Current Shareware 1994 January/SHAR194.ISO/games/me100693.zip/!CONCEPT.#01

Text File | 1993-09-18 | 15KB | 263 lines

:Intro


    What you have in Mystic Earth is a game of fiction and storytelling.
It will allow you to assume the role of a person in a world much like
your own but different in many ways. The Mystic Earth is an Alternative
Earth, a place based upon our own and its history with some significant
differences in nature and events.

   You are going to help weave wonderous tales, stories of peril and
magic, of fear and frustration, of battle and detection, against those
that can be overcome and advesaries that are undefeatable. These are
stories grimmer and darker at times than a fairy tale of old, and they
may involve more effort of imagination and involve you far more deeply
than any play or movie. This is because you are inside the story, as
an active part of it, a participant, not just some observer. It is an
experience you'll find like no other, and hopefully one you will find
enriching to your life.

    Elsewhere is a file, part of the Dart Package, regarding the very
different parts of the Timeline of the world the game is set in. Like
an actor you take a part, except this is the greatest of improvisational
theatre for you help write the script of the play or tale as it goes.
The Gamemaster crafts the initial setting and elements of the tale and
takes the role of the lesser individuals and advesaries. It is a game
that is about you, your imagination, creativity, adaptibility, and
emotions, for in the end, it is about you that the stories are told.

    Although it is a game, it is more about storytelling than winning.
The idea is to become involved in tales of passion and glory, and to
help the telling of these stories yourself and with the other players
and the Gamemaster. If you have never done this before, you may be
confused by the whole premise of a storyteller's game, a true roleplaying
game (there are some games on the market that pretend to this but end
up simply wargames with a different setting). Once you catch on to the
basic concepts you'll find that it isn't all that strange, in some ways
it is something you've done all your life.

   Storytelling in this form allows us to understand ourselves by giving
us a method to explain our triumphs and defeats. By looking at our
culture, our families and ourselves in new contexts so that we can
understand more about the nature of them all and of the universe we
live in. It is entertaining in that it is revealing, and exciting
because it shows hidden truths. Stories are, in all their forms, a basic
part of human psychology, a concept going back to the first spoken
language and tales of travelers and hunters around the campfire. Our
obsession with them has a purpose to it, of that there can be no doubt,
as it is intrigral to our nature and has an influence on our lives which
cannot be denied.

   Central to any story are the characters, some may be heroes, others
martyrs, still others the innocent swept up in the tide of events of
social or physical change, and still others the folk who prey upon the
weak or foolish or who seek to follow some greater goal in existance.
Some are the folk of Comedy, others tradgedy as grim as Shakespeare's
Hamlet or Julius Ceasar.

   You will take on the persona of such a character within the confines
of the game, a character you define by a collections of numbers, skills,
history and intent. A Character that ultimately the life of which is
within your hands, for it is you that decides what is said, done or
thought by them. You decide which risks they may take and which decline,
what causes to follow and which to oppose. Everything you do will have
a profound affect upon the sphere of the Mystic Earth they live in,
their alternative Earth.

   The rules define the mechanics of design and play and judgement
decisions for players in their personas and for the Gamemaster to
craft the rest of the material dealing with the events that will occur.

:The_Gamemaster

   Is the players guide to the landscape and events, the final judge
of what results from an action, the arbitrator for most arguments of
the physical nature of things. The Gamemaster must keep the flow of
events moving smoothly, create the skeleton outline from which the
tale will flow and in general play the hardest part of all.

    The game is designed with the Gamemaster in mind, that's why we
used an easily searchable media like a computer Hypertext to hold
the database of information. Fast and reliable finding of an answer
to a question, the use of the computer by the modern teller of tales
has become necessary in many cases. Though hardcopy (Printed paper)
copies of the game are usable, they are slower and require a lot more
effort or a lot more judgement calls by the Gamemaster on the results.

