Triple Goddess Jeopardy

[incandescens]

(a) Acquired Nobilis. WHEE!!!!!

(b) Saw Attack of the Clones. Heh. Amusing. A lot of Star Wars fun, though Anakin needs a spanking and the scriptwriters need replacing. Christopher Lee, mmm. Loved the scene where he hangs certain characters out to dry. He looked _convincingly_ better than them. (Though then he got interrupted by the Mean Green Muppet From Outer Space, alas.)

(c) working on edits of chapter 3 of HSF. Gotta be done...

(d) I now have CDs with Rurouni Kenshin episodes on them. I have watched the first couple of ones with Saitoh in them. _Lovely_ voice. Sigh. (Actually, I've noticed that I seem to be a sucker for a good baritone/bass. Sigh.)

(e) Memo: never try doing mini-braid with hair again. Mother will call me Anakin. Or Anni. Homicide may result.

(f) My mind is going in little circles. I fear that little new is resulting. Okay, one thing; my parents and I were trying to work out how Episode 3 will end so that Luke is in one place and Leia in another, especially given that Vader apparently didn't realise that he had a daughter. This suggests, to my mind, that he and Amidala separated shortly after she was pregnant (obviously not _before_, unless things are going to get really strange) and she died not long after the birth. It'll be a while before we find out.

Comments

[zamiel.livejournal.com]

"I'm a mean green muppet from outer space and I'm bad!"

"Mean, green, bad!"

"I'm a mean green muppet from outer space, and now I'm fightin' mad!"

Nobilis

[debela.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I've been slowly reading my copy of Nobilis (more slowly than I'd like, but Time is at a premium), and remain absolutely wowed by it. The new clarity is best summed up by the fact that I can now put my finger on what niggled at me from the first edition -

THIS IS THE DARKEST, MOST DEPRESSING GAME EVER.

Hands down. It has completely supplanted the previous contender.

ANyway, off to dinner.

(And of course Christopher Leee was badass - He's ROCHEFORT for crying out loud!)

Re: Nobilis

[incandescens]

Say rather that it has the potential to be the most depressing game, rather? It doesn't have to be...

And as to Christopher Lee -- yes. (You are talking to a longtime fan here, madame.) Rochefort, and Dracula, and the Comte de Richleau (The Devil Rides Out), and Lord Summerisle (The Wicker Man), and...

Mmm. And such a lovely deep voice.

Re: Nobilis

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

A voice like lying naked on black velvet...Did you see the quote from Ian McKellan from when they were filming LotR about how Christopher Lee acheived most of the persuasive effects of Saruman by talking 'in a certain voice'; Lee collects anecdotes about films and McKellan had one he'd not heard before (Dirk Bogarde and others in the Sea Shall Not Have Them: don't see why not, everyone else has). Mckellan records it as 'I made Saruman laugh' with exactly the awed friendship that Gandalf had for Saruman and I had the feeling that working with Christopher Lee must be on the edge of intimidating. Whereas he remembers being struck dumb with fannish awe when he met Tolkien and I'm sure I'd be the same if I heard The Voice in person.

Re: Nobilis

[incandescens]

Yes, his voice has a _wonderful_ quality to it. It goes right to the bones. (So given that one of Saruman's main powers was supposed to be his voice, it's perfect casting.) I _wish_ they hadn't cut out the "many colors" exchange between him and Gandalf.

And I am sure it must be intimidating to work with him. I would be utterly intimidated if I had the slightest chance of meeting him. :)

Re: Nobilis

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

maybe that will go back in the extended DVD cut? I'm hoping the extra minutes are *all* Saruman myself.

Now there's coincidence; he turned 80 yesterday!

Re: Nobilis

[incandescens]

I don't mind if they're not _all_ Saruman -- but it would be nice if at least some were!

80. Good gad. I hope I'm that spry and healthy at that age. ;)

Re: Nobilis

[rob-donoghue.livejournal.com]

See, I'd make the case that it's not even an issue of potential - it is as depressing as possible coming rightout the box. Sure, there are elements that make it worse (like capturing the love a mother has for her child in a bag of silver and winds, and using it as a garrotte to kill the father, or any other manipulation of concpets you can think of) but the baseline is atrocious.

Consider what it's like to be a humani n the setting. You are nto just nothing - you are less than nothing. You have no hope. There is no acheivment you can strive for that is not dust compared to what the true powers of the world can do with only the most casual of efforts. The _absolute_ best you can strive for is to achieve soem sort of aesthetic ideal so that someone migth be willing to use you as a wall decoration.

In fairness, this is a problem with a lot of modern fantasy setting, especially those that do the gnostic dance. The more irrelevant the masses of humanity are, the more special the PCs are, and the more appealing the game is to a sector of the populace that is generally socially marginalized.

So taking Nobilis, I can point to many threads of darkness coming together to make it a bleakly, bleakly dark game. For the man on the street, none of this matters, sinc ethey are doomed to spending eternity suffering at the whims of a small numer of mystical elite.

Now, for the average character, is it that dark? Nah. They're ok. They got the moxie. Sure, the game _could_ be dark for them, but it could also be a fluffy romp. But that doesn't make the setting any less bleak.

(Now, all that said, it's still beautiful and compelling. Just depressing.)

Re: Nobilis

[incandescens]

Interesting. I'm not sure how to answer that. I suppose my thought is that I don't see it as being about humans in the first place, so I never really considered it as being depressing to humans.

Re: Nobilis

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Is it possible to do a "street-level" Nobilis game? Or is it all High and Epic and All That?

Re: Nobilis

[rob-donoghue.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, a street-level nobilis game could be run - there area few magi with borrowed powers, and the Nobilis have Anchors, humans through whom they act, but it would require a pretty radical transformation. The anchors are literally slaves to the Nobilis' whims, and the magi have their own problems. WHat's more, it would require an entirely different system - Nobilis' mechanic simply will not work for mortal level characters, since the entirety of the mechanic revolves around how not-mortal a character is.

[mallen.livejournal.com]

I feel so wonderfully curmudgeonly about Episode II. I can only hope and wish that someone competent writes and/or directs Episode III.

[incandescens]

Cut out all romance scenes and get a better scriptwriter, for a start. That'd help.