Samloyal23
Adventurer
This is ancient history (2005). Every now and zen I have to repost this somewhere just to see what people think of it...
...Copied from My Post on Yahoo!'s Planewalker Club Just to Cause Trouble:
One of the things that fascinates me about rpgs is the degree to which it is underrated as an art form, despite the fact that it is one of the only new forms of art created in this century. Think about it. An rpg is an INTERACTIVE STORY: during an rpg the players ACT like characters they created in a STORY narrated by a DM. How many new forms of art have there been recently? Even in our entire century? Movies, radio dramas, tv serials, and music videos.
That's about it.
And, unlike the other innovations in entertainment and art that have arisen in the last hundred years, rpgs are the ONLY one that doesn't rely on new technology. Dice, paper, pencils, and Imagination. 100% Y2K compatible. Even the Amish can play D&D. Ok, they probably wouldn't, but that's their choice. The point is, this is a singular event in the history of cultural development
in the West. And nobody has taken serious notice of it.
So, what to do? First, start expanding the game beyond the gaming community. Let the IDEAS from the game pervade your life and the way you think. Players of Planescape are in the best position to do this, because PS is all about ideas, not just hunting for treasure and killing monsters. Find a faction that you actually agree with and allow its principles to inform your
life. Teach its principles and live by them. Take it seriously, study it, write about it. You'll be amazed how much better a player you'll be, and shocked at the new insights on your "real" life that you will gain.
Second, start to actually use the Cant, silly as it may seem, in ordinary speech, even with non-gamers. Don't go crazy, just add a new word or two like "jink" or "barmy" to your regular vocabulary every few months. Don't explain what you're doing, just tell people who aren't lanned to the chant that's these are just "expressions", things you "picked up somewhere". Keep it up
long enough (and be warned, it may take a year or two to be noticeable) and people who've never heard of PS will be using the Cant all over the place without knowing what they're doing. Go s-l-o-w-l-y... And be sneaky about it. Slang expressions can spread in crazy ways once a few people start using them, especially with the internet connecting people over such huge distances. If just the people in this club did this with dedication, in 2-3 years we'd see people in the news, on television and the radio, using Planar Cant like it was ordinary English. There's only 6 degrees of separation between any one of us and any celebrity or politician you can name, anywhere in the world...
After this it would leave our hands, becoming a "social phenomena" to be studied and discussed by newscasters, college professors, and other "talking heads". Think of the questions that they would ask: "Just how did the early 21st Century wave of philosophical clubs begin?"; "Why did 17th Century slang get reintroduced into so many songs and novels in this period?"; "What
motivated so many young people to seek 'experience' for its own sake after the turn of the millenia?"
Scientia est Potentia!
...Copied from My Post on Yahoo!'s Planewalker Club Just to Cause Trouble:
One of the things that fascinates me about rpgs is the degree to which it is underrated as an art form, despite the fact that it is one of the only new forms of art created in this century. Think about it. An rpg is an INTERACTIVE STORY: during an rpg the players ACT like characters they created in a STORY narrated by a DM. How many new forms of art have there been recently? Even in our entire century? Movies, radio dramas, tv serials, and music videos.
That's about it.
And, unlike the other innovations in entertainment and art that have arisen in the last hundred years, rpgs are the ONLY one that doesn't rely on new technology. Dice, paper, pencils, and Imagination. 100% Y2K compatible. Even the Amish can play D&D. Ok, they probably wouldn't, but that's their choice. The point is, this is a singular event in the history of cultural development
in the West. And nobody has taken serious notice of it.
So, what to do? First, start expanding the game beyond the gaming community. Let the IDEAS from the game pervade your life and the way you think. Players of Planescape are in the best position to do this, because PS is all about ideas, not just hunting for treasure and killing monsters. Find a faction that you actually agree with and allow its principles to inform your
life. Teach its principles and live by them. Take it seriously, study it, write about it. You'll be amazed how much better a player you'll be, and shocked at the new insights on your "real" life that you will gain.
Second, start to actually use the Cant, silly as it may seem, in ordinary speech, even with non-gamers. Don't go crazy, just add a new word or two like "jink" or "barmy" to your regular vocabulary every few months. Don't explain what you're doing, just tell people who aren't lanned to the chant that's these are just "expressions", things you "picked up somewhere". Keep it up
long enough (and be warned, it may take a year or two to be noticeable) and people who've never heard of PS will be using the Cant all over the place without knowing what they're doing. Go s-l-o-w-l-y... And be sneaky about it. Slang expressions can spread in crazy ways once a few people start using them, especially with the internet connecting people over such huge distances. If just the people in this club did this with dedication, in 2-3 years we'd see people in the news, on television and the radio, using Planar Cant like it was ordinary English. There's only 6 degrees of separation between any one of us and any celebrity or politician you can name, anywhere in the world...
After this it would leave our hands, becoming a "social phenomena" to be studied and discussed by newscasters, college professors, and other "talking heads". Think of the questions that they would ask: "Just how did the early 21st Century wave of philosophical clubs begin?"; "Why did 17th Century slang get reintroduced into so many songs and novels in this period?"; "What
motivated so many young people to seek 'experience' for its own sake after the turn of the millenia?"
Scientia est Potentia!
