Quackerjack
Nethermancer par excellence
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- 15. Juni 2006
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Behind the Lines: The Gist of Geist (#42) - White Wolf Production - White Wolf Community
Kelley got really excited when I mentioned the topic of today's blog at yesterday's scheduling meeting. I mean, okay, she's Kelley, she's pretty excitable, she loves it when we talk about neat stuff because she loves the stuff we put out, we knew this. But you know, it's kind of heady stuff when you think about it. Because we're all pretty excited about Geist: The Sin-Eaters. The authors are biting their lips such that they bleed whenever the topic is raised on the grand internet. They'd talk if I let them, the ingrates. I've had to be riding the NDA train pretty fiercely of late, and it is an unholy thing of blackened iron and churning devil-wheels, with saw teeth on its cow-catcher. And it runs on crushed hopes.
But the day of release is drawing near, and we owe you something. We could put it on the front page, and we probably will, but I'd like everyone to remember that this blog exists. So I called dibs on the first great reveals. It's my game, dammit!
Okay, so fair warning: if you hate the spoilers, hit "back" now. Don't glance down, you'll see something you can't unsee.
Seriously. Last warning.
Okay, so the guy who doesn't like spoilers has left. Everyone else with me? Nice.
I've been saying for a long time that Geist is not the new Wraith: if it were, we'd call it Wraith. If it deals with things called geists, as it does, then clearly they have got to be so different from wraiths that you can't use the word "wraith" in good conscience to describe them. And they are.
See, geists are the ghosts of other supernatural entities.
(Is that guy who hates spoilers still here? Are you happy now? Yes, you ruined it for yourself. I warned you.)
This was a big hook when we were talking about things in the conceptualization phase. We've talked a lot about how the World of Darkness, current incarnation, was designed to be more friendly for crossover from Day One. But so far we hadn't really made the most of that. There was nothing you could point to as proof. Sure, you could call out World of Darkness: Chicago as lots of crossover waiting to happen, and you could nod sagely whenever someone was talking about how obviously the game lines are designed to parallel the Supernal cosmology posited by Mage: The Awakening. (Right here and now, as I sit in front of my computer today, I tell you that maybe there is some truth to that.) But we didn't really have anything that we could point to and say "Look, that's crossover. That proves the philosophy." It was kind of embarrassing, actually. There was even a brief moment when someone (I'm gonna blame Joe here, because why not?) suggested that we repurpose the old name "Abomination," and create a true hybrid monster. Not just werewolves and vampires, but all of them. An Abomination could be a mashup of anything. We actually kicked that bit around a bit, but ultimately it was decided that the name had too much bad karma from the old world, and honestly nobody wanted to be the one to deal with Matt McFarland insisting that they be a new brand of Promethean stitched together out of various supernatural parts.
But along the way, a certain brilliant idea hit yours truly. If we couldn't really fuse them together in life by adding templates, why not go after them when they were dead? We could use the basis of ghost mechanics to create geists, entities with all the powers and knowledge they possessed in life. The table was agog. The kicker was, not just could any game serve as a background for a character (or even an excuse to carry on with an old player character who had gone to the Great Goth Nightclub In the Sky), but if we worked the mechanics right, they could use any rule from any book. Since geists could have been anybody in life, it was all fair game. Want a geist from the Lodge of Fenris? Done. Want a geist with near-Archmastery of Space? Sure, if you've got the experience points. Want a geist that's been to Arcadia and back? There you go. The first true double-template characters.
We knew we were on to something then. Of course, that did raise a few questions about geist society: if they had all the knowledge of their various component previous incarnations, what would that mean? And you know, the answer was itself really inspiring. Picture an ethereal Illuminati, if you will: all the secrecy and manipulation of a proper conspiracy game, carried out by the phantoms of the various monsters and witches that haunt the World of Darkness. Now, of course we didn't want to give the geists everything — but you know, as long as we were breaking rules left and right like "5 x 5 character options" or "you start as a mortal," why not "the game must be balanced with the other lines?" In-character, it makes sense that the geists are better educated, and have access to all the powers — so you know, why not just go for the verisimilitude?
It's a gutsy design risk — maybe. The thing is, I honestly think we've done the right thing. Because playing geists is going to be great. And even if you're really fond of your Vampire or Changeling or Hunter character, your Obrimos or your Bone Shadow or your Frankenstein — this game can be your future. If a geist takes you out, and they're gonna be hard to beat — well, if you can't beat them?
Join them.
That's what Geist: The Sin-Eaters is going to be. Oh yeah, that and it's also gonna be awesome. You haven't lived until you've seen a game where the splats are all the other game lines in the world. And if you think the "Stereotypes" section is catty in your current favorite game, just wait until you see what they think of each other in your future favorite game...
