Giving Thanks for Games

Games have been a universal cultural phenomenon for thousands of years and possibly longer. Senet. Mehen. The Royal Game of Ur. Backgammon. Pachesi. Mancala. Go. Draughts. Chess. Dice. Cards. Dominos. Marbles. Hide-and-Seek. Stop-and-Go. Tag. Word games. Trivia games. Wargames. Resource management games. Railroad simulation games. Roleplaying games. Video games. On and on.

Games have histories, some remembered and some lost. One story tells of a Chinese emperor Yao who had his couselor Shun design the game Go for his unruly son. In 11th century Persia, it is said that Burzoe invented nard, a variant of backgammon. Albert Lamorisse, a French filmmaker, invented the strategic board game, Risk. From its tabletop wargaming roots, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson invented Dungeons & Dragons and rediscovered roleplaying games. Allan Alcorn, an American engineer and computer scientist, invented the video game Pong. Richard Garfield, an American mathematician, invented the trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. Klause Teuber, a German dental technician, invented the strategy and negotiation board game Catan. 

Games can serve as a leisure activity to relax and pass the time. While a variety of vices can attach themselves to games, playing games is not a vice in itself.

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Gurdjieff, Death, and Immortality: Two Papers

In early 2020, I had been considering attending the All & Everything conference, since it was to be held in Salem, Massachusetts, not far from where I live. But then circumstances caused the in-person conference to be cancelled and instead, the conference would be held online. This was less interesting to me, so I did not attend.

Still, I had an interest in what was to be presented at the conference. And in researching what papers were to be submitted to the conference, I came across a paper by Jan Jarvis and later a rebuttal to her paper by Rafael Lefort Jr.

The papers were particularly interesting to me in that they presented Gurdjieff’s ideas on death and immortality, the rebuttal more accurately than the original paper, in my opinion.

The Jarvis 2020 paper is titled Role of Abstract Ideals in the Creation of the Kesdjan.

The Lefort Jr rebuttal is titled Esoteric Christianity vs. Secular Humanism in Esoteric Clothing: A Rebuttal to ‘Role of Abstract Ideals in the Creation of the Kesdjan’.

The original paper was presented at a conference in 2020 and recently, the Q&A for the conference was published. It is evident however from the Q&A that her assertions were hardly challenged at all.

If you’re interested in the topics of death and immortality as presented by Gurdjieff, I recommend reading the rebuttal—it touches on all of the points of the original paper and is more thoroughly researched on the topics presented. To date, I have seen no counter paper to refute the Lefort Jr rebuttal.

Playtesting a Homebrew System in the Black Pyramid of Cha’alt

An Unusual Game Night

Since two members of my usual gaming group weren’t able to make it to game night, I invited those who could make it to playtest the homebrew system I’ve been working on. I decided to playtest the system using the Black Pyramid, the megadungeon found in Cha’alt—the gonzo, eldritch, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic setting book by Venger Satanis. Since Cha’alt is fairly game system neutral, and more-or-less compatible with OSR/5e and Venger’s own Crimson Dragonslayer d20, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to get it to work with this new homebrew system.

The homebrew system I’ve been working on is based on something older than Dungeons & Dragons.

“What?!” you exclaim. “No roleplaying game is older than D&D!”

Ah, but as the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. Perennial ideas are often lost and rediscovered. The principles were there all along, waiting. But that’s enough philosophizing. On to the playtest!

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Lovecraft and Gurdjieff: Part 2: Gods

Conception of a Supreme Deity: AZATHOTH

Readers familiar with the weird tales of H.P. Lovecraft know that his fictional representation of the universe is not a godless one. At first, one might think the author’s fiction is contrary to his personal belief in atheism, as expressed in his letters. But it is not. Rather, he conveys his representation of an impersonal and indifferent universe of mindless and blind forces through his fictional deities.

Lovecraft’s universe contains a whole pantheon of alien gods with strange names and agendas foreign and sometimes malevolent towards the insignificant humans of the planet Earth. And at the center of this pantheon is AZATHOTH, the blind idiot god who mindlessly sloughs off creation. This is Lovecraft’s caricature of an ultimate deity, his own conception of God.

