Many posts today. Hopefully you don't mind. I promise that my final 3 Ragnarok posts will be coming soon. Our side job of performing hilarious shows in theaters has a very busy month and we spent Thursday through Friday of last week (and will again this upcoming week) in Raleigh performing. So we've been backed up and have LOTS to share. I'm just gonna be typing all the posts this week.
I have an awesome post about theme that I'd like you all to comment on coming up tomorrow, but I HAD to share this video. It gave me chills and had me almost in tears. It also had me exploding with Scion ideas. You probably won't have the first two reactions because you don't love the following things as much as I do (or maybe you do), but hopefully you do have the latter reaction.
I am a constant student of game design. It takes everything I love about science, math, psychology and sociology and it SMASHES it all together with games! There is a video blog that I love that talks about game design mostly related to video games, but the ideas cross over beautifully into roleplaying games.
I love Joseph Campbell (Anne does not). If you don't know him, shame on you. He is probably the most famous comparative mythologist (what my undergrad was in), and he is just AWESOME. Most ideas you have about mythology were his first. When you say to yourself "Wow, Hercules and Sun Wukong have many similarities!" and then you realize that they also have many similarities to Jesus, that's his work. He made most of his career working through the "Hero with a Thousand Faces". You can learn more about him on Wikipedia.
He is a font of great ideas (Anne counters that his theory of the monomyth ruins Scion, and I agree to a point. It can't be taken as a whole for Scion, but it can still be used for all the ideas).
Damnt, I started reading more on him and stopped finishing this post.
One of the things he talks about is the Hero's Journey. I won't explain more because the video does such a good job, but it is an amazing place to delve for Scion ideas, and just remembering the journey is such an amazing font of creativity for ST and player alike. The sections on relics was especially awesome and important to remember. Even I forget all these points sometimes. And hopefully this kicks me in the ass to remember them for the next set of heroes.
These videos were produced by Penny Arcade, and they are awesome.
Watch the first video, and if you like it, watch part 2. I promise, it is worth your time. Feel free to share your thoughts below.
Very well done, DEFINITELY makes you think about Scion, especially the part about the relics! How interesting (and I suppose, the point,) that Scion's adventure from mortal to visitation to Hero to Demigod to God really is the Hero's Journey in roleplaying form!
ReplyDeleteI don't hate Joseph Campbell. I just hate it when people take the idea of the monomyth too far; there are definitely shared psychological characteristics across all cultures and therefore all mythologies, but those who simplistically declare that this means all myths are the same make me very cranky indeed.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know i needed to see that... thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend that is working in Game Design so I am more and more aware of these mechanics. Part of why my campaigns are so cherished by my player circles is because I began using these tools. Using themes, music and props is another way to ramp up your games. I would never say I'm a «master ST», but I'm getting there, putting specific challenges for me in each campaign I start. My challenge with the Scion campaign (2 years running with average 14h per month) is using toughtful music and play my NPCs with acute finesse and depth (making them evolve on themselves at the same pace as the PCs). Epic battles just aren't the same without Two Steps From Hell for example. ^^
ReplyDeleteYou can't roleplay in the backyard on the swing anymore. It takes a much more professional, dare I say artistic approach. Once you tasted it, you can't go back.