Venicia: Random Thoughts - Setting the Scene

I've tried to think of trying to explain Venicia in other therms than just its mechanical qualities. I wanted to get into the atmosphere, the people and the lives of those NPCs that live in my Venice. Try to give them expression so that the reality they live in is easily explained. Trying to explain the setting is one thing, but to hear it from someone who lives there is another. So I have tried to write what I could call something akin to a book blurb. Although I have yet to identify the voice of the speaker I thought I would share it with you and get a little feedback if possible.

I would welcome you to the court of Sanuto family and of Doge Ventura, but Venice is not for outsiders. Head this warning. The royal court is tainted with deceit, the merchants cut the purse strings of others and artisans would rather design death but this is just the earthly world.  There are as many layers to this place as there are canals but the squabbling of Venetians pales in comparison to what resides here with us.

Beneath the waters, beneath the many islands, the facade of beauty rots away. Many Venetians choose to ignore the 'other' world around us but some of must see what others hide from.  I have witnessed death and monsters, power beyond mortal control. Savage and exquisite constructs and artefacts that adorn the last underground bastions of long dead mystics. Shades, Djinn and monstrous beasts share that world below us while by our side, we walk ignorantly in the light with demons, devils and those that are soulless. Benevolence and camaraderie comes at the cost of coin, blood or power. 

 We Venetians do not fear the water, the creatures that dwell in it, or it swallowing our province whole. We are true Venetians, but we should fear what would reshape our world, destroy us or worse; infernally claim us. A blind eye marks us all. 

 If I could, I would turn back any ship that approaches our territory, even destroy it if it meant saving sailors, explorers and traders from our eventual fate. I pray to the Gods for strength and courage, I pray for their lives and all of our souls.  Elegance is arrogance and ignorance. We Venetians cling to it like sailors to flotsam; we drown ourselves in politics, in trade and art, only to be brutally savaged by the shadows we run from. 

 I wish you would forget what I have told you and sail back to your own province or country. Tell your royalty, your employers and your seers, Venice is soaked in blood, lies and the unnatural. But you won't, will you? You're just like the others. No matter where you came from, once you're eyes are open then they can never be shut, only by death or the Gods.   

The gilded promise of the untold is a sirens call. We do not have much land to bury our dead nor do we bury outsiders. You will not transcend if you die here. You cannot take with you in death what you have had in life. May whoever or whatever finds your soul, have mercy.    

Let me know what you think in the comments, or contact me via gmail through links on here or on twitter @proftesla

/Drew

Numenera: Auspar - Building Factions (2)

I'm going to develop a little on what I talked about last time. As you hopefully know the setting for my campaign for Numenera is set in the city of Auspar. Now running an urban sandbox terrified me but also thrilled me at the same time. It was a challenge, a serious challenge for someone who has never played any Table-Top RPG ever let alone GM'd, so I had to draw upon what I knew. Creating and telling stories. Doing my masters degree I fell in love with the Oulipian movement in writing and enjoyed expressing a scientific eye over a text when I could. This lead to my love of mechanical text, narratives derived from systems and I thought what better system that an Table-Top RPG game. But being myself I wanted a challenge, and coming up with a living, breathing city was just that. As I've said I came up with the Narrative Matrix so let's talk about the other guilds/factions and how they thematically exist in relation to my urban setting. If you havn't already read The Shattered Child, you might want to. I use it to give examples to my theoretical work.

For me personally there are a few qualities to urban life, regardless of time. There will always be,in my mind, these categories. The rule maker, the rebellious, the religious, the lawful, the mercantile, the criminal, the entertainers, the hunter gatherers and the string pullers. These sound very vague but that would be the point, they are not specifics you can just plop into your game, or narrative, these are tropes.

The rule maker: The King. The governing body or bodies of a particular society, in Auspar it's the mad King. It could easily be a creed,  a government,a  dictator, a bandit chief, a majority vote or even the leader of your PC's party. It's up to you how you lead your society but each one comes with different styles of societal organisation so you need to make sure it's tailored.

