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Ben McKenzie

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A member registered Jul 19, 2014 · View creator page →

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I love this - just the right amount of confusion, I think. Marrying memetics, nth-dimensional godwasps, Plato’s allegory of the Cave and the evil of tech billionaires really works. It feels like in play it’d feel somehow like an even more desperate, conspiracy-fuelled Unknown Armies. Might need another pass for proofing if you have time, especially on the page with the definitions - unless them being a little unfinished is part of the point, of course!

You have the start of a really strong concept here! A world whose denizens don’t know it was artificially created as a sort of “seed bank” for intelligent life, about to find out the truth because of a corrupting “Darkness”. I’d love to see you add in more of the details you mentioned in the Discord, though I enjoyed the hints in the speech at the start. If names give you trouble, consider using titles - they can tell us both a lot about the thing they describe and the world or culture that created it.

This is great fun - like a mashup of science fantasy and Warhammer 40,000, with a distinct voice and flavour all its own. The backdrop of post-war chaos and the mystery of the “first galaxy” both give a lot to work with. And what a killer opening page!

I really, really love this. The Masqued are a great and original riff on the Powers of Nobilis, but with a whole additional layer of what’s happening in the world right now. The whole concept of being Masqued - having a role in a cosmic Titanic/lifeboat, rather than embodying a concept - is a killer change. The Wyrm and the rising Sea are such an original take on being caught between Order and Chaos - not opposite of their usual roles, but both equally destructive. (Reminds me a little of Werewolf’s Weaver and Wyrm!) Your names, writing, art and layout are all beautiful, too. Hats off, this is really good.

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This was fun - a great science fantasy remix of Inferno-style Hell with lots of unique touches and integration of folklore. The one big city on a barren planet reminded me a lot of the Capitol on Gallifrey from Doctor Who! And the layout is slick, strong choice to mix ASCII art and beaten up notebook. Loved the bloody handprint making the tale of war just a little hard to read. Is this aesthetic a tie-in to the broader setting?

Yeah, it works so well on that score! It has an answer for everything, but that everything just confirms what’s already happening, and is all about secrets and things you can’t affect. Love it.

Thanks Toph! And yeah, Staple is a nerd. But I figured as a Caine she is immersed in human culture so why wouldn’t she be?

That’s a killer first page! And what a wild take on global conspiracy, in the best way. There’s so much here that’s great: the central concept of the Lunatoria, the effect they have on worlds they visit, the bit about dogs (though I’d have loved to see more of the werewolf connection). The photobashed art and background textures really work for this too!

The abstraction of “madness” feels outdated, though I see what you’re going for. I think it would work just as well with a bit more nuance, to make it clear it’s separate from actual mental illness. I really like the idea of “an excess of thought” caused by the Moon being the truth of “lunacy” as the Greeks and other ancients thought of it, though.

There’s so much going on here! It’s a complex, multi-layered cosmology with a lot of interesting ideas. The mix of sci-fi and fantasy tropes makes it feel fresh.

Some of the ideas don’t have a clear relationship to the others - the idea that divinities need belief doesn’t seem to fit with everything else, for example. But all the ideas have lots of potential - there’s so much here for a short jam entry! I can see myself using bits of it as inspiration. (The Resetter could be the basis of a whole setting all on its own!)

Some things are unclear which I think would help a GM make use of this. It feels like players would be Reachable Divinities (the analogue in this game of Nobilis’ Powers) - but are they meant to all be divinities of a single planet? Can they interact with the rest of the universe, or do they need to stay at home tending to their flock? Do they know all this information about types of souls and so on? The title and style make it feel like it’s written in character - it would help to know who wrote it, and who for. That might also help to decide where the detail goes - there’s lots of about Taúri, for example, but only a single mention of Diena.

I hope this useful feedback! I’d love to see a further iteration. I also really love the beautiful cover art - so great to see a beaming, happy face!

This is wonderful. A playful, contemplative experience which could feed into any world-building exercise. Really reminds me of Laika or Brave Sparrow in the way it is embodied. I want to do this!

