Stranger Musings

As just about anybody who knows me is aware, I am a passionate reader of speculative fiction, fantasy, pulp, science fiction, and supernatural horror stories. But let’s face it, nobody can possibly read everything worth reading in a single lifetime. Thus, it wasn’t until recently that I got around to the novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.

For many years, I’ve been told that it was a huge foundational gap in my SF background, and that I really ought to read this classic. I’ve even got friends who, I suspect, have radically rethought and reworked their lives in view of the novel. I have been told, over and over, how radical and progressive the story is, and how much I will be challenged by what I find therein.

And perhaps if I’d read it earlier in life, their predictions of my reactions might have been more accurate. I suspect that, at 18 years of age, I would have been blown away by what I’d read. However, at double that span of years, I find that my reactions range along varying degrees of surprise, and not pleasant surprise either.

(This is not to be snarky toward those who did recommend the novel, mind you. For those who did recommend it, I thank you. It probably was high past time I'd read it. Additionally, this is not to disparage or denigrate those who got more out of the novel than I did. This is simply me working through my thoughts after reading the novel, no more and no less.)

For better or worse, I am one of the few people I know who is willing to accept most texts as-is, regardless of when they were written, or by whom, or in what context and society, without losing my ability to appreciate and enjoy them. Yes, I am quite aware that H.P. Lovecraft was a bigot and a racist, but I can gleefully read his stories and enjoy the same thrill I got when I was fourteen years old. The same goes for the racism and sexism I find in some of the works by Robert E. Howard, and others. Nor is this ability restricted to fiction; texts of philosophy and religion, same thing—read ‘em without batting an eye, usually.

I find, though, that these same offensive elements (well, offensive to me, anyway) seem to radically affect my ability to enjoy, if not appreciate, works when they appear in science fiction. I first encountered this unpleasant psychic disturbance when I encountered blatant sexism while reading the first novel of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series, Triplanetary. At the time, though, I figured it was simply an aberration, a glitch in my usual tolerance for difference in my reading material, and just shook it off. But I've had the same experience while reading Stranger in a Strange Land, and I feel the need to analyze my reactions.

The following passages, especially, stand out in my mind. (References are given as (chapter.page number) to allow for different copies of the book, and notes follow each passage.)

When speaking of the sexuality of the main character, Valentine Michael Smith, an earthling raised by Martians:

"He understood not wishing to be touched; Mike avoided shaking hands, he wanted to be touched only by water brothers. (Jill wasn't sure how far this went; she had explained homosexuality, after Mike had read about it and failed to grok--and had given him rules for avoiding passes; she knew that Mike, pretty as he was, would attract such. He had followed her advice and had made his face more masculine, instead of the androgynous beauty he had had. But Jill was not sure that Mike would refuse a pass, say, from Duke--fortunately, Mike's male water brothers were decidedly masculine, just as his others were very female women. Jill suspected that Mike would grok a "wrongness" in the poor in-betweeners anyhow--they would never be offered water.)"
(29.286)

So, wait, free love among water brothers ("brothers" being the word used for both males and females in the Martian water ceremony) is good, but homosexuality is bad, apparently an inherent wrongness? I didn't expect heterosexism in a text that was talked up as progressive, though I understand it in context of the writer and his time.

And when there is telepathic sharing between Michael and a female character, Jill:

"Jill found that she "grokked naughty pictures" only through a man's eyes. If Mike watched, she shared his mood, from sensuous pleasure to full rut--but if Mike's attention wandered, the model, dancer, or peeler was just another woman. She decided that this was fortunate; to have discovered in herself Lesbian [sic.] tendencies would have been too much."
(29.288)

So apparently gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are all out in the cold, along with a female appreciation of porn.

And then I read ...

"Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault."
(29.287)

... and if I need to say anything more about that quotation, then really I don't know what else to say.

And then there's the fact of men greeting each other with a kiss. Have to qualify that.

"Or take the early Christians ... even that kiss of brotherhood--Mike has borrowed a lot from them. Hmm ... if he picked up that kiss of brotherhood from them, I would expect men to kiss men."

Ben looked sheepish. "I held out on you. But it's not a pansy gesture"

"Nor was it with the early Christians."
(33.342)

I can perhaps see the necessity of this explanation for Western readers in 1961 (and perhaps today), but being raised in the Puerto Rican culture, I found it both unnecessary and annoying.

With regard to the novel's influence on others, I can only speculate. I have several thoughts and questions and suspicions rolling around in my brain. On the one hand, Stranger in a Strange Land seems to me to be, among other things, a brilliant satire of religion. Specifically, Robert Heinlein has created a fictional religion with its own fictional scripture, and like most scriptures it seems accurate within its own bounds, its own context. Like most scriptures, though, there are a lot of a priori assumptions about its correctness, in principle if not in fact. I am not convinced that any of the claims about human nature made in the novel would hold up on any real scale without the fictional foundation of learning the Martian language, and the changes said learning has on its "grokkers."

But I can't be too harsh with Heinlein. Ultimately, anybody trying to accurately predict the future is going to get it wrong ... including and especially science fiction writers,

I suppose that I expect science fiction stories, on the whole, to present more progressive, more egalitarian, more desirable and likeable societies, unless the authors clearly intend to use the societies as a warning rather than as a shining example of what we are capable of, as in the dystopias of 1984, Brave New World, We, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Neuromancer, the first three demonstrating our worst desires for power and control run rampant, and the latter two demonstrating universes where empathy is clearly at war with entropy.

(And yes, that's my expectations interfering with my enjoyment of the novel; ultimately, it's not the writer's fault, it's not the work's fault, it's mine. I take full responsibility.)

(And what does it say about me that I prefer the dystopian novels, and find their worlds far easier to believe and relate to?)

To sum up many hours of contemplation: science fiction gets old quickly.

That either came out very wrong, or very right. Like most summations, probably both.

On the one hand, even the best science fiction (and perhaps especially the best science fiction) ages quickly. It has to. Science fiction, like so many products of our culture, has a built-in expiration date. I suspect that this fast aging is true of science fiction moreso than perhaps any other type of fiction. Advances of fields of knowledge invariably date previous assertions and beliefs. Like the technology, science, and knowledge it incorporates and speculates about, later writing leaves earlier works and speculations behind. As our culture inevitably changes to accompany, accommodate, and adapt to our changes in knowledge, so the field of science fiction leaves previous speculations looking like peculiar ruins and sad abstract art in the rearview mirror.

The field of science fiction is limited to our cultures, our times, and our knowledge, even as it attempts to transcend them.

But the fact that science fiction ages quickly is also a good thing, because a built-in expiration date helps keep science fiction from being backwards-looking. It encourages, if not guarantees, that the scope and scape of this shared imagination changes faster than we do.

The tomorrows envisioned may be better or worse, saner or madder, but they continue to metamorphose, change, evolve, transform, and (we hope) challenge us to discover or avoid the futures we see, hopefully inspiring us to be more than we are, or at least warning us of what we are capable of becoming.

In any event, tomorrow’s humans may be nothing like us, but we can hope that they will retain the sense of awe and wonder that drives many of these tales.

And after all of this introspection, I’m tempted to wonder if, had I read the book when I was 18, I wouldn’t have made the mistakes I did with regard to past relationships, assumptions and choices made, and opportunities not taken. But if I’m honest with myself, I am forced to amend that, though I may not have made the mistakes I did, I would simply have made different mistakes instead.

The Nine Most Badass Bible Verses

Yeah, I know I haven't written in a while. I'm a bad person.

To make up for it, present you with The Nine Most Badass Bible Verses.

Laugh heartily. I sure as hell did.

