dying earth snippets (GLOGtober)
Third entry for GLOGtober, this time it's "Real world artwork that inspires your RPG practice."
[His] time was limited; he must rob swiftly and be on his way. Out came his sack; he roved the hall, fastidiously selecting those objects of small bulk and great value: a small pot with antlers, which emitted clouds of remarkable gases when the prongs were tweaked; an ivory horn through which sounded voices from the past; a small stage where costumed imps stood ready to perform comic antics; an object like a cluster of crystal grapes, each affording a view into one of the demon-worlds...
It should come as no surprise that the writings of Jack Vance are replete with wonderful weird ideas, and, as is so often the case with old fantasy, most of these are left unexplored, to fuel the reader's imagination. Do we wonder why this is the genre of our imaginary games? We shouldn't.
I will present some other things I find inspirational from Cugel the Clever. I'd do more, but I'm trying to knock these GLOGtober posts out quick.
"You have rifled my collection! I note certain of my most treasured valuables!" [...] "I must visit upon you justice in its most unmitigated rigor -- unless, of course, you can suggest an adequate requital." "Some such requital surely exists," Cugel averred. "This cord however rasps upon my skin, so that I find cogitation impossible."
Vance here makes it quite obvious that the magician Iucounu is powerful enough to probably destroy Cugel. Instead, though, they go back and forth, in a kind of argument. It's not leisurely, exactly, but nobody's leaping for their sword. Almost all of the conflicts in these books play out this way. Sometimes the people have incredible fighting skill, sometimes they have horrible monsters at their command, and yet they almost always take the time to have silly little dialogue. And when one of them is "defeated" by the words of another, that's the end of it. (Either because of the social pressure of onlookers, or because they change their mind, or because he fools them into doing something else. Rarely, he simply delays them until something can happen that breaks up the conflict.) Often they come back with some other attempt, but it's always something different. This gives sufficient time to explore each antagonist over the course of several encounters. Nice! Cugel carries a sword almost all the time, but he basically never uses it. I think this is pretty challenging to execute in a "normal" game. Players usually want to make use of their powers, and their powers usually involve fighting. I think the takeaway here is to focus on the times when they're already not fighting, and make sure those times are as packed with argumentative conflicts as you can reasonably get away with. Maybe.
As for his disguise: it would either prove effective or it would not. To what extent the violet cusps befuddled perception was a matter of doubt; he could only hazard a trial. Cugel marched boldly up to the door of the hut. Pitching his voice as low as possible, he called, "I am here, revered princes of Smolod: Squire Bubach Angh of Grodz, who for thirty-one years has heaped the choicest of delicacies into the Smolod larders. Now I appear, beseeching elevation to the estate of nobility."
"As is your right," said the Chief Elder. "But you seem a man different to that Bubach Angh who so long has served the princes of Smolod." "I have been transfigured -- through grief at the passing of Prince Radkuth Vomin and through rapture at the prospect of elevation."
"This is clear and understandable. Come then -- prepare yourself for the rites."
To me, this seems exactly like it was played out at a table. Cugel's player had a plan, but got cold feet, so Vance's GM assured him that it's possible his plan can still work. He tries it, and it works. Brilliant. The line "this is clear and understandable" validates the stupid thing Cugel said, giving it an extra layer of pompous silliness.
I'm calling it here. This is a time-consuming post to write. Maybe I'll do another one later on. It seems like it has potential.