Jul. 27th, 2004 03:30 pm
Astral travail
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muckefuckIt seems I'm entring another one of those periods where I start to pull into myself too much again and last weekend was a good antidote. I want to build on that--I've been meaning to go to an LJMeetup or movie in Grant Park, but tonight I'll be lucky to summon up the energy to stagger over to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu's for QEftSG.
As I often do in these moods, I've been rooting through some of my old gaming stuff. I remember back to my very earliest days browsing the Fiend Folio, which left me with the impression that the "Ethereal Plane" was the "Ethereal plain". I actually imagined it as a barren expanse of earth someplace with the most hideous beasts roaming it. In any case, I was struck anew by the lamitude of the "Astral Plane" as presented in the AD&D rules. IIRC, it's a vast expanse of silver where the effect of certain magical weapons and devices is dampened or otherwise altered. *Yawn*.
Isn't this what is conceived of in occult circles as the plane of mental travel, the dimension of lucid dreaming? Damn, imagine the fun you could have with that! Well, you don't have to stretch too much since the Wachowski Brothers presented at least one engaging visualisation of it The Matrix. It could be a world vaguely like our own, except where mental acuity and magical protections account for more than physical strength or mundane knowledge--and where the apparent rules of physics which govern encountres could be bent and revised by powerful beings. From a role-playing point-of-view, it could be an opportunity for weak but intelligent characters to strut their stuff as the rules change to make them the protectors and the brawny warriors helpless wards.
Or not. At the very least, it could have an intriguing role in the normal run of things, as shamans or mentalists jaunt there to find the secret connexions between ideas and incidents that are hidden to everyday eyes. Psionics, so carelessly and pointlessly grafted onto magic-rich fantasy games, could come into their own there. So, tell me, is there an RPG out there that has really incorporated these elements into play? I don't know the first thing about CoC's Dreamlands, so I'm not sure if it's even relevant. But I'd have a lot of respect for a game which could add enough structure to the world of dreams to make it playable, while leaving enough surrealism and surprise to make it exciting.
monshu's for QEftSG.As I often do in these moods, I've been rooting through some of my old gaming stuff. I remember back to my very earliest days browsing the Fiend Folio, which left me with the impression that the "Ethereal Plane" was the "Ethereal plain". I actually imagined it as a barren expanse of earth someplace with the most hideous beasts roaming it. In any case, I was struck anew by the lamitude of the "Astral Plane" as presented in the AD&D rules. IIRC, it's a vast expanse of silver where the effect of certain magical weapons and devices is dampened or otherwise altered. *Yawn*.
Isn't this what is conceived of in occult circles as the plane of mental travel, the dimension of lucid dreaming? Damn, imagine the fun you could have with that! Well, you don't have to stretch too much since the Wachowski Brothers presented at least one engaging visualisation of it The Matrix. It could be a world vaguely like our own, except where mental acuity and magical protections account for more than physical strength or mundane knowledge--and where the apparent rules of physics which govern encountres could be bent and revised by powerful beings. From a role-playing point-of-view, it could be an opportunity for weak but intelligent characters to strut their stuff as the rules change to make them the protectors and the brawny warriors helpless wards.
Or not. At the very least, it could have an intriguing role in the normal run of things, as shamans or mentalists jaunt there to find the secret connexions between ideas and incidents that are hidden to everyday eyes. Psionics, so carelessly and pointlessly grafted onto magic-rich fantasy games, could come into their own there. So, tell me, is there an RPG out there that has really incorporated these elements into play? I don't know the first thing about CoC's Dreamlands, so I'm not sure if it's even relevant. But I'd have a lot of respect for a game which could add enough structure to the world of dreams to make it playable, while leaving enough surrealism and surprise to make it exciting.
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One could use games like Mage 2nd Edition to build a pretty awesome dream RPG, but you'd have to do a lot of the heavy lifting first.
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