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      Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game

    Treachery

*R. Sean Borgstrom*

February 6, 2002

We wanted to make the new *Nobilis* easy to run. As part of this effort,

I wrote a sample campaign for inclusion in the new edition. This

campaign, */Treachery/*, shows by example how to build individual

stories, a grand storyline, and key non-player characters for a

*Nobilis* game. It's also suitable for immediate use in play.

The standard format for prewritten roleplaying campaigns didn't work,

for two reasons. First, most players don't like to buy a campaign

they'll be playing in. It might spoil their fun. However, I expect

players to buy the main book, and I want them to get full value from the

campaign. I want them to read */Treachery/* and benefit thereby. I want

them to use the non-player characters as sample characters, helping them

design their PCs. I want them to use the stories as benchmarks for their

understanding of the world. I want them to build their characters to fit

the grand storyline in interesting or amusing ways. That's one reason

that the standard format didn't fit.

The other reason standard ideas didn't work is that a sample campaign

should sit squarely in the middle of the space of possible campaigns. I

wanted */Treachery/* to be completely playable /but/ also a solid source

of ideas and material for locally designed campaigns. It had to reflect

a normal *Nobilis* game, because I can't tell from here which way a

local campaign deviates from the norm. The problem is, a typical

*Nobilis* game focuses heavily on PC interaction with their peers. It's

not easy or even appropriate to script that interaction in advance.

I knew the basic solution to the first problem from the beginning. Most

of the material needed to be story /components/ -- building blocks for

stories, rather than prewritten "adventures". I needed some actual story

writeups, too. /These/ had to be information-rich challenges. That is,

in each story, the player characters know the core of their problem up

front -- just like players who peeked would.

Whether they had to resolve a moral dilemma, or unravel a mystery under

difficult circumstances, or crack a seemingly unsolvable problem, the

PCs would understand what they had to do. Actually /doing/ it would

require a complex, carefully-executed plan. The unfolding of the player

characters' plan, and any complications that arose, would form the core

of the story.

After I worked these ideas out, building a player-readable campaign was

more of a craft than an art. It wasn't uniformly successful -- I can see

someone asking their group not to read the *Stories* section until after

the first adventure, for example. At the same time, I'm pretty sure that

if a player sneakily or accidentally reads those sections, it would only

trim a small bit off of their fun.

The other problem was designing a campaign based on social interaction.

Here's the key problem, in my mind, with writing up a social campaign

ahead of time. Most non-player characters have a limited number of

opportunities to interact with the player characters. /If/ an NPC

"clicks" with the player characters during one of those opportunities,

developing a meaningful friendship, rivalry, love, hate, enmity, or even

a strong relationship based on the exchange of favors, then that NPC

becomes a "regular" -- a meaningful part of the game. If that doesn't

happen, then the character fades into the background. A character can

/easily/ miss all of their opportunities to click, even if they're a

good match with the game.

In one story, the player characters don't have time to deal with them.

In another, the person running the game simplifies them right out of the

storyline. Most of the work in designing a social campaign goes to

creating good, useful, flexible non-player characters. If even one such

character shuffles permanently off to the sidelines due to bad luck,

it's a substantial part of the campaign writeup that that player group

receives no value from.

To solve this problem, I needed non-player characters with an unlimited

number of opportunities to interact with the PCs. Such NPCs are hard to

create -- but fortunately the *Nobilis* setting gave me the perfect

solution. The PCs and other major characters in *Nobilis* each embody,

represent, and protect one aspect of the nature of the world.

In stories where a given aspect of reality becomes important, there's a

minor genre expectation that the relevant character will appear. For

example, if endless night falls over the world, or a vital ritual must

take place between dusk and dawn, it's in genre for the story to feature

the Power of Night. The Power of War often attends mortal battles.

To create an endless series of opportunities to involve the campaign's

NPCs in the game, I built a set of NPCs tied to the most common

situations and challenges in roleplaying game stories. A typical story

then would feature a dozen opportunities to involve these characters.

The person running the game can pick and choose among them.

Four common social elements of roleplaying scenarios suggested

themselves. "Conspiracy", including sects, factions, secrets, and

intrigue. "Debate", covering conversation, debate, and oratory.

"Festivals", representing celebrations of all sorts. Finally, "Trade"

and mercantile activity. The associated NPCs became one /Familia

Caelestis,/ a social/familial unit in the world of the game.

Similarly, I made a Familia from the Nobilis governing three key

physical challenges: disasters, barriers/obstacles, and strife. A third

Familia included characters linked to mental challenges. The four Powers

in this Familia governed Bureaucracy; Mazes and confusing situations;

Records and research; and Trails -- that is, chains of logic and trails

of evidence.

This collection of characters suggested a new approach to story design.

In addition to the story elements that these characters embodied, I

built each character to evoke a particular mood. Thus, Pandareos

Panagiotis, Power of Conspiracy, behaves in a manner designed to evoke

the conventions of romance. You can use Nephele Nikolaidhis, Power of

Festivals, to create an atmosphere of horror. When a conspiracy becomes

important to the story, Pandareos might appear. His presence adjusts the

feel of the story, which could lead to a new story element taking center

stage.

Completing this design -- although much /writing/ still remained to be

done -- I gave the PCs and the three NPC Familiae a common purpose.

Specifically, they would investigate Imperators -- extremely potent

individuals, a large step above an individual PC in power and authority

-- accused of treason. This shared purpose made many interesting stories

possible. More importantly, it made the PCs and NPCs a coherent peer

group, setting the stage for PC/NPC relationships to develop naturally.

R. Sean

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Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88>

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 Topics 	Author  	Date 	Latest Reply

 James and the Small Caps

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=81&t=81> (2) new 	Kibo 

08-20-2002 16:29  	02-10-2003 01:23 new

 Art <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=77&t=77> (1) new 	Lxndr 

04-26-2002 07:36  	04-26-2002 07:36 new

 The Original Nobilis Club

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=76&t=76> (3) new 	Bret Gillan 

04-17-2002 11:28  	03-17-2003 17:48 new

 Questions & Thoughts

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=64&t=64> (3) new 	Pyske 

03-20-2002 18:31  	05-01-2003 13:03 new

 Noble Buddhism?

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=61&t=61> (9) new 	Tlaloc 

03-20-2002 12:17  	12-10-2004 01:20 new

 Noble Suicide <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=58&t=58> (9) new

Eric Christian Berg  	03-20-2002 07:43  	01-18-2005 16:27 new

 Art Notes <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=54&t=54> (4) new 	R.

Sean Borgstrom  	03-14-2002 16:31  	03-21-2002 03:44 new

 Ack...you just lost my sale

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=45&t=45> (10) new 	SteveD 

03-14-2002 04:06  	03-15-2002 06:29 new

 Onomastikon working URL

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=36&t=36> (4) new 	Jorge

Hernández  	03-06-2002 12:51  	08-20-2002 16:10 new

 Why do angels change names ?

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=33&t=33> (10) new 	philippe

tromeur  	03-06-2002 10:13  	12-10-2004 01:34 new

 R. Sean, some examples?

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=32&t=32> (3) new 	Arref 

03-05-2002 08:17  	03-13-2002 20:28 new

 Sounds great, BUT...

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=28&t=28> (2) new 	Kane 

02-27-2002 16:43  	02-27-2002 17:30 new

 Sort of backwards?

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=21&t=21> (8) new 	Eric Finley 

02-20-2002 14:25  	02-28-2002 09:35 new

 Programmer nature slips out!

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=20&t=20> (2) new 	Sean

McCarthy  	02-20-2002 13:18  	02-21-2002 10:30 new

 Object Lesson Damage

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=15&t=15> (1) new 	Darren

Miguez  	02-13-2002 12:45  	02-13-2002 12:45 new

 How about this?

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=12&t=12> (2) new 	Kristian

Lund  	02-13-2002 11:30  	02-14-2002 01:17 new

 Now, this was strange!

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=9&t=9> (7) new 	access.denied 

02-13-2002 07:44  	02-16-2002 21:44 new

 Briefs on the other two?

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=5&t=5> (5) new 	Eric Finley 

01-31-2002 18:39  	02-13-2002 10:36 new

 Forum now works <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=4&t=4> (1) new

Sandy Antunes  	01-31-2002 17:36  	01-31-2002 17:36 new

 limited series <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=1&t=1> (2) new

Sandy Antunes  	01-21-2002 17:41  	01-31-2002 17:36 new

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------------------------------------------------------------------------

    * Editing, Development, and Production

      </news+reviews/columns/wind27mar02.html>

      March 27, 2002

    * Affiliations </news+reviews/columns/wind20mar02.html>

      March 20, 2002

    * How to be a Hollyhock God </news+reviews/columns/wind13mar02.html>

      March 13, 2002

    * Naming Conventions </news+reviews/columns/wind06mar02.html>

      March 6, 2002

    * Art Notes </news+reviews/columns/wind27feb02.html>

      February 27, 2002

    * Dynamic Nobilis </news+reviews/columns/wind20feb02.html>

      February 20, 2002

    * Systems Change </news+reviews/columns/wind13feb02.html>

      February 13, 2002

    * Treachery </news+reviews/columns/wind06feb02.html>

      February 6, 2002

    * The Emperor to Come </news+reviews/columns/wind31jan02.html>

      January 31, 2002

    * The Changing of the Guard </news+reviews/columns/wind21jan02.html>

      January 21, 2002 

      Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet

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