Games in Education
I believe that my playing of games has contributed positively to my development as an individual. Traditionally advocacy for gaming has included the development of teamwork and leadership skills, understanding of competition, resource management and also a greater appreciation of geography, politics, religion and 'alien' cultures. Games, especially tabletop role-playing games, have been used in education for years as they are comparatively light on resources, encourage participation and are good for personal development.
I read this from BrainyGamer
This year, for the first time, a video game will appear on the syllabus of a course required for all students at Wabash College, where I teach. For me - and for a traditional liberal arts college founded in 1832 - this is a big deal.
...
I pitched the idea to my colleagues on the committee (decidedly not a collection of gamers), and they agreed to try Portal and read selections from Goffman's book. After plowing through some installation issues ("What does this Steam do? Will it expose me to viruses?"), we enjoyed the first meaningful discussion about a video game I've ever had with a group of colleagues across disciplines. They got it. They made the connections, and they enjoyed the game. Most importantly, they saw how Portal could provoke thoughtful reflection and vigorous conversation on questions germane to the course.And so we're playing Portal at Wabash College.
Portal is, for a single player game, utterly fascinating.
I yearn for a group of individuals who get together to not only play games but also to have meaningful discussion about games and play. To examine the meta-design of games and to discuss the reasons why they are fun.
BLOC54 – GameStorming
Equally useful for the development of tabletop game ideas, this method was used tonight to brainstorm some ideas for videogames in our local game development cluster.
8 Bit Demakes
This article describes 8 bit de-makes - remaking some of todays popular games in 8 bit and 16 bit forms. Some of them still look amazing such as Little Big Planet and Mirrors Edge.
All of them are great but these two - you can see why I like them - they'd work really well on a 3.5 inch screen if you know what I mean 
Mirrors Edge is almost already there but looking at LBP - that would, could be a lot of fun.
Runnin and Jumpin genre mash
Earlier this week, we had a meeting of local iOS developers and we segued into a conversation about the development of game ideas ahead of a 'gamestorming' event we have planned for next week.
We talked about the development of game ideas and there was a look at the Mirror's Edge game in the context of being a game which essentially involves running and jumping. I decided to add a little pastiche here using the powers of Youtube. All of the games listed below bring different perspectives to the running and jumping genre.
The first running and jumping game was Donkey Kong (1981):
but possibly the most famous running and jumping game is Super Mario Bros.
A recent game by an Irish developer is Into the Twilight (iTunes link). It shows a different theme for running and jumping games.
and finally, I present Mirror's Edge for iPad which I personally think is streets ahead of the FPS released on consoles and PC. But where it wins is in the interface. Touch interface is perfect in this game.
Review of 20 non-video games at Gamasutra
Gamasutra has an interesting set of articles on real-world game design.
[Game Design Essentials returns with an extensive review of some of the most interesting non-electronic games, from traditional cultural games like Chess and Go through pen-and-paper role playing titles like Call of Cthulhu, European games like The Settlers of Catan, and much more -- each with a unique design lesson.]
The only game I would add to the review would be Vampire: The Masquerade for it's (at the time) unique emphasis on character and the loss of humanity which does compare to the sanity-blasting nature of Call of Cthulhu after a fashion. But the exclusion of the game is undoubtedly because of the afterbirth of the tortured souls who first loved the game: the trenchcoat samurai. These individuals (and their cohorts, the velvet wannabees) changed the tone of the game and put a lot of people off. When you had a good group, however, you had a game which focused on social interaction, on playing roles like duty, love, passion, perversion - and making it acceptable though challenging to play.
Vampire revitalised the hobby (again) and this role is now being repeated by indie games which have a reduced need for long preparations and rely more on social interaction and 'storytelling' than strict adherence to the result of a dice (if indeed they have any randomising element).
The Aliens Are Coming
Stephen Hawking talks about how we should hide from aliens:
I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach. ... If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.
At least until we get our own massive ships after looting the Earth for goodies and go out on the prowl.
This is the plot for "The War of the Worlds" after all. Just the distances may be many orders of magnitude greater.
Asshat Paladins blog
Matt Borselli has a quick writeup of his experience with Crucible Design, and more specifically The 23rd Letter, on his blog, AssHat Paladins.
I enjoyed chatting about it - getting involved in my own narcissism obviously - and it brought back a lot of memories.
Part two will be out in a week or so so subscribe to his blog if you want to catch it.
SixSimple: for use with CONTROL
I do like narrative systems.
Character Generation
You create a character description consisting of up to 10 facts (maybe related to Quirks, Drive, Flaws) and underline 5 of them. These 5 things are your most descriptive traits which may be objects, skills, contacts, background items and can, in theory, be called into play at any time. If the timing seems inappropriate, the Narrator may require the sacrifice of a Story Point or a card of a significant value from the hand. This really only needs to be one paragraph.
Choose one more to be your Drive - the most fundamental ambition for your character. This is commonly related to the reason why the character is not content to stay home and sow crops or catch fish.
Choose one flaw. This can be physical, mental, spiritual or emotional. It may be how the character perceives the world or how the world perceives the character.
This character sheets is nicknamed a "Charagraph" mainly because Paracter sounds silly.
Traits : "Turi is a shell diver like all of her family. She is tall, thin and wiry and like most in the region is dark, with coppery-brown hair. She lives with her three brothers and her father - an arrangement which has made her tomboyish and she's a capable wrestler as a result. She carries a steel knife and a diving shell which allowed her to stay underwater for nearly 10 minutes. She has collected a small fortune in pearls and semi-precious stones from her diving exploits. She never knew her but her father claims her mother was a woman of influence from one of the big inland cities. Her family are somewhat devout to the Old One and still have a small shrine to her in their basement.
Drive : She is Driven by her desire to gain wealth and travel to see if she still has family in the cities.
Flaw : Due to an overdive when she was younger which caused her eardrums to burst, Turi is 40% deaf
Idea for card based play:
(You may want to look at the rules for IllusionDev) Everything has a opposition value. You have a hand of 5 cards by default. When you play one and win the conflict, you pick up one. Every task has a single resolution - one card draw blind against the pack. If you lose the conflict you do not pick up.
Optional Rules: Normal conflicts are just a comparison of the numbers, such as Jack versus a 4 in the example here.
The Face card rule would be that if you play a face card and win, you get to choose the outcome. So if Turi had played her 8 here, it would have been a normal win. If she plays the Jack and wins, she can give a narrative of the outcome!
The Hand or Trait rule says that you can increase or decrease your active hand by two by decreasing or increasing the number of traits you have. So, you can have seven underlined traits if you choose to only have a hand of three available to you. Or a hand of seven and only three underlines traits. Essentially hand + traits should equal 10.
Example: Turi has five cards in her hand: 8H, JC, 3D, 7D, 2S. She is fighting against a would-be thug who wanted to rob her of her hard-earned pearls. She wants the conflict over and done with quickly so she plays her highest value card, JC. The Narrator makes a draw for the thug and gets a 4 of Spades. She beats him handily and draws a card, 8D to replace her Jack.
If you win a conflict you pick up again. Advantages and flaws and difficulty are represented by additional cards being drawn and added to the first in a Blackjack fashion. If you have an underlined trait then you can play a SECOND card to bolster the first. If the area is covered by a flaw then the opposition gains an additional card draw.
Example: Turi is fighting again, this time 10 metres underwater, against a Reef Eel, a large and voracious predator. Normally this would give the Narrator the opportunity to draw TWO cards against her one. But she's a Shell Diver and has that trait underlined so it cancels out the additional draw. She plays her 8D and the Narrator draws from the deck for the Eel. 9H! Ouch. She's hurt but not down and doesn't get to draw another card. The Narrator will now decide if the Eel attacks again or retires back to it's hiding hole. If it attacks again, she only has 4 cards in her hand with which to defend herself.
For one-to-many conflicts: everyone plays their single card. And work out the conflict as normal. Most people and animals will be incapacitated or removed from the conflict with a single loss. Some non-players may rival the Player Characters in their ability to resist incapacitation by having an effective hand of 2, 3, 4 or more!
Example: Turi and her friend Tobin have confronted a hooded stranger who has just dropped something into the village well. All three make their plays. Juri plays a 7D, Tobin a QH. The Narrator draws for the stranger and gets a 9S. Turi is hurt and as she has not rested is down to 3 cards! But Tobin gets a good decisive strike and elects to have staggered the stranger. The Narrator has decided that the Stranger has an effective hand of 3 which means to be incapacitated, he needs to be defeated three times in conflict. Our heroes attack again: Turi plays an 8H and Tobin a 7C. The stranger draws....a 4C! This means he takes two hits, one from each, which brings him down to 0. He falls to the ground...
Story Points:
Everyone starts with one and these can be used to
retcon a narrative scene just played
change the outcome of any single conflict (any single play of cards)
change an item of background to fit
heal one Serious Wound instantly/quickly/turn it into a flesh wound that can be ignored.
Combat and being hurt.
Combat is the same as any other play. Being hurt - every time you lose a conflict you do not pick up a fresh card until you have had time to recuperate. In essence, lose conflicts five times and you're effectively incapacitated. NB: Your Hand represents how you cope with fatigue, setbacks, defeat and anything that tests your determination and willpower.
