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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
+
+
+ What do you think? <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88>
+
+Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88>
+ Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88>
+
+ 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
+
+ Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88>
+
+ Newer Messages
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=81&a=1&> | Older Messages
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=1&a=2&>
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ * 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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