Sad (Stories) Say So Much.

It turns out my game can be a bit of a downer, some sessions.

Yes, I'm referring to Nobilis, again. Time and again, Suriel (the PCs' Angelic Imperator) has lost something. He's lost Atlantis (his home) and his Familia (the PCs starting the game), near the beginning. When he got that back, it wasn't long before he lost face with his brother angels for hiding one of their own from Creation. And then he got kicked out of the Coucil of the Metatron (think elder Angels) for hiding perhaps the most feared and dangerous of the Fallen in a similar way. He stood up for the Grigori. He's lost a few more Nobles since. And now it turns out he was actually killed over 7000 years ago and transformed into an what was supposed to be an enemy of Creation. Fortunately, he's the Angel of Loyalty, and still has a job to do. After that's done, though...

I'm in my third year of running my Nobilis game, my third year with Suriel. I've known it wasn't a happy tale from the get-go--the subtitle, "Legacy," implies it, if you think. The game started with a handful of PC Nobles who were destined to lose. I told each the players to have an Anchor--a more human, more limited character--handy to play sessions with different scope than the typical Nobilis game. And then I told each player individually that their starting Noble characters weren't really their main characters--that they'd switch to their Anchors full-time at some point. And halfway through the summer, I killed the whole group, and their Anchors got their jobs as the Powers of Waves, Rock and Roll, Loyalty, the Subconscious, Discovery and Masks.

I could go on listing the losses the players have suffered, but it would take a while, and it's not the point. I like the heroism spurred on by this sort of tragedy, and the PCs have risen to meet the challenge. I love the heroes who have every reason to give up, to cut their losses or to at least get hung up on them, but don't. They go on anyway, even though they know it's going to hurt even more before they are done.

My girlfriend and I are playing in a Changeling game together as a brother and sister who were kidnapped by the Fae as children--our brother at age 4, her character at age 5 and mine at age 8--one night after another. The growing horrible knowledge that these things aren't your brother and sister, and that something GOT them in the night, and that your all-knowing parents couldn't tell the difference...it's just too much fun. And to come back physically a 11-year old after a handful of years (maybe) in captivity to find that around 30 years passed, and that those things took your life from you...now that is a hero's origin story if I've ever heard one.

I've been kicking around an idea about D&D clerics and paladins, especially the later. It seems most concepts for those classes involve a great deal of education--they imply well-to-do if not noble families. Heck, the paladin class isn't complete without the Knowledge (nobility and royalty) skill. What of the peasant who shows up to the Temple with his jaw set, telling people he wants to be a paladin--that he knows he's been chosen? He's tested, or course--even if they aren't normally, he would be. Senior paladins and/or clerics react with at best patronizing looks and helpful advice (that they're all sure he needs), to at worst outright scorn (because he's taken a child's game too far), but he knows it's real. He passes the tests his way--technically legal, but with unexpected twists and use of a commoner's strength, perseverance and wisdom. His peers think he's doomed, or a blight on the order, or a little brother they should protect from the real evils of the world. That'd be an interesting paladin to me.

Start from the mud. Maybe even fall in it a few times, just so you know which way is up.

~j

Mage: the Awakening and Hubris

I just found out that at least three of the PC's in the nWoD Mage game I'm in have the same Vice: Pride.

It seems like a natural choice. Each of the nWoD critter types have an additional way to degenerate: Perfectly Normal Human Beings (PNHBs) have Humanity, but Mages have Humanity and Wisdom. And Wisdom, as it happens, can be lowered by committing "sins of Hubris"--mostly by using Awakened magic to do things ranging from everyday tasks (for those with high Wisdom) to atrocities (for those with low Wisdom).

So pride as a vice is part-and-parcel to being a Mage. Players who choose it as a Vice as well probably envision their characters as having a particular problem with Hubris, and therefore as having a lower Wisdom score--at least, eventually.

It's interesting, though, that a game about being an Awakened human--about being potentially great--doesn't have any game effects or mention of the flip side of pride. Pride, as a virtue, is the acknowledgement that one is great in some way. Mage is one of the few games in nWoD that seems to really be about holding out against degeneration and horror--the new setting and game really feel like they are focused on hope, that they can win against the bad guys, or help humanity, or what have you. Sure--most mages do fall short, but they all have the potential for greatness. So, why no mention of the satisfaction they feel in their accomplishments?

But maybe that's just my character speaking through me. Haughtily.

~j

A Multiverse of Options.

Conundrum!

My girlfriend is talking seriously about trying to run a Planescape game using 3.5 rules. We'll all basically be a detective agency. And there is too much to choose from.

Planescape itself has too many cool things going for it. Planar or Prime? Insert weird race here! Faction, sect, religion...it's all so huge. Then add 3.5, in all it's glory (and kobolds). ECL! Prestige classes!