I enjoyed this! Loved the use of “static” in this setting, and you have some great other concepts too. Some of it was less clear - the gods call themselves Lucid and live in the Realm of Dreams; this suggested to me that most of them aren’t like the narrator, but are asleep. Are the Lucid woken by prayer? There’s a bit of confusion between dream and dreamer here I couldn’t quite untangle. The knights are a fun concept, though it’d be great to get a sense of how many of them there are - and a bit more on their relationship with the Lucid. But it’s all such great ground to build on, and covers so much in a short number of words!

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Loved this - a great riff on some of the Nobilis ideas, with a great hook into other games. The excellent writing and layout give it so much personality, and your choice of terms, including the title, is wonderful! I can hear the voices in my head. (One sounds a bit like Brian Blessed.) I think the one thing I didn’t quite get a sense of is who the “bigger gods” are who name these smaller ones? But perhaps that’s also the point - this can fit into any other game.

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A great little game full of fun touches! I especially like the open discard pile to represent fixed fate, the link between gods and natural phenomena, and the family tree with a hated rival. It does need a proofread though - most of it works as-is, but I did find the first page setting the scene a little unclear.

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I love this! A great twist on some of the basic Nobilis ideas, but with a flavour all its own and drawing on some really interesting inspirations. “Egregore” is a brilliant word, and new to me! I love the feel of them, like ents of the psychic landscape.

The incorporation of broad but very clear outlines of the three skills adds so much clarity while still leaving it open for interpretation in various systems - a very smart bit of design. Might have to add something like that to mine!

Love the postscript on the last page, too.

I love this (no joke intended). As someone who went through the first years of the pandemic in Melbourne, where we had some of the most intense lockdowns, I felt parts of this in my bones. (I also thought of Invader Zim and “I love you, cold, unfeeling robotic arm!”) It’s such a wonderful, poignant and timely setup and I’d love to see where you take it.

I did find the “They Could Be Anyone” section rather suddenly and unexpectedly shifted me from in-character to out-of-character address - is that intentional?

Thank you! That’s really what I was going for, and I’m excited to expand it into a full game, too. I am hoping to make some lighter, Nobilis-like rules, so it can kind of function as an introduction to that kind of play. Looking forward to reading your entry.

I love the idea of worlds formed from moments - it’s like Hollows, but with delightful places as well as awful ones! The reveal at the end is fun too and really kicks things up a notch. I was a bit confused about the idea that most of them are halfway between the size of a room and multiple galaxies…which means most are the size of a solar system or galaxy?

This is so wonderful! I left a longer comment on the main entry, but this really captures something of the tone and language of Nobilis with Mage-like consensual reality (taken to its extreme). The story seeds at the end are a brilliant touch and the illustrations are amazing.

A beautiful, evocative zine! Does a great job of capturing the tone and something of the language of Nobilis while introducing a dream-like quality that makes it distinct. I’m a sucker for this kind of thoughtscape, and here you’ve taken the consensual reality of Mage and dialled it up to eleven. The mystery of the non-things is great, and the story seeds at the end really sell this as a place(?) you could play in. Plus the watercolour illustrations are gorgeous!

Oh yeah - I saw that discussion in Discord! My suggestion would be to start with some basics of the world you want to play in, and keep that theme in mind as you go.

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Physical bodies of dead gods have both been done enough times, and are not so common, that I think you’ll find a unique take pretty easily without needing to worry about plagiarism!

No wrong ways to answer these questions. Indeed some of your questions are ideas! I love the gross idea of people (or something else!) budding from a dead god’s corpse. What are those people or things like, do you think? Is any divine essence or power left in the body, and do they get any of it? Does it matter who the god was? What do the gods’ bodies even look like - giant people, or something much weirder?

I think it helps to focus on here and now questions; the history is secondary. This can also be framed as trying out some ideas to see how they feel. So do these people (etc) live on these gods? If they extract resources from the bodies, is that physical (e.g. they dig down to mine the blood and bones like oil and iron, or they cut down hairs like trees) or metaphysical (they consume the blood to gain some sort of power, meditate near the dead god’s heart to receive sustenance of some kind etc). And do you imagine this society has technology, and at what level - do they make trains and pumps, or wells and buckets?