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enthusiastick) wrote2007-02-09 03:04 pm
enthusiastick) wrote2007-02-09 03:04 pm
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'cause I don't wanna crush you but I feel like crushing you
The most recent White Wolf Quarterly came out a little over a week ago. Believe it or not I don't usually read the White Wolf Quarterly, but this particular issue contained an interesting tidbit. You may recall I recently griped about the absolute lack of news regarding the new version of Changeling planned for this year. I'm happy to report that developer Ethan Skemp tossed off an interesting one-page note about sources of inspiration for the game. Its a quick piece with a light tone, lamenting how jam-packed he’s going to have to make the Bibliography to fit in all the different books and poems and movies and whatever else. And I find it very, very encouraging.
In addition to citing good sources Skemp also rhapsodizes all too briefly on the character archetypes for the game, what I think of as the splats. He talks about the difficulties of balancing them, not against one another but against the diversity of possible ideas. On the one hand they should be broad enough that a player ought to be able to come to the table with an idea in mind and be able to fit it into one of the existing splats. But, as he puts it, "we've got to make them colorful enough that you can come into Changeling without a character concept and leave with one; they can't be so general they don't inspire."
It sounds to me like Skemp's facing a tricky balancing act there. On the one hand the Fae of legend are so quirky and diverse as to defy categorization; oftentimes it seems as if each individual Fae comes with constraints and particulars that render it unique even if it theoretically belongs to a well-known type. On the other hand White Wolf has gotten fairly well locked into their 5 by 5 template; in all of the new World of Darkness games you place your character on two axes with five options each. The first axis is nature; you choose what particular breed of Vampire/Werewolf/Mage your character is innately. The second axis is nurture; you choose a faction that groups what your character has chosen to believe and practice beyond his origin. Both axes map roughly onto the five elements of air, earth, fire, water and spirit.
For some reason I have faith in the ability of Skemp to resolve these difficulties and come up with five splats that meet the White Wolf standard while at the same time providing maximum utility for people wanting to bring a unique twist to their Changeling characters. This in spite of the fact that its already gone badly at least once in the new World of Darkness, at least in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned the new Werewolf type splats make no sense. Not that I was ever that big a fan of Werewolf (even back in the old World of Darkness days when Mr. Skemp himself was working on it.) I'm eager to see how it works out, although I'll likely be waiting the better part of a year before I actually have a book in my hands.
In addition to citing good sources Skemp also rhapsodizes all too briefly on the character archetypes for the game, what I think of as the splats. He talks about the difficulties of balancing them, not against one another but against the diversity of possible ideas. On the one hand they should be broad enough that a player ought to be able to come to the table with an idea in mind and be able to fit it into one of the existing splats. But, as he puts it, "we've got to make them colorful enough that you can come into Changeling without a character concept and leave with one; they can't be so general they don't inspire."
It sounds to me like Skemp's facing a tricky balancing act there. On the one hand the Fae of legend are so quirky and diverse as to defy categorization; oftentimes it seems as if each individual Fae comes with constraints and particulars that render it unique even if it theoretically belongs to a well-known type. On the other hand White Wolf has gotten fairly well locked into their 5 by 5 template; in all of the new World of Darkness games you place your character on two axes with five options each. The first axis is nature; you choose what particular breed of Vampire/Werewolf/Mage your character is innately. The second axis is nurture; you choose a faction that groups what your character has chosen to believe and practice beyond his origin. Both axes map roughly onto the five elements of air, earth, fire, water and spirit.
For some reason I have faith in the ability of Skemp to resolve these difficulties and come up with five splats that meet the White Wolf standard while at the same time providing maximum utility for people wanting to bring a unique twist to their Changeling characters. This in spite of the fact that its already gone badly at least once in the new World of Darkness, at least in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned the new Werewolf type splats make no sense. Not that I was ever that big a fan of Werewolf (even back in the old World of Darkness days when Mr. Skemp himself was working on it.) I'm eager to see how it works out, although I'll likely be waiting the better part of a year before I actually have a book in my hands.