The Secret Horror of the Dewey Decimal System

Just some thoughts that came to me after reading Kenneth Hite's "Suppressed Transmission" article entitled "Six Degrees of Sir Francis Bacon" that could be used for a Call of Cthulhu / Delta Green adventure including librarians, ancient horrors, and the secret Kabbalistic and numerological meanings of the Dewey Decimal Classification system (DDC).

Dewey was a psychologist you know. What if he treated people who knew things humanity wasn’t supposed to know? What are the classifications really for? What dread information may be contained in the books we read that he couldn’t risk getting out?

Thoughts of otherdimensional horrors abound (and, perhaps, viral memetics in a Delta Green / CoC Modern setting), especially when used in conjunction with the quotation from H.P. Lovecraft’s story "The Call of Cthulhu":

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Do the DDC numbers contain and entrap certain forms of knowledge, confining them to the printed page? Or is it a mystical system of subconscious manipulation, classifying and keeping apart fields of information that would be dangerous if combined, conditioning us to do the same? And what if the modern trend away from generalization and toward extreme specialization is a side-effect? Or is the DDC protecting us from something even more sinister, a viral memetic being that, similar to the Hounds of Tindalos who travel through corners in space, seeps into the corners of our minds.

And then there’s the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, founded by John H. Vincent--a study group that undertook a four-year program of guided reading for ordinary citizens. Did you know that Vincent was struck by the vision of a world college as described in Sir Francis Bacon’s utopia in The New Atlantis? And of course you know that Sir Francis Bacon was linked to the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, and by association the Templars, and was a Secret Mason. All that secret knowledge ... especially if, as some say, Bacon was actually an incarnation / alias of the Comte de Saint-Germain, among other things.

What does that have to do with anything? Well, guess who was also part of this cozy little cabal ... I mean, circle. That’s right. Melvil Dewey.

What if this circle was actually conducting a controlled experiment to see which bits of knowledge could be safely combined? What happened to those subjects (excuse me, patrons) who did piece together rather terrifying bits of "dissociated knowledge"--what became of them?

And let’s look at that name, "Chautauqua." If that doesn’t sound Lovecraftian, I don’t know what does. Perhaps that’s the name of the being / memetic virus Dewey was trying to bind?

"I had a strict rule, which I think secret services follow, too: No piece of information is superior to any other. Power lies in having them all on file and then finding the connections. There are always connections; you have only to want to find them."
-- Casaubon, in Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Occult Supers - Shades of a New Campaign

So, following up on my two previous entries, I've got a fair idea of what my next campaign will be.

The setting will be pulpy modified Modern / neo-noir. I've got images of the Gotham City from the most recent film, Batman Begins, and the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon from the 1990s; the latter had advanced science alongside stylish classic cars, dirigibles in the sky, black & white TV, and Chicago-style gangsters from the roaring 20s. Basically, a skillful blend of iconography from a variety of eras. So very beautifully pulpy.

The characters will be occult investigators / monster hunters, perhaps part of the city's law enforcement forces or perhaps members of a company that the city contracts from.

I see shades of Grant Morrison's Invisibles and Doom Patrol, along with James O'Barr's The Crow comic and film. I also see bits of Dark City and Hellblazer.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for the "monster hunter" genre, and the pulp supers angle will give me a suitably large setting toolbox to play with, allowing for just about any kind of weirdness I can come up with.

I have a fanciful notion to name the city "Neropolis," both for the obvious connotations of madness and corruption (Emperor Nero), and the fact that the Italian word for "black" is nero. But maybe that's being too cute? Probably. So I'll likely go with "Obsidian City" instead, since: (1) Obsidian, as volcanic rock, comes from a place that could be described as "Hell on Earth"; (2) Obsidian's dark color, giving me the atmosphere I want for the game; (3) Obsidian cuts like almost no other substance we know.

As for the system, well, if Dark Pages by Memento Mori Theatricks was out, I'd give it a whirl, since it seems designed specifically for this kind of campaign, but since that's not an option then I'm most certainly going to go with Truth & Justice.

Random Setting Thoughts 1

While not everybody's cup of tea, I really enjoy and prefer "Everything in a Box" / "Kitchen Sink" settings. Perhaps it's simply due to being raised on comics, but I want settings where just about anything can happen.

And that's an important point in itself, as well as an important point of divergence from most EiaB settings. I don't necessarily want to play in / run / create a setting where everything does happen, just one where it seems anything can happen.

One thing I've always loved about the comics is that you can have supernatural monster hunters team up with aliens, mutants, and Arthurian knights, and all of them could go out and slay chupacabras, and it doesn't seem out of place.

I prefer genre blends to playing genres "straight," for lack of a better term. I have always loved pulp stories with their blends of adventure, fantasy, horror, and science fiction, narratives with porous membranes that are made of a bit of everything, difficult to classify but delightful to read.

I want settings that allow for just about any character a player can imagine, so long as the PC can work well with the group.

I want to work with an entire world over the course of a long campaign, moving from place to place, time to time, even planet to planet and dimension to dimension, with the players trying out a variety of characters, allowing for a variety of play styles, tones, and adventures in what is ostensibly the same setting, the same gaming "universe."

Exalted!

Introducing my new Exalted character:


Restless Wave

Baltimore, part 2: The Actual Review

My review of Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire.

Text of the review:

(May contain spoilers--you've been warned.)

If you have read any of Mignola's _Hellboy_ comics, then you have a good idea of the kind of adventure you're in for. If not ...

Baltimore is a delightfully creepy illustrated horror novel, a fantastic old-time pulpy weird story by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. The creators manage to craft a near-perfect blend of pulp action, ghost stories, horror, fairy tale, and folklore, spiced with allusions to Melville's classic Moby Dick and an allegory of war.

In the world of Baltimore, a dark mirror of our own, WWI was never decided conclusively. A plague has spread across Europe, stripping the land and people of joy, hope, and life. The primary conceit is the gathering of three men who have been summoned by a mutual friend, Lord Baltimore, to a lonely inn during the years after the first World War: Dr. Rose, a former surgeon and opium addict; Demetrius Aischros, a sailor; and Childress, Baltimore's childhood companion. As the men await Baltimore's arrival they share stories with one another concerning their enigmatic friend, their own experiences during the war, and the hellish nightmares they have suffered. As they tell their tales, the reader learns that each of these men has had horrific encounters with dark powers and the unnatural. More, the friends' tales inform the reader of Baltimore's evolution from family man and soldier to a hunter of evil and crusader of light.

Baltimore's nemesis, a vampire whose ilk fed off of dead and dying soldiers during the war, and whom Baltimore mutilated, is particularly creepy, cunning, and menacing. No wispy sexually ambiguous Anne Rice "lonely ones" here; these vampires are hungry and vengeful, vicious predators waging a genocidal war on humanity, and enjoying every moment.

If you're the kind of reader who enjoys Poe, Lovecraft, Hellboy, and weird tales in general, this book is a winner. Go buy it, get reading, and savor Baltimore this Halloween season.

How Many Rules Do You Like in Your Game?

When I run or play a roleplaying game, I look for a system / game engine that is simple, fast, and easy to use. The system shouldn't take over the game, shouldn't require hours of real time to resolve what should only be seconds of game time. The system should support and emulate whatever genre is appropriate to the game being run. The system should blend into the background and bloody well stay there. It's called a *role playing* game for a reason. The role playing, the product of shared imagination of the GM and players, is what it's about. I think that the rules, the system, should be subordinate to the game you want to play.

