RPGaDay 2019 Day #24 Noble

Today’s theme is “Noble.”

I haven’t used noble ranks and titles in my games. Most of them haven’t gone on that long, and the one that did found me totally unprepared for that occurrence. So instead, I’m going to discuss the American version of nobility, which is not reliant upon blood or heritage, but upon character.

This might wind up as something of a political post, but this is something that I’ve formulated as a balance between the two major forces of American politics these last few years. I have friends on both sides of the aisle and an interest in keeping them as friends.

There are two things that a good and noble person must do. They must oppose evil and they must uphold goodness. Everyone has their opinion on the evils of the world. That’s their prerogative. But the thing that I find most telling is how someone upholds goodness. What do they do when evil is defeated and how do they prevent it from returning? What do they build over the ruins?

This is one of the questions that has fascinated me about the RPG Exalted. The characters are so powerful, even at the beginning of the game, that it’s hard to prevent them from doing what they want. They can defeat any mundane mortal that tries to challenge them. As they become more powerful, they begin to be able to challenge the spirits and gods of the setting. The game isn’t about challenging them. It’s about revealing who the character is by how they decide to change the world.

It might also be what interests me in domain-level play in OSR games (I haven’t tried it, but it’s part of my “ultimate sandbox” campaign concept). Destruction is easy, but it only tells you so much about the characters. It’s more difficult to build and much more revealing of the kind of person you’re dealing with and how noble they truly are.

RPGaDay 2019 #23 Obscure

Today’s theme is Obscure.

I could possibly be writing about obscure games today. I do have a soft spot for the small and the strange. But my entire physical game collection is still boxed up and waiting for me when my wife and I get our own place (fingers crossed!), so I can’t pull one off the shelf and sing its praises right now.

But that’s not the only way I could go. I do love me some Dresden Files and other urban fantasy. One thing I find especially interesting is how the fantastical elements stay hidden. One reason that urban fantasy is sometimes called wainscot fantasy is because the magical things are hidden in the walls of the setting (though sometimes literally).

A lot of urban fantasy games assume that there is some sort of Masquerade in effect. As K in the first Men in Black movie states, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky animals […].” Therefore, most supernatural creatures deliberately hide to avoid attracting undue attention. The term “Masquerade” comes from the game Vampire: The Masquerade, in which one of the rules of surviving as a vampire is to avoid attracting attention and letting people think that vampires are made up.

The other games in the World of Darkness line have a degree of wainscoting built in. In Mage: The Ascension, not only is it harder for a mage to use their magic in front of mundane observers, they accrue Paradox for doing so, which can make their lives much more difficult in a lot of ways. Werewolves invoke intense fear in anyone who watches them transform or see them in their most powerful form.

The Dresden Files has a little of column A and a little of column B. Most supernatural creatures have some sort of Masquerade in effect, staying under the radar of mundane society. But wizards like Harry Dresden also have problems with modern technology. He can’t do magic on television because his spell would blow up the camera on top of whatever it was intended to do.

I once ran a D20 Modern campaign which was set in a “Tabloid World.” There was no wainscoting to speak of, but people were so attached to everything being “normal” that they preferred to ignore any potential weirdness going on around them. I had a lot of fun with that and keep wanting to do it again some day.

RPGaDay 2019 #22 Love

Today’s theme is “Love.”

I love RPGs. They’ve been part of my life for over 20 years now. But there’s something that entered my life about the same time that I love even more. My wife.

We’re both nerds, which is awesome. We’re both natural GMs, though, so we don’t do a lot of gaming together, which sucks. 

Another awesome thing is how many gaming couples I’ve had the pleasure to know. My unreformed First Edition Dungeon Master Erik runs a game that includes his wife, as well as his daughter. My friend Jordan has his girlfriend as a regular player in his games. I know a few more couples in which both of the parties are gamers, but I haven’t had the pleasure of gaming with one or both of them.