Her Tears Fall As Rain

Dave played a curious child.
Frank was a cursed youth.
Fred started off as a harsh truth-teller.
Matt was a brave javelineer.
Lisa was a misunderstood artisan.
Don was a burning prophet.
And Shawn played the crazy grandmother.

These were the characters in the game of Ganakagok I ran at Dreamation 2007 in the midnight Saturday slot.  Despite the late hour, there was a high level of enthusiasm and energy at the table, and the initial phase of character/situation generation went very smoothly.  People quickly “got” the idea of reading the Ganakagok tarot to create their characters’ background issues. Only Dave and Shawn had played before, but I had barely finished explaining what each card was supposed to say about the character before Fred looked up and said, “Okay, got it.”  All in all, character creation took about an hour, which is excellent with seven players.

By the time character creation ended, we had established that the curious child was the son of the chieftain who had been slain by the burning prophet, whose guilt had been revealed by the harsh truth-teller.  A fog lay over the island of ice, shrouding the Stars, and the people were riven with division, with some supporting a boastful warrior as the new chieftain and others insisting on the rights of the curious child. 

The game began with the burning prophet pulling himself from the flames into which he’d been cast as punishment for his crime of murdering the chief, collapsing in the snow, steam rising around him.  We played out a complete game-turn, with one player-turn per character, that took us from the dark of Night to Morning in three hours.

Dave’s turn:  The curious child, wracked with guilt over the death of his father, tried to make sense of someone else being punished for the crime, but found the whole thing too much to bear.  The cursed youth tried to comfort him, using his Ancient Ones mana to call down a flock of snow geese upon the village in a kind of obscure parable, but since he himself is an orphan who’d come to believe that he was destined to destroy any family he had, he did more harm than good to the poor child’s understanding. The harsh truth-teller drove away the cursed youth with his bone walking stick.  The misunderstood artisan crafted a weird ice-sculpture incorporating the body of the chieftain in an attempt to put the whole thing into perspective for the boy.  And the crazy grandmother sang the Song of the Sun.

Frank’s turn:  The people, for whom food had been growing scarce, looked to the cursed youth as their savior because of the bounty he’d called down upon the village.  They wanted him to stand up to the boastful warrior and take the role of leader.  But because of his belief that he was destined to destroy his family, he refused and sent himself into exile, revealing that he bore a Star that he’d found in a melted tower upon the flanks of Ganakagok and that he was going to bring it back there.  The harsh truth-teller, who’d had visions of the Last Star, followed, as did the misunderstood artisan.

Fred’s turn:  The self-exiled youth refused to allow those who followed him to join them, and they followed a little way behind.  The ice broke beneath the harsh truth-teller, and he was trapped under a clear patch of ice, banging against it, looking to the self-exiled youth to save him. The youth hesitated.  The misunderstood artisan tried to move him to action.  In my favorite move of this scene, Dave revealed that the curious child had been following the whole time, and now rushed forward, crying “Why aren’t you saving him?!” But the curse was strong, and the harsh truth-teller died, the light of the Last Star in his eyes.  Then he opened his eyes, a dark light in them, and swam away.  In a turn of events that Fred clearly relished, he’d become a cannibal-ghoul!

Matt’s turn:  Soon, the cannibal-ghoul began to haunt the village, shredding nets, despoiling kills, and even carrying off villagers who stray too far from the safety of their ice-houses (including the widow of the harsh truth-teller).  The brave javelineer sets off in his kayak to track down the monster, seeking the guidance of the spirits to lead him to the monster.  I let this be a player-vs-player contest, and Matt won.  The consequence card was “Darkness” and so, defeated, the cannibal-ghoul sank into the dark depths of the sea.

At this point, Night became Twilight.  The fog lifted, the sky lightened from night-black to twilight grey, and the stars faded.  We learned that the Last Star borne by the self-exiled youth was in fact the Sun, now shining like a star on the slopes of the ice-mountain of Ganakagok.

Lisa’s turn:  The misunderstood artisan confronted the self-exiled youth.  “Trade fates with me!” he said.  “Let me bear the Star.”  But the curse was not in the Star, it was in the youth himself.  And so he refused.  The consequence card was “Reflected Image” and so the players decided that the self-exiled youth was the avatar of the Sun, and the misunderstood artisan was the avatar of the Moon!  The curious child was now a wise witness to their apotheosis. Their ascent continued.

At this point, Twilight became Dawn.  The Sun melted the mountain of ice and hung in the pale blue sky, the Moon reflecting its new light faintly.

Don’s turn:  Back in the village, the burning prophet threw his support behind the boastful warrior and began to teach the people the way of the Sun.  The people became united, but would have to give up their old ways and leave Ganakagok.

Shawn’s turn:  The crazy grandmother set herself adrift on an ice floe, singing the Song of the Sun until death took her.

At this point, Dawn became Morning.  Ganakagok was transformed, but the People lost the memory of who they once were.  The curious child grew into the father of the new people, aided by the burning prophet.  The cannibal-ghoul sank into the depths to become the cancer at the heart of the world that would teach the people how to master and pollute the earth.  The brave javelineer would wander the globe, a flying Dutchman in a kayak.  The Sun and the Moon would continue their eternal chase, with the Sun slaying his family, the Stars, each morning when he rose.  And the crazy grandmother would become the Last Ancestor, looking down upon a people that had forgotten her.  She would weep, and her tears would fall as rain, not snow.  And the People would tell stories of the Lady Who Weeps, but they would have forgotten why.

How cool was that?

I really enjoyed this game -- ties with the Mortal Coil game I was in as my best-of-con.  Which is saying something, given its position as a midnight slot!

Becoming a cannibal ghoul relatively early in play was pretty entertaining.  Once I understood that my character's story was a tragedy, I had no trouble turning it up to eleven.  And the system supported my continued involvement in matters even after my character had essentially been removed from play.  Nice.

iago wrote:
And the system supported my continued involvement in matters even after my character had essentially been removed from play.  Nice.

The only part I didn't like was blacking out due to utter exhaustion.

I'll send the quotes I wrote down when I've got a chance -- we're flying to the UK for a filking convention tomorrow.

-Lisa

Lisa -- Don't even worry about the exhaustion part.  It was 3 am! -- Bill