Placing Fantasy in Reality

Well, I’m sure all of you remember Paul Davis from his previous posts here. He’s just started a new venture writing for Jukepop and would love for all of you to checkout his work there! For now, enjoy his post, and I have to say that Exalted is an excellent game!

(Photo Credit)

I was in a creative writing class where we alternated which student would write a ten to twenty page story for the class to read and critique. Each of us wrote three stories throughout the semester, and my turn was coming up. I was beside myself as to what I should write, so I chose something simple: a fan fiction. I was playing Exalted, a very fun and exciting, anime based, table top role playing game. The world used a great deal from our own in order to make it easier to connect. There was whiskey, rice, shacks made of wood, and other very common items in our every day life. Being a writer, whiskey was very common in my every day life. So this was the story submitted to my fantasy hating class.

Before this attempt, the advice had been the same every time: I had to make it so people could connect to the characters. No one understood a character fighting a dragon. So I made my character an alcoholic whom lost his daughter and wife to a twisted creature. People could relate to drinking and the thought of losing loved ones, and for once it felt like I won a battle in this class of hard critics. Until one classmate spoke up. “Why is he drinking whiskey? That’s from our world. Why is it here?” This isn’t where he stopped. This colleague became a chef, and I was tossed into the oven. However, when he roasted me it left a lasting impression. How much fantasy in the world is too much or too little?

Star Wars was my first major introduction to a science fiction setting. Nearly everything is imaginary. The material for buildings to the drinks commonly served all had names foreign to any earth tongue. Drugs were unique, and even common guns were called slug throwers. It takes a lot of work keeping it all straight, but for most fans of the genre it was acceptable.

However, do writers of science fiction and fantasy lose fans because of the numerous foreign objects which show up on the pages? Is it too difficult to connect with the common person when every other drink, food, and building material is something the average reader doesn’t understand? Most fantasy has ale, mead, or other forms of alcohol we know. Swords are made of steel, iron, or bronze. Pig, cow, and vegetables are often consumed. Now and then one or two mysteries are introduced. You have pipe weed in Lord of the Rings, but swords might be made of star metal or armor of mithril.

This great piece was done by Alexiuss, whose work can be found here.

Then comes the question of physics. One of the most liberating moments in my writing experience was the realization physics in each and every world we create is alterable. Every time we introduce magic we shake up the physics of our world. Since magic or super science is common to our genre, however, we don’t think twice about these changes. However, also an inspiration primarily from Exalted, why do we have to stop there?

Suddenly there is a mystical waterfall which falls up instead of down. The world has a border of mist, and even though it’s a modern world they don’t think twice about it. Trees in a natural park are actually made of crystal due to a science experiment gone wrong or nymphs which became bored. While too many alterations can make it difficult for the readers to follow, a few interesting quirks ignite the imagination. These deviations from reality make your world stick out from every other world created. Just look at nature for a good long while and brainstorm what you can alter to give that zip to your own setting.

My first question is when do we deviate too far from reality or not enough in our writing? Is fantasy and science fiction different in regards to how much we may leave the known? Those really are related, and in some strange way one question. We’re changing the physics of the English language. Also, go observe nature. Sit out there and ponder what you could change for your world which would be awe inspiring. Watch the wild life, the rivers or oceans, the trees and shrubbery, and come up with something to make your own.

Now write your heart out and make something that awes even you, as the creator. That’s when you know it’s something amazing.

Role-Playing Game set in Avnul

RPGs bring people together. They might be weird people, but their together.

I love role-playing games (rpgs), and have for a long time.  They’re fun, social, healthy, expressive, and creative (among other things).  Like anything you can get obsessed, have mistaken priorities, or lose touch with reality, but hopefully you’ll have a group that will set you straight if you go to far.

There are a lot of great games on the market.  Although I’m not a fan of 4th Edition, Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 is a fun, well put together game, as is Pathfinder.  You can also get a kick out of Serenity, Exalted, World of Darkness, Legend of the Five Rings, Star Wars RPG, and a myriad of others.  However, instead of contacting one of these companies, Erik Marsh and I have been working on a whole new system that we think should bring the world of Avnul to life in the best way possible.

With all of these great systems already in place you might be asking yourself,’Why would you make a new one?’ The answer is simple, none of these systems can adequately reflect the world of Avnul and its intricacies in the way that we would like them to.  There will be some similarities to several of the above systems, simply because certain systems already do things in the best way possible, but we also have some new systems that we hope will make it easy and fulfilling to play any kind of character that you can imagine.

The system doesn’t have a name yet, and we still have a lot of work to do, but I plan to post sporadic updates about our progress as we work our way through alpha and beta testing, and then as we hone the finer points of the system prior to publication.  I’ll probably also post some art as we get it in.

Dungeons and Dragons, the original role playing game

So, some basic information:

• The game will run off of a dice 10 based system that has more similarities to Legend of the Five Rings than Exalted (if you are familiar with either of these systems)
• The game features several unique mechanics including the Dedications mechanic, the Business system, the Power-level system for spell casting, and the Age mechanic that will be discussed further in later posts
• The game is entirely set in the world of Avnul and, eventually, all of the races and cultures present will be playable
• The core rulebook will provide rules and settings for games set in the Five Cities of the Longminjong, and among the Saru tribes of the jungle north of it

As I said, I do plan to provide further updates, though they will be sporadic.  I know Erik and I are very excited about this, and I hope you are too.