The Tao of Zen Nihilism
Like some Americans, I was impressed with Ron Paul at the Republican debate. Unlike some Americans, I’m disgusted there’s talk of excluding him from the next few debates.
Of course, it’s far too early for me to make any kind of say on voting. But if you haven’t heard of Ron Paul or know what he was talking about, check this out.
With The West Wing in the background, second season, episode 3, the President drinks an egg cream for the first time.
I had forgotten this wonderful drink. My personal recipe.
Drink immediately. The longer it sits, the more flavor seeps away.
Experiment with the water/milk/chocolate mixture until you find the one you like.
Egg cream. Ah, how I love you.
Hospitality is a powerful concept in ven culture, personified by the figure of Mana Renay. Temples dedicated to “the Mother of Us All” can be found in every city, shrines in every home. She has many faces. Revered matriarch. Protector. Healer. Keeper of hearth Wisdom. Each House views mana Renay differently, but the Hous she claims as her own is the Elk.
For the Steeles, Mana Renay set the sandards for how a House is run. Recognized as the family’s first great matriarch, the entire structure of a House was based on her own. Butlers, cooks, maids and senechals still follow her advice, passed on through oral tradition, recorded in the famous book House and Home. Alongside the proper methods of cooking and cleaning, she also spelled out the rules of hospitality still followed by the ven today.
Blessings bestowed by the Sacred Mother protect those who respect the concepts of manners and hospitality. Those who revere her bring her beloved flower, the acacia, to her holiest temple. Architects and those who cut and work stone also call upon her for favor and wisdom. It was she who sponsored the stoneworkers, building cathedrals and castles all across Shanri.
Relics associated with Mana Renay include her notebook, a handkerchief, and a broken broomhandle. (Some whisper the broomhandle was broken over the head of a disrespectful servant.)
Her compassion and wisdom protects a home from threats both visible and invisible. Those who know her secrets, who listen to her dreams, learn the high holy whispers of hospitality.
___
(Later, the Blessings of the Mana Renay)
The high alchemical Art, incorporating all other Arts. Drama. Music. Architecture. Dance.
And, of course, love and revenge.
Ven opera (the actual ven word best translates as “The Art that encompasses all other Arts”) is full of spectacle. Jim Steinman meets John Woo. The thunder of the music cracking the plaster in the walls. Actors bursting their throats, their eyes full of rage and tears. Musicians in the pit, playing furious anger and beautific joy. Choirs chanting choruses over and over and over.
There is no word in the ven language for “understatement.”
Like everything else, the ven are obsessed with the proper presentation of opera. So much so that they only recognize six plots as appropriate to the stage. This requires a bit of explanation.
Think for a moment about our own King Arthur. Just saying the name summons images and names. Camelot, Gwenevere, Lancelot, Excallibur, Mordred, Merlin, Morgana, love, loyalty and betrayal. Arthur’s story has been told thousands of times in thousands of different ways, but the key characters and elements remain. And though storytellers have taken liberty with Arthur’s tale, we accept those liberties so long as the truth of the story remains intact and honored.
When Arthur’s story goes too far from what we expect, we feel betrayed. Not an emotion easily explained. An instinct. An understanding. Almost as if we have to protect the story in some way.
So are the ven and their opera.
Only six stories are worthy of the stage. The ven recognize these stories from the character’s names. Just as we would know the plot the moment Hamlet’s name was mentioned. Or Odysseus. Or even James Bond. And while the plot may weave differently, certain key elements remain. Secondary characters come and go, but the lynchpin personnae remain.
Authors and composers work to re-tell these six tales with different voices, using each to communicate a new moral, a new truth. Just as Arthur’s tale can communicate the conflict of true love and duty, so can it tell the conflict of Christian against pagan. So can it tell the tale of Britain’s natives against her invaders. Just a tweak of the pen and a familiar tale delivers a different message.
So are the ven and their opera.
Lesser tales are delegated to playhouses and street theater. But not the opera house. Not that great and sacred place. Six stories. Only six.
But there are only two endings. Two.
A wedding or a funeral.
Cross my wooden leg and swear on my glass eye.
Turn it up.
No, louder than that.
No, louder than that.
Okay, that may be enough.
Should be a Lord Strange entry. But it’s here.
Last time I was in Vegas, my mom asked me what show I wanted to go see. I told her, “Penn & Teller.”
She said, “The Blue Man Group is supposed to be really good.”
I said, “That’s just three clowns dipped in blue paint. It doesn’t mean anything.” Then, I told her again. “I want to see Penn & Teller. And I’d like you to come along.”
So, we ended up seeing Penn & Teller. Why? I’ll tell you why.
Because magic–“real magic”–is about communicating deep and powerful truths. Sublime truths. Communicating that which cannot be communicated by words alone.
That’s why Masonic ritual works. It’s why Catholic ritual works. It’s why ritual itself works.
And it’s why this trick–this simple trick–communicates one of my favorite deep and powerful truths better than anything I’ve ever seen.
Magic. Real magic.
Game Design Rule #1: Don’t Design Games for People You Wouldn’t Allow at Your Table
Writing Houses. Writing The Wanker Rue into the chapter on aspects. It looks like this:
Using aspects is fun. It should be fun. Sometimes it’s fun.
Sometimes, a player abuses the rules to make the game fun for him at the expense of everyone else. Ah, wankers.
David Williams (one of the best game design minds in the world) came up with The Wanker Rule. At least, I learned it from him. Here’s how it goes.If you find a way to interpret a rule that clearly damages the play environment, sabotages other people’s fun or is just plain nonsensical, don’t use the rule in that way.In other words, don’t be a wanker.
I fully endorse taking style points from players who decide to be wankers. Of course, a warning is fair. Sometimes, we get caught up in the drama of the moment. Sometimes, our characters’ motivations seep into our own. Sometimes, those “imaginary” characters we play just get the better of us. I understand that. Hell, I’ve been on that end of things. But, we have to remember that what we’re doing is building a story, and sometimes, the hero doesn’t win. Sometimes, the hero loses.
But then, sometimes, the player is just a wanker.
We’ll talk more about this in the Player chapter. Until then, remember the wanker rule. It’s gonna show up again.
Finished writing. Then, I wondered if I needed this section in the book. Who would read it? Would they need to know it? Would they already know it?
Ah, the choices we make. Most players need it. I know that flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but I’ve played with lots of different groups and my opinion, drawn from my experience, is that most people need this advice. There’s a small number who don’t–you may be among them–but even if this rule doesn’t apply to you, or even your group, that doesn’t mean most players are like you.
Like I said above, I’ll talk more about this in the Player chapter. I’ll post that, too.
When I needed an interior design for Houses, there was only one man I could go to.
Daniel (effin’) Solis.
Here’s an example why.
Daniel insists this is a “sketch.” Yeah. I can’t wait to see the final version.
You can see more at his own LJ here.
I’ll be in LA over the 3 day weekend running games and helping out with the HEEEUGE Indie Press Booth.
I’ll be flying in on Friday morning. I’d like to split a room with someone. (I can even bring my own air mattress.) Let me know if anyone wants to split the cost.
Me to Jessie. “You collect Wine + Spices + Food, that’s worth 7 resource points. And with that, you can buy stuff.”
Jessie to me. “So, a price list?”
Me to Jessie. “Kinda. I mean, if you want a ten foot poll, bang, there’s a ten foot poll. You’re a friggin’ baron. You can get a hundred ten foot polls.”
Jessie to me. “But this is Houses of the Blooded. So it’s an eleven foot poll. Because even the polls go to eleven.”
Me to Jessie. rofl