Wounds are represented differently. Anything less than a serious wound is dealt with using the Hand reduction described above. If, however a combat ends where the winning card was a face card (and the winner gets to describe the effect) the winning result was more than 10 points higher than the losing result then the loser ends up with a Serious Wound. Serious Wounds are like normal hand reductions but they have a longer lasting impact on the character as hand reductions are made back using sleep or recuperation. Serious wounds can only be removed by proper medical attention (which to all intents and purposes does not exist). A Serious Wound therefore is a potentially permanent and possibly fatal addition to a character.
Until healed, each Serious Wound represents a Hand reduction of 1 for every activity.
Optional Rules:
Soaking Wounds
It's possible to "soak" a wound by using Traits or Drive. Using a Trait means making a blind play against another blind draw by the Narrator. If the player wins the draw, then they may explain away the wound. If they lose they take a SECOND wound.
e.g. Ferren has a Drive which describes his hatred of the Saruch Ascendancy, a cult responsible for the death of his father. During a duel, he finds out that his enemy is a member of the Saruchs and when wounded he attempts to soak - rationalising that his drive to defeat the Saruchs gives him strength in battle. He will either ignore the wound or gain a second wound...but it may be worth the gamble.
If a Serious Wound is not bound then every week that passes the character received another Serious Wound. After the character has received three serious wounds, he or she is dead. If a serious wound is bound then in most cases the player can erase the Serious Wound after one month of play. (and it takes two months to remove two serious wounds).
If a character has three serious wounds and then elects to Recuperate rather than Die, then the character may survive but the player must describe how the wounds have permanently affected the character.
CONTROL: How to run the game. Part 1.
Starting the Game
This game has the rather traditional role of GameMaster assigned to one player, usually "C".
The player will be provided with missions in one of two ways.
TOP-DOWN
Requests which come from GOVERNMENT and are passed to CONTROL via "C". These will be in the form of mission dossiers. These can be pre-prepared dossiers or a verbal briefing, CONTROL will begin to plan their activity, allocate their Agents and Assets and arrange timing.
BOTTOM-UP
Incidents caused by ENEMY and after information-gathering, CONTROL must present their findings to "C". CONTROL must decide the appropriate response whether that be "No Further Action" or whether there is a need for a mission response.
CONTROL
There should be one member of CONTROL for each player in the game. One Player Character will be assigned the role of "C" and in control of a large percentage of the background of the game, two will be assigned the roles of "DC" (Deputy Chiefs) and the remainder will be "D" (Directors). At the start of the game, all that is needed for each member of CONTROL are three facts:
The characters name
The characters previous job
The name of the person in Government who helped them get the job.
As the game continues, members of CONTROL need to keep records of the Agents and Assets on their books. They can do this using the Agent Profile sheets and the Assets Roster sheet.
Previous Job suggestions: Diplomatic Attache; Ministry of Defence; Senior Agent (5, 6); Major or higher, Army Intelligence Corps; Commander or higher, Naval Intelligence; RAF Operations Support (Intelligence) personnel.
AGENTS
Agents are both vital and expendable. They represent years of experience and training, a temperament
Agent Generation
TRAITS
You create a character description consisting of up to 10 facts (maybe related to Quirks, Drive, Flaws) and underline 5 of them. These 5 things are your most descriptive traits which may be objects, skills, contacts, background items and can, in theory, be called into play at any time. If the timing seems inappropriate, the Narrator may require the sacrifice of a Story Point or a card of a significant value from the hand. This really only needs to be one paragraph.
Agents are required to describe TWO of the following in their underlined traits:
Tradecraft - cryptography, surveillance, interrogation, concealment, espionage skills
Military Science - demolitions, tactics, morale, technology, command, control
Combat skills - use of weapons, unarmed combat, sniper
DRIVE
Choose one more to be your Drive - the most fundamental ambition for your character. This is commonly related to the reason why the character is working as an Agent.
FLAW
Choose one flaw. This can be physical, mental, spiritual or emotional. It may be how the character perceives the world or how the world perceives the character.
The description of an Agent need not describe their age, origin or birthplace. It should provide a physical description and a brief of their abilities and experience.
ASSETS
Assets are characters who have little or no access to Classified information and a low security clearance. They may be highly skilled or highly experienced in their fields, but they are commonly ignorant of the intelligence community.
specialists (scientists, pilots, assassins)
bodies (drivers, henchmen)
To create an Asset, three facts are needed.
The Assets name
The Assets reason for being used: skills, contacts, position, background
The Assets personal reason for working with the Agents
SYSTEM
The system I'm using at the moment is SixSimple (derived from the GameSystem designed for SeaFarers). The system will be posted in a couple of days.
Frontier: Conquest Weapons
The common weapon within the Conquest Society is the 'dumb' slugthrower. A Chemical Propellent Projectile Weapon (extremely recognisable as a 'gun') uses a chemical explosion to create gases which propel a projectile at subsonic or supersonic speeds towards a target.
Here are three examples of the weapons known to be employed among the Conquest Society. Some of them are strategic, others personal. This is by no means an exhaustive list but indicate the types of weapons which have been developed.
Thor's Hammer - Relativistic Kill Vehicle (RKV)
Useless against small, unpredictable objects like HU Explorers and Battlers, the RKV is deadly versus Specialist-manned cargo transports and stationary or predictable vessels such as orbital space habitats or even small satellites. A projectile or vessel is accelerated to a fraction of light speed an is sent towards the target. The difficulty of aiming at small, fast moving craft with such a high speed projectile is mitigated using detonation. Detonation RKVs have utility against fleets of craft (for rapid delivery and subsequent fragmentation) and have been theorised for use against Swarm clusters, even by HU. Delivery RKVs commonly use their mass to provide impact which can deliver massive energy to their targets. A small (7 kg) RKV travelling at 90% of light-speed will deliver around 195 Megatons - approximately twice the theoretical yield of the most powerful 20th Century nuclear weapon ever detonated. These weapons require immense amounts of energy to fire - but they are effectively immune to point defence weapons due to their extreme velocity.
SOJUM rifles -
Official name from the R&D Labs is the Compound Delivery Rifle but the delivery for this weapon is a gyrojet-assisted armour-piercing sabot which injects a chemical compound into or onto the target. On a personnel scale, this is a Sodium- or Phosphorus-based aggregate which causes horrific burn injuries in addition to the impact from the round. The range of this weapon is considerable and the ballistics extremely favourable considering this is not a 'brilliant' weapon. The lack of recoil has made it extremely useful in zero-G and microgravity environments. The construction of the SOJUM is similar enough to the HU Brilliant weapons that it is assumed the technology was stolen.
Sunburn - High Energy Radio Frequency Weapon
The Sunburn weapon, a radio emitter that can be carried by a single combatant, is capable of effects to the human central nervous system resulting in physical pain, difficulty breathing, vertigo, nausea, disorientation, or other systemic discomfort. Direct pulses can also damage the epidermis and dermis of the skin, generating burns from over a kilometer away. This is commonly used to disperse crowds in urban areas.
Frontier: Terror Weapons
While Human Unity uses weapons which would enthral the 21st Century warlord, from shipboard weapons to intelligent bullets, the greatest and most terrible weapon is the Master Expert, artificial intelligences designed for war. But this weapon does not inspire fear in the average person. It is just a brain, a ruthless brain designed to win wars whatever the cost, but still only a brain.
The Earth provided us with a catalogue of terrors from which to build an army of Terror Weapons. Like the Digger Wasp which paralyses it's insect prey and implants eggs into the still-living creature. Or the Phorid fly which attacks red ants, injecting them with larvae which migrate to the ant's head and consume, using the head as a pupal case. What we do know is that the Conquest society have built upon their memories of Earth - built from the genebanks they brought with them.
We don't need to imagine that other races on other planets across the wormhole network have their own horrors to build upon. The Trader archives contain several examples of bio-engineered guerilla weapons which decimated entire worlds, complete with dire warnings to stay away. These weapons are recorded as causing extinction events on the home planets where they originated.
Frontier: The Dichotomy of Fulfillment
In an earlier post, I discussed two examples of Citizenship, reproduced here for your convenience:
Chera Nyumba was born in a small village in Africa, in an area formerly known as Zambia. She lives with her husband and their three children. While the children are at school, Chera and Enzi work in their fields, collecting their crops. In the evenings, they watch and listen to the news feeds and Enzi tells the children stories until they fall asleep. Chera is interested in the environment around her as much as it affects her family and work. Chera is a Competent Citizen; she is part of her community and a functional, productive member of society.
Kesho has taken the skill "Citizen" at Professional. She grew up in the shadow of Kumbu and after her school years travelled through the Western European Expanses and the Americas. She now works with two Experts and four humans in the Explorer Crew Selection committee. For her leisure time, she enjoys sex and researching Explorer Disruptive Element reports. Kesho contributes to her community less than she contributes to Human Unity as a whole.
The dichotomy in Human Unity is plain to see. Kesho (a very popular name) spends her days in the company of powerful artificial intelligences selecting a few high performers from the planet's most capable applicants for missions off-world and reading reports about possible alien activity light years from Earth. Meanwhile Chera spends her days manually harvesting organically grown crops in the fields. Neither is considered low or high work - but they both represent distinct life choices for these individuals.