Let me say that again: the system should be SUBORDINATE to the game you want to play, not vice versa. The system should be easily modifiable to fit the game you want to play; if it isn't, you're using the wrong system. You should not have to modify your game to fit the *system*. If your character wants to perform an action that makes perfect sense given the genre style of the game, then the rules should support that action. If you're using a generic rules set, then the rules system should be simple enough for the GM to make a good intuitive call. It should NOT require a nightmare of rules jockeying.

I DON'T want a system that is, essentially, a set of rules for a miniatures wargame masquerading as an RPG. I don't want an extensive set of rules for strategy and tactics. Don't get me wrong--I enjoy strategy games, though not to the same extent I enjoy RPGs. I simply want them separate from my role playing game, because in 25 years of gaming I've found that the more complex the system the more it overwhelms the role playing game and turns it into a roll playing game. And I definitely do not want that. In any system worth its salt, the GM can fairly easily assign bonuses to the players' rolls for whatever strategies and tactics the players come up with; while a representative sample list is useful, there is no need for an exhaustive list with rules for every strategic and tactical possibility.

To my way of thinking, the SYSTEM is NOT the GAME. The system is a method of task resolution, and that's it. The GAME is the shared imaginative world, the ongoing adventures and improvised narrative that occurs in play.

And the only reason you need an extremely detailed, complex rules system is because either: (a) you really like playing strategy games / miniatures wargames simultaneous to your RPG session, or (b) because the players don't trust the GM.

Baltimore

If you want to read a near-perfect pulpy horror story, then you must read Baltimore by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. It's got: vampires, were-creatures, references to Ahab and Hans Christian Andersen, and a bit to say about war as well.

And let me tell you, these aren't the B.S. Anne Rice gothy whispy sexually ambiguous "Lonely Ones" type of vampires. Oh no. These are the creepy menacing hungry vampires that haunted Stoker's nightmares.

And take a look at these reviews:

"Baltimore is an old time rootin' tootin' sense of wonder story dragged through a modern blender, then slow baked in hell. I loved it. It was velvet bullet -- speedy and rich in sensation. Go boys, go." -- Joe R. Lansdale

"I have admired Mike Mignola both as an artist and as a tremendous story teller pretty much since his career began. In this collaboration with Christopher Golden it's fair to say he surpasses himself. He and Golden have produced a witty classic of supernatural fiction." -- Michael Moorcock

Go read. Now.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm ... # 87

Seeing these two books next to each other on the library shelf.



Oh, and yes, the fact that the second book is one I've recently blogged about wanting to read? Complete coincidence. It has nothing to do with me being a brilliant selector of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror for my library. Nothing whatsoever.

...

What?!

Maine

Off to Maine in the wee hours of tomorrow. I will eat much lobster and think of all of you.

Burn Notice

JAY: "Steve! You've gotta' see Burn Notice! It's this show about an ex-spy, and the government has essentially cut him off completely, and what happens afterward as he tries to help people, make money, and find out who issued the Burn Notice on him."

ME: "Um ... I dunno'. I've got a lot of other things I'd rather watch ..."

JAY: "No! Really! You've gotta' see this show!"

ME (reluctantly): "Okay."

... At Jay's house ...

ME: "Hey! Why didn't you tell me that Bruce Campbell was in this show! And just who is that?!"

JAY: "Gabrielle Anwar."

ME: "Sold!"

Adding to the Books I'd Like to Read Soon

Glen Cook's "Dread Empire" and "Black Company" series.

Steven Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series, with its offshoot books about the characters Bauchelain and Korbal Broach.

Apocalypse (Chi) Now

Well, I finally ran that demo at the local games shop, and it looks like it will turn into an irregular group thing. I decided to go with the Feng Shui game and my Apocalypse Chi setting, as that was the easiest to run as either a one-shot or a continuing campaign. I had seven people express interest in playing, but only three were able to show up for the first game due to family issues, work issues, etc. The rest of the potential players assured me they'd try to come next session.

In the first session, our earstwhile adventurers ...

• made their way to the bartertown of Woebegone


• enjoyed the hospitality of a first-class inn, The Burning Bush, well-known as a "full entertainment establishment" with food, drink, rooms for rent, gambling, and prostitution


• managed to mop the floor with a group of post-apocalypse banditos


• slayed the eponymous Vestal Scorpion, a mutant woman with incredible speed and a wicked barb


• agreed to help some locals with surprising fertile farmland defend themselves against the banditos


• got themselves arrested by the local constabulary, who are hoping to assuage the anger of the banditos by donating our heroes to them

All in all, a fun first session. Character creation took about an hour, and we played for another 2 hours. The energy at the table was lively, even raucous at times, and fun was had by all. I am definitely looking forward to the next session.

More Books I'd Like to Read Soon

Scott Lynch's novels in his "Gentlemen Bastards" sequence:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora


2. Red Seas Under Red Skies

Vive la Difference!

In his blog, Ryan Dancey has been theorizing a lot about the next generation of role playing games (or, in his terminology, Storytelling Games), about how D&D plays at the table and its similarities to MMORPGs, and what these similarities mean for the future of RPGs.

While agreeing with some of Dancey's points and remaining skeptical about others, I've been reading his posts with interest. In a recent post, "Storytelling Games 1: Thinking Hard," he proposed a technique / game mechanic that was immediately nixed by many others who commented on the blog entry.

I'm not going to go into the whole mechanic here--you can read that for yourself by clicking the link. What I found interesting was one of Dancey's responses to the objections:

One of the things we learned at WotC in our observational research of play patterns (especially of young kids, 6-8 years old) is that they need to be given good "models" of how a game is supposed to work, but once they have one, they internalize it quickly and can replicate the experience with relative ease.

Part of the challenge here is that we're discussing a very high level theoretical concept, and trying to imagine how the groups we already have, and the players we already have, using the patterns they've already learned, will use such a game platform.

I suggest to those of you who are skeptics that if you started with a small group of people who did not have much prior TRPG experience, showed them a game session driven by player input & consensus rather than GM/player divisions, then asked them to replicate that experience, you'd have a much higher success rate (and the success would be "better" than the current average success in TRPGs).

When I ran "The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men" for a very diverse group, many of whom had never played an RPG of any kind previously, some needed a little bit of help to work the story, and some needed a lot of help, but by the end, the players were making most of the key decisions and were driving the story forward themselves. I was doing far more "narration" than game mastering. They learned from the "model" I showed them in the first hour, and by the second and third hours, they were able to successfully use that model to play the game.

That history (both formal and anecdotal) leads me to the conclusion that a lot of conventional wisdom about the inability of play groups to make good choices for fun stories is wrong, and that with a good effort to model & launch a new way of play, a lot of people could (and would) embrace it and succeed with it.

There's more than a bit to unpack in those paragraphs, but one of the things I've noticed that jives with my experience as a GM is a blend between the third and last paragraphs. Gamers seem to be more comfortable with RPGs that are similar to what they've already played. No surprise there. When I've been GM for a group of players who have been into RPGs for about as long as I have, they seem to be more comfortable with, and have more fun with, games with strong rules structures, similar to D&D or Hero system (Champions). Gamers who started in the 1990s with White Wolf games are most comfortable with games of that style, with that level of crunchiness. Again, no surprises.

Of my many activities, one of them is running a game for local teens. (And it always strikes me forcefully that, while they're all still teens, they are all either adults or on the verge of adulthood. Funnily enough, it doesn't make me feel old; rather, I've taken great joy in seeing them mature, and watching my relationships with them evolve from "adult mentor" to, simply, "friend.")

Right, where was I?

