|
1 RPGnet <http://www.rpg.net> |
|
2 <http://www.rpg.net/slib/ads/forward-ad.php?nextURL=http://www.skotos.net/games/marrach/comic/awakenings&imageURL=http://www.skotos.net/media/custom/cma-728x90-1.jpg> |
|
3 |
|
4 |
|
5 Reviews <http://www.rpg.net/reviews/> Forums <http://forum.rpg.net> |
|
6 News & Press <http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/press.phtml> Columns & |
|
7 Info <http://www.rpg.net/columns/index.phtml> RPG Wiki |
|
8 <http://wiki.rpg.net> RPG Shop <http://shop.rpg.net> |
|
9 <http://www.rpg.net/members/> |
|
10 |
|
11 |
|
12 Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game |
|
13 |
|
14 |
|
15 How to be a Hollyhock God |
|
16 |
|
17 *R. Sean Borgstrom* |
|
18 March 13, 2002 |
|
19 |
|
20 |
|
21 As mentioned in passing a few columns ago, *Nobilis* has its own unique |
|
22 term for the person running the game, to wit, the Hollyhock God. |
|
23 Historically, there have been endless variations on the language of |
|
24 flowers; in the game's dictionary of floral symbolism, the Hollyhock |
|
25 stands for ambition, glory, imagination, and perhaps a little touch of |
|
26 vanity. A Hollyhock God, then, has decided that to build a new Creation |
|
27 from their own imagination and share it with their players. I approve. |
|
28 |
|
29 Since James wanted a significant amount of advice on how to run the |
|
30 game, I set out to provide it. As in the Pharos Press edition, it's |
|
31 narrated in character. Some of this is just me: I don't feel comfortable |
|
32 telling people, as me, how to run their games. However, there's a more |
|
33 important reason. |
|
34 |
|
35 This is the section of the book most directly aimed at the reader. It is |
|
36 not just presenting information; it's talking to the prospective |
|
37 Hollyhock God, presenting directed advice on how they---the |
|
38 reader---should proceed. In my head, this leads to a large section of |
|
39 the book that breaks suspension of disbelief. Not that I expect people |
|
40 to /believe/ *Nobilis*, but I do expect them to see the world as they read. |
|
41 |
|
42 The character creation rules are written carefully to promote this, to |
|
43 show the players how the subject matter plays out in the setting. The |
|
44 setting material, of course, presents something to visualize directly. |
|
45 Spending too much time talking about how to run the game, however, |
|
46 breaks the vision and makes the reader think about /gaming/, not |
|
47 *Nobilis'* Creation. Narrating it in character helps avoid this. It's a |
|
48 character from the game world talking, and that reminder of how the game |
|
49 world works is always there. |
|
50 |
|
51 The advice in this book is much more detailed than in the previous |
|
52 edition. Accordingly, I chose a narrator, Ianthe, with a relatively |
|
53 unintrusive voice. Readers can concentrate on absorbing the material, |
|
54 with Ianthe's presence as a grace note---but an important grace note. |
|
55 |
|
56 Ianthe's advice comes in nine parts. Six cover a basic introduction, |
|
57 genre, play contracts, rules interpretation, characters, and stories. |
|
58 All of these are heavily optimized for games of *Nobilis*. Some of these |
|
59 are interesting from the design perspective. |
|
60 |
|
61 I've never actually been in a game that had a formal play contract, |
|
62 covering how the game handles sensitive topics, describing the level of |
|
63 control players have over their characters, and laying out rules for |
|
64 player conduct. However, like any sane person would, I want *Nobilis* to |
|
65 reach a large market that includes huge numbers of gamers and a |
|
66 substantial number of previous non-gamers. I also know that its subject |
|
67 matter can be fairly extreme. There is no sexual violence in the book, |
|
68 because of /my/ personal hot buttons, and perhaps two uses of foul |
|
69 language. |
|
70 |
|
71 But there's some torture, some murder and maiming, a lot of moral |
|
72 corruption, some horrible curses and massively ugly images, plus a huge |
|
73 amount of blasphemy. This is a game of wonder and horror, and the horror |
|
74 includes just about every kind that /isn't/ one of my personal hot |
|
75 buttons. Resolving the conflict between "a game for everyone" and "a |
|
76 game of intense wonder and horror" isn't easy; the best solution I can |
|
77 find is to recommend that the players and HG (Hollyhock God) sit down |
|
78 before the game and figure out what's in bounds and what's out of bounds. |
|
79 |
|
80 Besides, think how many RPG horror stories this kind of thing avoids. |
|
81 |
|
82 Playtesters rightly pointed out that most of the rules interpretations |
|
83 in the section on rules interpretation could have gone into the rules |
|
84 themselves. I'm still not sure whether I was right to leave things as |
|
85 they were. My concern was fairly straightforward: first, I integrate |
|