While it is likely that Chera and her husband use some technological enhancements (a Harvester Specialist - an sapient machine designed for collecting growth produce) for her work in the fields, she has dedicated her life to the raising of crops, the nurturing of her family and the bonds of community life. In the eyes of Human Unity, Chera will receive as much respect for her life choices as Kesho (and in some circles, more - as Human Unity still holds the individuals who laboured their way out of extinction in high regard). It is the main priority of Human Unity to provide a feeling of self-value to individuals as part of a larger collective.
Chera and Kesho receive the same rewards in life. They have no need to work (as the society is post-scarcity and concepts such as trade and barter are somewhat alien to them) but they choose to contribute to their society in their individual ways and are rewarded with the respect of peers and a comfortable life. If Kesho or Chera decided to change their work, to pursue a different career, they would retrain and change and society would continue to function.
Outside of their work, Chera and Kesho enjoy their lives and this is a central tenet in Human Unity philosophy. In terms of overall philosophy, there would be strong parallels with utilitarianism and ethical or altrustic hedonism.
Human Unity individuals can think as they wish and feel as they wish and have the benefit of freedom of expression without retaliation. They can pursue individual tastes with the exclusion of harm to others, but including pursuits which would, by early 21st Century observers, be concluded to be immoral. And they have the freedom to unite and demonstrate. The core belief is that individuals within Human Unity have the freedom to be individuals.
All I needed to know about Games…
...I learned from writing my own.
Lewis Pulsipher at GameCareerGuide writes that All I Really Needed to Know About Games I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons
He has some core points which apply to any game but especially one which involves multiple users (a Massively Multiplayer Online Game) for example.
As a designer:
You don't need high-level technology to make an "immersive" game.
For human/psychological games (as opposed to computer-mediated challenge games), players enjoy the journey, not the destination.
Some people like to be told stories; others like to make their own.
The objective is to make the players think their characters are going to die, not to kill them.
We all like to improve.
User-generated content enriches a game immensely. (In this case, adventures, monsters, classes, etc.)Lewis continues:
As a player:
It's more fun with more than one person.
Cooperation is required for survival.
Think before you leap.
Get organized!
Don't run headlong where you've never been.
Keep track of the stuff you've got; otherwise you may forget something that could save your butt.
Always have a viable "Plan B".
Always have a way out.
Don't depend on luck!
If your game can take into account all of the above points then you're well on your way to developing a game that I'd like to play. Nintendo shows us that we don't need the most cutting edge graphics to make a game that truly involves the players - in fact - the cartoony lack of realism in the games on the Wii platform serve to make it more memorable rather than less when compared to the Hi-Def Not-Quite-Realism that you find on the PS3 and XBOX.
For myself, the 'fun' in the game has always been in the story and there is some pseudo-theory around this, the concepts of 'gamist', 'simulationist' and 'narrativist'. I identify with the latter category, being more interested in the story, in the interactions and in the 'soft' outcomes. In contrast, a simulationist will strive to have the most realistic 'reality modelling' experience possible. They might enjoy Call of Duty more than Left4Dead or Halo because the content is 'realistic'. Zombies and aliens, despite being fun, are not real. Lastly, the gamist is in it for the game. For the challenge, for the achievements and perhaps even competitively for the win. There's nothing wrong with being in a category and it doesn't make what you enjoy into BadWrongFun and it's perfectly possible to jump between categories depending on the game itself. For example, while playing "Infamous", I was in it for the story and I found "Prototype" to be an unenjoyable button-masher aimed at Gamists but when playing any first person shooter against other humans, I tend to be a determined gamist, it's all about the challenge and all about the winning. Similarly I want a racing game to have realistic drift physics even if the content is all about superfast floating flying machines armed with missiles and if I die, I just come back to life. It's a joint gamist/simulationist experience for me.
Games are more fun when you're not alone and I find the co-operative balance of games like Left4Dead to be immensely compelling because it's the first game I've ever played which must be played cooperatively. Yes, there's a certain mechanics to making sure you have the right equipment and you know the way in a game like that but similarly the 'chaos' introduced by other humans in the game is just the very reason I play - especially as they, through communication, can add unobvious twists to the game itself (like playing Call of Duty using only knives or Left4Dead using only pistols). My love of the story means my motivation to have the right equipment and ensure effective communication with the team is entirely because there's nothing more frustrating than having to play the same 'level' again and again due to the mechanics of a game being poorly thought out. I've experienced this mostly with console games which require you to have twitch fingers as well as intimate knowledge of which button has a circle and which has a triangle. The fact this 'out of game' knowledge is required, completely jolts me out of immersion in the plot and reminds me I'm mashing buttons on a game controller.
An aside to this is the necessity of controlling player character death. There's nothing more frustrating than your character dying because her avatar edged a pixel over some mathematical value which dictates whether the character stands or falls. At least, again in Left4Dead, some designers have thought about this. It's not perfect but it beats the extremes of either falling when your pixels are 51% past the border or being able to stand in mid air because one of your pixels is still touching the edge of the cliff. Always err on the side of playability - as it says above, your job is to inspire the fear of character death in the players, not set out to actually kill them. Don't punish the player for the poor edge detection algorithm in your game engine or for touching something that doesn't look dangerous in your description or image.
Don't miss the point about user-generated content. Some companies see Open Source as being a method of saving on developer time or a political statement designed to attract a certain demographic. I have long been of the opinion that you should let people make up their own stories. Being too restrictive here means there's no Harry Potter RPG and there are only videogames for the franchise which permit a very limited range of activity. The potential content is controlled, closed, censored and choked. Chairman Mao Zedong of China said:
"Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land."
before doing his own controlling, closing, censoring and choking.
Whether or not you think he was using this to entice dissidents out of hiding is not what I'm here to debate but what I will say is that this school of thought is pretty much responsible for Twitter and Youtube. What can be more fun than seeing your creation being used in new and innovative ways. Back a hundred years ago in 1996 when I produced my first book, I loved seeing that someone has written extra content or modified my rules - because it meant they read them. I was often asked to explain my design decisions and why several rules were labelled as 'optional' and entertained by someone else's take, someone else's story using the background and content I had originated.
I'd love to hear some opinions on what is your favourite game and why. Do you identify most with Gamist, Narrativist or Simulationist (also labelled Narratology and Ludology in Aphra Kerr's book: The Business and Culture of Digital Games.)
QABAL – the origin of Magic
In the beginning
Each culture has its own mythology, a tale of their creation. Some believe mankind came about through the spilled seed of a mighty god, whilst others believe that their maker fashioned them from the clay of the earth. Perhaps the universe was fashioned from the corpse of a great monster or from a vast pool of chemicals which coalesced into planets, mountains and man.
The dawn of Magic
In early times, man could not explain the coming of rain and winds, while lightening flashed from the sky, why some were struck down by disease and others were not. These mysteries caused man to fear as they could not control or predict it. However, some men of greater insight could recognise the coming of these events and, once they could could be recognised, they could be predicted. However, these men were still bound by their fear of the unknown. They interpreted these signs as portents from unknown, supernatural agents and when they saw no signs, they would appeal to these agents, placating them with prayers, sacrifices and complex ritual. This practise of magic in its most primitive form as a component of hysterical supersition formed the basis of early religion. Gods were fashioned from the sun and the rain, and through religion man began to construct his first great civilisations.
Customs and rituals developed over time from priest-magicians, descendants of those men of wisdom, who were charged with placating and diving the future from the gods. Their tradition was recorded through the generations from father to son and mother to daughter. The few that were written down survived many centuries and gave those who could decpiher their dead language an inestimable headstart in the mastery of magic.
Ancient cults
A cult was essentially a group of individuals who united under a common purpose with similar methods and a core belief system. Man found he could not blindly believe in a shapeless and faceless deity and therefore added features to their gods so that they might better identify them. In those primitive times it was enough to follow a totem animal, a god likened to a particular beast for familiarity and in the hope that the cult members would gain part of their god's strength or cunning.
The great intuitive leaps occured when man finally began to apply human features to his invisible gods. The traditions and rituals, as well as the facets of these totem animals, were preserved and lived on in these anthropomorphic deities.
During the dyasties of Egypt, the priest-magicians were at their height. They had drunk deeply of science and mathematics, slaked their thirst with magic and ritual, and created a religious oligarchy that would ensure that their chosen Pharoah, often merely a child, would prosper and permit them to guide and advise him. In return for permitting them to shape the nation, the Pharoah was promised immortality. Only a fraction made it quite that far and their remains are scattered around the world on show to the masses.
The later civilisations maintained their pantheons of gods and imagined thir interactions in legends and tales of great deeds. Most still carried a vestige of their primitive past with Gods of Thunder and Rain, Goddesses of Hunting and, of couse, the mighty all-father who sired an entire race of Gods. Gods at this time were petty creatures, much like their subjects, mostly concerned with appearances, lust, greed and dominance.
The more advanced cults adopted the gods of earlier religions into their mythology, renaming them for their own uses and to ensure acceptance with their own people. The Eqyptian Thoth is possibly the most famous of these. By the Romans, he was known as Mercury but more importantly he was known to the Greeks as Hermes.
