The Nature of the Game

You're intrigued- this sounds like a game you'd like to play, and now, you would like to see the system. You would like to read the rules. But here's the catch: There aren't any.  

What?!  How am I supposed to play a game with no rules?

The nature of this game, Primordial, is one of social interaction, of mutual story-building, storytelling, and character exploration. If you enjoy technical games with statistics, dots, numbers, and dice, you should probably stroll on now, and look for some other diversion.

So, how do you play? Envision a character. Mythologize yourself. Is your character a celestial? Of what faction? How does he/she feel about that, and why? What's his/her personal belief about the nature of Reality, and the Chaos, and Entropy? Is he/she powerful? in what way? What makes this character vulnerable? 

One of the reasons for the mutability of this imagined world, for all of the uncertainty about how it came to be, and how things really are, and who is right and who is wrong, and what it all really means- is point of view. Yours. Mine. The PoV of anyone who chooses to play the game. What about this world fascinates you?  Explore that. Interact with it. Involve friends, and encourage them to do the same.

Is it a table-top game? A classic PnP roleplay, with character sheets and stuff? Nope. Though you are more than welcome to write up your character(s) and play with friends, sitting around a table swigging Dr. Pepper and munching Fritos and microwave pizza. Is it a play-by-post? A Play-by-chat?  Neither, and both.

What you have found in these pages is a Paradigm. It is a context. A Genre. A world in which to adventure with your mind, and the minds of others.

There ARE some common courtesies to be observed, most of which will not come as a shock to you, if you have played any game with other players ever. Play nice. Don't god-mod. (God-modding, for the uninitiated, is dictating the actions or reactions of someone else who is playing with you, and anyone you do this to has every gamer's right to simply ignore whatever you dictated, in part or in whole.) Don't Powermonger/cheesedick. (Powermongering and Cheesedicking are terms for creating outrageously powerful characters with little or no vulnerability, and then expecting everyone else to just be cool with that. It's fine to be uber-powerful, but balance your power with your weaknesses. If you can blow up a planet with your brain, it's not balanced to say his weakness is hay-fever. Unless of course, it's really really bad hay fever, and he blows up planets accidentally when he sneezes...)

If you enjoy the image of endless apocalyptic battlefields, then go there. Play your character on those bloody fields. Or, skirmish away in the back alleys of a nether plane. Or walk among mortals and manipulate them to your bidding. All of these things factor beautifully into my vision of mind-playing within this created alternate reality. I also envision royal courts and intrigues, gritty nightclubs, gothic castles and even space ships and interplanetary activities.

Still think you need rules? Try playing without them. See how it feels.

No comments: