[PBEM RPG] The Game of Mallor From: "Brandon Van Every" <vanevery@earthlink.net> Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000 The Game of Mallor Copyright 1999 by Brandon Van Every E-mail: vanevery@earthlink.net 0.0 THE BACKSTORY 0.1 What's the plot? 0.2 What's the genre? 0.3 What is the nature of magic? 0.4 What is the level of technology? 0.5 What is the geography of the land? 1.0 THE LACK OF RULES AND REGULATIONS 1.1 What kind of game is this? 1.2 What are the rules? 1.3 How do I lose the game? 1.4 How many games have you run before, Mr. Gamemaster? 1.5 How many players will be in this game? 1.6 What info should I provide about my character? 1.7 Can I make any character I want? 1.8 Do I get to meet the other players? 1.9 How frequently will e-mails be sent? 1.10 How long should e-mails be? 1.11 How are events synchronized between players? 0.0 THE BACKSTORY 0.1 What's the plot? Mallor of Westmarch Race: human Sex: Male Age: 35 Profession: so-called "Perceptualist" Mallor was the black sheep of the noble Westmarch family. At an early age he displayed a profound introversion, avoided team sports, and refused to learn to joust with a lance. His incessant interest in books and the pursuits of the Mind led his noble parents to throw up their hands and send him to the Academy of Wizards at Borphee. He quickly gained a reputation as an iconoclast and an outcast, fervently arguing that although the fundamental principles of Magic were effective in their own right, much non-magical phenomena had been overlooked. In an effort to persuade others of his views, he concentrated exclusively upon the domains of Mind Control and The Unity of Consciousness. His detractors, sesasoned in the arts of magic and anit-matic, were often flabbergasted to have Mallor's own words put into their mouths as they debated amidst the echoes of the Academy's hallowed halls. Declaring himself a "Perceptualist," not a Magician, Mallor quickly became despised by all but the most humble of thaumaturlogical researchers. (That is to say, by all of the Academy.) Some say Mallor knew nothing of Magic and therefore preferred to invent excuses. Others say Mallor knew plenty of magic, but was never as good at it as his peers, and so therefore sought another way. Mallor's arch-rival at the academy was a prematurely aged wizard named Borizzbane, also known to some as Borizzbane the Mendicant, the beggar of flesh. Borrizzbane carried out experiments of the Soul, particularly near the time of death, a practice which many in the Academy viewed as unethical. Borizzbane had long experimented upon condemned criminals and political prisoners, thereby escaping the purvey of the authorities. But one of his experiments must have gone awry: his hidden laboratory was spectacularly found by explosion in the Academy halls not a fortnight ago. His charred skeleton lay in state within an iron maiden, ceiling chains ripped from their sockets, melted gobs of industrial ironwork spewn about the floor in pools of latent magical fire. Mallor, oddly enough, has not been seen at the academy since the night of the explosion. The other three of the Five most powerful wizards in the land have been summoned to Borphee to investigate his disappearance. A wizard's convention is being held simultaneously to entertain the career-minded sort, and to cloak the real investigation amidst a smokescreen of raucous babble. Some believe Mallor has been whisked away to the farthest reaches of the continent. For Mallor was not without his secret supporters and patrons who would shield him from prosecution. Not so much for their love of the man but for the gain of his *craft*. Few wished to openly extol the virtues of mind control in matters of combat, warfare, commerce, and politics, but most understood the implications if Mallor's research could be applied. Surely such a man as Mallor would enjoy great wealth and power! And surely such power concentrated in the hands of one man is dangerous for the realm? 0.2 What's the genre? It's a fantasy world, swords and sorcery with Zorkian overtones. Please stick to the genre, although you're free to interpret the genre as liberally as you like. The important thing is that we're all working on the same story, not 6 different stories in 6 different genres. 0.3 What is the nature of magic? In this universe, there isn't a spell for everything. It's like academia, lots of topics are covered, but not every field has experts in everything, and there's a lot of ground unexplored. Wizards tend to specialize in a particular kind of magic that they really understand. There might be a few "hack" wizards who know a little bit from here, a little bit from there, but aren't really amazing at any one thing. Some wizards are more interested in technique, some are interested in general theories and how one branch of magic relates to another. And of course there are plenty of charlatains who don't really know a damn thing. It's a lot like SIGGRAPH, if that means anything to you. :-) 0.4 What is the level of technology? Approximately that of the Holy Roman Empire if it had been allowed to go on for a few more centuries, and the Dark Ages had never happened. The world is pre-industrial but trickles of startling technological innovation are here and there. Primitive rockets exist in some places but there are no firearms or cannons. You might say technological development has been sporadic, because there's so much magic about, that technology has not been required to solve many kinds of problems. 0.5 What is the geography of the land? The small town of Borphee is home to the Academy of Wizards and sits at the center of a somewhat circular looking continent. Wizards like that location because it's equidistant and requires the least amount of bitching. Unfortunately Borphee is surrounded to the north, west, and south by the enormous Elven Forest, unfortunate because the politics of tree huggers are sometimes at odds with those of the guild. The King's Highway runs East-West through the forest and has been the source of many a historic gaffe, most notably the bandsawing of The Great Stump by Ozmoo the Rotistic some five hundred years ago. The denizens east of Borphee are much more sane but only by hillbilly standards. Further details of geography and geopolitics will be provided as the story warrants. 