The teens I've gamed with, who haven't had years / decades to solidify their tastes for particular games / systems / mechanics (before I started GMing for them, various members of the group had some experience with D&D 3.0 and West End Games' D6 Star Wars system) have been extremely flexible in their willingness to try new games and adapt to new styles of play. They have had a lot of fun with a variety of less crunchy systems, including FATE and Cold City. They've eagerly adapted to having greater and greater influence over the course of an RPG session, including having the freedom (through Story Point mechanics and whatnot) of introducing a variety of elements into the session. We've gone a good deal of sessions without even one instance of player / GM conflict over the rules or rules lawyering, almost unheard of in the many other groups I've gamed with. They are often fully immersed in their characters. And yes, they care about crafting a coherent narrative from a session, and enjoy doing so.

And most importantly, they've had a lot of fun, which to my mind is the real point of playing a game. Adding the elements of story, of narrative, do not in themselves ruin a game when the GM and players trust each other and the experiements and introduction of new elements is paced well. It does not result in chaos, and it doesn't result in the end of fun.

So yes, in my experience, I agree with Dancey when he says: "if you started with a small group of people who did not have much prior TRPG experience, showed them a game session driven by player input & consensus rather than GM/player divisions, then asked them to replicate that experience, you'd have a much higher success rate." And they have at least as much fun as the longer-term TRPG players do with their standbys, all of which is well and good.

While I see the points of a lot of people who disagree with Dancey, how the techniques he proposes might fall flat with them or in their gaming groups, I can't help but think that some of Dancey's propositions would succeed magnificently with groups who have no prior biases. And this, ultimately, seems to be his point--he's proposing some different ways of doing things for a new generation of players. It's quite possible that Dancey's propositions might seem as new and fresh and eye-opening as the original Red Box D&D did to me, and might be just as effective an introduction to RPGs, fun games full of adventure and imagination.

Books I'd Like to Read Soon

The remainder of the "Hyperion Cantos" by Dan Simmons.

1. Hyperion (I've read this twice--absolutely brilliant. One of my favorite SF books of all time. I consider it an essential SF read.)


2. Fall of Hyperion


3. Endymion


4. Rise of Endymion

Spook Country by William Gibson

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

Lots of books by Roger Zelazny, the author who more than any other opened my mind to wonder and mad brilliant ideas.

SF Campaign: Player Responses

Recently, I emailed my players with the following question:

"What is one thing--one element, one feature, one theme, one *whatever*--you absolutely want to see in my campaign?"

Two answers ...

... out of 5 players--*AHEM*! ...

... and my commentary, follow.

"Lots of anthropomorphic aliens, AIs (but not necessarily sentient robots), beam klaives (light sabers), xenoarchaeology. (Well, I couldn't pick just one, so any of these would work.)"

This response tells me that the player wants the trope of ancient alien civilizations and technology to be a part of this game, and more, that he wants this element to play an active part of the campaign, as opposed to just being setting color. Thus, I may need a rules system that scales easily for dealing with objects of great power.

I'll also need rules for constructing a variety of alien races (preferably, quickly and easily). If I'm dealing with AIs, I'll not only need rules for them, but setting-wise I should also start to consider why THEY haven't taken over ... or, if they have, what the ramifications are.

And hey, who wouldn't want laser swords?!

"Space suits, space ships, and other ways to breathe in the great beyond."

(Well, I think we can accomodate you here. Otherwise, it's likely to be a very short campaign. :-)

I found this response interesting because it implies that, yes, she expects the characters to be going someplace. This is important, because "space opera" is a pretty broad subgenre, and some examples of space opera don't actually show people in space, flitting about from planet to planet. Then again, some nitpicky types (like me) would consider planet-bound stuff as more space fantasy / sword and planet / planetary romance, so there you go. It also tells me that I will likely need: a vehicle system; a system for vehicle combat; and fiddly bits for dealing with little details, like "what happens to a character whose suit is leaking oxygen?"

SF Campaign, cont.: Addendum to Previous SF Campaign Post

... unless, of course, I and my gaming group create a setting that's even more fun than that found in Fading Suns.

A worthy challenge, that, and a worthwhile endeavor.

...

MOO-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!

Thought for the Day: Comics and Music

In considering the absolutely dreadfully horrible pseudo-epics that Marvel and DC have been churning out over the past few years ...

If only bad comics would go out of fashion as quickly as bad music.

SF Campaign, cont.: Humbling Advice

I've been rereading Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering by (duh) Robin D. Laws, a book that I consider a good refresher on the important basics of Game Mastering, and I was reminded of something very important:

"There is no shame in using an established setting." (13)

To which I will add:

"... especially if several of your players have requested that setting by name."

Fading Suns it is.

(Hey, I've already expressed my admiration of the creators' work on that world, so what the hell--I'm going to have a blast with it. Never let it be said that I'm too stubborn to listen to others.)

The Perfect Mix?

What is the difference between Space Opera and Science Fantasy?

Is it 6 parts of one to 3 of the other? Is it simply labels and historical context? Is it that Space Opera attempts a veneer of science, even over the most fantastic concepts? Or, ultimately, is there no difference at all?

Thoughts?

D&D 4th Edition

Yes, apparently, it's official.

D&D 4th Edition is coming.

Confirmation was found on The Miniatures Page and on ICv2.

On the whole, if there hadn't been a D&D 3.5, I'd have accepted the news of a 4th edition with equanimity. I mean, yes, as long as there was Dungeons and Dragons, there would likely be a 4th edition. However, I was thoroughly disgusted with the release of 3.5--I've thought that either they should have waited longer to release 3.0, or they should have offered the changes from 3.0 to 3.5 as a free online document to their fans who had already bought up a slew of products.

And now there will be a 4th edition.

Ultimately, I can only shrug and walk away. I'm barely interested. Like many in the hobby, I started way back when with AD&D (I actually bought the Monster Manual first, at Toys R Us no less, before I realized it was a game--I thought it was just a book of cool monsters!) and Red Box D&D. But over the years, I've felt more and more alienated by the increasing rules glut and, from what I've experienced, the lack of elegance in rules design, and corresponding lack of smooth gameplay, I've found in the 3.X editions.

As a fan, a hobbyist, a player, a GM, and a consumer, I've felt let down by D&D. I don't think I'll follow it into its 4th iteration. Which is too bad, because I still want to enjoy it. I still want to play and DM and find the same joy in it that I discovered when I was young.

But there are plenty of games out there, and plenty of gamers to run them with, so I think I'll be okay.

P.S.: A bit of humor, stolen from my friend Michael's blog:



Update: From Wizards--a brief 4e blurb.

Towards a Science Fiction Campaign, Part 01

As is usual on Friday nights, I went to game with my friends. We're about to switch campaigns soon--next week we're wrapping up a D&D 3.5 campaign and embarking on an Exalted game. (We rotate among 4 GMs.)

In any event, the conversation turned toward what I'd be running next, and I think at least 2 of the 3 people then-present (I could be misremembering--it might have been all three) pressed upon me to run a science fiction / space opera campaign the next time I GM.*

Far be it from me to not give my players what they crave. While it's going to be a while until my turn comes up in the GM rotation--I'm guessing February to March at the absolute earliest--I have plenty of time to consider what I'm doing.

So how to go about it?

Well, if it's one thing I've learned over the years it's this: I really hate playing in other people's back yards. While I own a whole host of RPGs--enough to start my own RPG lending library, in fact--I really don't like running in prepackaged settings designed by others.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy RPGs. I enjoy reading them and playing them. I enjoy figuring out their systems and monkeying around with them.

But overall, I've discovered that it's rare that I purchase an RPG and end up actually playing it.

Yeah, that doesn't sound strange or anything.

I really enjoy buying generic RPG systems, and I actually get a lot of use out of them. I like systems with a toolkit design the best. I'm not a system designer; rather, I tend to read an RPG system, then monkey about with it, improve and tweak it. I don't build engines, I just enhance them for performance.