Hermes, according to legend, was the author of the Emerald Tablet. This tablet, if it ever existed, was inscribed with thriteen tenets central to the nature and working of magic. The collected works, Corpus Hermeticum, formed the basis of occult learning though it was later thought that many of the works dated to much later than originally suppposed. Despite the proof, many groups, both magical and religious, were inluenced by this work and its effect on their subsequent development cannot be ignored. It has provided a hypthetical link between the gods of ancient times and Classical Occultism.
Hermes was also known as Hermes Trismegistus, 'The Thrice Great', his power attaining his threefold blessing from God, according to Gnostic Jewish and Christian legend. That the works resurfaced in the Middle Ages and sparked off an interest in magical Antiquity and a subsequent reaction from the Church indicates their importance, if not their veracity.
The Greeks and Romans documented their religion (and, by inference, their magic) in their art, literature, oral history and widespread travels through the world. Their combined influence formed much of the basis of magical thought in Europe and their traditions are still upheld. There were other influences from the Germanic, Celtic and Norse peoples.
Magic also belonged to the common man in ways that religion could not. While religion and the gods were mainly the province of priests and the higher workings of magic were revealed only by magicians, a common tradition of magic was based on the occult virtues of natural or common things. This magic crossed the boundaries of society and gave simple chrms andblessings to the common people. It was not uncommon to hear part of the Liturgical Word intermingled with pidgin Greek and Latin as a medicinal or spiritual cure administered by ignorant lower clergy.
Even from its humble beginnings, Christianity began to see magic as a competitor. The people would never completely accept the new religion in place of their ancient pagan traditions. To combat this problem, they employed syncretism. They canonised some of the pagan gods, establishing them as saints in the Chirstian hierarchy and attributing their miracles to the power of God. Pagan temples were to be reconsecrated and festivals given a new Christian meaning. Stories of the old gods would still be told, but by the new clergy and where Wotan had once ruled, now a Nazarene took his place in legend.
For the commmon man, Natural magic or Occult virtues presented a viable alternaive to Chritsian prayer. In times of adversity, magic could be relied on to provide a solution where prayers seemed powerless. The Church began to preach against such activities, citing the examples laid down in biblical texts as a warning to those who would consort with demons. They even preached against the use of simple charms and the creration of brews which, though they may not deal directly with demons, were another form of idolatry. Magical practices were used and described by midwives, monks, physicians, priests, folk healers and diviners. Even common men and women who had no formal training or special talnet could harness some of this potential. Before science and medicine became enshrined in universities, it was hard to see how a physician would differ from a lay healer.
The higher echleons of the surviving cults spotted the inevitable outcome. They were greatly outnumbered and even though some of their number were members of the Church, it would not save them from the war to come.
QABAL – a history of the world
History of the world
Legend has it that in ancient times, gods walked the earth beside Man and waged great wars amongst themselves that shaped the face of the lands and seas. To end all wars, the earth was divided amongst them and great domains became ruled by mighty gods. To some was given the seas, others possessed the air, and to the best of them, control of the land. Great magic was their tool and Man was fearful of it as he was afraid of everything he did not understand.
Man did not know his place in this world and so the world stayed for thousands of years. The secrets of fire, science and eventually magic would be handed down to Man by the gods, but he was ignorant and afraid, and so would not use these gifts for many lifetimes. Eventually gods and giants disappeared from the sight of Man and lived only in tales that he would his children as the sat huddled around a fire. Some men spent a lifetime learning about magic while others described the basic principles of science and philosophy. They used both to explain the state of the world but continued to revere their ancient gods and use their names to explain anything that their limitedgrasp of science could not explain.
After an age of ignorance, Man crept out of the darkness and embraced the world of magic and science. He built grand cities and great works which he dedicated to his ancient gods. The greates of these cities was the legendary Atlantis. The greatest philosophers, scientists and sorcerers exercised the knowledge passed down by the gods and built the most advanced civilisation in the world.
The Fall of Atlantis
After millenia of fortune and prosperity, Atlantis fell. Some say their science and magic brought about a calamity they could not prevent. Others claim they were corrupt and a good and just god destroyed them for their iniquity. It is more likely that they suffered from a natural disaster and had years to leave their island paradise, which would explain how the legend lives on and the effect the Atlantean culture had on mankind.
When Atlantis fell, it was looted of its treasure and its knwoledge, and both were scattered to the four corners of the earth. Many of their magicians and scientists found their way to Egypt where they helped found a dynasty of kings. Perhaps the Egyptian Thoth, the Greek Hermes and the Roman Mercury are all based on these Atlantean survivors, who handed their advanced knowledge to a primitive society and helped them gain ascendancy over their neighbours.
Atlantis survives only in myth if it ever existed. Plato describes Atlantis in some detail, though modern thinkers still believe that Atlantis was no mor than a legend. It may well be a cipher for the origin of all knowledge, in other words the location of Eden. It has been suggested that the Bible relates to myth when it needs to. Perhaps the fall of Atlantis was during the Flood which covered the earth. The same Flood which destroyed a race of giants which walked the earth in those days alongside man.
Despite the lack of proof regarding Atlantis, there have been many people who have claimed that they are the holders of a secret lore which came from the sunken island. Even whn geographical evidence denies the possibility of a vast island-city in the Atlantic, some people still cling to the legend. The proof of Atlantis is as much a question of faith as it is a question of knowledge. If you believe it is there, then there is no need to look for it. If you know where it is, then there is no need to question its existence.
A Carpenter's Son
During the reign of Herod the Great in a small desert backwater called Judea, a child was born who was to become the inspiration for the largest religious cult in the world a mere two thousand years later. This youth was remarkable in that he possessed knowledge and understanding of Scripture far beyond hismeagre years. During his travels as a mendicant preacher, he gained some notoriety for his skill with magic. People flocked to hear him talk and see his great works. Amongst the crowds were the sorcerers of the day. Their command of magic was considerable but even their greatest could not rival the works of this yougn upstart and thus they plotted against him.
In those days there were many cults who thrived on the ignorance and isolation of their followers and their intention was to usher in a golden age with themselves at the helm. They alone would be enlightened and they alone would control the earth. This upstart disagreed, preferring to spread the word of a universal enlightenment attainable by all. To add injury to insult, his cult was growing at a phenomenal rate and even foreigners, worhsippers of strange alien gods, came to hear him speak. At the height of his popularity, they sent their advocate to bargain with him for regency over the earth, but he refused.
As a result, their agents were sent out across the land, spreading word of how this man would throw off the yoke of Roman oppression and free them all. He knew that he could not combat them at this game. He was but one man and they were numerous. Thus through blackmail and magic, they were able to ahve him arrested and executed at the hands of the Romans. The people were demoralised but rallied behind his surviving followers. The Romans were now involved, but they could not grasp the complexity of the situation. As a result they did their best to quash what they saw as a civil uprising.
When it became clear that the situation was not as simple as they thought, they quickly realised that further action might provoke open hostilities with all sides of the community (as it would around half a century later). Thus they decided to concentrate their attention on the remaining ringleaders, a motley collection of agricultural workers, fishermen and former tax collectors. Their champion was to be Simon Magus, a foreign sorcerer of some skill. However, the resulting magical duel ended in Simon's death and the cult went underground to avoid Roman retaliation.
During the next few centuries, the cult grew and its followers became well-versed in scripture and magic. The life of its founder and the travels of his understudies were to be documented in a great book which would be distributed across the world. their crowning victory was to come in the fourth century when they were able to capitalise on the misfortunes of the then-declining Roman empire to emerge from the shadows and present a solution to the Roman problems. Whilst the power and knowledge of the cult had grown, so too had its reputation (although at a high price, given the persecutions during Nero and Diocletian's reigns). It only took a glimpse of this power to convince a Romano-British general, and the Church was established.
The other cults would languish willingly in relative obscurity. With the ascendancy of their former rivals, it was safer to remain obscure than risk extermination. The Middle Ages witnessed between these minor cults and Chrstianity, a war that neither won but which convinced both to strengthen their positions. A treaty saved a few from fighting among themselves but the end of that treaty is coming and all the wealth in the world is for the taking.
And for those cults who have forgotten their faith and their magic? It is expected that they will die out. Those who have magic often forget the power of one sorcerer pales alongside the power of a thousand human beings equipped with sword and flame. Then again, those with long memories and a broad perspective often point to the example of one charismatic individual who, despite humble origins, founded a tradition which has spanned two millennia.
QABAL intro – Genre
This game can be played in one of many genres. A genre is a certain style where recurring themes show up and both GM and player are expected to perform within this style. In a low magic, high suspense game then the players would be expected to react accordingly and the GM would be expected to introduce only minor magics, to keep mystery and drama high. Just as players will know how a grizzled private detective will act in film noir, the players can then play their characters according to the genre. In this way it is possible to evoke roleplaying from the group as they know what is expected of them.
Some might prefer the Scavenger campaign where the characters spend their time tracking down the legacies of lost civilisations and the belongings of dead Masters. The struggle for magic should be a recurring theme as this game was designed with the Scavenger genre in mind.
Perhaps the Haunted campaign might suit your group if they are intrigued by the concept of the afterlife and undeath. Magicians can be plagued by the spirits of lost friends.
