Digest Esoterica

From: WillTwist_at_aol.com
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 23:14:53 -0500 (EST)


>> A part of this is just that a lot of stuff seems esoteric if you
>>don't run a game there - but seems quite important if you do. All this
>>argueing about Yelmic cult practices, for example - what cult the peasants
>>of Raibanth worship might seem esoteric to you, but its not if you have a
>>PC thats a Raibanth peasant. Its also just different campaigns with
>>different styles. The details of the Orlanthi legal system, for example,
>>might seem esoteric to some people, but not the people who have legal cases
>>come up in their campaigns.

     The Orlanthi legal system should be touched upon in any campaign that is set in Sartar! Here's a few examples of how it can affect even the most basic campaign there:

     The Hospitality offered to outsiders immediately reclassifies a stranger's legal position and places the stranger in the category of guest.  Anything that this guest does is then the responsibility of the person who extended the hospitality. This is not a simple food-sharing ritual! The party can be offered hospitality by an aged Sartarite, the party needs information/cash/horses/mayhem and goes about it in the usual undiplomatic manner of barbarian adventurers, in the course of this they offend/assault/rob another member of the clan, he in turn is forced by hospitality laws to take up his complaint with their host. This can easily lead to the party forcing a kind old man into poverty/exile/death due to

their indiscretions.            
      In any campaign with a follower of Eurmal.  The conscious (or not so
conscious) decision to become an outcast is not one to be taken lightly, it is important for the game master to communicate the dangerous position that the trickster occupies in society. This character can be robbed/exploited/physically abused/verbally abused/even killed without any legal repercussions. He can also be hired to perform actions that no other
member of the society is allowed to.              
      Even handling characters attempting to sell excess mounts (read plunder
here) need to find a juror to check them into a Sartarite settlement and go through the week waiting period to make certain that no one else claims them.  This bit of 'esoterica' can lead to a great scenario hook: party attacked by mounted bandits, beat them, decide to sell their mounts, find out that the bandits were also horse-thieves, get challenged by original owner who decides to settle the disagreement by right of violence or by legal battle -- whichever you as game master think would be more fun.

     I approach the digest as a player and occasional game master. I am mostly looking for information that will enhance my role playing experience.  Occasionally this means I skip over topics I am not interested in, but often I can get ideas for something in a game from even the most obscure conversations. I guess this means that I don't think another digest would be a good idea. What I would suggest is that no one forget that this information is based on a role playing game and possibly use examples to indicate how these topics could be used in actual play -- such as what has happened with the examples from the Seattle group's Shargash campaign and some of the proposed ideas regarding troll sonar.

Powered by hypermail