But I don't have the time or patience I had when I was younger and just discovering RPGs. I have a full-time job. I have a family. I have responsibilities. I don't have the time to invest in systems that are clunky or require voluminous amounts of reading. D&D, Hero, GURPS, all of these may have been options for me at one time, but no longer. I like my systems sleek, streamlined, and ready to run right out of the box. These days, I like BESM, D6, FATE, and Savage Worlds, and I'm curious about True20 and the reissue of HeroQuest (QuestWorlds).

As far as settings go, I notice that I tend to read RPG setting stuff for inspiration and entertainment rather than with any real desire to run a game in a given setting. I prefer to design my own settings, with their own tone, feel, and flavor.

So where is all this going?

I've been GMing and playing RPGs for 26 years now, but my first love, before fantasy, sf, horror, wuxia, literature, films, before all of that good stuff, is comics. I've been reading comics for 32 years now.

My good friend Tony sent me an interesting email recently, and I haven't been able to get it off of my mind. The email was an anecdote referred to by comics writer Matt Fraction, about the legendary comics creator Jack "The King" Kirby.

There's an anecdote at the end of the new Jack Kirby Fourth World Omnibus where Mark Evanier relays the story of an artist coming on the CAPTAIN AMERICA and announcing he intended to carry on in the Kirby Tradition. And then, Evanier tells us, Jack quipped in the raspy, apocryphal way he would quip about such things, that "The kid doesn't get it-- the Kirby Tradition is to create a new comic."

To me, that pretty much says it all.

I'm not dissing anybody else's creative efforts; far from it. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I've spent reading about the events that occur in the Fading Suns and Tribe 8 universes, for example. But if I'm going to run something, if I'm going to put all that time and creativity into something, I want it to be something that I created, something that my brainmeat gave birth to, something that I'm invested in.

Moreover, when I design settings, I try to be sure that the players have input into the setting as well. In the RPG sessions, they are cocreators along with me in playing a game and spinning out a story. I figure that they should be in on the game creation, particularly the setting, from the ground floor.

So here's how it's going to be. I'm going to be building a setting step-by-step, getting input from the other group members, and putting it together here piece-by-piece. Then, when I've got a nice general idea of the setting, I'll choose a system to run it in.

Too many times (and I'm thinking of D&D as I say this, though there are certainly other systems that have the same problem), I've seen GMs feel that their game is constrained, even strangled, by a given system, that they have to bend and warp their settings and their games to fit a certain system. I'm a firm believer that the setting and the game you envision running should be of paramount importance, and that the system should fit the game and setting you want to run, that it should be flexible, adaptable, and easily modified as necessary to fit the game you want to play. And yes, this flexibility has to include the creativity and imagination of the players as well. Because the system, the game engine, is only one part of the game as a whole.

So once I've got the beginnings of a setting, I'll start fitting it onto the frame of a system, and figure out how to work all the nifty bits I and my players envision in the terms of that system.

I figure that if we're successful then we'll have created a game worth playing.

You know, in the Kirby tradition and all that.

*The two other players were out picking up food at the time--I should ask them what they think.

So ... Many ... IDEAS!

1. Junk
An entire planet used by a galaxy for waste disposal, and it even seconds as a prison colony! The inhabitants are all twisted and warped and mutated from the radiation and chemical wastes. Huge piles of machinery, everything from toasters to junked spaceliners miles long. Everything scavenged and rebuilt. Science professions, particularly those with training in biology and engineering, are very useful. Indeed, several scientists and anthropologists do (illegal) research here. Kind of like Battle Angel Alita meets Jeremiah meets Gamma World and that futuristic Lone Wolf 2100 series.

2. Through a Glass Darkly
My fantasy / alternate history Elizabethan-Victorian campaign idea, with the thematics of Alice in Wonderland. The Red Queen is Elizabeth, also venerated as the Virgin Queen, still alive after 350 years of rule. Though she's modest about it, her veneration rivals that of the virgin Mary. Obviously, the Catholic Church opposes this bastard queen, still calls her a whore, still accuses her of conspiring with demons, and still wants Elizabeth's reign, which they still refuse to recognize, to end. Irish and Catholic priests have infiltrated England, and are regularly rounded up as spies. Her latest "favorite" (and possible paramour), Sir Richard Francis Burton, is missing.

Elizabeth is also rumored to be a vampire, though of the Dracula type or the Elizabeth Bathory type nobody's sure--rumors vary on this point.

Her court magician, Dr. John Dee, is still alive as well. He is the most powerful alchemist in the realm, and can actually perform sorcery without the need for alchemical potions, powders, and the various other necessities and foci.

Her spymaster, Walsingham, is also reported to be alive and well, though nobody's actually seen him in centuries.

Elizabeth has done a lot of good for England, embracing the Renaissance and the new sciences, and England is more advanced than any other country in Europe.

The Caterpillar is a Chinese opium-dealing crimelord in the Limehouse district. He's actually here to kill the "foreign devil" weretiger / rakshasa known as Cheshire, who has set up his own criminal empire in London.

And the native resistance movement is still awaiting the return of Arthur ...

3. Worlds Enough and Time
A la Luther Arkwright. A multidimensional blend. Basically, the characters work for an agency that monitors the various splintered timelines and alternate Earths that exist, and help keep them running smoothly. They take care to keep the worlds' timelines and events running in directions that are beneficial (at least, beneficial to the Agency). The characters are from a variety of alternate Earths, where the Aztecs or Africa or Islam or China or Aliens or what have you might be in charge rather than what we're used to. Missions might range from observational / factfinding, to diplomatic, to assassination and unconventional warfare. A little bit of Sliders, Quantum Leap, and Stargate, with Moorcockian overtones.

4. Saving Captain Rogers
Conceived of by my friend Tony.

Private Ryan style WW2, mixed with a healthy dose of OSS style espionage. Have you ever read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre? Great ref. for all things Spy. Imagine if the US government had been able to keep modifying andtesting the Super Soldier formula they used on Steve Rogers [Captain America]. With each addition of a new compound, new (and completely unexpected) results manifest in each test subject. Perhaps a Dirty Dozen style team of death row soldiers, led by modified MPs who in turn answer to a willing officer test subject, a la Cap? Because of this mutating Super Soldier formula, the Americans are developing Humans of Mass Destruction for the war effort.

The Germans were always technically advanced, so they're beefing upthat aspect of their military might to answer the threat of theAmericans. Walking tanks, individual Man of Steel suits, rocketpacks, etc. Through their experiments on Jews, they're also beginning to fuse man and machine into terrifying new things.

The Russians are mystics, gypsies and warlocks [to which I would add vampires, werewolves, etc.] ... kind of like the hordes of Chaos from 40k, with possessed hellfire bullets that hunt you down no matter where you are, devouring your soul before exploding your skull like a ripe melon . ..riding massive Arctic wolves into battle like Princess Mononoke, raising the dead as infantry, spirits as scouts, etc.

5. Tribute
A world where gods exact tribute in goods and servants / slaves / sacrifices from all the tribes and peoples on the planet. The characters meet each other, themselves part of the tribute, in a long train of goods that is also a pilgrimage of worshippers. There's the Wyrms, a desert serpentlike folk with Islamic overtones, and the Cataract Pirates (there's a giant eyeball creature that looks like an 8-ball in there somewhere--yes, the pun is intentional), and eventually the decision comes whether to submit or rebel.

6. Heroes Cast in Bronze
Not our planet, but a recognizable Bronze Age, or a very early Iron Age, in which low-level supers exist.

