[Dreamscape Opera] Eidolon

[Morningstar]

So, I've been developing a new game, and large parts of it I've already put up.

Some of you may know of me through my homebrew version of a new Changeling (before Lost was announced), Changeling: the Delirium, and its later adaptation into Dreams of Delirium as a Lost Supplement.

So, now I present something which is designed with my own ends in mind. So I thought I'd share it with people as I produce it.

http://www.eidolon.me

Excerpts:

Genre

Eidolon is an attempt at a new genre. In constructing the various elements of the Realm and putting it together there were many aspects of it that seemed to touch on extant genres, but seemed to have its own special niche. The Realm of Eidolon is a pastiche. It has the high and low fantasy of classical faerie tales. It has elements of neo-Victorian culture and alternative technology. It has dark and furtive horrors that lay waiting in the dark. I call it dreamscape opera.

Dreams are very important in the Realm. They are so significantly caught up in what story is about that it can sometimes seem synonymous. In the Realm, all things touch upon the dream, and a good deal many more are immersed into it. It has a dreamscape quality to it, in that it is fantastic and wondrous; filled with the beauty of a phantasmagoria. In stories of the Realm there is no aesthetic that is too bizarre, too outlandish or wild. Colours are often exotic and hypnotic, though they be muted or vivid. Music echoes with deep timbre and powerful resonance.

The Realm has sprung forth from a dream, and so by a dream-like order all the details and fabrications are rich with nuance and meaning. That is to say, the subject of our attention, anyone's attention, becomes invested with meaning. The Realm works according to certain contrivances of fate and story. That means that objects, events, and occurrences that occur in any reality shaped by mere causality might stretch belief. However, here in the Realm the heroes arrive just in the nick of time, because time can very literally flow according to the speed of plot (as a necessity, any references to something being literal in this work is of course a deliberate double pun, if it's written it must be true).

Lastly, and most importantly, it is opera!  There should be exposition, there should be rising and falling action, there should be climaxes and conclusions. It is important to consider that the stories of Eidolon focus on the characters, their evolution and the progression of their drama. Each individual is a paragon of humanity, they are Actors in both senses of the word. They are the chosen of destiny, of fate to have the Realm revolve around them. They have a greater significance in the Realm by sheer virtue of the fact that we're telling their stories; as telling someone's story gives them power. So they are Actors because they have agency, they are all puissant to varying scales.

They are also Actors because at heart they are performers. Stories are enriched by drama, conflict and complex characters. Those Actors who give the best performance, the most memorable fodder for stories will find their star rising. The best and brightest of the Actors are the ones who, quite simply, know their stagecraft as well as their statecraft. There is a reason why much of the terminology in the Realm exploits the two meanings of words common between politics and performance. The theatre of power, the parlement, acts of law, masquerades and opera.

The design of these pages is to introduce to you the Realm of Eidolon. Inside it will explore the nature of how a Realm forged from story exists, functions and evolves; more importantly it will explore how the characters which portray its drama also move.

[Morningstar]

Has this piqued any interest so far?

Wanting to hear general feedback or impressions.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Lovely, haunting, mysterious, and intriguing. The flavor text is very flavorful.

Now, how the hell do I play it? Are there mechanics? If so, what are they? What type of stories is this designed to tell?

[Morningstar]

The setting is still being developed. What I have put up is to show it in development and to entice interest.

I want to have that set down pretty firmly before I worry about making mechanics. However, from an initial standpoint these are some of the thoughts I'm having for system:

The mechanics I have in mind are a narrative based system, that make dice, cards and such entirely optional. Some elements are inspired by Baron Munchausen, or the Fate points from the Fudge system, but I am looking at developing something entirely new for the system.

Challenges will either be against other Actors (duels) or against the environment (Ordeals), and can be assessed through a quick five stage process.
Challenges occur as a scene, rather than a specific act or action. Combat will be minimal, and emphasise dramatic conflict, political interaction and intrigue (it's possible to have combat, but it's just not well supported)

Step 1: Exposition (the Actor proposes dialogue or action)
Step 2: Challenge (Any interested Actor can invest or bid resources and skills into this scene)
Step 3: Climax (Competing investments determine which Actor has the most influence over the coming scene and sets out the motif and overall result)
Step 4: Denounement (Remaining investments allow secondary Actors to inject complications or consequences to the Climax)
Step 5: Finale (Scene is resolved, scripted and performed)

[Morningstar]

For the record, what I'm hoping to get here from the board is for people's thoughts. I mean, hearing "I love it" is a great way to keep me motivated. I am humble enough to admit that I thrive on that kind of support.

