2006: Arcana Evolved

Since I've already explained much of the set-up for this game in an earlier post, I'm pretty much going to dive straight into the action of the story of Arcana Evolved. Before I do so, though, I should explain who actually participated in this game, and who their characters were.

The Arcana Unearthed game ended with the group splitting up, each going their separate ways. Arcana Evolved begins five years later (one year later in real-time) when three of the heroes from the last story re-unite on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, joined by two more extraordinary adventurers. The actual configuration of the group included Bob, Drake, Kennedy, Luke, and Jason. Bob and Drake still had essentially the same characters as before – Beo and Ree – whereas Nasef had over time developed into a ghost, driven by the power of the Requiem, a mysterious evil sword. Luke and Jason made new characters, each with suitably epic backstories; Luke re-created Aust, making him a priest from an ancient civilization who had slept through the ages, and Jason created the Cat Lords' Chosen, an avatar of cats who literally possessed nine lives, but is stalked by a strange demon for inexplicable reasons. Jasons character didn't actually have a name for much of the game, until he was randomly named Freddy because we needed a way to refer to him.

The story itself was very long, and rather complicated. It was initially divided up into ten chapters, each named in some meaningful fashion. I have since lost the complete list of chapters, unfortunately, so I can only write about those I remember. I'm also not entirely clear on the chronology; some of the details below may contradict each other. I really should have taken better notes about the game, but I was a little pressed for time, as it was played during my final year at the IB.

Here be Dragons was the first chapter, an introductory story of a sort. The five characters met on a tiny island, and learned of ancient sorcery from a lost civilization called Praetur, which had once been destroyed by the Dragons. It was here Freddy accidentally poisoned Beo, and it was here Beo learned of the ancient civilizations' hatred for Xethar Ar'Nuade, the dragon whose soul he carried inside him. The ruins of the island were thoroughly explored, but they needed a password to delve to the heart of the strange fortress, and had to seek out an akashic who supposedly knew the answer.

The next two chapters have names I can't recall. The akashic needed by the heroes was trapped in an Imperial Fortress, protected by a young man called the Mirror Master, who could prevent all sorts of magic being worked within the fortress. Aust and Freddy insisted on killing him, and so they did, drawing the ire of the Inquisition after them. Beo also met with a woman who wanted to become a mojh, and Ree briefly met with his apprentice, a young Litorian mathematician. There was some running around on the ocean involved, among other things a magical island on which Nasef tried to kill himself by separating himself from the Requiem, the introduction of Sojiro Naraku – Kennedy's replacement character, a sorcerer with some ties to the Demons of the setting – and the characters also returned to the island with the ruins to confront a lich, who managed to hurt Aust badly enough to seemingly kill him. It's all a bit of a blur what happened here, though. I know that in the same scene that Aust “died”, Nasef returned. These two chapters spanned quite a lot of playing time, I know that much.

A Pirate is Free was a chapter which gave Freddy the spotlight. He had once sailed the seas as a feared pirate captain, and was now re-united with his old crew. A Pirate is Free dealt with questions of responsibility, and was rife with moral choices. Do you condone revenge, even if it's carried out as rape? Will you stop a righteous crusade to indulge in your own selfish need for vengeance? Ultimately, it asked this question: Even if you are free from all authority, mortal and divine, does that mean you're also free of responsibility? Or is it perhaps the reverse? A Pirate is Free also introduced Timothy Luvenhay, Luke's replacement character instead of Aust.

Searching For Demons was a strange chapter, perhaps the most muddled and unclear one. I can't recall the details of it very well, but it was during this chapter that the entire group got lost in the desert for no good reason, and also pulled off a joint-stunt impersonating a giant. It included one of the few recurring NPCs, Tirek Fleshripper, and revolved around the demons who had once broken into the Netherworld to come upon the Tree of Life. The heroes learned that they must search for the Key to Hell, which was later revealed to be Beo – the Key to Free Will, which is Hell from the point of view of those in favor of Destiny.