Kelley got really excited when I mentioned the topic of today's blog at yesterday's scheduling meeting. I mean, okay, she's Kelley, she's pretty excitable, she loves it when we talk about neat stuff because she loves the stuff we put out, we knew this. But you know, it's kind of heady stuff when you think about it. Because we're all pretty excited about Geist: The Sin-Eaters. The authors are biting their lips such that they bleed whenever the topic is raised on the grand internet. They'd talk if I let them, the ingrates. I've had to be riding the NDA train pretty fiercely of late, and it is an unholy thing of blackened iron and churning devil-wheels, with saw teeth on its cow-catcher. And it runs on crushed hopes.
But the day of release is drawing near, and we owe you something. We could put it on the front page, and we probably will, but I'd like everyone to remember that this blog exists. So I called dibs on the first great reveals. It's my game, dammit!
Okay, so fair warning: if you hate the spoilers, hit "back" now. Don't glance down, you'll see something you can't unsee.
Seriously. Last warning.
Okay, so the guy who doesn't like spoilers has left. Everyone else with me? Nice.
I've been saying for a long time that Geist is not the new Wraith: if it were, we'd call it Wraith. If it deals with things called geists, as it does, then clearly they have got to be so different from wraiths that you can't use the word "wraith" in good conscience to describe them. And they are.
See, geists are the ghosts of other supernatural entities.
(Is that guy who hates spoilers still here? Are you happy now? Yes, you ruined it for yourself. I warned you.)
This was a big hook when we were talking about things in the conceptualization phase. We've talked a lot about how the World of Darkness, current incarnation, was designed to be more friendly for crossover from Day One. But so far we hadn't really made the most of that. There was nothing you could point to as proof. Sure, you could call out World of Darkness: Chicago as lots of crossover waiting to happen, and you could nod sagely whenever someone was talking about how obviously the game lines are designed to parallel the Supernal cosmology posited by Mage: The Awakening. (Right here and now, as I sit in front of my computer today, I tell you that maybe there is some truth to that.) But we didn't really have anything that we could point to and say "Look, that's crossover. That proves the philosophy." It was kind of embarrassing, actually. There was even a brief moment when someone (I'm gonna blame Joe here, because why not?) suggested that we repurpose the old name "Abomination," and create a true hybrid monster. Not just werewolves and vampires, but all of them. An Abomination could be a mashup of anything. We actually kicked that bit around a bit, but ultimately it was decided that the name had too much bad karma from the old world, and honestly nobody wanted to be the one to deal with Matt McFarland insisting that they be a new brand of Promethean stitched together out of various supernatural parts.
But along the way, a certain brilliant idea hit yours truly. If we couldn't really fuse them together in life by adding templates, why not go after them when they were dead? We could use the basis of ghost mechanics to create geists, entities with all the powers and knowledge they possessed in life. The table was agog. The kicker was, not just could any game serve as a background for a character (or even an excuse to carry on with an old player character who had gone to the Great Goth Nightclub In the Sky), but if we worked the mechanics right, they could use any rule from any book. Since geists could have been anybody in life, it was all fair game. Want a geist from the Lodge of Fenris? Done. Want a geist with near-Archmastery of Space? Sure, if you've got the experience points. Want a geist that's been to Arcadia and back? There you go. The first true double-template characters.
We knew we were on to something then. Of course, that did raise a few questions about geist society: if they had all the knowledge of their various component previous incarnations, what would that mean? And you know, the answer was itself really inspiring. Picture an ethereal Illuminati, if you will: all the secrecy and manipulation of a proper conspiracy game, carried out by the phantoms of the various monsters and witches that haunt the World of Darkness. Now, of course we didn't want to give the geists everything — but you know, as long as we were breaking rules left and right like "5 x 5 character options" or "you start as a mortal," why not "the game must be balanced with the other lines?" In-character, it makes sense that the geists are better educated, and have access to all the powers — so you know, why not just go for the verisimilitude?
It's a gutsy design risk — maybe. The thing is, I honestly think we've done the right thing. Because playing geists is going to be great. And even if you're really fond of your Vampire or Changeling or Hunter character, your Obrimos or your Bone Shadow or your Frankenstein — this game can be your future. If a geist takes you out, and they're gonna be hard to beat — well, if you can't beat them?
Join them.
That's what Geist: The Sin-Eaters is going to be. Oh yeah, that and it's also gonna be awesome. You haven't lived until you've seen a game where the splats are all the other game lines in the world. And if you think the "Stereotypes" section is catty in your current favorite game, just wait until you see what they think of each other in your future favorite game...