However, I like to think that I can be open to constructive criticism, and hope that by opening it up to the board that some of the weak points will get pointed out (this will probably be a slightly painful wake up call for me, but that's the fun part I guess).

So, here's hoping and dreaming!

[Spooky Fanboy]

Well, okay.

You've made an interesting lay of the thematic groundwork of your game. But to be honest, I really don't know what to say beyond that without having some idea of the mechanics.

What is your ideal scenario of this game? When you picture it being played by people, what do you see happening around the table? Because to go by what you've written so far, I'm confused: Are the characters in this game aware that they're in a play? Are they aware of the metaphysics at work? Or is that more for the players?

[Morningstar]

As I said before, the mechanics are a bit nebulous in my head at the moment, because I want them to be a natural extrapolation of the setting. So this might help congeal some of the things that I am thinking.

Well the people within the Realm are aware of the metaphysics of the Realm. They know that it's founded on laws of story (rather than our world where we have laws of physics). Causality is narrative, rather than as we might expect it. However, their knowledge is limited. No-one knows all the secrets of course, but a basic understanding of principles of story are as natural to them as our deductions on natural observations.

The players would themselves represent avatars of a story, they will have the ability to invest into an Actor and will enact the facets of that story through the Actor. There is no dichotomy here, no split sense of being, the Actor is the embodiment of that story. So in that respects, it's kind of a bit meta in the way a player enacts their characters. This is inherent to the setting of the game, and I intend for this to allow manipulation of game tropes.

An Actor will often have an entourage of various people who are essentially minions, lackies and sidekicks. The avatar of a story can also manifest in these people as proxies of the Avatar's power. (If you've ever played Nobilis, it's kind of like their Anchors). In essence, they are secondary characters that you can play and direct as you please.

So the story of tragedy has an agenda to see that certain facets of its story are played out through the Actor. The story grows in strength the more it's played out. Of course, stories are about conflict, so these story facets must surmount an obstacle or difficulty for it to be worthy of telling.

The default drama of the Realm is the games of politics and power. The idea of story and power are so intertwined in this Realm, that these Actors have become the centre of power itself within the Realm. They have the ability to influence ideas, people, objects and places far more readily than anyone else. The Actors of your story will all be the equivalent of aristocracy. Some will manipulate their own inherent ability through their ties with land and people (an equivalent of landed nobles), some will manipulate their own inherent ability through knowledge and academia (something like the church, except there is not so much an idea of religion in this Realm, they have other things to involve themselves) and others will manipulate their own ability by being mediators of power metrics (similar to guilds, in that they hold monopolies over critical facets of the Realm, but closer to Unknown Armies in that they are emulating fundamental facets of society). By the virtue of becoming an Actor that character is vaunted into the highest eschalons of power and influence. They are invested with purpose and meaning beyond their more prosaic counterparts.

Does that give you a better idea of where I'm going with this?

[Spooky Fanboy]

Yes. You're going where I hoped you were going. I look forward to this game and its blossoming.

[Morningstar]

So what were you seeing, out of curiosity?

[Spooky Fanboy]

I'm getting something like Exalted's Shaping Combat mixed in with the Game of Lords (or whatever it's called) from Changeling: the Lost. Whoever plays the story out to the fullest (while subtly manipulating it to his or her advantage) is the winner. You can get what you want---but if you don't play into the story, you lose power. You can play your role to the hilt---but what if it's a tragedy for you? And finally, you can bungle the whole thing. Sort of a nice spread of results.

[Vulpinoid]

I've been reading through the site.

It looks like the kind of game I could really sink my teeth into.

I would have said that that I could really get immersed in the setting (but Little Game Chef has given me immersion overload)...

It looks like the kind of game that changeling should have been. Consider that a compliment, because changeling went some of the way but stopped short before getting to some of the really great potential available.

I love this idea that a character character could be based on a notion of tragedy and they'd get bonuses toward any action that could hasten their own demise. Such a character lives to be remembered for their actions or their tragic deeds, and a spectacular failure for them is a narrative victory.

V 

[Morningstar]

[Morningstar]