Earth and Sky in Short
Earth and Sky will be an open-ended fantasy LARP in New England. The intention is to start it after the current limited-run games end, but that is very much up in the air until I move north. I feel that another on-going game is wanted, and I've often been told that, so I believe there is a place for this game to fill, and especially so after so many games will be over three years from now.
The schtick of the game will be that a few generations before the game takes place a supernatural force swept through the land attacking places of learning and recorded knowledge. The world will be a place where the written word is dangerous and invites ill fate. There are, of course, many implications to this - what is remembered and what is forgotten when people have to shift, suddenly, from a written history to an oral one? What happens when kingdoms cannot safely record taxes and treaties? What of the wizards with their scrolls and their spell books, who once controlled magic? What about the priests, no longer connected to their gods through their holy tomes? What do people value in a world such as this?
There are a number of things that I've had tumbling about in my head as I work on this game. The genesis of the game, actually, was that I wanted to set something up that encouraged people to tell stories about their fellows rather than about themselves. Warstorying is so very tedious. And so we have Earth and Sky, where the cultural norm is to remember and tell the stories of others and avoid telling your own. When everybody told their own stories, after all, those stories were the only ones they remembered and rarely did they really listen to the stories of others, and so everyone's stories were quickly forgotten. It can be easier to stand when people support each other, and all that. Much of the game world comes from the consequences of the events that give context for that idea.
Another thing that is important to me is that the world is a fairly good place to live in. It has its fair share of troubles, certainly, but I want to avoid the wretchedness that's so often in-style in fantasy. Earth and Sky won't be a Saturday morning cartoon LARP, but it won't be one where it sucks to be born, either.
Written knowledge will be dangerous but also important. People are eager to find books and maps and such, and when they do they will learn what they can but move on, leaving the book behind. It's commonly thought that -possessing- written knowledge is what's harmful, so people don't keep books. A great castle might have a very few very important books, and a warlord might have one as a sign of strength, but to have such things is to invite unnatural enemies. All PCs will be able to read and write, if they so choose. The idea is that literacy isn't rare since people want to learn what they can from books, and so they teach children their letters. They scrawl in dirt or sand, or maybe they write on wax tablets like Roman schoolchildren did. Thus, if someone's plowing their field and find a buried box with a scroll in it, they or someone they know can read it and tell everyone all about it. So what about PCs? If they have any written knowledge on their person (carrying a book or map, have something written on their palm, whatever) they gain a particular trait. Maybe during a battle a spirit will show up and Expose that trait and attack the people who call out. Maybe PCs trigger a bit of old magic and people with that trait get a boon. The possibilities are endless, and I have some cool ones thought up! What about note-taking, though? It's very much encouraged, and there will be mechanical rewards to make it worth the risks. Invictus is definitely a big inspiration for this, but I think I've found a neat and different way of rewarding it.
Earth and Sky focuses on immersion. To that end, NPCs will be people or people-like things - no NPCs mask-erading as gorillas. Also, no white headbands. Sure, Accelerant games don't have people wearing white headbands to signify that they're out-of-game, but farmers' hats, archeologists' hats, and the like become like white headbands. They say "Ignore me", "Don't bother talking to me", and "Stay away from me". There is value to them when NPCs need to go set up a mod, sure, and Earth and Sky will take place in an area where spirits linger, engaged in unknowable errands, but if an NPC wants to mosey on down to a PC run tavern to get a snack, they'll go in as a traveler or something that people can interact with. You can make it clear that you're not plot important without wearing a white headband.
These are some things off the top of my head that should help you form a general idea of what E&S will be about. I'm eager to discuss any of these but I'd also love to answer questions about anything else.
The schtick of the game will be that a few generations before the game takes place a supernatural force swept through the land attacking places of learning and recorded knowledge. The world will be a place where the written word is dangerous and invites ill fate. There are, of course, many implications to this - what is remembered and what is forgotten when people have to shift, suddenly, from a written history to an oral one? What happens when kingdoms cannot safely record taxes and treaties? What of the wizards with their scrolls and their spell books, who once controlled magic? What about the priests, no longer connected to their gods through their holy tomes? What do people value in a world such as this?
There are a number of things that I've had tumbling about in my head as I work on this game. The genesis of the game, actually, was that I wanted to set something up that encouraged people to tell stories about their fellows rather than about themselves. Warstorying is so very tedious. And so we have Earth and Sky, where the cultural norm is to remember and tell the stories of others and avoid telling your own. When everybody told their own stories, after all, those stories were the only ones they remembered and rarely did they really listen to the stories of others, and so everyone's stories were quickly forgotten. It can be easier to stand when people support each other, and all that. Much of the game world comes from the consequences of the events that give context for that idea.
Another thing that is important to me is that the world is a fairly good place to live in. It has its fair share of troubles, certainly, but I want to avoid the wretchedness that's so often in-style in fantasy. Earth and Sky won't be a Saturday morning cartoon LARP, but it won't be one where it sucks to be born, either.
Written knowledge will be dangerous but also important. People are eager to find books and maps and such, and when they do they will learn what they can but move on, leaving the book behind. It's commonly thought that -possessing- written knowledge is what's harmful, so people don't keep books. A great castle might have a very few very important books, and a warlord might have one as a sign of strength, but to have such things is to invite unnatural enemies. All PCs will be able to read and write, if they so choose. The idea is that literacy isn't rare since people want to learn what they can from books, and so they teach children their letters. They scrawl in dirt or sand, or maybe they write on wax tablets like Roman schoolchildren did. Thus, if someone's plowing their field and find a buried box with a scroll in it, they or someone they know can read it and tell everyone all about it. So what about PCs? If they have any written knowledge on their person (carrying a book or map, have something written on their palm, whatever) they gain a particular trait. Maybe during a battle a spirit will show up and Expose that trait and attack the people who call out. Maybe PCs trigger a bit of old magic and people with that trait get a boon. The possibilities are endless, and I have some cool ones thought up! What about note-taking, though? It's very much encouraged, and there will be mechanical rewards to make it worth the risks. Invictus is definitely a big inspiration for this, but I think I've found a neat and different way of rewarding it.
Earth and Sky focuses on immersion. To that end, NPCs will be people or people-like things - no NPCs mask-erading as gorillas. Also, no white headbands. Sure, Accelerant games don't have people wearing white headbands to signify that they're out-of-game, but farmers' hats, archeologists' hats, and the like become like white headbands. They say "Ignore me", "Don't bother talking to me", and "Stay away from me". There is value to them when NPCs need to go set up a mod, sure, and Earth and Sky will take place in an area where spirits linger, engaged in unknowable errands, but if an NPC wants to mosey on down to a PC run tavern to get a snack, they'll go in as a traveler or something that people can interact with. You can make it clear that you're not plot important without wearing a white headband.
These are some things off the top of my head that should help you form a general idea of what E&S will be about. I'm eager to discuss any of these but I'd also love to answer questions about anything else.