A system whereas those with powers beyond mortal ken, which usually showed themselves around puberty, identified their possessors as Children of the Gods. These children were then taken from their parents and raised in temples, where they have all the benefits of education, martial training, and philosophical / religious / ascetic study. These children are raised to understand that their proper role in society is to serve their fellows. Kind of like a kung-fu master retreat for supers, a Xavier School in ancient times, led by monk instructors who were, themselves, retired supers.

Imagine the advantage such a society would have over its competitors. In other countries, supers would be lording it over their people, setting themselves up as gods and warlords, and fighting each other for that position.

In the country I envision, the supers would be working cooperatively in a system similar to the strictly structured life of Ancient China. Super brains would serve as advisors to the royal family. Imagine super intelligences working on advanced economics, legal systems, and agricultural advances, as well as military and industrial advances, tactics, and strategies. Imagine an army led by super generals who could command the elements, fly, become invisible, were super strong, impervious to harm (from the weapons of *their* age, anyway), could run at 75 mph, etc. Then there'd be those with super persuasive abilities to preach and teach, to rally the people, the troops, or simply to keep the social system functioning.

Powers I would not allow PCs to have: Mind Control, abilities having to do with Time, etc.

And while there would always be aberrants who would want power for themselves, they would be kept in check (and likely executed or banished) by the vast number of supers who believe in the rightness of their system.

7. Exodus
Very much like a Battlestar Galactica setting, in which the PC's world has been invaded or destroyed, and the PCs are guardians of a convoy / exodus of a race looking for a new world.

Very sketchy idea right now, but I envision it more comic book style than hard SF, reminiscent of the works of Moebius and Heavy Metal magazine. I see individual rocket bikes, blaster pistols, high tech versions of individual melee weapons like maces and swords, the whole works.

As far as themes, I see prejudice from other planetary governments and races who don't the PC's races living among them. I see the (few) races that were native to the dead / overridden planet having problems with *each other*, bringing their own prejudices and stresses into space with them.

Basically, high action, space battles, and character-driven melodrama.

I'm almost afraid to use the term "space gypsies."

8. Apocalypse Chi
Inspired by the Far West game in production, mentioned earlier in this blog.

Post-apocalypse. Synching with "magic as precious resource" idea, scientists learned how to measure, manipulate, and use chi. Major resource drain which environmentalists went nuts about, too many people tried to make money off of, and lots of flak when they even tried to weaponize it. Then somebody went and set off a doomsday weapon at a major ley line (dragon line) juncture, and much of the planet's chi was released in a horrific and cataclysmic burst. Tectonic upheavals, redrawing the map, civilization destroyed, billions dead, the works. Because the chi levels are so depleted, the Earth is dying. Twisted chi pollutes our world, warping humans with its hideous mutating effects. That major dragon line juncture? An unstable portal to hell, with demons and the souls of the dead returning, the former forcing their attentions on human women and producing hybrids, the latter sometimes managing to form "bodies" out of chi in order to continue on our plane if their will is strong, or taking over dead bodies if it isn't. (Yup! ZOMBIES!) Yet, 100 years later, people still struggle on after suffering the Wrath of the Dragon, as the event is called. There are wuxia warriors and Kurosawa-style swordsmen, there are gunslingers (a la Stephen King's), there are people trying to rebuild small outposts of civilization. There are sorcerers who are guardians of the last vestiges of the world's chi. There are half-demon children, and wild tribes of creatures and people twisted by the poisoned chi. There are guardians of surviving towns and outposts and roads and trade routes. And somewhere out there, there are rumors of a person, a wise man, a Sage who knows how to put the world right again.

I'd likely use the Feng Shui system for this one. Yeah, that was an obvious choice, huh?

*****

So many RPG ideas, but so little time to run any of them ... *SIGH*

I suppose I should just write them up, stat them up using a few of my favorite systems, then post them on my own webpage for all to see.

The Agnostic's Prayer

My favorite author, Roger Zelazny,wrote the following "Agnostic's Prayer" in his novel Creatures of Light and Darkness.

Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.

Yeah, it's rather funny, but I am occasionally reminded of it, as there are some days you do hope for intercession, on behalf of yourself or somebody else.

Wuxia as SF?! Yes!

Recently, in my gaming group, there was a brief discussion about whether or not wuxia was fantasy.

To wit, the discussion went something like this:

Me: "Is wuxia really fantasy?"

Everybody Else: "YES!", with the subtext of "Obviously, dumbass!"

Granted, there were a few more comments than that, and they were more tactful, but you get the gist.

I, however, remained ... not unconvinced, but not completely convinced, either.

For my part, I originally conceived of wuxia more along the lines of pulp fiction rather than strictly fantasy, or any other genre. Thus, a mish-mash blend of history, occult, and ass-kickery. Moreover, as I understand it, a lot of the popular wuxia tales were actually Chinese pulp fiction written in the early 1900s.

Wuxia seemed to me a lot closer to the Shadow than to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Harry Potter, or Conan, though it might be more closely compared the exploits of Cuchulain or Beowulf, in the sense of bad-ass warrior heroics. Then again, the knights errant style of wuxia also pushed it a bit closer to King Arthur in my mind. Wuxia also has a bit in common with the Spaghetti Western, sharing some elements (outsider comes to town, restores order, leaves town) with Kurosawa's films, said films having influenced Spaghetti Westerns in the first place.

Ultimately, though, I thought that wuxia had a different flavor than the Western notion of "fantasy"; moroever, this difference seemed to me to go beyond merely cultural differences. Wuxia, I thought, is its own thing.

Then ...

G.M. Skarka, RPG designer, mentions the following when discussing his current project, Far West:

"I wanted some element of the fantastic -- the wuxia tales feature high-flying kung fu, but seldom do the tales involve "magic", as fantasy fans would define it. The majority of 'magical' elements in wuxia stories are secret knowledge -- alchemy, hidden techniques, etc. Far-fetched, to be sure, but within the realm of "science", as it was understood. Given the 19th-century vibe of the western, the best analog to that would be steampunk. Far-fetched, but within the realm of "science", rather than the truly magical."

Now that actually sounds like a reasonable conception of wuxia. Moreso, I think, than the "fantasy" label. Not so much magic, but secret knowledge and techniques. Granted, it doesn't match our conception of SF in the modern era, but it does seem to relate to Chinese history in the same way Frankenstein or the works of Jules Verne or Steampunk relate to Victorian history. It's also science fictional in the same way as the prana-bindu fighting arts of the Bene Gesserit in the Dune novels. (And yes, I do know that wuxia predates Dune.)

Wuxia as SF--a very interesting idea. I kinda' like it.

Wow. I guess Da Vinci was just tapped out.

The Secret Message of Jules Verne: Decoding His Masonic, Rosicrucian, and Occult Writings

"This exploration of how Jules Verne used his writings to encrypt Masonic and Rosicrucian secrets and sacred symbolism investigates Verne's connection to the prominent secret societies of his time: Freemasons, Golden Dawn, Angelic Society, and Rosicrucians. Verne's work reveals itself to be rich with teachings on symbolism, esoteric traditions, sacred geography, and the secret history of humanity."
-From an ad in Publishers Weekly, 30 July 2007.

Discipline Begins with "Hello Kitty."

No, really.

"Bad Thai Cops to Endure Kitty Shame."

In Case of Cthulhu, Break Glass

On the other side of the aforementioned glass, you will find a non-eldritch tome containing the following Call of Cthulhu Survival Tips.

Ignore them at your peril.

... what am I saying? Ignore them, and that's pretty much the end of you.

Enjoy!

Premature WoD?

I may have spoken too soon.


"Disciplines are the strange, supernatural powers that vampires possess. Using a discipline is a supernatural ability, and so does not provoke attacks of opportunity." [Emphasis mine.]