Others may prefer the Tainted campaign - usually set in a remote geographical location where magic has twisted the region according to the whims and jealousies of the people. Remote villages in the north of England can hide as much horror as the crumbling hamlets of Dunwich and Arkham.
A fourth campaign is called Revelations which focuses on the impending doom of the new Millenium and the ending of the Covenant. As the treaty breaks down, powerful magicians may seize the opportunity to rise in power. Conflict is inevitable.
There are more genres available for a QABAL game and all they require is a little work on the part of the GM. There are start-up scenarios in the back of the book and further information to flavour the genres already mentioned.
QABAL – The essential nature of spirits
"Firm, constant faith works wonders even in the course of a flawed operation, whereas mistrust and hesitation in the soul of the worker, who holds himself aloof from all excess, leads to dissipated effort and ruin"
Spirits are constructed of matter. The matter that forms their bodies is not immutable and often depends on where they are. Often a spirit will clothe itself in more visible matter or more tangible material in order to better interact with the world.
Spirits are usually invisible but if moving in a smoky atmosphere they can be seen by the whorls and eddies they create when they move. As they can be touched, though it be light as a feather, it indicates that they have form and substance. This might also mean that they can use their teeth, claws, limbs and body to attack.
Spirits can pierce materials. Perhaps on the most base level they interleave their bodily atoms with the obstacle. Most will prefer to go around walls and through doors. Some may be able to take the aspect of liquids or gases and pass through tiny cracks in walls and doors.
"You call us monsters...but when you dream it is flying and changing and living without death" - Rachel (Cabal, by Clive Barker)
These beings, essentially of spirit, have deigned to clothe themselves in flesh. Their differences to terran forms can often be seen and it is easy to see how much of our mythology is populated with these creatures.
Sometimes the beasts do not survive the transformation unscathed. Some are broken and twisted by the experience. These creatures become our demons (Peloric Fragments...Terata) - twisted in mind and body.
The laws of summoning are clear - A creature must follow the terms of its binding which defines its shape, behaviour and loyalty.
-The Circles-
May just be simply of chalk upon the maiden ground but can be elaborate with attendant pentagrams and symbols. It may be drawn in paint, blood, coal or set permanently into the floor with stones, wooden tiles or inlaid silver.
"According to the Cabala, the dybbuk is a spirit that takes possession of a living person. A famous legend tells of how a young Cabalist was in love with a certain girl. He died and subsequently took possession of her body" - The dibbuk, by Charles Anski
-Performing a Summons-
A Circle must be drawn in which the caster remains until the binding is complete. This can take time so he should be well-prepared for his ordeal. A pentacle should also be drawn and ringed with significant symbols (such as the names of the Archangels).
It is into the pentacle that the beast will form. It will be made visible through the burning of incense using the heady scented smoke to form a representation of its body. As long as the pentacle is unbroken it will remain there. It can be given a single instruction in return for release or forced into a Vessel which should be present in a circle attached to the pentacle. Once inside the Vessel, which is naturally marked with the appropriate sigils, the caster may leave his circle.
If the Pentacle is broken (or worse yet, not present) before the completion of the ritual the caster must not leave the circle. At this point the beast is free to roam about the room and immediate area but may not be seen and cannot enter the casters circle.
Such beasts are difficult to detect and capture and they possess considerable tangible and magical power with which they may assault unprotected targets. Even those protected by a magicians circle may find themselves the victims of missiles, mundane in nature, which have been hurled by the beast whose claws and magic cannot penetrate the circle.
Truly the safest place is within that circle though remaining there may result in injury and possible loss of life. Should anyone leave the circle they immediately open themselves to the creatures claws and magic and attempts at posession.
-Binding-
Once binding has begun, the smoke appears to pour into the Vessel until the beast is wholly consumed. Its appearance returns to normal though some report a vessel becomes heavier after binding.
Almost anything is suitable for binding though what is suitable for the required task may differ. Objects (rings, doors, statues, gems), Animals (cats, toads, newts, ravens, dogs), humans (alive or dead), and Materia (blood etc for a homunculus, clay for a golem) are all suitable.
QABAL – Wandering Mystic
It came to me while I was out shopping. The voice said “You are the chosen one”. I had always known I was special. It went on “You must dedicate your life to contemplation and gather others who wish to share in sublime glory”. I knew then that this was no mere flight of fancy so I went home, quit my job, sold my house and told my wife I was leaving Sheffield for greater things. She didn’t understand at first but now I think she accepts it. She and my children now live in Newcastle with her sister.
- Father Lemuel, The Brotherhood of the Glad.
The Wandering Mystic is a strange beast. At first he makes you think of an esoteric holyman making his was across continents dispensing wisdom in return for a crust of bread. He walks barefoot and shaves his head, his clothing is coarse and plain and signifies his humility. Some may see him as a beggar or a lunatic but most regard him with awe as he flouts modern conventions.
The reality is much less romantic. He still shaves his head and walks around barefoot but he is much more likely to own several cars and his bare feet seldom touch the cold ground and are cared for by expensive manicurists. His followers work hard in their respective careers and give their worldly belongings gladly. He might be targetted by one of those documentary investigators for his new television series but every member of his collective interviewed will talk at length about how his teachings have enriched their lives
Darren Mitchell was an unemployed factory worker before his Shining Moment. His wife Sharon wasn't quite as enthusiastic when he announced he was going to become a preacher. She was more interested in when he was going to go down the Jobmarket and get a job. This preacher malarkey was just another grand scheme. "The way I'm playing it" he would rhyme off as he was about to elaborate on the next great scheme. They were going to get rich two years ago with his chip-van sideline and last year he managed to get his hands on a load of computer games which he was going to sell down the market and make a killing. Neither made him any money so now they had a greasy smelly health risk filled with obselete computer programs occupying the front lawn. And to top it it all he wants to be a preacher.
Sharon did what any responsible mother would. She packed up her bags and moved herself and the children to her mothers house. Darren didn't really mind. He sold the house and disappeared.
Six months later The Brotherhood of the Glad appeared on television. The documentary that featured them interviewed a few members who spoke volumes about how fulfilled they were and arranged a meeting with their spiritual leader, Father Lemuel. You can imagine the look on Sharon Mitchell’s face when she recognised her husband under the bushy beard and voluminous robes.
The Brotherhood of the Glad has been accused of brainwashing and kidnapping but nothing like that actually goes on. The acolytes wake at five in the morning and begin their chores. After that (usually at about noon, some say when Lemuel wakes up) gather into the Hall for a sermon. The sermon is mostly the usual new-age feel-good nonsense but normally sensible people attend and afterwards speak volumes of well-being and confidence they have received as a result.
Darren takes his new life quite seriously. He honestly believes that he is enriching lives when he speaks. The fact that others more successful than him agree with him provides him with more proof. He sees his relaxed lifestyle, collection of soft furnishings and numerous sexual partners as his legitimate payment for his services. He doesn't believe in magic but has a strong belief in fate, luck and destiny, People who he perceives as lucky instantly earn his friendship as part of his personal philosophy is to surround himself with positive influences. This means lucky people, wondrous examples of art and craft and beautiful women.
In Qabal:
Though not a magician, this character wields considerable power. He may have a touch of magic that has been realised through this vocation. He would not be a suitable as a player character unless the other players were also important members of the same cult. He coould be a powerful ally and a powerful enemy as his disciples include city lawyers and brokers and family members of other influential people.
QABAL – The Orthodox Sorcerer
I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I've touched the Hand of God, I've
watched Angels feasting on the entrails of Devils, witnessed the seven
headed dragon and yes it burned me. Yes it burned me. And tonight, when
the stars are right, you too shall be burned. More tea, Vicar?
- Henry Olcott, Grand Magister
The Orthodox Sorcerer is perhaps the most familiar to the scholar.
Commonly recognised by a long robe, also seen with a flambuoyant headdress
and a penchant for much ritual and pomp. While some will dress casually
with shirt and trenchcoat, most take their costume seriously and keep
special robes for the purpose of performing magic.
It is also common for the Sorcerer to maintain a room in his house
specially consecrated for ritual magic. This sanctum will contain the
necessary paraphernalia for the magic - chalice, sword, cord and candle
will be evident. Sorcerers commonly have assistants, plucked from a wider
group of adherents because of one or two special qualities. These
qualities could be an aptitude for magic, a special trust between sorcerer
and assistant, a merely sexual relationship or something else.
Orthodox Sorcerers predominantly come from religious backgrounds either
from the clergy itself or from a particularly devout upbringing. This may
influence their later predilection for dressing up and performing grand
ceremonies.
A classical education is also a prerequisite in order to help them cope
with the esoteric literature and occult blinds so prevalent in the
subject. A background in psychology, egyptology or archaeology would be
obviously an advantage.
Olcott has been a member of the Aegyptian Order of the Everlasting Way for
the last twenty-five years. His official title is Grand Magister which
belies his actual status. He may not be a member of the inner circle but
his importance to the organisation is much greater than his apparently
lowly station. The AOEW pay him a monthly salary as a retainer for
consultancy work in addition to his other work as a touring authority on
egyptology.
In 1965 Olcott was an avid student of the occult and attended many of the
lectures around the country and on the continent in relation to this
subject. As he had few friends and his only real relationship had ended
several years before he fit right into a new more liberal culture proposed
by the pagan revivalists.
