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Crunch Creating Fluff
Most gamers would likely say that fluff, the meat and content of an RPG, should be considered when making the crunch, the system and mechanics used to support the fluff. There is at least one case, however, where the opposite was done, and quite successfully.
My favorite ADnD supplement is a too often overlooked one, College of Wizardy by Bruce R. Cordell. Printed in 1997, this supplement contained information which completely changed the way magic could be viewed in DnD. For quite some time, DnD had used the fire-and-forget method of spell casting, taken from Vance’s Dying Earth series. To this point, the best explanation for fire-and-forget boiled down to “It’s magic and it works the way we say it works” or “We need it for game balance. Casters are already more powerful than Fighters.”
College of Wizardry changed this with the introduction of the Language Primeval, also known as Aleph. Sound familiar? Aleph was the first language spoken in the multiverse, spoken by those creators that came before the gods themselves. True Names were derived from Aleph, as was all magic. The raw power of Aleph, which when used in its perfect form could re-write the multiverse itself and overpower any deity, was such that it would burn holes in the minds of mortals and gods that attempted to learn it.
Once this is revealed in the book, much of Fire and Forget has a fluffy explanation. Arcane and Divine magic, both being descendants from Aleph, share similar properties with it - that of memory erasure, though on a much more precise level. This also caused non-Focus spell components to make more sense - many languages involve spoken words and physical gestures, and Aleph was apparently no exception.
Why doesn’t this happen more often? These kinds of crunchy rules that appear nonsensical only serve to force my focus out of the game by creating a break in the world’s reality. Smoothing it over not only creates a number of truly interesting story lines, many placed in the book and many more for clever Narrators to figure out, but it allows everyone who participates in the game to immerse themselves a little bit more.
What are your thoughts on crunch creating fluff? Where else have you seen it done?
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4 Responses to “Crunch Creating Fluff”
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Great article. I’ll tell my players about it. Good fluff.
Thank you muchly.
Glad you still remember it so fondly :-).
Bruce’s last blog post..Raina
It changed my DnD campaigns forever and became a core facet of a three year campaign ending later this month. =)