The rebellious: The Purple Order. These guys something I am quite proud of, they function as rebellious as the societal rules are in their mind are not applicable due to certain circumstances or reasoning. This is different to breaking the rules, which is an important point. The rebellious could be an example, royalty from another kingdom, someone who knows nothing of urban life and its airs and graces, or someone who just perceives the world differently. The Purple Order believe they have the right to investigate any possibility of an answer, to survive the world being 'devoured'. They have a unique ability, or pretend to, to read certain materials like brail. This has lead to some invading homes, causing panic and generally creating dismay and disruption. They do not see themselves as breaking any laws as they believe their task transcends any set of rulings. The Purple Order are also known as great artists and sculptors, owing to their intimate understanding of their chosen material. Those that have disowned the order for following fruitless ideas, have become very rich and very famous, regardless of their past. Their sculpting and creation is an extension of their analysis, and they claim their endeavours were not controlled by them, almost as if they were reading a book, rather than writing one.

The religious: The Guldspar. Regardless on your personal stance there will always be an element of this in some form wherever you go. To some it's the belief they will survive tomorrow, in a guardian spirit, in an omnipotent being, or perhaps their task will save then from whatever fate will befall them. Religious, in this context, is more about belief than the practice. Of course I made the Guldspar very practice heavy just to contradict myself. They are the societal curators, the gatekeepers to climbing the social ladder. They have an intrinsic connection to the Obsidian Spire, which keeps a measure, by growth, of the tallest building in the city and therefore the highest and richest members of society. When a new building is built, Numenera is left at the Spire by the owners of the building to appease the spire and prove that their work is the tallest in Auspar. The Guldspar provide the ceremonial aspects as well as guarding and cataloging the Numenera left They also have a hive mind of sorts, akin to the Borg, however I wanted something a little different. Their hive mind is a hive of emotion and not thought. In Auspar many people have been injected with what the Guldspar use and is seen as a noble position, but does not grant you any gain in society. They also serve as adjudicators in matters where no clear guilt can be found by the Grapnel Guard. The interrogation is a simple as being injected and your emotions and behaviour monitored, some do not know they have been injected, but all do not know they are constantly being observed when they had been let go to ascertain guilt.

The Lawful: The Grapnel Guard. So named after their favoured method of travel; using the zip lines and connectors around the city so cross it with speed and ease. The king in Auspar is mad, and not trusted by the people and neither are his edicts. The Grapnel have stepped up from guard duty of the city to the law enforcers. Their tendencies however are as swift as their travel, guilty by proximity, or by coin. They have rarely caught the right person, which has had the unintended effect of everyone keeping within the rules, or else fall foul of someone else. It has become an unwritten tenet in Auspar society. Your lawmaker should be interesting and playable. Rigidity within their behaviour or outlook will only force the same encounters again and again they need to be flexible, surprising, even if you have a single sheriff, they can't always wear the sheriff's hat.

The entertainers: The Grapnel Guard. Now I can't help it but these were influenced by T.V. I was a ninety's kid and in 1992 there was a programme on ITV called Gladiators. Of course it was an idea nicked from America but I didn't have access to T.V across the pond as a child. Regardless they entertained with feats and contests of strength and agility. Now this reminded me of a city guard, or a guild of warriors, they did not perhaps perform but they carried out those feats. It made sense in the mercantile city of Auspar that everything was for sale, even the guards training and sparring. Leading to a more important role performing ceremonial acts for the city in combination with displays of strength, speed, combat prowess and flair. In your campaign this could easily be a bard, street performers (of which in Auspar there are many) to a theatre troop or a travelling circus. An urban environment requires catharsis, a release and expression of emotion, and boredom is high on that list. At its very basic level, the concept of the entertainer could go as far as the tavern you are in and the barkeep that runs it. The Gladiators inspiration also had the unintended effect of influencing the Hawk-Eyes.