After a few years living in such a group, having taken his fill of
indulgence and nonsensical ritual, Olcott left the group and bought a
house in Ealing. He invited some of the more learned of his brethren to
live with him and create a college of learning in his cramped townhouse.
After a decade of honest research punctuated by behaviour reminiscent of
his youth, Olcott kicked the remainder of his colleagues out of his house
and initiated a vendetta that eventually caught the eye of the newspapers.
Olcott managed to distance himself from the fracas and from then on
cultivated the image of the beleaguered academic. From here, after his
fill of indulgence, things began to get interesting for him.
In truth he fell in with another cult. Olcott had always been
spectacularly bad at magical effects. He never seemed to achieve the right
state of mind that the others slipped into easily. Then again, the others
success was always measured in the most subtle of ways while Olcott placed
much higher demands upon himself. Magical expermentation within the new
group was much more structured. There were rules about what could be
called in and what could be cast out. There were regulations on binding
and prophecy. Because every night did not start out with attempts at magic
(usually followed by either a drugged orgy or a drunken depression), the
rituals began to have more meaning and correspondingly, an effect.
It was a frosty Thursday night when Olcott saw his first spirit.
Even he would admit that his faith in the process had been faltering
before he joined the AOEW. Their honest and open ways and utter dedication
to the study of magic inspired him and reaffirmed his flaccid faith. He
had settled into his seat (he was never comfortable in the lotus position
which may have contributed to his earlier failures) while his assistant
completed to preparations. Aftter two hours of feverish chanting nothing
seemed to have happened. Olcott lifted himself from his chair and only the
surprised gasp from his assistant alerted him. Inside the circle, where
the smoke from the incense brazier had drifted, was a churning smoky
zephyr. His assistant spoke in what seemed like a whisper. Perhaps a quiet
prayer. The spirit remained within the circle for the next few days as the
AOEW filed in and made their observations. At that time they had no way to
communicate with it and Olcott dedicated his time to researching how to
dismiss the presence.
The AOEW has reorganised. Rather than being an occult group trying to
contact "those-in-the-know" they have become an esoteric group who give
the impression they are in the know. They hold rituals no more than once a
week to a select group of initiates. Olcott has deliberately distanced
himself. Previously he was clinging to the ceremonial robes of those
within the AOEW but now he finds himself the advisor and realises he will
never again have to kowtow to a middle-class accountant in a
stars-and-moons bathrobe.
In Qabal:
This sort of character would be a magician with a fairly important
lineage. He will gather acolytes or a circle whom he treats as equals in
order to perform his magic. His predilection for pomp and requirement for
ceremony will mean that his magic will be quite specific to him and his
lineage. It also means that a considerable amount of preparation is
required for any magic to take place.
QABAL – a brief history of Magic
The beginning of time
In those days giants walked the earth and fought with the gods. Secrets were passed
from the gods to man through Thoth, Prometheus and Hermes Trismegistus - Secrets
of fire, science and magic.
350 BC
Plato describes Atlantis. It symbolises the origin of all knowledge. Believed to
be a myth, certain mystics claim it is a cipher for the location of the biblical
Eden. It has become apparent that there is a link between the ancient gods, Atlantis,
Eden and the biblical Flood that rid the earth of evil.
62 BC
Magi congregate at the court of Antiochus. They have foreseen a great conflict and
a divine peacemaker. The meeting is called to a sudden end after heated arguments
on how to deal with this matter. They depart undecided as to whether they should
welcome this new king or oppose him.
30 AD
Jesus of Nazareth, member of the Essene cult, is arrested and executed. Though he
was crucified by Roman hands it was the desire of his enemies, the Hebrew sorcerers,
that he die as a criminal. His chief disciple, Peter, defeats the sorcerer Simon
Magus in a magical duel and moves the cult of Christ into secrecy to avoid further
persecution.
685 AD
Khalid ibn Yazid, an arab prince, refuses his crown and leaves his court in order
to pursue his studies. He is taught by Morienus, a sorcerer and alchemist, but his
subsequent actions, purging his lands of other sects, have tainted his tradition
so that they are no longer known as holders of a secret wisdom but regarded as butchers.
930 AD
Sabbatai Donnolo unearths the hidden Sefir Yetsira or Book of Creation, a major work
of theology and also of magic and miracles. It is prolific during the Middle Ages
but later passes almost into the realm of myth. Whether or not the work is authentic,
passages from it survive and describe the magic used to create the earth.
1224 AD
A covenant is drawn up between two cults to ensure mutual protection til the end
of the millennium. In their desire to consolidate their agreement they alienate many
of the other cults extant at this time. Fortunately for them, most of these other
cults are destroyed by the fires of the Inquisition but some survive and remember
the betrayal.
1314 AD
Established in 1118 AD, the Knights Templar are destroyed on account of possessing
too much political and economic power. The charges brought upon them, however, were
idolatry and sedition.
1520 AD
In his key work De Occulta, Agrippa lays down his Unity of Traditions, a desire to
unite all religion. His intention was that his magical brethren should unite under
one purpose. His attempt fails but his works were widely distributed and have become
one of the main inspirations on magical thought.
1785 AD
Claude Louis, Count of Saint-Germain reappears to his pupil Etteila. Though his claim
that he is 325 years old is disputed, he surfaces several times in the next eighty
years. The last time he is seen is in 1875.
1850 AD
Eliphas Levi alleges Vintras and his Institute of Pity are an "absurd, anarchic
sect". This may have been true but it also has the effect of endearing Vintras
to Levi's enemies. The depravity of the time also drew attention back to occult philosophy.
This was received with mixed blessings among the Masters.
1875 AD
The Great Purge Several Masters are slain along with hundreds of their followers.
Their groups were small and their followers weak so there were no retributions. This
highlights the encroaching end of the millennium and the end of the covenant and
thus an attempt to regulate the members of the covenant is made.
1900 AD
Crowley expelled from the Golden Dawn for 'extreme practices'. He, and some of his
more loyal acolytes, form the Order of the Silver Star.
NOW
The Covenant is ending. An ancient alliance is ending. The future and untold riches
await those with knowledge and power enough to take it
QR codes for games
Following my last QR test, I got an email from Roger Smolski who runs the 2D Code web site. He had previously posted about the iPhone being an unsuitable device for QR codes due to the poor quality of the camera and this has resulted in several perfectly good QR decoding apps getting a poor rating on the AppStore due to the fuzzy quality of the camera. I've had good experiences mostly with QR codes on the iPhone as long as the URI is short but once the information gets much longer, the iPhone is unable to recognise a snapshot of it.
So, what's the solution?
A clear still of a QR code will work - even a complex one so I reckon the alternative might be to find another way of getting them into the phone. Loading a URL or receiving them in email both work fine.
Why is this important?
Anyone who has read my earlier posts on Alternate Reality Games would realise that I think QR codes are an excellent way of distributing clues to a game where you want to hide it a little but not make it too hard for people to find. The poor quality of the camera in the iPhone just really means the QR code display has to be big enough or they have to get the information from another source.
Anyone who has seen Serenity would realise the relevance and importance of this (2d Code link).
Humanydyne – the system
Also posted here
Cubicle 7, those cheeky London chappies (see the entry for 23rd August 2007 ) are meant to be releasing a translation of Humanydyne, a somewhat-post-apocalyptic superhero game originally from 7éme cercle (you know them, they originally did Qin).
Yes, it's superheroes, very flexible, and it is post-apocalyptic - the moon broke up and rained hell on more than one place (London is ****ed for instance). And the city of San Sepluchro is surrounded by radiated areas (those damned superhumans).
It's been a while and I've had the French version of the game and supplements for a while. It's slow reading because I'm busy and my french is 'poor'.
The system is called XdX and is declarative (listing only what is remarkable) and pretty freeform. To resolve an action, you roll a number of dice - seemingly any number you want between 1 and 10. To succeed in an action, you need to end up with at least one "positive" though the more you get, the better the quality of success. The system seems to say that d6 dice are standard but any can be used.
Positives - your skill levels, any pairs you roll on the dice you take
Negatives - any non-pairs, resistance from enemies skill levels.
Difficulties are also assigned by adding additional negatives. So, the more dice you roll, the greater the possible result but the increased risk of failure. The more dice you declare to roll, the faster you act in combat - your initiative score is the minimum number of dice you will roll. And rolling a 1 or 6 on a d6 counts double - not sure if that's for both positives and negatives.
So, my query is whether or not you'd fancy the odds here? I mean, the searching for pairs smacks of ORE which is fine, but the number of negatives that might result, could easily turn success to failure.
Star of the Commonwealth
Great Britain was, at the time, in the throes of a terrible war, a world war, which assailed them from without as well as within. While bombs rained upon London and young men lost their lives overseas in the pursuit of freedom, a frontier was breached. On a private estate in the English countryside, a connection was made, perhaps even re-opened, by a small party.
The incursion took place on the 9th February 1946. A battalion of rag-tag troops, hastily constructed from a score of regiments established a beachhead and within three hours (by our reckoning) had successfully conquered the land beyond.