    Its designed to be played in comfortable quarters, sitting around
a living room or around a table, but basically where all may pay
attention to the directions of the gamemaster and the narration of
the events (while players provide their own stage action information
and dialogue). Ten sided dice are needed for play, as well as paper
and writing tools.

:Characters_&_Players

    Characters, like those in any good play or story, should not be
so many that one cannot tell them all. Charles Dickens wrote numerous
books, but his most popular focused around a handful of major and
minor characters, A Christmas Carol, while those that had a cast of
dozens proved less popular (who remembers all the cast of Oliver
Twist? A Tale Of Two Cities? Ye Olde Curiousity Shoppe? not many).
Thus the number of players should be kepts to say half a dozen, for
these are the principles of the tale.

    The other characters that may be encountered, be they simply
minor parts like the man that sells you a newspaper or the cabbie
that drives you to the airport, or major friends and foes of the
principals, like your character's elderly father or the terrorist
holding hostages in the post office, are all controlled and handled
by the Gamemaster, who must make their distinct individuality visible
and known unto you by his/her words and whatever small visual aides
(perhaps drawings or photos or computer graphics) are at hand to
make them as real as your own must be in your mind while playing the
part. These characters are referred to as NPC's (Non-Player Characters)
while your principles are called PC's (Player Characters).

    In crafting your character, beyond the simple mechanics and choices
within them, you must consider history and personality of them. There
are many different elements that make up what we like to think of
as our own selves, too many to fully seperate or identify even by
modern sciences like Psychology. In truth, we really don't know who or
what we are in full in reality, our true identities elude us. We know
that which we present to others, that which we feel at various times,
that which others see us as and what we see our selves as. We all
contain the multitude of possibility in our makeup if we allow ourselves
to tap it, and from that we must draw parts of ourselves in the forming
of a game character. The character, though seperate, is also but a
mask worn within the game as  part of our diverse desire and ability
to be both someone else and our selves at the same time.

    In many ways we must compose our identity each day from a number
of different sources, from experience and observation, emotion and
interplay with others. Each day we balance all our myriad 'selves'
and unite them into a working while, and by this pretending to be
whoel we create the reality of daily life.

    Thus all characters MUST and cannot help but reflect part of
ourselves within them when we roleplay. Parts of the character, its
profession or experience or history or potential or abilities or
liabilities may differ from that of your life as it is, even parts
of its emotional reactions may differ, but always in some essential
way, that character will reflect aspects of yourself.

   Mystic Earth is NOT the easiest gaming system to learn the process
from, its mechanics require extensive effort in the designing of your
character, because it seeks greater depth to the design then many
others. On the other hand it can be VERY rewarding in result once the
effort has been made. And once crafted, a character, like a person,
grows and changes with their experience as they travel thru their
lives.

   Players must understand that they will in most cases be designing
characters that will be working together towards goals within the
scope of the tale. They may be from diverse backgrounds and even
races, but they must be able to form a bonding between them for the
completion of a common goal. Both they and the Gamemaster must know
this from the start and the Gamemaster must assist the players thru
character generation so that they mesh well together. Some may know
each other before the events of the story, others may be complete
strangers just meeting. Some may duplicate some level of skills or
abilities, the Gamemaster must use persuasion and diplomacy to ensure
that no one character overshadows the others too much, claims too
much of the spotlite or has too much of an inability to work with
a group.

:Magic

   Mystic Earth is seeped in the concepts, past and present, of magic.
Magic is a force, an energy, a power and a dream. It is the ability to
manipulate the world thru words and actions, thoughts, songs and
emotions. It is all this and more.

   Within the design of Mystic Earth we have take components of our
own world and its experiences. It was designed by people who sit on
the edges between the mundane world of the day to day and the hidden
world of counter cultures, religious experiences, mystic places and
that which is in opposition to what is called 'normalcy' today.