More will be posted Monday so TBC....

/Drew @proftesla

Numenera: Auspar - Building Factions (1)

I am hoping to at least put one post on this blog up every week, alongside a possibly reduced schedule for The Shattered Child, going down to three posts rather than four, if needs be. This blog will be going out mostly Mondays if I can find the time. I thought I might leave you with a task, something to make you think during your week and perhaps influence how you play (hopefully positively, don't shoot me if you roll a one because of something I said).

If I'm going to be honest I'm  nervous about doing this. I'm a little greenhorn when it comes to TTRPGS so I hope my inexperienced ramblings might prove useful. To that effect I've had to come up with systems, and adaptable plots to deal with my inexperience as well as to facilitate player freedom. I didn't really want to start with a linear or restrictive game focus for my Numenera campaign, owing to the nature of the game itself. I wanted to try and capture some of the elements of a grand RPG; such as reputation, urban exploration and political intrigue.

I really wanted to do something that would perhaps make it easier for myself to navigate while allowing complex plot and NPC behaviour for the PC's. This is where I had an idea. It's called a 'Narrative Matrix' and in all intents and purposes it's pretty much just an Excel table. The table itself consists of categories that define a faction, guild or NPC in various forms of interaction with the setting and itself. They are categories defined with six possible outcomes and the lexicology used within those definitions create a stable and consistent persona. The table itself and its categories, I will leave for another blog but I would like to explain how these definitions interact.

When my PCs discovered a piece of Numenera they wanted to fix, they were given three options; The Order of Truth, House Narrkonis, or the Metricious.  To explain why, in each of their initial definitions in the 'General Motives' category of my matrix, they all contain the keyword of Numenera preceded by a verb; Gather/Protect/Study. In a functional role they will all provide assistance. The GM  needs to be concerned with the verbs attached to the Numenera which help define their relationship. The Order of Truth are more likely, in my campaign, to protect the Numenera from the general population. House Narrkonis has a long standing history of studying the Numenera, while the Metricious want to collect it, to sell it on. Each of these defines the interactions available and perhaps will offer different avenues for the PCs to explore, as well as perhaps dissuading them from certain choices.

The matrix, for myself at least, gives me a handy reference guide to who can do what. However when it comes to actual play the city is live and will react to and carry on regardless of PC interaction. This is why each category has been given six values. Initially to set up the tone and the atmosphere of the city I asked one of my players to roll a few six sided dice. Two are given to the General Motives Category which allows for more complex behaviours.  As an example the Metricious have these definitions within the General Motives category:

1. Brandish Wealth - Using assets to fund public displays of affluence
2. Mercantile - The buying, selling or trading of goods
3. Gather Numenera - Actively or passively perusing Numenera to collate
4. Celebrate - Involvement with religious, or non religious events in a positive manner
5. Brewing - The creation and/or selling of alcoholic beverages in various forms
6. Abuse Power - Influence and control with little regard for subterfuge.

At the start of the plot the group had rolled a one and a three, this resulted in the initial behaviours of the Metricious as 'Brandishing Wealth' and 'Gathering Numenera'. For a GM you can use these separately or if plausible, combining the two. In the city of Auspar, Numenera is left at the Obsidian Spire at the centre of the city. Perhaps, knowing that the Metricious are not so law abiding, they have used their wealth to deposit Numenera in a public display, however the Numenera is fake and as they are placing down their offerings, they are removing the real Numenera. This could provide a plot hook in itself, or provide a backing to whatever interactions your PCs need with that faction.

Of course this does not mean this Matrix is limited in scope to groups, guilds or families. If the campaign is more on a intimate level and requires interaction with single NPCs then you can easily change them to names of characters. In keeping with the Metricious, perhaps an unsavoury travelling merchant called Varen, is going around, pretending to be a lord and demanding Numenera as payment for some action. The use of the six descriptors allows a consistent portrait to be built and will hopefully result in minimal dissonance between what has been established and what will happen.