“[O]utside the ordered universe [is] that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.” – Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath

“… ancient legends of Ultimate Chaos, at whose center sprawls the blind idiot god Azathoth, Lord of All Things, encircled by his flopping horde of mindless and amorphous dancers, and lulled by the thin monotonous piping of a demoniac flute held in nameless paws.” – The Haunter of the Dark

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Gurdjieff and Games, Part 5: Roleplaying Games, Alignment, and Villains

Alignment

There are a variety of game mechanics used in roleplaying games to represent the characters’ morals and attitudes. These are often called “alignment”. Dungeons & Dragons has the “Lawful-Chaotic” dimension and often the “Good-Evil” dimension of alignment. Storyteller games use some form of “Humanity-Monster” dimension. Palladium has its Principled, Scrupulous, Unprincipled, Anarchist, Miscreant, Aberrant, and Diabolic alignments.

Since the PCs usually take on the roles of individual heroes and adventurers, PC alignments tend to be away from the “evil”, “monstrous”, or “miscreant” and more towards the “good” and “human”. Though there are exceptions, by and large most PCs tend to be good or at worst neutral.

The game master, meanwhile, plays the balance of the characters in the world across the wide spectrum of alignments. It’s like one PC is Frodo, another is Sam, and the game master is Sauron, Gandalf, Gollum, Saruman, the orcs, the ents, the elves, and so on, good guys and bad guys alike.

In Gurdjieff’s writings, in terms of “alignment”, humans have subjective morality and objective morality. Subjective morality is acquired from external factors of upbringing, parents, teachers, siblings, and peers. Since it is acquired, it has a very local or tribal character. To give an extreme example, it would be immoral for a member of the Korowai tribe of Papua New Guinea to not engage in ritual cannibalism. Whereas a typical Westerner views cannibalism as immoral. Both are doing what they believe is “good”.

Objective morality is different. It is not acquired, and as such, is universal. 

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Gurdjieff and Games, Part 4: Roleplaying Games

The Keep on the Borderlands, Erol Otus, 1979

The Role of Roleplaying Games

Roleplaying games occupy a unique place in contemporary culture. They appear to be a relatively new invention that developed from the miniature wargaming hobby. War games are simulation-type games where each player controls a faction of military units, usually represented by miniature figurines. The player-controlled units are brought into conflict in a particular historical or non-historical setting, represented on the tabletop by a map. Typically in war games, one player acts as the referee, while the other players control the military units that enter into conflict with each other. Each player uses tactics and strategy in order to win. 

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, both experienced miniature war gamers, are considered the modern fathers of roleplaying games, the most well-known being Dungeons & Dragons, and it is from their innovations that the new hobby sprung.

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For the Bibliomaniacs: Protecting Book Dust Jackets

When I received my copies of Cha’alt and Cha’alt Fuchsia Malaise (by Venger Satanis), I was surprised by the high production values of the books, especially that they had dust jackets. I’ve never had gaming books with dust jackets before, so I decided to give them special treatment by protecting them.

I posted my first attempt at protecting dust jackets in mylar on Youtube.

My second attempt (below) went better.

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Crimson Escalation Kickstarter

A game-changer for D&D/OSR/d20 combat

I’m not a fan of meaninglessly prolonged combat in the games I run, and neither are my players. So I had been thinking about how to speed things up—and serendipitously, Venger Satanis was thinking about the same thing.

We’ve come up with something that’s dead simple for players and GMs to not only speed up combat but to also create a sense of mounting tension each round.

I’m excited to support Venger on this endeavor to spread the word about Crimson Escalation!

Check out the Kickstarter!

http://kck.st/3gEy178

GPH Series: The Genie Palace Heists

Palace Map

Far, far from the low magic, investigative horror setting of “Beyond Thule“, six years ago, I game-mastered a short mid-to-high level, high magic fantasy campaign to put the then-new D&D 5e system (and my players) through the paces.

Set in the Broken Cosmology, a post-apocalyptic version of the Multiverse, the player characters are sent on missions to retrieve powerful artifacts to restore order to the cosmos.

These artifacts are held in four different genie palaces: the Alabaster Palace of the Dao, the Coral Palace of the Marid, the Marble Palace of the Djinni, and the Obsidian Palace of the Efreeti.

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The Order of Lead: Antithesis of Strixhaven

Another project I’ve been working on I’m calling The Order of Lead. So the concept in a nutshell is that society has become weak, soft, decadent, and corrupt because of its reliance on magic, and The Order of Lead aims to purge the world of this arcane blight. In other words, it is the antithesis of Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos.

How else are you going to go back to those halcyon days of low magic?

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