Lawrence University Lux Lawrence University Honors Projects 5-12-1998 Oblivion's Edge Jeremy Strandberg Follow this and additional works at: https://lux.lawrence.edu/luhp Part of the Fiction Commons, and the Liberal Studies Commons © Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Recommended Citation Strandberg, Jeremy, "Oblivion's Edge" (1998). Lawrence University Honors Projects. 53. https://lux.lawrence.edu/luhp/53 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by Lux. It has been accepted for inclusion in Lawrence University Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of Lux. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ivion's Jeremy Strandberg Submitted for Honors in Independent Study 5/12/98 Prof. Candice Bradley, Advisor The year is 2042 ... ( Tech no Io g y i s a part of us ... High tech is stylish and chic. Computers have crept into every aspect of life, and billions of users are jacked brain frrst into the internet. Biosculpting can make people look any way they desire. Cybernetic implants-eyes, ears, and prosthetic limbs-break the limits of the human form. Biotechnology feeds billions while saving the lives of millions more. The train from New York to Miami takes under three hours, and there's a bustling tourist trade on Luna. The Veil has thinned ... Supernatural and paranormal phenomena are on the rise. There has been a resurgence of spirituality and superstition. Meditation is taught in grade school Psychic powers are accepted as fact, and most people have encountered a ghost or spirit at least once. Alchemists and fringe scientists are kept on salary by corporations. Every shantytown has its resident shaman or hougan. The fairies of Seelie Inc. pursue inscrutable goals through human agents, while the Good Neighbors laugh and play their games of mimicry. The nation-state is obsolete ... ( Cyberspace and rapid transportation have made national boundaries meaningless. The United States and other countries have dissolved into the American Free Market, a prosperous coalition of megacity governments led by corporations. War is a thing of the past. Unemployment is low. Random crime is down. The Information Age is a Golden Age. But it comes at a cost. Officially, the Inquisition maintains a constant watch for terrorism and information crime. Officially, governments are locally controlled and democratic. But every now and then, someone is taken away and questioned. Every so often, people disappear. People who've seen things they weren't supposed to see. People who've said things they weren't supposed to say. And the Resistance is growing. Cast to the edges of credibility, a strange alliance is gaining strength. Made up of social critics, secret agents, Ghost Dance rebels and everything in between, the Resistance organizes an underground based on free speech and radical change. Their numbers are small, and their influence is slight. But each time the Inquisition abuses its power, the Resistance gains more appeal. Each time the corporations exploit another group, the sympathizers grow. At the edge of society, camped in the shadows, they gather their strength. Soon, they will be ready to strike, and wake the people up. Soon, they will strike, and bring justice and equality and responsibility back from the margins. Back from ... ( Oblivion's Edge Table of Contents .. Po reward 11 Introduction 111 Role-Playing Games 111 Development X Setting X Rules XXl Presentation XXX! Introduction 1 How To Use This Book 3 History at a Glance 4 Timeline 8 Lexicon 16 Fragments 19 Life path 93 Patterns 173 Basic Rules 174 Contacts 183 Magic 193 Rules Glossary 225 Appendix: Combat 229 Foreword ii Introduction Oblivion 5 Edge is a role-playing game. It is a manuscript which provides a fictional setting and the methods for group storytelling within that setting. This is not a typical academic project. It is not a board game, a card game, or a computer game. It is a creative work, more like a novel or collection of short stories than a traditional paper or thesis. Even though Oblivion 5 Edge is a creative work, I have drawn heavily upon my Lawrence education while developing the game's setting and rules systems. I have attempted to design not only a fictional world, but a fictional culture. To create a plausible and realistic fictional culture, one must have an understanding of how cultures work and develop. To create a rules system, one must have an accurate grasp on how individuals interact with their environments. Thus, I feel that this unusual endeavor represents a unique expression of the Liberal Arts ideal. The bulk of this project is the manuscript of Oblivion 5 Edge. It is a work in progress. The creation of a role-playing game is a daunting task, one which usually involves multiple authors and years of effort. While I have had the years, I have not had the additional authors. This manuscript is my completed work: an introduction to the game and its setting, a collection of primary documents and prose describing the world, and the game's rules. This paper is a presentation of the larger tradition of role-playing games, and the immediate context in which Oblivion 5 Edge was developed. First, I have described role-playing games and their history. I have also discussed the methodology by which I created Oblivion 5 Edge) paying particular attention the game's inspirations. I have also examined its strengths and limitations where appropriate. Role-Playing Games In 1973, a young man named Gary Gygax and his fledgling company Tactical Studies Rules began developing The Fantasy Game. Unlike the tabletop wargames that he and his friends had been playing for years, this new game took the individual "unit" or character off the battlefield, and allowed the player to control that character's actions in an almost unlimited iii variety of settings. When the game was completed and published a year later-under the now- famous name of Dungeons & Dragons-it was an instant hit. The first 3,000 copies sold almost immediately. Gygax and friends had created a medium of entertainment, and art, that had never been seen before: the role-playing game. Role-playing games (RPGs) grew into a multi-million dollar industry over the next twenty-five years, with hundreds of different games and thousands of supporting products (Fannon, 1996, chap. 1 O) Despite such considerable growth, role-playing games have, for some reason, remained a fringe medium. Thus, before there can be any meaningful discussion of RPGs and the place of Oblivion s Edge among them, we must first examine the characteristics of a role-playing game. In his authoritative work The Fantasy Role-Playing Garners Bible (1996), Sean Patrick Fannon offers this definition: role-playing game: A recreational activity based on the assumption of roles by the participants, where rules are presented (normally utilizing random elements) for the resolution of tasks and conflicts and where the participants are not placed in direct competition to achieve their goals. (p. 81) Fannon's definition hits upon four key elements of an RPG. First, role-playing games are structured forms of entertainment. Second, the players verbally act out the roles of imaginary characters. Third, rules are used to resolve conflicts. Finally, players do not compete with each other. By deconstructing his definition, we can gain considerable insight into what, exactly, a role-playing game is. The Characteristics of a Role-Playing Game "A_ recreational activity... " First and foremost, role-playing games are just that-games. Playing them is a way to pass time enjoyably and in a structured manner. Fannon notes that role-playing games are similar to parlor games "in terms of social dynamics" (p. 82). When players gather for an RPG, they usually sit in a comfortable place, often around a table. Drinks and snack food are often consumed, and game play is primarily verbal. It looks much like a group of friends playing charades or twenty­ questions. Still, a role-playing game is fundamentally different from a parlor game both in the iv amount of time and preparation that is required and in the nature of the game itself-that of assuming a role (Fannon, p. 82). Role-playing games are also distinct from other types of recreation, such as board games, sports, or card games. There are no playing boards to limit the movements and experiences of the players. Some RPGs involve 'live-action" play, in which players physically act out the roles they are assuming, but there is no direct physical contest. And while playing cards, dice, and other random elements are usually involved, they are not the central focus or medium of play. Rather, players engage in storytelling by becoming the protagonists. '~ .. based on the assumption of roles by the participants... " The point of a role-playing game is for the players to collectively tell a story "by taking on the roles of the central characters" (Rein• Hagen, 1997, p. 22). These central characters are created and imagined by the players using particular rules and guidelines. Once the game begins, the players verbally 'act out' the part of their characters. In this sense, a role-playing game is much like highly organized improvisational theater. One of the key differences between improvisational theater and a role-playing game is the presence of a 'Game Master' or GM. The Game Master has two primary purposes: to act as a referee and to act as a storyguide. The GM' s role as referee will be discussed later. As storyguide, the Game Master assumes the roles of all the characters in the story that are not assumed by the players.