86 these into the rules, and then I write a new section of rules |
|
87 interpretations; and then I integrate /those/ into the rules, and so |
|
88 forth, until I find myself with a set of rules optimized for /my/ |
|
89 running the game instead of the average HG. Opinions on this are |
|
90 welcome, although I'm not able to change it now. |
|
91 |
|
92 The section on characters represents a detailed guide to the entities of |
|
93 the *Nobilis* world, a discussion of typical social relationships |
|
94 therewith, and advice to the HG on building and exploiting those |
|
95 relationships. This was not so much design choice as organic evolution; |
|
96 as I wrote about each of those three things, I found myself wanting to |
|
97 define the other two more. |
|
98 |
|
99 To finish up this column, I'll discuss the three remaining sections of |
|
100 Ianthe's advice, all wholly *Nobilis*-specific. They cover, in order, |
|
101 what Nobilis do all day, how they solve their problems, and what makes |
|
102 their lives difficult. In my head, these are probably the most important |
|
103 sections of the book, since they spell out so precisely how Noble lives |
|
104 work. |
|
105 |
|
106 The Pharos edition represents early work of mine, when my tendencies |
|
107 towards vagary, imprecision, and hinting rather than defining were |
|
108 operating at full force. I've learned better since then, and a great |
|
109 deal of the new material represents me nailing down things that might |
|
110 otherwise have rattled in the wind. |
|
111 |
|
112 The first of these sections, on typical Noble activities, had one |
|
113 primary purpose: free the players to act, rather than restricting them. |
|
114 Working from this principle, I included a large subsection on the |
|
115 personal projects of the Nobilis---their extracurricular activities, as |
|
116 it were---and made an effort to make these as extreme and varied as |
|
117 possible. Examples of this sort of project include freeing the souls in |
|
118 Hell or sleeping with every man, woman, or adult human in general before |
|
119 they die. |
|
120 |
|
121 I stretched this idea a little bit with subsections on more dutiful |
|
122 projects that nevertheless had a unique and personal character. One of |
|
123 these subsections, for example, included a depiction of the Power of |
|
124 Chaos' typical activities in service to the Chaos in his soul, which |
|
125 include sowing disaster and trouble throughout the world, gambling, and |
|
126 studying mathematics and quantum theory. There were discussions of |
|
127 relatively standard activities as well. |
|
128 |
|
129 The second of these sections discussed how Nobles solve their problems. |
|
130 This represents, in essence, a guide to playing either a PC or an NPC in |
|
131 the *Nobilis* world. This sought to preserve two game conventions: |
|
132 first, the notion that characters don't arbitrarily fail, and second, |
|
133 the idea that violence is fairly rare. |
|
134 |
|
135 To protect the first, I highlighted the ease with which the characters |
|
136 can use casually excessive force---not just violence, but also extreme |
|
137 mental, social, and miraculous solutions---against problems in the |
|
138 mortal world. |
|
139 |
|
140 To preserve the second idea, I then spent time building mechanisms by |
|
141 which the Nobilis could manipulate or oppose one another without |
|
142 engaging in all-out miraculous combat. (It honestly is supposed to be |
|
143 rare, despite the Example of Play---it's just something that I had to |
|
144 cover there.) |
|
145 |
|
146 Finally, the third of these sections discusses the opposition---the ways |
|
147 the Hollyhock God can deal with the high power level and flexible |
|
148 abilities of the player characters. This section was fairly |
|
149 straightforward; my only purpose was to create obstacles that would |
|
150 remain fun for the players rather than frustrate them. |
|
151 |
|
152 R. Sean |
|
153 |
|
154 |
|
155 What do you think? <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
|
156 |
|
157 Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
|
158 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
|
159 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
|
160 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
|
161 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
|
162 |
|
163 Topics Author Date Latest Reply |
|
164 James and the Small Caps |
|
165 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=81&t=81> (2) new Kibo |
|
166 08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new |
|
167 Art <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=77&t=77> (1) new Lxndr |
|
168 04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new |
|
169 The Original Nobilis Club |
|
170 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=76&t=76> (3) new Bret Gillan |
|
171 04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new |
