Things I learned from Nobilis

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

 So, I've been playing in a Nobilis game which recently went on hiatus. It's my fevered hope that the game revives at some point in the future because the game was hella kick-ass.  (I'd just plucked the tailfeather from an Imperator)  This was a completely new group of people whom I'd never played with before so their social dynamics and play conventions were really interesting to explore.

 I wanted to specifically comment on a few things which we were trying to do in the game because I thought they were pretty neat and might be very useful for other people.  And if I'm re-stating some very well-known ideas, oops.  They were firsts for me.

 1.)  Wiki -- we had a campaign Wiki, which is much like having a campaign website, but the ability to add to and edit the content is a lot easier.  So game logs, quote records and other character contributions quickly got processed and added in for perusal.  The GM created an extensive NPC roster (something like 170 Powers and 50-odd Imperators) and all of them had an entry (even if it was just a stub -- though a lot of  them were pretty fleshed out).  I was surprised at the depth and richness of the wiki.  I'd used campaign websites before but usually it was me (as the GM) updating things.  It was nice to have the wiki to let all the players browse in and make changes.  Even now that the game is on indefinate hold, things are still being added and updated.  In fact, the only downside might be that the wiki is getting too dense.  It needs a bit of regorg to make stepping through it easier.  But frankly, I think that's exactly the kind of problem you want to have.

 2.)  Player-driven world creation -- Nobilis is, more than just about any other RPG I can think of, a game about social interactions.  There are lots of moments for physical and metaphysical action and combat, but ultimately, it's your interactions with other Nobilis that really drive the game forward.  So during the fairly extensive pre-game setup, people came up with a couple of different social organizations they belonged to and some of the notable NPCs who were part of the group.  This is one reason why we had so many NPCs.  But from my perspective it was great because it each player a wealth of stuff to do that they were genuinely interested in.  If you took the time to create a group to interact with, then it was probably something you were really interested in doing (even if you created a group hostile to you).  

 3.)  Personal Plotlines -- So we created these social groups for our characters and from that a huge number of potential plotlines got spawned.  After a  short period of time, we wound up with so many groups and characters, that we had a kind of "critical mass" and we could create interesting plotlines that fed back into previously created stuff (our own or someone else's).  We each went back and looked through everything and came up with three plotlines that we felt we'd really like to explore.  So I said I wanted to host this big contest, win the love of another Power, and take a trip beyond creation.  What was interesting was how some plotlines had a very natural synergy (a fair number of people wanted to sail beyond creation).  So I'm sure from the GMs perspective it was great -- he had lots of stuff to  weave into his long-term stuff and the amount of stuff he needed to provide dropped off.  From my perspective it was great because I could say "this is something really fun that I'd love to do, keep it on your list, Mr. GM" and I knew that he would.  The game ended a bit early so it was difficult to see how any of these turned out in actual play, but the concept seemed sound.

 4.)  Anchors Out of Control -- Quick recap:  In Nobilis you basically play a god.  Part of your godlike ability is that you can turn a few mortal people into Anchors and possess them whenever you want.  The only catch is that you have to truly love or hate the mortal in question in order to be able to do it.  Coming into the game, I'd never really considered Anchors all that important.  They were you when you possessed them, and they were just plot monkeys when you weren't ("your Anchor is in trouble...again").  A number of the other players wanted to highlight the human/Noble split more and felt that Anchors were the way to go.

 So in the end, it was decided that everyone would make one Anchor for everyone else.  Then, we'd post our Anchors for everyone to look at in a sort of "draft".  If you needed X number of Anchors, you'd look over the options other people came up with and picked your X favorite.  Those characters then became your Anchor and they were played by the person who came up with them.  There was some leeway to make changes to the proposals to better fit your character, but it was mostly a "take it or leave it" affair.

 It worked out really well.  People came up with lots of original ideas for Anchors, many of which were a lot cooler than what we might have come up with ourselves.  Giving someone else a strong investment in the NPC meant that the Anchors had a fair amount of independence and personality, rather than just being the PC in a different body.  We also avoided the dreaded problem of having a player play PC and NPC flunky and have a long conversation with himself.

 5.)  Anchors Out of Control Part 2 – The other interesting idea we had for Anchors was that there would be a pre-game period (of about an hour) where people could say "hey, your Anchor is calling, they need some help" and you could have these little mini-adventures involving the PC and the Anchor.  Little one-on-one things created and run by the player of the Anchor that would sit around the edges of whatever major plots were going on.  We didn't get to implement this as much as we would've liked because the game went off-line too soon.  We did, however, start off most sessions by focusing on a bunch of Anchors in the same locale and thrusting them into plot related trouble.

 These Anchor-focus sessions were really fun and there was a lot of great spontaneous stuff going on.  In the first session, Snake, a bad-ass biker (who was also an Anchor), got orders to go whack a sailor.  He summons his gang and when they get to the docks, they realize the sailor's boat is on fire and the sailor has just been fished out of the water and put in an ambulance.  Snake, never one to let good blood money get away, commandeers the ambulance with a few other members of his gang to make sure his target is dead.  Suddenly, the other players all jumped in as other gang members and there was this insane episode where the hijacked ambulance is careening all over town being chased by the cops while Snake and his friends fight the dead sailor who's become a fire-spitting zombie.  Everyone got involved and it was a lot of fun.

 So coming away from the experience, I have a better handle on Anchors than I did at the start.  I'm definitely going to be passing off NPC duties to other players in my future games whenever possible and I'm going to do a better job of getting people's plot dreams out in the open where I can work them in.

Later
Tom

[xiombarg]

Nothing of substance to add other than I'm really jealous of your game. My group didn't like Nobilis because they ran out of Miracle Points and were unwilling to Nettle to get more.