I'm beginning to think that I should play a very "Jason character," and let things flow from there. Dark magic! Smart! Maybe something vaguely Egyptian! The whole concept for "Hygelak" came from a time when I was toying around with Planescape in 2nd Ed, though he's gone through alot of drift over the years. Hyge was a necromancer with Dustman ties that dreamed of gaining power and influence with the Baatezu--the devils. She's not gonna let him be LE, though. :D

There's True Name magic, from the Tome of Magic. I've never tried it out, and always wanted to. Magic is skill checks that get harder if you use the same one more than once a day. Another personal favorite is the Binder class--sharing your body with a lost or dead...thing...to gain power.

Did I mention I like the creep-factor in my characters?

Also, if people who read this (HA!) know of a good, free, online battle-map dodad, let me know. The proposed game will be over the 'net to connect to some out-of-state friends, so we're gonna need to know where we stand.

Ah! Time to throw stuff together for work.

~j

The Life of Death.

Yeah, I have a new blog.

You might ask, "Why a new blog? You hardly ever write on this one!"

The Life of Death is all about a guy that doesn't exist. He'll talk about his fictional life as the Power of Death--he's based off a character I'm playing in my girlfriend's new Nobilis campaign, and a character that will be popping up in my Nobilis game. In both, he was chosen--inexplicably--to serve and protect a shard of the soul of the fallen Angel Samael; specifically, the shard of Death. His family varies from game to game--most of the time, he'll be the Matt Underwood from her game, but I'm allowing for the possibility that I'll want to write something about the Matt of Death from -my- game.

So, look for stuff there. I'll post other random rants and fiction here, but that one will mostly be fictional rants.

~j

Whiskers on Kittens.

School is back. We'll see -how- back it is for me personally eventually. Word of advice, do not put off tomorrow what will take 6-8 weeks due to bureaucracy.

I like my classes. I suppose that shouldn't surprise people who know me--I'm (probably) taking an intro class to C programming, and an intro class for Linux OSs. Programming will be a pain, sometimes, I'm sure, but I'm glad enough to have something actually prodding me to learn--messing around with MUD code doesn't give one the feeling of urgency that grades do. And it's been a -long- time since I programming in BASIC with my dad's Commodore 64 (don't mention the Vic20--that didn't end well). Linux is another thing I rather lazily tinkered with in the past. Problem was, Windows was/is easier. As versions keep coming out for Windows, I need to know less and less. Linux has this steep learning curve--note, the class is an -Intro- to Linux! And worth 3 hours! I suspect that the class on Windows Vista might be worth extra credit in someone else's class, but that's it. But, back to the point--it's neat, I looked into it before, but now I really have a reason to dig into those commands.

Fun thing about taking classes part-time: it's possible to have just one instructor. It's consolidated my need to explain why I couldn't actually register for those classes until today. Since the instructor is used to teaching online courses, and most of the classwork is online, I'll have to do some catching up...as soon as the registration flips some mysterious switches that will allow me to access the classes...

But no matter the stupid fiddly-stuff with Financial Aid and registration, it feels good to be on campus, to know that I'm a student (maybe), and yes, even to learn stuff.

[Exalted] Bard's Tongue.

"And Darkness, royal and sad, will come to the cliffs.

Sparks that have become beams will stand in the darkness,

Against it, they will burn.

And the beams may only shine through if, in their radiance,

The Darkness sees itself, and knows.

And then, the Darkness, royal and unfeeling, will come to the cliffs.

In the night, only the beams will shine

Holding til the seventh light breaks on the dawn."

--Shian Petep, prostitute and fortune-teller of the Wine-and-Song brothel in Port Calin

"...what does that mean for long-term investments?"

--customer

Death TV.

I think I've mentioned that I really don't watch TV normally. I salute websites like hulu.com that understand that sometimes I can't, or don't want to, watch TV during normal prime-time. And because I watch TV online, often I can quickly catch up through a huge backlog of episodes, given a few days and sufficient interest in the show.

I remember seeing ads for Pushing Daisies when it first started, but I never buckled down and checked out an episode, so I missed out, until now. But, having run out of episodes I can get ahold of (and nearly out of episodes, period), I hopped over to another series by the creator--Dead Like Me.

Similar to Pushing Daisies, the show is all about death, and death is in every episode. But Dead Like Me is far from the cheesy, sunshiney world created for a show on ABC. The characters are closer to our world--dirtier sometimes, or more angry, or more screwed up. There are still odd, arcane rules about how things happen, or should happen. The main character, George, dies and becomes a "grim reaper," but just as important as seeing how that other half lives, we get to see how our half deals with George's loss, how her family copes and moves on, or not.

The pilot brought tears to my eyes--death is arbitrary and unfair, and the show acknowledges that. The people who collect souls don't know much more than the people dying, as it turns out. So far in the series, George, the new girl on the job (and rather disaffected in life) keeps asking "Why?"

Why me?

Why her?

Why not?

Why do some people get to keep living?

Why do I keep losing people?

Conversely, her "boss," a senior reaper, basically keeps answering "Because." And he has experience to back it up--but the answer is often "Because. Sorry, but deal with it."

I can't wait to keep watching. I love this cast, and I can't wait for the leader of the pack of reapers to be proven wrong by the new girl.

~j