Nobilis (role play)

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Nobilis (role play)
publication
Author (s) Jenna K. Moran written as R. Sean Borgstrom
Original publisher Pharos Press
Hogshead Publishing
original language English
World and system
genre Fantasy
Game world The prose and the mythical earth
Basic system independent, without cubes
cube diceless

Nobilis is an English pen and paper role-playing game developed by R. Sean Borgstrom, the current version of which has been published by Guardians of Order . The players take on the roles of the name-giving nobilis, higher beings in a struggle for creation itself. The complete abandonment of random elements such as dice or cards is unusual .

layout

The second edition was published as a bound edition in oversized format with 304 pages. The height corresponds to the common A4 format , but Nobilis is just as wide, so that the book is almost square. The entire width is only used by the black and white illustrations. The actual text only takes up the space of a normal A4 page, while the resulting wide margin is used for explanations and quotations. The sculpture “The Sphinx Mysterieux” by the Belgian sculptor Charles van der Stappen is shown on the white cover . Some illustrations come from illustrators who have already drawn for the Sandman series, there are also some still lifes by Giuseppe Arcimboldo , a painter of the late Renaissance .

Publication history

The first edition was published as book-on-demand by Pharos Press in 1999 , while the second edition was first published in 2002 in France by 2 dés sans faces, société coopérative . A short time later the second edition was also published in America by Hogshead Publishing . In 2003, Nobilis moved to Guardians of Order. The Society of Flowers play aid was planned but was not printed. It has now been published as a free PDF by Eos Press . A third edition was published by Eos Press in 2011 under the title 'Nobilis: The Essentials (Volume 1: Field Guide to the Powers)'. There is also a live action role playing set of rules for Nobilis.

In 2002 Nobilis won the Origins Award in the category: "Best Graphic Presentation of a Book Format Product". The following year, Nobilis won the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming together with Jordan Weisman .

Game world

The game world is dominated by the "Valde Bellum", a war between the emperors, personifications of one or more aspects of reality, and the excrucians, powerful beings who come from outside of creation and try to wipe it out. As this battle rages on a higher plane of existence, the emperors keep their bodies in fortresses that they literally tear from the world, along with everything that lives there. The emperor selects some of these and gives them a splinter of his soul. These are the nobilis and the protagonists of the game. Your task is to protect the body of your emperor and its aspects, for which they get control of one aspect and the fortress.

In Nobilis, a dual reality is assumed, of which people only perceive one side. For one, there is prosaic reality, which corresponds to our perception of reality. Its counterpart is the animistic, mythical reality. Both realities influence each other. While the nobilis can easily switch between the two worlds, people go crazy when you force them to perceive mythical reality. For the Nobilis this means a significant restriction of their possibilities, as they are forbidden to harm innocent people. This is one of the rules of the “Code Fidelitas”, the set of rules to which all Nobilis are bound. One of these rules forbids the nobilis from loving, which causes problems, as the nobilis can only attach themselves to people they love or hate.

In addition to the Valde Bellum, there are also various conflicts between the emperors: the conflict between heaven and hell, between the light ones who want to preserve humanity at all costs and the dark ones who want to destroy it. Many conflicts are also motivated personally or by opposing aspects. Even between the nobilis of different emperors there is seldom harmony. The world of Nobilis is superficially similar to ours, but is a shade or two darker. While it is believed that today's game is played, the game world works with any age. The possibility of using Nobilis as a cosmological superstructure for other role-playing worlds is also discussed . Cosmology takes and mixes parts of many different mythologies, including Christian, Nordic, Greek and Far Eastern.

Game mechanism

Nobilis does not use random elements for conflict resolution. Instead, a resource mechanism is used. Each character is defined by four attributes, each of which has its own pool of points, with which the attribute can be temporarily increased. Humans have no attributes at all. With these attributes, miracles - so-called miracles - can be wrought, ranging from solving simple equations to extinguishing the sun. Which miracles are possible with the respective attributes is only loosely defined. If two miracles compete with each other, the one with the higher level wins. Nobilis, however, have some protection against miracles. On the one hand, they have an “auctoritas” around them that increases the difficulty of miracles in this area. On the other hand, they are immune to direct miracles because they are not part of any aspect. For example, the nobilis with the love aspect might not cause another nobilis to fall in love with him because his love is not part of the aspect. In addition, nobilis are difficult to kill. Some (who have the appropriate gift) are even immortal, and even when they die, the soul fragment is simply transplanted into another person. As a result, conflicts are indirectly led around the things that are important to the Nobilis.

The characters are generated with a purchase system in which attributes and gifts as well as additional points can be acquired for the point supply. "Gift" is a collective term for a wide variety of advantages and skills that can be selected from a list or created yourself with a modular system. A character can also choose disadvantages, which are divided into four groups. Limits are permanent restrictions that always take effect. You permanently increase the pool of points by a fixed value. One of the limits listed is death. "Restrictions" are situation-specific disadvantages. They always refresh the pool of points when they cause problems for the character and make up most of the disadvantages. "Virtues" are principles that hinder the character but also offer advantages. For example, someone with the principle of honesty cannot be made to lie. Finally there is “Affilations”, a code of conduct with three rules that every Nobilis follows. If he does not follow these, he loses points from his supply, but he can also get some through exemplary behavior.

The chancel (the fortress mentioned above) and the emperor of the characters are created jointly by all players, also with a purchase system. While an attribute of the characters provides points for the chancel, a negative must also be chosen for each positive quality of the emperor.

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