During the next four weeks, rationing was abolished and the United Kingdom ushered in a new wealth and independence which changed the face of the world. The curious artifact of the new conquered land which permitted this was the difference in time flow. Years could pass in the conquered land and only hours would pass on Earth. The Government wasted no time in relocating farmers and their families and inviting captains of industry to build great factories. The country focussed their efforts on manufacture and export and quickly rebuilt the failing British Empire.
And of the conquered land?
HRH Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Narnia, sported a fetching maned cloak that following Winter
Get Carter
I started this evening sitting down to watch The Bourne Identity on ITV2 but as it happens they run ad breaks every 18 minutes and I'm reminded why I hate linear television. The content is either shit or broken up by advertising breaks.
I attempted to remedy my ennui by putting on "The Descent" though I figured it might be better for another night and I opted to go for a film I've not seen in years, 'Get Carter' starring Michael Caine. I only just found out they remade it in 2000 with Sylvester Stallone. Sounds like a sick joke.
Carter is a hard nut though it's kinda tender when he first faces his brothers corpse. Everything is so run down, raining, allpaper peeling, paint layered upon paint upon paint. His niece is working at Woolworths, a bastion of sixties Britain (which just went into administration). Everyone looks pasty, malnourished and it's amazing when you see some of the actors we take for granted in their youth. Britt Ekland, on the other hand, looks radiant.
I'm watching it now for inspiration for CONTROL. Makes me want an electric shaver and a kipper tie
What’s an ARG?
The Technology column in the Guardian writes:
An ARG is an interactive narrative in which players work together to solve puzzles and co-ordinate activities in the real world and online, using websites, GPS tracking devices, telephone lines, newspaper adverts and more. All of which sounds like it must require even more effort and resolve than a bank holiday gym session, but ARGs employ media - text messages, blogs, social networking sites, video-sharing - that many people already use on a daily basis.
I also explained it today as...
"It's similar to a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) and a LARP (Live Action Role Play). These are games that have existed for years separately and only now as we find ourselves with man-portable internet-connected GPS-aware devices can we attempt to add mix them. Essentially it's a puzzle game that you have to walk around to solve. I want to add actual multi-player and humanocentric role-play to the concoction. It is larp-esque. But it also allows a form of gaming when just out and about. Some games may end up being played solo and some will require interaction. And some of the puzzles can be incredibly elaborate.
i.e. a 'password' that consists of a GPS location and a photograph that must be matched in position. GPS gets you within maybe 50 metres, then you find the position to map the photo. The photo might be a silhouette of a landscape or the light through yonder window. Once the correct combination has been discovered, the application can then deliver the package - be that text, an image, a movie or an audio sequence.
i.e. a set of ten cards containing a QR code sits in a till at a local bar. From a combination of previous clues, you have been directed to ask the bartender for a card with a number on it. You take a picture of the QR Code and it reveals a clue which is relevant to your story. The wrong card will likely lead you down the wrong path or, in a good ARG, bring you down a side path of the game you are currently in.
So in effect you tie it to a location, a perspective and if natural light is needed, a time..."
I see a lot more possible.
There are video games that you can actually live inside.
The following quote is from "Cybergeneration", an RPG dating from §993 by R. Talsorian Games.
With direct visual feed, projected ICONs at will, and a way of interacting with these projections, all the pieces were now in place to create what we now call VIRTUALITY; a state where Net images and Realspace are combined in one. This is the furthest edge of Net technology; a way in which reality and the computer generated fantasy fuse into one.
...
There are now entire places, people and things that most of you have never seen in Realspace at all. You probably have friends whose real faces are unknown to you because you met them in Virtuality (and you like them that way). You shop in Virtuality-based malls where products are projected into reality and you never actually touch them. There are video games that you can actually live inside.
I first played Cyberpunk in 1988 and the game setting, 2013, seemed like the far flung future. I wasn't convinced that we'd be spending half our time with a computer plugged directly into our brains but I could believe that synthetic limbs and organs might be commonplace - again, I couldn't see them as 'fashion'. But it was a good romp :- I quickly learned that playing anything other than the NetRunner or a Solo was pretty stupid and my dreams of epitomising the Rockerboy archetype were stillborn as the GM really just wanted us to break into places, shoot people and steal their stuff. To my knowledge, none of us has gone into larceny or narcotics trafficking as a result of our game play from these tender formative years.
I think that Cybergeneration more than anything helped shape my ideas about what could be possible using portable internet-connected location-aware devices. The idea that the Internet may know your physical location is exciting to me (and doesn't scare me one whit). The concept that I can interact with products and services based on my location via the Internet is also exciting to me. The realisation that this could all be part of a game gives me a sparkly feeling in my brain stem. It's that exciting.
There is a theme of transhumanism about ARGs.
Meat humans have five senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. If, by adding techology, we can add to these senses or enhance the senses we have, we are undeniably transhuman. Whether you consider the ability to see or hear 'invisible' messages left by others in certain locations to be a transhuman quality is a matter of opinion. The ability to add another layer of human interaction upon the day to day level of interaction is certainly transhuman in thought.
Transhumanism has a definition as:
physical and mental augmentations including prostheses, reconstructive surgery, intensive use of telecommunications, a cosmopolitan outlook and a globetrotting lifestyle, androgyny, mediated reproduction (such as in vitro fertilisation), absence of religious beliefs, and a rejection of traditional family values.
We're there.
So how do we apply this to the creation of an Alternate Reality Game? I think we begin by treating the internet sense as one of the five. And like the other senses, it must be used in conjunction with each of the others in order to build a true picture. We may interact with someone in a bar based on our feeds from sight, smell and hearing. Adding our internet sense may change this relationship completely. This is over and above reading their Facebook profile - it may give us insights into what role they play in which game and give us the opportunity to interact on that level.
The Great Game
Alternate Reality Games (or Layered Reality Games) are going to be big.
When someone mentions ARGs, I always think of Total Recall (the film) [thanks Eamon]. The protagonist takes a virtual holiday which interweaves the real world with a spy conspiracy in his head (or is it?). Everything in his life becomes involved in the game - a girl he picks from a menu becomes his lover, his wife (with whom he has difficulties) becomes a killer spy, his co-workers seem to be sleeper agents designed to keep him quiet and the whole movie is left for you to wonder is it real or has he been placed in a sleeper community after some deep cover espionage?
Deep Cover Espionage, of course, leads us on to The Prisoner. Progressive and not a little confusing, it's propensity for involved games and the inability of the protagonist to leave the game does indeed suggest it's an ARG gone bad. The game element can be seen every episode
Michael Douglas played "The Game" in this 1997 film where an ARG went wrong and involved all sorts of violence. I kept wondering during the movie whether or not the twist in the tail would be I expected. Would everything in the film just be part of the Game? Or did the Game start and his actions make it spiral out of control?
Hollywood loves disasters. Look at Jurassic Park. Never have I seen science maligned as much as in that movie. The same is true for ARGs. It's a new idea so while they use ARGs in their marketing, they're also happy to point out how these things can go wrong.
Why is there such a need to have ARGs go wrong? Is it because the idea of story involving us must mean action, death and violence at every turn? Why can't the fun of the game just be in the game? Possibly because most games would involve messages on a phone or computer and wouldn't really involve guns or sex - which, at the end of the day, seem to be what sells movies. And a little too much sex and violence in an ARG would probably get you in trouble with your partner.
Mission Impossible enjoyed the use of elaborate reality games when they would convince enemy agents they were in their home territory or being held far from home in order to confuse and disorientate them. Once the information had been gained, the elaborate hoax dissolved leaving the mark feeling very much in the dark.
Viral campaigns for movies such as Cloverfield and A.I. worked really well to weave a pattern around the events in the movies. This makes you wonder though - there's obviously a class of writer that is now being created in the industry - someone who's job it is to weave elaborate ARG plots which in itself is a very specialist skill. It would indeed be a challenge I would relish - a project for another day definitely.
Live Action Role Play (LARP) and Murder Mystery Parties represent a limited ARG. The environment you can move around is limited, the people you encounter will all be in on the game. There was an urban legend I was told about a LARP group that had hired a hotel ballroom and some extra rooms for a "Victoriana" game. During the evening, some guests from the hotel who were not involved in the game, wandered onto the "set". Interacting with the Victoriana gamers had the guests convinced they had walked into another world. LARP isn't all about foam boffer weapons and men with masks wandering around damp forests - it's about playing a role in a game but using the whole body.
Treasure Hunt was a Channel 4 game show which ran for nearly a decade with the winning formula of clues, a studio research team, a helicopter and a pretty girl. If the contestants managed to guide the 'runner' to the treasure using the clues, then they would win a cash prize and all of this was against the clock.
This is related to Geocaching, an outdoor treasure-hunting game where the participants use a GPS device (like a modern mobile phone) and search out hidden treasure, usually a logbook and toys or trinkets. According to wikipedia, over 800,000 geocaches, over 100 countries across seven continents are registered on various websites.
The Adventure Game was another ARG-related game show, aimed at children, from the BBC during the early-mid eighties. The story was that the contestants had travelled to the planet 'Arg' (was that prescient?) - the game seemed, from the viewer point of view, internally consistent and the contestants played along with the game format. The Vortex task at the end of every episode, also presented a unique perspective - rather than being a physical or mental task, it was a tactical task based on the presence of an invisible destructive force on the game grid - a force that could only be seen by the television viewers.
