spikards: yeah, most people think they suck as plot elements. IMC, they play the role of doomsday weapons. These are the things PCs want to keep out of the story. Nobody wants spikards unleashed. Elements: common story, threaten values.
Chaos Elders: depending on campaign, major or minor. IMC, this is underplayed just as the Amber Elders. The War hurt both sides, and there are many reasons to not do it again. Elements: all of them.
vendettas: ah, the fire in the blood. History as retribution and justice. This one can actually be overplayed to good effect. The Rinaldo/Caine thing is just the tip of the iceberg. Think about how many Chaos Lords died by dishonorable means in the war. Think about the hydra. Strike down a Chaos foe too quickly and two rise to take their place. Elements: all of them.
IMHO, you could run a game forever on just the above. But wait, there's more:
BlackAdders: the Chaos exiles. What happens to those who break the laws/honor of Chaos? Execution or Exile. Now the GM has a Real Person in shadow without the tremendous resources of Chaos, but with the motivation to oppose Amber. The sign of Chaos is the crimson serpent on black; BlackAdders are the black serpent on red. Think of them as criminal Chaos shapers with the "gloves off". This will also crossover to vendettas and history. Elements: all of them.
UnderShadow: there's Bad Things down there. Trumps don't work. Pattern and Logrus are puny. Do not wake Sleeping Powers. Do not poke around in catacombs of universe. Stay out. This means you. Ever tell an Amberite to stay out of something? Elements: spooky, all of them.
Primal Reflections: manticores tough? dragons scary? Zelazny peppers his story with more than a few dangerous beasts. But realize that Greater Reflections exist for almost everything in the canon. True Dragons (yeah, the ones that eat shadows if they are bored) are almost unstoppable even by a royal of Amber. Elements: go get help, common story, threaten values.
Embre: the missing Pattern of Fire. Locked away because it's too dangerous. Do not touch. Do not open locked door. Is that a voice I hear whispering on the other side? Elements: threaten values.
It: the big kicker. The Serpent and the Unicorn will team up to fight It. Stay away. Pay no attention to the Darkness behind the curtain. This is too big for PCs to fight, but scale of VO knows no bounds. Elements: threaten values.
The one thing the above should indicate is scale of VO.
You need to have overlap, and elements of villainy at many different story levels. With great power comes Bad Things to kick your ass.
Go forth and be evil.
IMC: Royal Family Names, Shadow identities The habit of describing the royals in terms of their mother's line is implicit in the canon. It works so well that only when shadow pseudo-names are an issue do the more complex forms have any use.
'Barimen' is extremely rare in usage. I took the entire Rebma/Amber reversal as a 'bitter sense of humor' element contributed by Dworkin. So 'Barimen' is the reversal of Dworkin's original Chaos House, Nemirab.
It seems so much more apropos of the setting that Dworkin would have 'blacked his shield' and discarded his Chaos House deliberately this way. Like thumbing his nose; a private indulgence; and one that the sons and daughters of Oberon could not appreciate until much later.
inspired by: Jvstin and comments added to his entry. Thanks!
"If she could see with it, what might she behold?"
"The clear, cold lines of eternity, I daresay. Beneath all Shadow. No mortal could bear it for too long." ---Suhuy replying to Merlin
In the second Amber series, Zelazny introduces several younger Amberites, including the mysterious and impetuous Coral.
In some ways, this is an element to stay away from until your Players are really grounded in the game. Nothing worse than introducing "clear lines of eternity" when you haven't established the everyday threats and joys of Amber yet.
Yet Jvstin makes excellent points about this hanging mystery. And MaBarry throws more curves.
And even in ATEC, we've touched the surface of the Very Disturbing plots that might connect here. Coral who walked the Pattern and said, "send me where you will." Just what sort of thing inside of herself did she tap with that? It certainly connected her to Dworkin, who has said, "I am the Pattern."
Flora rose suddenly, her face contorted, the scented lavender sheet falling away as she drove a fist forward with surprising speed.
"You bitch!" she cried. "Remember me?"
The blow fell upon Jasra's jaw, and I barely managed to free Frakir in time to keep from being dragged backward with her into Luke's waiting arms.
Both of them faded, and the shimmer was gone. ---Merlin, Blood of Amber
And what does the 'Who's Who' tell us about Jasra?
"Jasra: Sorceress of the Way of the Broken Pattern. She is the mother of Rinaldo, King of Kashfa, as well as being the ruler of the Keep of Four Worlds. Former wife of Brand. She was once a maid-companion of and was taught Sorcery by Dara in Chaos."
Chaos servant? Demon half-blood? Former Queen of a Golden Circle country? Any or all of these? Does this seem odd? Inexplicable?
You bet it does.
Make your redhead conspiracies as complex as you like. Mix with Jasra. Dispense liberal headache medicines. Zelazny's cavalier plotting makes for incredibly interesting backstory as each GM tries to untangle the history and mystery.
