One thing I've been meaning to congratulate you on for a while now is how you handled the duel between Anwen and Owen. While both voting and oracle dice played a part, I really enjoyed the resolution of session 9.7. It's all too common in contemporary fiction for the protagonist to offer their rival mercy, only to have the rival refuse it so that the protagonist can then be justified in killing them. I say, choose the Christian virtue of mercy or the pagan joy of slaughtering your enemies, but don't cheaply try to have both.
It's funny -- I had that exact thought when I was rolling the dice, and that if Anwen rolled a miss on her Persuade roll and the duel had continued, ending with Owain's death, that outcome would've felt like a very contrived way of eating one's cake and having it too, even though it was at least partially out of my hands as an author. Of course, if I was really on my game that day, and the dice had come up a miss, there could've been other ways to make a hard move -- Owain might have still accepted exile, but his faction remained loyal to him and the stage was set for his eventual return (or even more eventual redemption arc!)
I was listening to a philosophy and arts podcast, though I can't remember which one -- might have been Weird Studies or Very Bad Wizards (both are a strong recommend from me) -- and the hosts were discussing the assumed intentionality of written fiction -- if a writer describes an element of a scene a certain way, they are necessarily revealing some sort of intention to take the events of a story in a given direction, even if their intention is to make the story feel naturalistic and unintentional, that is in and of itself an intention. RPGs as a storytelling medium, however, whether they're solo or group activities, can break out of that intentionality because of the randomness of the dice or the actions of another player, which is a cool feature of this little hobby of ours.
I was not aware of Weird Studies or Very Bad Wizards, but having googled them, I think that may be precisely the sort of thing that I am very much down for.
If you dig into the Weird Studies catalogue and find any eps you find particularly compelling, I'd love to hear about it! If you're into horror, the deep dives on John Carpenter and Clive Barker are worth a listen, and they do a great episode on Conan the Barbarian (the movie specifically, not the overall IP). I also love their series on the Tarot -- I'm not big into fortune-telling, but the iconography and semiotics they get into are fascinating.
One thing I've been meaning to congratulate you on for a while now is how you handled the duel between Anwen and Owen. While both voting and oracle dice played a part, I really enjoyed the resolution of session 9.7. It's all too common in contemporary fiction for the protagonist to offer their rival mercy, only to have the rival refuse it so that the protagonist can then be justified in killing them. I say, choose the Christian virtue of mercy or the pagan joy of slaughtering your enemies, but don't cheaply try to have both.
It's funny -- I had that exact thought when I was rolling the dice, and that if Anwen rolled a miss on her Persuade roll and the duel had continued, ending with Owain's death, that outcome would've felt like a very contrived way of eating one's cake and having it too, even though it was at least partially out of my hands as an author. Of course, if I was really on my game that day, and the dice had come up a miss, there could've been other ways to make a hard move -- Owain might have still accepted exile, but his faction remained loyal to him and the stage was set for his eventual return (or even more eventual redemption arc!)
I was listening to a philosophy and arts podcast, though I can't remember which one -- might have been Weird Studies or Very Bad Wizards (both are a strong recommend from me) -- and the hosts were discussing the assumed intentionality of written fiction -- if a writer describes an element of a scene a certain way, they are necessarily revealing some sort of intention to take the events of a story in a given direction, even if their intention is to make the story feel naturalistic and unintentional, that is in and of itself an intention. RPGs as a storytelling medium, however, whether they're solo or group activities, can break out of that intentionality because of the randomness of the dice or the actions of another player, which is a cool feature of this little hobby of ours.
I was not aware of Weird Studies or Very Bad Wizards, but having googled them, I think that may be precisely the sort of thing that I am very much down for.
Thank you.
If you dig into the Weird Studies catalogue and find any eps you find particularly compelling, I'd love to hear about it! If you're into horror, the deep dives on John Carpenter and Clive Barker are worth a listen, and they do a great episode on Conan the Barbarian (the movie specifically, not the overall IP). I also love their series on the Tarot -- I'm not big into fortune-telling, but the iconography and semiotics they get into are fascinating.
I’m also looking forward to more previews of what’s in store after Stonetop. :D
Let’s see, threads that come to mind…
Does Vahid still have an assassin after him?
What are those Ustrina up to?
Didn’t Anwen have a blacksmith friend in town?
I hear there’s a crown they need to get…
Will Anwen become a storm warrior beneath Stonetop? Or Vahid perhaps?
What is the story with the Things Below and the Lady of Crows?
What is Owen up to these days?
Did Brennan seize control? Who was puppeting him?
Good questions! A bunch of these are on my list too. Those first three seem likely to arise during the coming Battle of Gordin's Delve!