Chapter Six: Consequences (the only chapter whose name and numbering I have actually written down) was the chapter dealing with past sins, and dealt particularly with the question of how our past defines us. It was the chapter in which Freddy learned that the Cat Lord had chosen him to be a scapegoat, not an avatar – the demon stalking Freddy was collecting a debt from the Cat Lord, which Freddy had unwittingly agreed to pay in his stead. It was also the chapter that explored the past of Ban-Lam, Austs' homeland – which they arrived in to find his entire civilization has been gone for hundreds of years, lost despite the great sacrifice he made for their sake. The chapter was named Consequences because it asked not only how our past defines us, but also how the consequences of our choices define us. While at least two characters were brought to utter despair, they managed to find new hope – of a sort. Freddy freed himself from the Cat Lord, and Aust abandoned his old ways to begin seeking a path to true divinity.

The Key to Hell featured the invasion of the Land of the Tiger, where in the past Ban-Lam had been located, to free it from the demons currently controlling it and to learn of the nature of the Key to Hell. Aust returned after having “died” earlier on, and alongside him the heroes would plunge into the Netherworld, after having driven back the demonic hordes possessing the Land of the Tiger. Freddy, also, became the new King of the Tigers, and rose to a kind of divinity himself, after having (probably) destroyed the Cat Lord.

Reedeemer took place in the Netherworld, a strange world-between-worlds, the labyrinth that connects all places to another. It's the place of everything that is lost, and also the location of the Tree of Life, the strange focal point of Destiny that held the answer to Rees mysterious equation. Reedeemer was the most thoroughly bizarre and otherwordly chapter, which started out with the characters losing their memories entirely, and moved on to reveal that Ree solving the equation would make him literally become Destiny. It was the chapter in which Ree truly ascended to godhood, and also the chapter in which Nasef restored his lost humanity.

Requiem for a God revolved around Nasef putting a stop to the Mad God-King of Galdersrike, the wizard responsible for the creation of the Requiem and also the one who held the key to its undoing. The spirit of death trapped in the evil weapon was meant for the King, and only after his death could the weapon be destroyed. A memorable, if short, chapter, that involved a crazy chess-match between two super-geniuses who could both predict the future – Aust vs. the King.

Breath of the Ancestors ended the story, confronting the heroes with the Dragons, and finally ended with Ree resolving their debate by killing himself, choosing freedom for the world, because of how inspired he had been by Beo. The death of Ree marked the end of Destiny, and the end of an era – no longer was humanity shackled by the divine. Freedom reigned in the world, but at a price, as the spiteful Eternals among the dragons had already begun the process of destroying the world. Our four remaining heroes would have to set out and stop them – particularly Beo, whose fault it was that the Dragon Scions were once more unleashed upon the world. Thus begins a story not yet told, a story where divinity and heroism are synonymous, a story of a world where Destiny no longer holds sway. Thus begins a new story, and thus ends the Gods' Tale.

Arcana Unearthed Gaiden:
Rather than talk about specific characters or specific moments in the chronicle-at-large, I'm here going to mention the Gaiden, the small story that took place in the same world but was otherwise entirely unrelated. It was played right before Arcana Evolved, and circled around a crazy runethane seeking immortality. The set-up of the game was interesting, as each player was instructed to write a detailed backstory for their character, and then tell that story around the campfire as the heroes made camp on their journey. Thus, the actual chronicle became a sort of Canterbury Tales, a frame-story for the Dead Mans' Tale, the Sorcerers' Tale, the Soldiers' Tale, the Merchants' Tale and so forth. It featured Honest Sid, a minor character from Arcana Unearthed, as a central protagonist NPC, and a few other NPCs who also told their tales.

Most of the story took place in a jungle, but the final bit was a confrontation in one of the largest cities of the world – a conscious decision, as cities were largely avoided in the other two chronicles. It was an interesting story, much shorter than the chronicle at large and played only over three long sessions – the first two in a jungle colony, the last one in the capitol leading up to the showdown with the runethane.

Next Up:
2007: Berlin, the most MMO-like RPG I have ever ran, in which players come and go without any real pattern, and the setting grows ridiculously contrived and complicated, growing by leaps and bounds into the most rich setting I have designed to date. Some earth-shattering changes in my life occur, and my gaming life also becomes radically different, with the d20 system becoming almost entirely absent, not to return until 2010.