Im dropping out of gaming for a couple of month from MY group. Ive capitalised MY as I do genuinely feel its my group.

Im leaving it in the hands of some good friends (10+years of gaming) and they plan on running Paranoia - great, Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. - great, Nobilis - eh?

Ive got the game, Ive got Amber so I know what the whole diceless lark is about.

Im just wondering if anyone has actually read the book, or attempted to run it or play it. Just curious as to whether this game might actually ruin the group permanently before I return :-)

I've read the book, done character gen, and played.  It's a great read.  I own the book and it's beautiful. It's too ethereal to use.  Everything is too up in the air, and there isn't even really a solid narrative type to the whole thing.  No default game, if you know what I mean.  D&D has the dungeon crawl, Vampire has endless political backbiting, Shadowrun has endless runs with endless backstabbing Johnsons and Nobilis has.. well I haven't been able to figure it out yet.  Had a lot of fun making up the realms with my fellow players though.

I've read it.  Its a stupid system which the author attempts to mask with absurd amounts of byzantine paragraphs of flowery but utterly vapid writing.

RPGPundit

Why should it ruin the group?

I've read it and am working on something for it. The language is a tad precious at times and I don't really like the layout of the book.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: counterspin;292845Everything is too up in the air, and there isn't even really a solid narrative type to the whole thing.  No default game, if you know what I mean.  D&D has the dungeon crawl, Vampire has endless political backbiting, Shadowrun has endless runs with endless backstabbing Johnsons and Nobilis has.. well I haven't been able to figure it out yet.

In that sense, Nobilis has defending the Domains: the archetypal "core story" in the game is the Breakthrough, with the PCs being alerted to investigate something malicious from beyond the boundaries of reality assaulting the aspects of the universe entrusted into the characters' care. Think Whispering Vault or Sapphire & Steel. Seriously, that's one complaint which never made any sense to me, since Nobility comes with distinct duties and responsibilities, and the PCs have been granted their powers for a purpose, not just so that they could lead a fantasy life of idle luxury. It's as though people never read Chapter 6, "What Do Nobilis Do?"

(Also, you can have the dungeon crawls by venturing into hostile Chancels or Excrucian strongholds or the depths of alien worlds, and political backbiting is a natural part of the supposedly genteel "game of flowers" of rivalry among Nobles, and dealing with Cammoran middlemen can easily end up with you stabbed in the back with an Abhorrent Weapon since the greedy bastards have connections.)

Anyway, I currently run it twice a month just like I do with the Finnish sword-and-sorcery RPG Praedor, and we are in the middle of my third campaign ever, "Entropy Will Get You In the End." I've also GMed an occasional one-shot and shorter story for miscellaneous folks: actually, "Entropy" was originally meant to be one of those too, but we then decided to expand the set-up and keep it going.

I have read it and run it, 2 short campaigns (12 sessions each, more or less). I definitely think is a good and interesting game, but I also can see how the prose can make it difficult for many persons.

The core story and what you can do is really well explained through the book. And no, Lawbag, I don't think the game is ruining anything. Either they will like it or they won't.

Grimgent : Those are all great, but when I've tried to play it never actually works.  I'm not sure why.  I like pretty much every aspect of the game, but post creation it never clicks.

I read it cover to cover, then went back and tried to re-read the system rules, then read a bunch of threads on rpgnet in which Borgstrom and crew sounded very helpful.

Despite all this preparation my one attempt to run the game fell flat.  Part of the problem was me, part of it was the game group, but part of the problem was also the game.  I feel like Nobilis tries to hard to be great and not enough effort is spent on being good.  Maybe that makes no sense, but that's how I feel.

On the other hand, my buddy Stuart has been in a failry successful campaign of it that he describes as a rocking good time.  But he'd probably be the first to admit that he likes his games more highbrow than I do.

Will it ruin your group?  Probably not, but it might be remembered as one of those off-kilter games you struggle through for a session or two before giving up on.

Quote from: RPGPundit;292850I've read it.  Its a stupid system which the author attempts to mask with absurd amounts of byzantine paragraphs of flowery but utterly vapid writing.

RPGPundit

Ive read every word of your vitrol and agree with it. Hats off for having read it cover to cover.

From what Ive read it came across as a godly version of In Nomine, but without limits or restrictions.

Sorry, but any game that names the GM as Hollyhock God deserves all the wedgies the world has to give.

Quote from: Lawbag;292970From what Ive read it came across as a godly version of In Nomine, but without limits or restrictions.

That's absurd, you know. A Nobilis character without limits or restrictions is going to be disadvantaged in comparison with just about everyone else: you practically need those Handicaps in order to regain miracle points during play. And speaking of MPs, having only five of those per attribute, by default, doesn't exactly let anyone pull off level 6+ miracles on a regular basis. (And that's only the mechanical side of things. Setting-wise, the society of the Nobilis imposes limits all of its own, not least because of Lord Entropy's legislation.)

Read it and did a play by post with it. It's one of my favorites.

Seanchai

Quote from: counterspin;292946Grimgent : Those are all great, but when I've tried to play it never actually works.  I'm not sure why.  I like pretty much every aspect of the game, but post creation it never clicks.

Hmm. In practice, the Domains and the Bonds of the PCs should act as built-in story hooks, no matter how passive the players themselves might be; and of course, nothing stops the GM from simply sending in an Excrucian with an Abhorrent Weapon, or from having the Imperator send the Familia out on a traditional fetch quest if everything else just grinds down to a halt... Not to mention that almost any even slightly ambitious endeavour of a more personal sort may bring them into conflict with other Nobles. What sort of characters did you have in your game and what did they actually do with their time?

I understand these mixed reviews, nobilis is glaringly not for everyone.
Its an extremely different way of thinking alone, much less a very different RPG once youve gotten around the mind stretching concept.

But thats exactly what makes it appeal to that minority of gamers who want fewer restrictions, to suspend belief for awhile and be loosed from the restraints of reality.

Ill requote someone i heard on a forum, 'Every game shouldn't be like Nobilis, but there should always be a Nobilis' or something like that.