[Ben Lehman]

Hmm...

After two abortive (but fun) Nobilis attempts, I think that the other-PCs designed anchors and societies might be just the thing to kick off a good, more lasting game.

hmm...

Curse you, now I'm thinking Nobilis again!  ;-)

yrs--
--Ben

[bluegargantua]

Nothing of substance to add other than I'm really jealous of your game. My group didn't like Nobilis because they ran out of Miracle Points and were unwilling to Nettle to get more.

In my game there were character contributions (session logs, quote logs, Thought-Record snippets) that you could do every session for MPs.  The GM would also send out character questions from time to time ("what does your character miss about mortal life?  who does your character look up to and why?  what is your character currently reading?")  which were worth 1-2 MPs.  So there was a steady meta-game flow of MPs in addition to in-game Limits, Handicaps, Nettles and the like.  It wasn't quite MP Monty Haul, we had plenty of need to burn through our MPs, but it was just enough to get by until the next session.  

Then too, we had a fairly large group (7 PCs) so we could spread out the expenditures a bit.  But our Aspect-heavy players were still pretty tapped by the time we hit the first refresh period.

later
Tom

[Paul Czege]

Hey,

I do not own Nobilis 2e, but what really grabbed me in 1e was the painful situation facing the player characters relative to their Anchors. Some Anchors are the people you love, yet because of Lord Entropy's rules you must pretend to hate them. I imagined a whole politics of destruction, wrenchingly clandestine liasons, the outing of rivals, denials, and heartbreak associated with this. Can I ask, is actual play like what I describe? Or does some other focus dominate game events?

Paul

[bluegargantua]

I do not own Nobilis 2e, but what really grabbed me in 1e was the painful situation facing the player characters relative to their Anchors. Some Anchors are the people you love, yet because of Lord Entropy's rules you must pretend to hate them. I imagined a whole politics of destruction, wrenchingly clandestine liasons, the outing of rivals, denials, and heartbreak associated with this. Can I ask, is actual play like what I describe? Or does some other focus dominate game events?

 I don't have a lot of direct experience with this.  In most previous games, Anchors weren't really played up.  In this game they were, but our Familia were Pirate outlaws who didn't give a rip about The Big E's rules.

 Your question actually speaks to some of my concerns about Anchors.  If I'm a Power and I take Anchors,  am I not always better off taking someone I hate to avoid the emotional hassles above?  But one of the countering points that really worked for me was this:

 Anchors are immune to the Reality-warping changes that constantly sweep through the mortal world.  So if you find a mortal that you love, you can make it an Anchor and you know that the qualities that made you fall in love with the Anchor will endure despite the mutable nature of reality.  It becomes a permanent fixture.

 We also played a little fast and loose with "love".  If humans can fall madly and foolishly in love, so can Powers.  I had an Anchor who I met on a trip to Jamaica.  We shared some pot, had a fabulous night together and when I woke up, she was my Anchor and I wasn't quite sure how or why.  Other Powers who had no reason to love mortals defined love in different ways than traditional, Romeo and Juliet love.  One Power had an Anchor who amused him, another had an Anchor who re-affirmed his desire to wipe out all of humanity.  So I think there can be some more wiggle room than the rules might suggest.

 I also think that Anchors of Love are generally an open secret and not immediate grounds for prosecuction unless you do something stupid (like keep them alive forever or grant them other miraculous powers).  By making this rule, Lord Entropy gets to turn the screws on loving relationships in general, but more importantly, it always gives him a pretext for going after someone.  He's well aware that beings will fall in love so by making it a crime, he's always got an excuse.  At the same time, overusing this excuse won't further his ends.  It's more effective in that he's got something to hold over your head.

 So the short answer is, no I haven't seen the stuff you describe arising during play.  But the potential is defiantely there and with the right group of people it could really be a great piece.

 One more take on the Love Issue.  Love affairs with Anchors are one thing, love affairs with other Powers becomes a lot more deadly.  Even if Entropy's Laws didn't apply, you'd still have to be as paranoid as hell about who you were giving your heart to.

later
Tom

[pete_darby]

And there was the delicious suggestion on the mailing list that Lord Entropy has been given a prophecy that the Valde Bellum will be won through forbidden love: he's a practical man, that Entropy fellow, so he made all love forbidden.

You see, that's the sort of thinking that only top level management can do.

[GreatWolf]

A question:  what system did you use for the Anchors?  The standard Nobilis system really isn't scaled for it.  I was wondering, because I could see several systems potentially working, including Universalis.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Jere]

A question:  what system did you use for the Anchors?  The standard Nobilis system really isn't scaled for it.  I was wondering, because I could see several systems potentially working, including Universalis.

http://www.respectstartstomorrow.com/oceanwiki/Anchors

We basically ended up using Over the Edge, except we never used dice.

Jere

[John Kim]

So, I've been playing in a Nobilis game which recently went on hiatus. It's my fevered hope that the game revives at some point in the future because the game was hella kick-ass.  (I'd just plucked the tailfeather from an Imperator)  This was a completely new group of people whom I'd never played with before so their social dynamics and play conventions were really interesting to explore.  

From the wiki it looks like the game had four sessions before it went on hiatus.  Why did it go on hiatus?  With seven players, it seems like it could survive one or two dropping out.  Is the same group planning to do a different game?

[Jere]

From the wiki it looks like the game had four sessions before it went on hiatus.  Why did it go on hiatus?  With seven players, it seems like it could survive one or two dropping out.  Is the same group planning to do a different game?

Life got way to complicated for me, the HG. My job started demanding mroe of my time, I have a second child on the way, and my three-year-old son's new schedule together with my wife's new work schedule was just making gaming impossible.

I'm hoping once the new schedules stabilize I can persuade folks to come back for some more.

Jere