|
172 Questions & Thoughts |
|
173 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=64&t=64> (3) new Pyske |
|
174 03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new |
|
175 Noble Buddhism? |
|
176 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=61&t=61> (9) new Tlaloc |
|
177 03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new |
|
178 Noble Suicide <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=58&t=58> (9) new |
|
179 Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new |
|
180 Art Notes <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=54&t=54> (4) new R. |
|
181 Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new |
|
182 Ack...you just lost my sale |
|
183 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=45&t=45> (10) new SteveD |
|
184 03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new |
|
185 Onomastikon working URL |
|
186 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=36&t=36> (4) new Jorge |
|
187 Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new |
|
188 Why do angels change names ? |
|
189 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=33&t=33> (10) new philippe |
|
190 tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new |
|
191 R. Sean, some examples? |
|
192 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=32&t=32> (3) new Arref |
|
193 03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new |
|
194 Sounds great, BUT... |
|
195 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=28&t=28> (2) new Kane |
|
196 02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new |
|
197 Sort of backwards? |
|
198 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=21&t=21> (8) new Eric Finley |
|
199 02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new |
|
200 Programmer nature slips out! |
|
201 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=20&t=20> (2) new Sean |
|
202 McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new |
|
203 Object Lesson Damage |
|
204 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=15&t=15> (1) new Darren |
|
205 Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new |
|
206 How about this? |
|
207 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=12&t=12> (2) new Kristian |
|
208 Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new |
|
209 Now, this was strange! |
|
210 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=9&t=9> (7) new access.denied |
|
211 02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new |
|
212 Briefs on the other two? |
|
213 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=5&t=5> (5) new Eric Finley |
|
214 01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new |
|
215 Forum now works <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=4&t=4> (1) new |
|
216 Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
|
217 limited series <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=1&t=1> (2) new |
|
218 Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
|
219 |
|
220 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
|
221 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
|
222 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
|
223 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
|
224 |
|
225 Newer Messages |
|
226 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=81&a=1&> | Older Messages |
|
227 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=1&a=2&> |
|
228 |
|
229 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|
230 |
|
231 * Editing, Development, and Production |
|
232 </news+reviews/columns/wind27mar02.html> |
|
233 March 27, 2002 |
|
234 * Affiliations </news+reviews/columns/wind20mar02.html> |
|
235 March 20, 2002 |
|
236 * How to be a Hollyhock God </news+reviews/columns/wind13mar02.html> |
|
237 March 13, 2002 |
|
238 * Naming Conventions </news+reviews/columns/wind06mar02.html> |
|
239 March 6, 2002 |
|
240 * Art Notes </news+reviews/columns/wind27feb02.html> |
|
241 February 27, 2002 |
|
242 * Dynamic Nobilis </news+reviews/columns/wind20feb02.html> |
|
243 February 20, 2002 |
|
244 * Systems Change </news+reviews/columns/wind13feb02.html> |
|
245 February 13, 2002 |
|
246 * Treachery </news+reviews/columns/wind06feb02.html> |
|
247 February 6, 2002 |
|
248 * The Emperor to Come </news+reviews/columns/wind31jan02.html> |
|
249 January 31, 2002 |
|
250 * The Changing of the Guard </news+reviews/columns/wind21jan02.html> |
|
251 January 21, 2002 |
|
252 |
|
253 |
|
254 Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet |
|
255 |
|
256 [ Read FAQ <http://forum.rpg.net/faq.php> | Subscribe to RSS |
|
257 <http://www.rpg.net/rss.phtml> | Contact Us <mailto:www@rpg.net> | |
|
258 Advertise with Us <http://www.rpg.net/ads/info.phtml> ] |
|
259 |
|
260 Copyright © 1996-2006 RPGnet & individual authors, All Rights Reserved |
|
261 RPGnet® is a registered trademark of Skotos Tech Inc., all rights reserved. |
|
262 |