Stop Making Sense

I often refer to my refereeing style as "just in time," which is to say, I only try to come up with stuff - locations, NPCs, history, cosmology, etc. - as I need it in the course of play. Until that happens, I try to remain as agnostic as possible. Now, it's true that, in between game sessions, I sometimes piece together the ideas I've thrown out there into something resembling coherence, but that's not always the case. A lot of the time I actively avoid doing so, both because, fundamentally, I'm lazy and that's work I don't need to do and because every rough edge I pound smooth is one I can't use later in order to prick my imagination.

A case in point is the Animal Kings. I invented them on the spur of the moment in order to deal with Brother Candor's clever use speak with animals, an often overlooked spell. The Cat King proved popular enough that, over time, I elaborated on the idea, establishing the existence of other Animal Kings, such as the Dog King (whose name will, of course, be "Rex") and the Rat Boss. Within the context of the overall setting, there's still no explanation for the existence of the Animal Kings; they simply are. Their origins, their relationship with the gods (if any), and so forth have no answers and won't have any until such time as it becomes necessary to have them and, even then, I may well punt and keep things uncertain, because, frankly, that's more fun.

In the past, assuming I'd ever even come up with something like the Animal Kings, I'd have worked out an extensive backstory for them in advance and made sure that it fit with everything else established about the setting. Nowadays, I just don't care. Making "sense" is a very minor consideration for me. Indeed, I've come to see such concerns to be the hallmarks of bad setting design. I mean, the real world doesn't make a lot of sense most of the time, so why should a fictitious one, especially one where magic is a reality? I'm reminded of the way that most constructed languages are much too regular in their grammar to ever be mistaken for natural languages. I feel much the same way about most imaginary settings.

On the blog, I've occasionally caught flak for not knowing things as simple as "What's the name of your campaign's world?" From my perspective, unless the characters are regularly traveling to other worlds - which they might well do someday - it's not really something I need to worry about. That's why I can't tell you the location of every major city on the continent where the PCs are adventuring or whether the gods are real or innumerable other little questions that a lot of gamers seem to think are absolutely vital to running a successful campaign. To each his own, of course, but I'm here to tell you that, after nearly two years of weekly/biweekly play, I simply haven't found a need to answer questions like that.

Honestly, I think that's the secret of the campaign's longevity: there are still questions to be answered and they're not persnickety, esoteric tidbits of the sort you'd find in the six volumes of Postage Stamps of Flanaess or whatnot. I fully understand the appeal of that kind of detail; I used to be addicted to it in my early days. But no more. Give me a sketchy, hodgepodge setting with lots of holes and unmapped areas and incoherence and I'll give you a campaign to remember.


Credit: http://candle-magic.blogspot.com

Unin De Manos Ii

La mayor'ia de los autores wiccanos, o que escriben sobre las celebraciones y rituales de la Wicca, al hablar del casamiento brujo -Uni'on de manos o Handfasting-, presentan ceremonias m'as o menos similares. En casi todos los modelos de celebraci'on, un sacerdote y una sacerdotisa dirigen la ceremonia, en la que la pareja declara su intenci'on de estar unidos "hasta que el amor dure". En esta oportunidad, quiero compartir con ustedes un modelo de uni'on de manos diferente, donde los celebrantes son los mismos contrayentes.

"La ceremonia debe tener lugar a mediod'ia, pues es el momento en que finaliza una jornada y comienza otra. Si es posible, debe celebrar se al aire libre, y si puede ser en primavera, de preferencia abril*, es mucho mejor. La novia llevar'a alguna prenda verde y el novio rojo carmes'i. Las joyas de la novia deber'an incluir plata y las del novio oro,pues plateado es el color de la Luna y la diosa, y dorado el del Sol y el rey consorte.

En esta ceremonia no hay oficiante ni figura alguna de autoridad. Las dos personas tienen la autoridad de su propia decisi'on, y el matrimonio se lleva a cabo de acuerdo con su unidad dentro del mundo natural y su consagraci'on a la diosa.

Si se desea, puede tocarse m'usica durante la reuni'on del grupo en el c'irculo y durante la danza. Lo ideal es que la m'usica sea popular, con caramillo y viol'in, pero eso es accesorio.

El grupo forma un c'irculo y los novios est'an entre ellos. A la se~nal de la novia, las mujeres la llevan bajo un dosel en el centro del c'irculo. Si la ceremonia tiene lugar al aire libre, el dosel puede hacerse con una s'abana extendida sobre unos palos. Los lados deben estar abiertos, de modo que todos puedan ver a la pareja. Tambi'en puede usarse un parasol grande, y si es necesario sujetarlo, la novia deber'a encargarse de ello. Si el mal tiempo obliga a celebrar la ceremonia en el interior, el dise~no del dosel corresponder'a al ingenio de los participantes.

La novia, situada de cara al norte, llama al novio para que se re'una con ella, dici'endole estas palabras:

No
No
No
Novio: Somos fuego

Nos circunda

Camina alrededor de la novia, en el sentido de las agujas del reloj.

No
Y los servidores de la diosa;

En ella, a trav'es de ella, vivimos y respiramos,

Tenemos nuestros amores y comprensiones.

Como ella desea, as'i debe ser

Salen de debajo del dosel y los reunidos bailan a su alrededor, los hombres en el sentido de las agujas del reloj y las mujeres en el contrario, con la smanos juntas. Danzan a su alrededor tres veces y se detienen, se vuelven hacia el centro, alzan las manos y gritan:

!Benditos se'ais!

A lo que la pareja responde:

!Benditos se'ais!

La boda concluye con un banquete.

Fuente: El retorno de las brujas. Robin Skelton

Credit: http://healing-magic.blogspot.com