1. THE LACK OF RULES AND REGULATIONS 1.1 What kind of game is this? The Game of Mallor is a free-form play-by-e-mail (PBEM) role playing game. There is no rulebook, there is only the Gamemaster, Brandon Van Every, and people playing the game. We take turns e-mailing each other about what's happening in the game, it is totally a product of our minds. As Gamemaster I will arbitrate the physical reality of the universe and resolve conflicts, but it is a flexible arbitration open to suggestion. Indeed, player creativity in describing the nature of the universe is expected and encouraged. 1.2 What are the rules? There really aren't any. You're free to do whatever you like in the world, as are others, including how they interact with your character. All I try to do as Game Master is keep the world consistent and tell a story in the most powerful and compelling manner that I can. There's no such thing as a "too powerful" character or a "too weak" character, there are no statistics, no die rolls. Indeed, you will need to be something of a storyteller yourself to enjoy this game, hack 'n' slashers please look elsewhere. 1.3 How do I lose the game? How do you lose a story? Maybe on the airplane, left it in the pouch in front of your seat? 1.4 How many games have you run before, Mr. Gamemaster? I ran the original Game Of Mallor about a year ago as my first effort at PBEM RPG. It was epic in scope and I allowed players to hand me any characters they liked. This created many problems for plot continuity and pacing, it all bogged down. At it's peak I had 17 players. After about 1 month of full-time writing, 8 hours per day, the project was terminated. For my 2nd effort I ran The Game Of Immortals, which was more of a cooperative writing venture between 8 authors. The plotline was about a universe in which all the human mortals had perished and the gods didn't have anyone to kick around anymore. Players were screened for their writing ability and this greatly improved the creative output of the project. Improvements were made to the pacing of the stories but I didn't feel our efforts - and in particular my efforts - were wholly successful due to inexperience. Also it's problematic for 8 people to tell the same story at once, we resorted to telling two stories at once, and it still didn't work too well. The main difficulty again was pacing, the plot constructions simply didn't move along fast enough. Nevertheless we all did some good writing and I think we got something out of it. Again, after about 1 month the project was terminated. Three times a charm, as they say. :-) This is my 3rd effort and will draw upon source material from my 1st effort. My mantra this time around is pacing, pacing, pacing. I wouldn't be surprised if this game also lasts about 1 month, I'm certainly not going to promise any more than that, the real world being what it is. 1.5 How many players will be in this game? ***FIVE***, plus myself as Gamemaster. No more. And I'm banking no less, as getting players has never been a problem in the past. 1.6 What info should I provide about my character? Please give me a character description that's a good read. It should be a good example of the typical writing style you will use when playing the game. Creativity is a must: we're not looking to be bored! If your writing isn't any good then you won't be accepted. I'm not saying you have to write like a novelist, I'm saying you have some *ideas* when you write, that will keep other people interested in what your character is doing. 1.7 Can I make any character I want? Not quite. You can't be Mallor, and you must make a character that's relevant to the plot summary I have given for The Game Of Mallor. You can tie your character into the plot pretty much any way you like, I'm quite intrigued to be handed 5 random but seemingly relevant storylines, and I will orchestrate them together. The tie-ins do not have to be serious, they can be humorous, even grotesquely so if you like. For instance in the previous game, one person played a shapeshifting Earth Dragon posing as a wizard cattle herder to cover up his sharklike attacks upon local sheep! Another person played one of the principal wizardly investigators and invented his own theory of magic appropriate to one of the Five most powerful wizards in the land. I don't really care if this story becomes a deadly drama or a blackly humorous farce, anything is fine with me and I like how things evolve with their own life. But if I believe your storyline is too problematic, I will ask you to alter it before you enter the game. I promise not to take a hatchet to it, unless it's made of dead oak logs. 1.8 Do I get to meet the other players? Nope! Not directly. You get to perceive their actions in the game universe, but all their posts will be chanelled through me, the Gamemaster. This creates an interesting quandry for you... are you dealing with another player, or one of the Gamemaster's Non-Player Character inventions? Calculation elimination gives you four other players + the evil Gamemaster to choose from, MHUWUWUAAAHAHAHHAAHAHAAAAAA!!!! 1.9 How frequently will e-mails be sent? Once every two to three days is a good rhythm, you can go faster if you can manage it. Please don't go slower. The game has to sustain momentum for people to remain interested in it, and my experience has been that when the posting interval gets longer than 2 to 3 days, the game dies. 1.10 How long should e-mails be? That's up to your judgement as a writer, and your level of inspiration from day to day. 1.11 How are events synchronized betwen players? Basically I "wing it." Since we're telling stories, not running a wargame, winging it works fine. -- Cheers, 3d graphics optimization jock Brandon Van Every Seattle, WA NATO bombings: a policy test, a policy failure. Ground war: a slidealong policy, a Vietnam in the making. Cold war: just give Russian Nationalists an excuse. Up