   Thus it reflects a world equally on the edge. People who go about
their daily lives, never suspecting there could be more to life then
living, eating, breathing, sleeping, working, commuting, marrying,
having children, growing old, retiring and dying, are the mundane world
that is mentioned. Then there are those who discover things aren't
quite what they seem, who have a near death experience, meet a woman
who claims to be a witch, discover a book of magic and apparently
perform a spell that actually changes their lives, see the unusual
or are touched by the hand of their God or Goddess and have their lives
turn around to the odd, the different, the obscure. There are also those
who pass thru both, those who feel no surprise to see the outlandishly
dressed, the philosophically unbound, the protesting purple haired leather
garbed activist or the friend who spends long hours in a lotus position
attempting to reach oneness with the universe, and yet remain seperate
from it all.

   In Mystic Earth there ARE, as in this world, Pagans, Witches, Druids,
and others who follow beliefs in magic and powers beyond that which one
can see or hear. In Mystic Earth these are the type of people that a player
becomes. People facing persecution, Mystic Experiences, Witch-Wars, Battles
of Psyche and Spell, interfereing in the actions of the Mundane world
when it oversteps its bounds or crosses into theirs.

:Disclaimers

   Mystic Earth is NOT a recruitment tool for the other side of reality,
the flip side or the occult or whatever you wish to call it. It is meant
to make you stop and think, to expand your awareness etc but do not
assume that it is a reflection with any accuracy of THIS WORLD.

   Like all fictional designs, it is made to be in part a PARODY, an
exageration. You won't find anyone flying by your window on a broomstick
or a werewolf howling in Central Park in the normal world. This world's
unseen magic is far different, more toned down, less intrusive then that
of the Mystic Earth. It is a world that one should not cross
into unprepared for. And like is said throughout Mystic Earth,
everything involved with it has its price. In Mystic Earth the price is
often hiding one's true self, concealing one's natural tendancies or
beliefs, or using one's abilities to change the world. In THIS world
the price for the other side includes persecution, possible
self-delusion, constantly questioning one own's actions and ethics,
risking one's mundane life forever with little to show for it. Not
something we wish to actively recruit people into, even from the vantage
point of sitting on the edge of both as we do.

   DO NOT take Mystic Earth so seriously that you allow it to override
your life, it is and will always be a GAME. We are tired of tales of
unbalanced or derranged people that take roleplaying games too far, who
get locked up because they truly DO think they are their character or
believe the conspiracy of the Illuminati or commit suicide over the loss
of their character. If you have any possibility of such a tendancy then
you are instructed herein to cease reading this game, cease use of it and
leave it to those who have a more solid grasp of self and self worth.

    Now, in regards to names, persons and events, please note that since
Mystic Earth is in many ways a Parody of our world there will and must be
some semblence between them to set the mood. Remember that if you read
about a celebrity, historical figure, corporation, goverment or
individual in these pages, or even fictional characters, that it is all
done within the concept of parody and satire. No one is being depicted as
they really are, its a bit of poking fun for fun's sake or for the sake of
atmosphere or historical specualtion.

    Thus the semblence between these persons portrayed and real persons
living or dead is purely coincidental and is NOT intended to slander,
insult or harm the reputation of such. Ross Perot was not elected to the
Presidency of Texas, Bill Clinton is NOT a professional Elvis Impersonator,
etc. These are simply representations of Poetic and Dramatic License.

:Mood

     The mood of Mystic Earth tends to be quite different from other
roleplaying games. The world is a bit darker in nature, characters are
often secretive, suspicious or paranoid about keeping their secrets. The
vultures and wolves of society are everywhere, as are the sheep and the
truly innocent.

     The easiest way to understand it is to go to a comic book store and
get a copy of 'The Books Of Magic'. Also read Neil Gaimon's SANDMAN series,
and other books in the DC Vertigo line of comics. They have some excellent
concepts of the nature of the mood. DO not use their world though, as
Mystic Earth is NOT the same, not bound by the same mythos, beginings,
future or beliefs. Its the MOOD that is the same....