Attacks of opportunity?! GAH!!!

Worlds of Darkness

I was never the biggest fan of White Wolf's original World of Darkness (WoD) as a whole. I did like one aspect of the Storyteller system very much--the separation of skills from their core attributes, allowing skills to be mixed and matched with whatever attribute/stat made sense for a particular roll or check; this was something I hadn't seen until I picked up the first edition of Vampire the Masquerade. I very much enjoyed Mage: The Ascension, though moreso when it was run independent of the rest of the WoD and more along the lines of Grant Morrison's Invisibles. I also enjoyed Changeling: The Dreaming, though I always thought that Changeling felt ... misplaced? ... among the rest of the WoD line, kind of shoehorned in. I always thought that it, too, was better when taken independently, and run with a tone of equal parts wonder and horror, with a bit more optimism than I saw in many of the other WoD lines; I enjoyed it most when it was run and played like the early works of Charles de Lint, for example, particularly his Newford stories.

When White Wolf decided to end their WoD, I applauded them for their willingness to put an end to their ongoing story. I had hoped that they would begin something completely new. Sadly, while Exalted seems to be quite a hit, their other RPG lines, and by this I mean their non-WoD Aeon universe games of Trinity, Exalted, and Adventure!, didn't do as well. I suppose, then, that their relaunch of their big hit was inevitable. And while some may really enjoy their New World of Darkness (NWoD) lines, I haven't taken to them at all.

Part of this lack of enthusiasm, or even interest, in the NWoD titles is that the premise doesn't seem to be very new at all, just a reorganization of the old with the same general tone and overall features. (Of course, if White Wolf was trying to capitalize upon the success of the original WoD, perhaps it was wiser as a game company to minimize those overall differences and try to retain a lot of their core audience while at the same time offering them a product that's sufficiently different from the original to pique their interest and curiosity.) I also think that, being a comics fan, I've already seen far too many attempts to relaunch fictional universes, and I've never seen it done well.

However, when I heard of Monte Cook's World of Darkness (MCWoD*) I was intrigued. First, because (if I'm reading the marketing correctly) the game uses the d20 system, and while d20 is not my system of choice (or, at least, D&D 3.X isn't; I have yet to try True20, though I'd like to and intend to), I was curious as to how d20 might mesh with the WoD. More, though, MCWoD actually seems to be much different in terms of tone, feel, and origin than the original.

While I'll likely not buy Monte Cook's re-envisioning sight-unseen, I will be reading reviews and keeping an open mind about the product. While White Wolf is offering a slew of previews and teasers in the run up to GenCon, I'd like to know how MCWoD actually runs before I sink any cash into it.

*Yes, I can easily see how one might look at this abbreviation and think of it as derogatory; this is not my intention. I use it because, frankly, it's simply too catchy not to use.

A.D.D., anyone? (Also: "Hey! It's an A.D.D. reversal!")

Yeesh. Even glancing at my "Now Reading" list makes me wince. I notice that I've been having a hard time reading novels or books that aren't anthologies. I never seem to have more than 15 minutes to read at a stretch recently. I think that's why I'm drawn to short fiction, as there's more of a likelihood of my finishing the work in a short time.

Still, I have been enjoying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Prince of Ayodhya quite a lot, the latter because the chapters are short, and are easily broken up along with my available reading time, the former because my wife and I have been reading the novel to each other, as we have with all the Harry Potter books.

One thing that I have been doing recently that I'd missed a lot is GMing weekly. For rather too long a while a couple of years ago, it seemed I couldn't go more than 2 or 3 sessions as GM without burning out or wanting to switch games/settings/systems. However, in the last 2-3 years, I've been on the ball with running consistent and, if I do say so myself, consistently enjoyable, campaigns, judging from the feedback I've gotten from players. While I enjoy gaming with my regular group, I'm one GM in a rotation of 4, so quite a bit of time can pass from one opportunity to the next. I'm considering starting a 2nd group at the FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) just to get my GM on.

Ah well, those are urges and wishes. Let's see what actual time permits.

Risk Response and RPGs

I tell you, reading Robin D. Laws's blog is educating.

"Risk In RPGs

I am less interested in categorical distinctions between RPG game designs than I am in those that describe what actually happens during play. This is part because, as a designer, I’m more interested in providing tools that work than in adhering to an aesthetically or theoretically coherent framework. It also goes to the old saw about the rules not being the game, but the set of tools used to build the game.

One distinction between RPG play moments I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the one describing the players’ and GMs’ attitude toward risk. Does the play environment demand risk aversion on the players’ part, or is risk aversion a problem that leads to an unsatisfying experience?

Risk aversion is essential to tactical play. Players are expected to seek the greatest benefit at the lowest cost. The lower the risk, the lower the cost they stand to pay for their actions. The primal example of this style is the dungeon crawl. You aim to collect maximum treasure and experience points, while carefully shepherding your various resources: hit points, spells, etc. The major tactical decisions are all about timing: 1) when to use your limited resources and 2) when to give up and go home to recover lost hit points and spells. In other words, you keep going till you have to use your fireball, and then you split.

Risk seeking is essential to narrative play. The rules of drama decree that characters are placed under pressure, and are moved along a cycle of victories and reversals, the stakes growing ever higher until it all comes to a head in the climax. If you’re really emulating storytelling structure, everything gets as bad as it can get, until the heroes turn it around at the last climactic moment. Under this play environment, risk aversion is an impediment to forward motion—the characters have to get into trouble in order to get out of it. Although the characters shouldn’t appear suicidally reckless, extended planning sessions are counterproductive under this paradigm. In fiction, elaborate planning sessions are setups for reversals. Either the plan goes horribly wrong (as in most heist films), or the plan seems to go horribly wrong but is in fact a cover for the deeper, better plan, which succeeds in a surprising way: see the Ocean’s movies.) [sic.]

Because of the vicarious nature of the RPG experience, we tend to be much more risk averse as players than we want characters to be in traditional entertainment. Suffering a setback that would be par for the course in a dramatic adventure story feels like a sock in the jaw. If the GM didn’t give us a chance to get the benefit without the risk, we might even complain that we’re being railroaded.

Needed: better tools to help players embrace the judicious risk-seeking necessary for success in narrative game environments."

What I'm contemplating is:
While I see ways to adapt this approach to more tactical games, it seems that narrative playstyles are (obviously?) best suited to games where narrative play is already accounted for in the rules design. Would it be more difficult to use the above advice in more tactical RPGs, such as D&D, than it would be in games like HeroQuest?

Narrative Roleplaying and Player Planning

Robin D. Laws, who has written or contributed to a LOT of games that I'm very fond of, gave the following bit of advice on players' planning in RPG sessions:

"You Have Already Planned

Detailed planning sessions are cool for games with a heavy tactical element, where a low-excitement, high-results outcome is not only possible but desirable. Under a narrative paradigm, you want the characters to spend time working out what they want to do, but not necessarily the nuts and bolts details of how they're going to do it.

In a novel or movie, the only reason the author shows you the characters engaged in lengthy planning is either as a prelude to the plan going horribly awry, or to set up a false set of expectations in which the plan seems to be failing, but is actually going well, because we haven't actually seen the real plan discussed. For an example of the former, see most downbeat heist movies: The Killing or Big Deal On Madonna Street. The latter structure appears in all three Ocean's flicks. Both instances follow the narrative Law of Reversal: if we expect something to happen, and then it does, we're disappointed. Instead we expect one thing and are surprised when something else happens.