Knightmare came pretty much after the Adventure Game where a 'blindfolded' child was led around a maze by three friends and had to interact with various physical tasks and puzzles. The environment was a mix of physical sets and computer imagery (using Chromakey). Wikipedia states that Knightmare was conceived by taking the computer game "Atic Atac" from the ZX Spectrum and 'revolutionising' it using television. Somewhat ironic.
Flash Mobs would be another nod to Alternate Reality Games - when a mob of zombies descends on a mall or participants engage in a massive and worldwide pillow fight, there is a 'game' element that is being used. The activity is usually coordinated by the internet and can bring a lot of attention. The concept itself seems to have originated in a Larry Niven story "Flash Crowd" from 1973.
De Profundis is a final example of an Alternate Reality Game. It's a story-telling game involving the posting of letters from participant to participant. De Profundis has also been played using email or blog posts across the internet. It ties literary story-telling to the Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos - encouraging participants to describe their descent into madness and the occult in flowery prose fitting the style of the genre. Described as more of a psychodrama than a role-playing game and certainly having more in common with creative writing than table-top games:
In De Profundis we don't declare to the Game-master that we are going to do a library search. We go to a real library ourselves to look for vague comments and hints which cause shivers of cosmic terror. We have all the books of all the libraries in the world to look through and fish for secrets and hidden, disguised truths.
So what?
ARG's tie together several things. They bring the ability to source material from the Internet (giving a virtually unlimited amount of virtual scenery to the Game) and then link that to a location (hyperlocality) using a GPS and a time (temporality) in order to weave together puzzles. There's also a virtually unlimited amount of interactivity. We have to answer questions like whether 'participants' are also 'creators' within the game. That's something that really interests me with my background.
I have also been contributing to (viewing mostly) the 4IP social network (hosted on ning) called '38 minutes'. In particular the area that interests me on 38minutes most is "Alternate Reality Gaming". I'm sufficiently interested in ARGs that I
intend to start a Masters degree to study them. I just need to flesh out the concept and learn to program computers!
Over the next few blog posts I'll examining the following steps.
Step Zero: The Concept
Step One: The Engine
Step Two: The Game Rules
Step Three: The Plot
Step Four: Profit!
6 – Terminology
(Though I'm still unsure of the final name to call this game, for the time being I'm going to be referring to it both by the nom de plume '6' and the nom de guerre 'CONTROL'. I hope that suffices to confuse)
AGENT - highly trained civil servants. Because of their skills and experience, they are paid better than their civil service counterparts to the tune of almost £8000 a year.
ASSET - individuals who through their skills, background, contacts or position have
BLACK BAG - covert or clandestine surreptitious entries into structures to obtain information
CELL - a method for organizing a group in such a way that it can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization.
CONTROL - closeted senior officers within the Special Executive.
C - chief of the Special Executive. C's name is often publicly known as is his position as he is selected for the work by politicians. C's position is always re-evaluated when a new government comes into power. He will almost always be a diplomat or senior ranking civil servant and probably will be holding a knighthood and looking for a Baronet.
D - directors. The Directors of the Special Executive may be recent appointees (selected by the current government), long term appointees (past DCs) or selected from the most senior Agents (who may be too well known to be of operational use).
DC - deputy chief. The two deputy chiefs are appointed by the current government. They usually intend to stay in their current position for a term not more than four years and then move on, hopefully to cushy ambassadorial roles. Their commitment to the job is questionable and they seldom come from an intelligence background.
DAY OUT - The first mission for Agents who have been released from the Field School.
DEAD DROP - a location used to secretly pass items between two people, without requiring them to meet.
ENEMY - the current enemy of the day whether military, political, economic, ideological. In the standard game, the player AGENTS are assumed to be from the Western Bloc and therefore the ideological enemy is the Eastern Bloc, composed of the governments behind the Iron Curtain. The enemy in a specific scene may be a fellow agent from another intelligence agency, an agent of a friendly government, an agent of a hostile government or even the civil law and security forces of any country in the world. In the modern world, the definition of enemy will change several times during the career of an agent and may change even during a single mission.
ESCAPE KIT - usually a passport, some money and other documents that an agent keeps, often circulating in the mail from a dummy address just in case things go badly and he feels the name to escape.
FALSE FLAG - covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to appear as if they are being carried out by other entities.
FIRM - The internal name for the Special Executive.
FIELD SCHOOL - the training facility for Agents. They will be taught weaponry, demolitions, languages, tradecraft
GLASS HOUSE - A private section of the civil prison at Shepton Mallet, Somerset used for the containment of domestic traitorous Assets and dishonoured Agents. They are kept separate from the civilian criminals and it is common knowledge that some of the inmates of the Glass House are actively serving loyal Agents, keeping tabs on their imprisoned ex-colleagues.
GOVERNMENT - The current government, whichever party is in power. Governments treat CONTROL as their best friend, AGENTS as useful but expendable tools and ASSETS very poorly.
JIC - the Joint Intelligence Committee consists of the Chairman of the JIC, C, K, the head of the Defense Intelligence Staff, representatives from the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister?s Cabinet. The function of the JIC is to provide a definitive top-level assessment for the Cabinet Office.
K - the enigmatic Director General of the domestic security service.
MICE - Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego - the basic procedure for creating assets.
Money - the Asset is working solely for financial reasons. He may be being paid directly in cash by the Agent or may have a series of bank accounts and dead drops. He may be involved in financial schemes which would be assisted by the Agent?s government.
Ideology - the Asset is working for ideological reasons. He may not agree with his employer or government. He may hold the Agent?s country or government in high esteem.
Coercion - the Asset is being coerced to work for the Agent through blackmail, threats to himself or his family, fear of exposure or other means.
Ego - the Asset is working to further his own ego and may harbour delusions of grandeur. In truth he may want nothing more than to be caught by his own side so he can reveal his genius to them.
MIX - the British secret services have, since WW1 been known by their department numbers. The MI prefix stands for "Military Intelligence" even though the majority of the secret services have been wholly civilian.
5 - the origins of the Security Service, also known as MI6, are within the domestic security section of the Secret Service Bureau, established by the Committee of Imperial Defence in October 1909.
6 - The origins of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, are to be found in the Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau, established by the Committee of Imperial Defence in October 1909.
NATO - Founded April 4th, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is founded by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States in order to resist Communist expansion.
STEGANOGRAPHY - the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message.
TRADECRAFT - a collective word for the techniques used in modern espionage. It can refer to generic topics or specific techniques.
Viking Ghost Hunt – a ‘hyperlocal’ Dublin-based game
While down at the National Digital Research Centre last week, I saw a brief presentation from two Dutch guys, Soren and Mads, who were making an iPhone game which overlaid a game on top of reality using GPS and cell tower triangulation.
From NDRC:
Viking Ghost Hunt will capitalise on location based gaming. The interactive game will require the user to travel around Dublin city to advance the game, incorporating physical exercise into traditional gaming, and experiencing new combinations of storyline and game play activities.
I'll be asking them for a demo I will.
A hyperlocal game is essentially using the GPS built into the iPhone to do some GeoCaching - except that the reward is 'virtual'. Otherwise the principles are the same. The software links into the web site rather than having you dig for a prize and then delivers a preprogrammed message. A little like "Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi" if you think about it.
The concept of this is very simple. The execution shouldn't also be too hard.
Once, Twice, Three Times a Detective
Dolgion Chuluunbaatar of Gamasutra writes about non-linear adventure games:
Of course, as a gamer I've run many detective games. These range from the high thrill, high horror, low schlock games like SLA Industries to the low key, psychic conspiracy thrillers like The 23rd Letter.
In the 80s, I remember playing Consulting Detective with the older kids and thoroughly enjoyed the level of detail, the requirement for immersion and visualisation and the reliance on observation and deduction. But it was not a popular game because to the average teenager, the game was hard. We were smart kids (most of us anyway), and yet we seemed more stupid in a group. Smart as we were, we were no Sherlock Holmes.
It is my belief that when running a detective game, you have to remember that the players are often less than the sum of their parts (due to confusion, interrupted narrative, last night's football results and the imminent arrival of spicy food and naan bread).
This means that even smart individuals may miss important clues, may not see the allusions and the inferences in the newspaper clippings, fag ends and hastily scrawled dying notes which litter the genre. We all have day jobs and families and we're not the super-obsessive compulsive consulting detective that the game might assume so the designer has to take the step of telling us once, telling us twice and telling us a third time to make sure we get the clue. We might misremember small facts, forget to keep copious notes (which, in my opinion, spoils the enjoyment of the game) or simply we may not be wired to think that way. Kevin Beimers of Straandlooper spoke about this aspect of game design at an event we held at Belfast Metropolitan College earlier this year. Clues need to be logical and discoverable.
There is also the problem when this translates into a video game that the game will often, by necessity, highlight items which are important. Games like Myst and Hector: Badge of Carnage thankfully escape much of this but it can be maddening to be tapping around trying to figure out exactly how to get something to work as a fan belt.
But we enjoy the discovery, even as it frustrates and confounds us. I've had almost as much fun watching someone play an engaging game as I have had playing it. So, why are there so few multiplayer detective games?
Are there any?