I thought I might leave you with a task, something to make you think during your week and perhaps influence how you play (hopefully positively, don't shoot me if you roll a one because of something I said):

• GM Task: Take one or more NPC's/Guilds/Factions/Families and define them in six ways using simple meanings. Make sure the categories you use can be reused to define others within your game. If some share, think how the rest of their definitions allow them to differentiate themselves in the same task, how they would complete it differently and how the outcomes would affect the PCs.
  
• PC Task: Can you define your motives as a character in a similar way? Can any of your previous characters be defined be the same characteristics as your current character, if so why? Can you describe the other characters in the game in a similar fashion and do they agree?

Hopefully you enjoyed reading, any feedback would be greatly appreciated, you can find me on twitter @proftesla or follow the links on the blog to my Google+.

Have a great week,

/Drew 

Introduction

I've decided to create a blog that is dedicated to the more technical aspects of my writing as well as updates on my research/development of my ideas (as well as possible rants). Primarily this will deal with two subjects, 'The Shattered Child', my Numenera campaign and a new setting for the Cypher System called under the working title of 'Venicia', hence the name of the blog.

My Numenera campaign The Shattered Child is something that I've been writing in both terms of campaign structure for play sessions, and translating it into a narrative. This goes in part with my PhD thesis I am researching before submission Ludological Mechanisms.Its turned into a pretty weighty blog with over forty thousand words at the time I'm writing. There are two conscious choices I made with it. Firstly, no speech. Unfortunately I've found that speech has only been useful if it was from an NPC as they normally function as plot development, while PC interactions can vary from casual to strategically and most take up the word count. Secondly retroactive continuity with action for the sake of narrative interest. My players decide the action that unfolds and react to situations that derive from them. Although the campaign is narrative driven and I have tried to implement a Schrödinger's Gun approach, allowing a constant flexibility while keeping within a narrative universe. It also allows for greater player agency while still delivering on what I believe to be an important factor, suspension of disbelief. Coming from my academic background, I'm primarily a storyteller.

On that note this brings in 'Venicia'. Although it is still in very early development it is using the research I have been collecting for my thesis and putting it into action. I'm currently studying and extracting elements from Italo Calvino's 'Italian Folklore' and '101 Arabian Nights'. I'll be exploring both schools of narrative and magic's to blend them together into something I can work with. I can generally say it can be described as gunpowder, clock punk and mystics. It implements an alternative history where the Mongols never sieged Baghdad and the Knights Templar never went on their crusades in the East. I won't give you much more than that I'm still working on it, but there will be elements from Italian folklore, Arabic Mythology and perhaps a small part of Arthurian legend. I am determined to make it as true to its origins as possible, limiting the translations that change or diffuse meaning. This setting will be partially urban, set in eighteenth century Venice and so, in part, the history and sociology of the original Venice will also be included. The three 'nouns' of the Cypher System are currently 'Bastion' 'Astrologist' and 'Marauder'. It's a weighty task and heavily research based.

In my mind's eye I can see a courtesan, holding an exotic and intricately ornate machine in his palm. He turns a few cogs and puts a key into the machine and a roar of flame bursts forth in the form of a jinn, manacled by chains and cogs. It speaks in a foreign tongue before the courtesan is shot in the back. The machine falls from his grasp as he falls to floor in a pool of his blood. The jinn returns to the machine as it falls into the water. As it hits the bed of the canal, a gondola casts dappled shadows down from the surface as a clawed hand reaches up from the silt and grabs hold of it. The inner parts of the machine glowing red in the murky waters.

This may provide some useful tips on how I play RPGs and how I develop my narratives but this is advice only, players, games, situations and GM's vary and my way of playing is probably alien to some and may not work with the game you are in. I've chosen Numenera and the Cypher System because of its exploration and narrative focus, its easily accessible rule set  and the sheer creativity of the Monte Cook Games team. If you haven't checked them out do so.

I think that's long enough, thanks for reading all the way through and I will catch you next time.

/Drew