To do planning under a narrative paradigm, tell the players that they've had already a chance to plan their tactics for the invasion/infiltration/raid/whatever. But don't show the planning. Instead, allow them to improvise responses to events as they occur, as if they have brilliantly planned—but we are seeing the results of that planning for the first time.

So the heroes round the corner into the installation and find their way blocked by an XK-7 Drill-Kill autobot, intent on their destruction. The PC with the Robotics skill makes his ability test to see if he's properly incorporated it into his planning. If he succeeds, he has: he can emit a special IR beam to disable the bot for a precious 180 seconds (or whatever), enabling the group to temporarily surmount the obstacle. He gets to look cool, the action sequence continues, and you didn't have to go through hours of discussion in which the players find out there's an XK-7 on site, then discussing six different ways to take out an XK-7, complete with various sidetracks and digressions. They dispense with it as quickly (or not) as it deserves. You don't have to throw in some additional element to provide the necessary reversal to make the XK-7 encounter surprising, thus invalidating all that planning.

Because, when the scene unfolds, the planning has already happened."

Now personally, I love this bit of GMing and playing advice. It allows for delightful elements of surprise, keeps the players on their toes, and keeps the session moving rather than bogging it down in endless point/counterpoint arguing. (In over 25 years of gaming, I've seen far too much of that in RPG sessions.) However, it requires a few things of the players and GM:

1. The players need to be comfortable with improvising. If a GM is running for players that freeze like deer caught in headlights when they're put on the spot, then this technique might backfire.


2. The GM must be working with, rather than against, the players. If the GM simply stomps on every idea the player fires out, then this approach won't work. Then again, I suspect that the stomping sort of GM is unlikely to be interested in narrative play anyway.


3. The GM must be rather patient with frozen players; a bit of handholding might be necessary here.


4. The GM must be ready and willing to encourage the players' improvising with both praise and (here's the kicker) tangible bonuses. Otherwise, the players may descend back into endless planning and strategizing (i.e. bickering and bonus mongering).

What think ye?

Review: "The Curse of Chalion"

Bujold, Lois McMaster. The Curse of Chalion.
New York: Eos-HarperCollins, 2001. 442 p.

Brief Teaser

Cazaril has survived war, betrayal, and the galley-master's lash.

Naturally, his troubles have just begun.

As servant to Royesse Iselle of Chalion, Cazaril braves both sword and intrigue in order to protect his charge in the royal court of Cardegos. Arguably "blessed," touched by a patron god, Cazaril must also find a means to end a terrible curse upon the royal line, lest a kingdom be doomed.

Notes and Possible Spoilers

Bujold created a delightful, entertaining, and thoroughly engaging world in this novel. Patterned after our own world's 15th century Spain, Chalion feels warm, vibrant, and lived-in. The characters have strong, distinct personalities that infuse their archetypes, whether they be "Loyal Servant," "Princess," or "Scheming Usurper."

I was impressed by the magical elements Bujold has created for her world, though perhaps "miracles" and "curses" would be a more accurate descriptors. The eponymous curse twists its victims such that their virtues and strengths become their undoing, and while the novel's five gods, archetypal and easily apprehended by the reader--Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and Bastard--are active in our world, they can only work through humans who have offered themselves up to the gods' will. With a rare exception, there is no flashy special effects magic. Rather, the strengths and virtues of those touched by a god are their primary resources, though there is some indication that the gods can manipulate events toward producing a desired outcome. However, it's no joy to be a god-touched saint; as one character phrases it: "The gods do not grant miracles for our purposes, but for theirs. If you are become their tool, it is for a greater reason, an urgent reason. But you are the tool. You are not the work. Expect to be valued accordingly."

In addition to the above, there are moments of fierce action, tender romance, and sufficient political intrigue to satisfy the most ardent Machiavellian. If you enjoy these elements in your fiction, then I heartily recommend The Curse of Chalion.

Buena lectura.

Series

Book one of the "Curse of Chalion" series.

Descriptors

Fantasy
Low-magic
Mythic Fiction
Political Intrigue

Similar Authors

Jacqueline Carey

Awards

2002 Mythopoeic Award

~A thousand times ...

Oil and Water *WILL* Mix. I Demand It!

The Question:
How do you combine "gritty" in fantasy with the tone of myth and mythic fiction, folklore, and fairy tale? And once you've done that, how do you wrap it all up into an RPG campaign?

(Random thoughts follow. You have been warned.)

Perhaps the "grittiness" aspect should be primarily in a combat system that is suitably, but not overwhelmingly, crunchy?

I want a game that isn't child-ISH; there should be a feel / tone that is eerie, yet reminiscent of the childlike awe and wonder in folklore, fairy tales, creation myths, mythic fiction, and epic poetry.

I want it to be well-shaded, but not exclusively “dark.” (And yes, I am here distinguishing between "gritty" and "dark.") I want it to have light and dark extremes, but the tone must slip between the two, though always angling toward the fabulous, the wondrous.

I don’t want it based in the modern world. I don’t want it to be a “crossover” genre RPG either--people from our "real" world traveling to a fabulous world; while not a deal breaker, I never particularly liked that element in my fiction. Rather, I want the characters to be native to the fabulous world, though with little exposure to its fabulous elements prior to the beginning of the campaign.

One way to combine gritty and wondrous is, perhaps, is to selectively twist some of the fabulous elements to the horrific. Give the players hints at marvels, then surprise them (i.e., stab them in the face) with horrors. This has been accomplished to excellent effect in recent volumes of Berserk by Kentaro Miura.

Another way is to have the fabulous elements seem surreal--to have the characters seem firmly grounded in their gritty, low-magic world, then selectively add elements that are, by turns, weird, fabulous, and (to the characters) surreal.

And that begs the question of how to use magic as a fabulous element. Fabulous elements, including magic, must be culturally rooted, grounded. Each land / culture should have its own magical / mythical / fabulous elements, and these elements should *feel* different than the fabulous elements of other cultures. Thus, even if players are familiar with how magic works in their characters' cultures, magic remains novel / wondrous / frightening enough when their characters are exposed to other cultures. Rumor and hearsay can even be used to enhance, rather than detract from, this effect.

Should exploration and journeying should be an important (perhaps crucial) element of the campaign?

I've been thinking that the One Roll Engine (ORE) used in REIGN might be the perfect system to combine with many elements in the game Everway. ORE has the system crunch that makes combat and conflict satisfying. The combat system is gritty, perhaps deadly, enough to give the players pause, but its “unworthy opponent” (i.e. mook) rules make gives the players some satisfaction that their characters are suitably buff. The magic can be easily simulated once I have the magic / spell creation rules for REIGN, and REIGN’s magic already feels adequately culture-specific. The other Everway elements can be incorporated over time, including locations (though perhaps not multiverse aspects) as desired. Alternately, with exploration and travel campaigns, the other worlds found in Everway can simply be introduced as other cultures / lands on the same world.

Then again, the "narrativist" rules of HeroQuest might be a better system, though HeroQuest might not have enough combat crunch to satisfy many players.

Hm. So, yeah, that's what I want. So there.

Fiction with the right "feel" / tone I'm looking for might help, yes?

• Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold



• The "Kushiel" series by Jacqueline Carey



• The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars by Steven Brust (obviously, not the modern aspects, but the folktale sections)



• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien has a bit of this tone, though not his "Tolkienesque" imitators



• Some of the weirdness found in the work of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and other pulp fantasy

Huh. Maybe I really want a good blend of pulp fantasy and folklore and mythic fiction? Hm. Pulp fantasy combat vs. unworthy opponents, but gritty combat vs. PC grade opponents. With fabulous elements that feel folkloric. And lots of intrigue and skulduggery to boot ...

*SIGH* ... this is going to take a while, isn't it?

Thoughts?