So, a breakdown of No Heaven, No Earth.

This is going to be posted both here, and to December Star.

Things went very well in the LARP, in no small part to palecur and racerxmachina 's work. RxM grumbled a bit at the act that I always deferred to her and palecuron giving background information; well, that's because in a real sense the world is their baby.

And some other random notes:

It's wonderful to see what players will make of one's characters. Red at Sunset was my primary contribution to the LARP characters, and he was played utterly unlike I anticipated him being portrayed. And it was wonderful; I had flashes of Mirrormask watching him stalk around and listening to him interrogate the other characters.

Actively encouraging a character to misbehave may be stretching the role of a supposedly impartial GM. But it was fun, and watching our magpie flutter around was thrilling.

Knowing which characters can have information slipped to them is VERY important when one has to improvise a bit of setting information.

We honestly didn't think the baddie would be discovered so quickly, and I was utterly surprised at how quickly the prisoner exchange went, . in a "huh? I blinked" sort ot manner. Fortunately, we avoided having people stand around for a couple hours waiting to disembark, through a couple strategems that will be kept in later renditions of NHNE, should they happen.

I do think that we need something of a time limit or an additional endgame, to keep the last part of the game from dragging, and continue a sense of urgency. We are currently bouncing ideas around.

THE RULES

As the person who bodged together the resolution system for No Heaven no Earth, I was wondering what people thought of it.

I had a couple of goals with it:
1) No dice or randomizers needed
2) Give a feeling for the basic magical nature of the characters; stronger always wins, but
Glamour can allow for the little guy to win if her really, really wants to.
3) Allow for either quick and easy resolution of conflicts, or dramatic impasses.
4) Be simple and streamlined, easy to understand.

Now, I do think the system needs to be edited, maybe balanced a bit more, and there's a few quirks like damage/results, and Glamour spending and refreshing that need to be worked on. Likewise, how to define an impasse,and how new traits are used in it.

But I couldn't help but think I had something when I offered to help a couple people with a conflict early in the game, and they replied, "No thanks, we got it!".

So, what do you people think?

There should be a warning on some books.

Helpful safety hint:


After a long, depressing day, one that includes crappy work stuff, uncooperative bureaucrats, and reading about the horrible death of a pet kitty....

In seeking to relax, DON'T open a book of Russian fiction.

No really. Just DON'T.  RED LIGHT.  STOP.

After cooling off with a couple chapters at the tail end of Nightwatch, I'm ready to curl up in bed and go into vodka-induced catatonia, rather than the party I'm going to. I know my mood will lift after I'm with some happy people, but it'll take some effort. 

Geez, those Russians authors need to lighten up!