I've been told that in my RPGs I'm particularly talented as a GM when it comes to my portrayal of NPCs (that'd be the repressed actor in me I guess), and that within that, I'm particularly amusing at paying "crazy old dudes" and "giant monsters" (take that as you will).
Dworkin strikes me as a bit of both. One-half crazy old dude, one-half cthonic force of nature.
But how much of one and how much of the other do you use in your game?
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I think the crazy is an act to protect his secrets. All of the Amberites have a gimic to keep from attracting too much attention but Dworkin's is the best.
If you go missing, everyone suspects you of doing something sneaky until you're presumed dead. But it blows up in your face when you resurface 'cause they immediately assume you must have really been up to something. Acting crazy is better -- you can do whatever you want, evade any line of questioning, and pretend that information, unblemished by guile or ulterior motive, just falls out of your head from time to time.
"Oopsy! I accidentaly rescued Corwin and told him secrets!"
I like the idea that the universe is importantly crazy ... and you can point to it, there, dribbling buffalo-chicken-sauce on its smock, and say "See? CRAZY!"
It's anthropomorphism taken to its ultimate extent.
I think the truth lies somewhere between the two. Post patternfall Dworkin seems pretty stable, although his motives are clearly far beyond the understanding of most of his relatives, making it easy for them to dismiss him as insane. Blue Horse, Dancing Mountain suggests that Dworkin and Suhuy are both key figures in the universe, but I still get the impression that their power derives from greater understanding and not from intrinsic greatness. Similarly Fiona and Mandor play a greater role in events (Hall of Mirrors) due to their own advanced understanding of the game.
I'd say that Dworkin is a powerful sorcerer with great insight into events and a clear plan, but he falls short of being a cthonic force of nature, although he may well strive to give that impression to others.
I use Dworkin differently. When the Pattern is repaired, he's simply got a different, unique point of view. He's not crazy (that is, disconnected from reality) he's profoundly connected to it on an entirely different level. He's not a monster, unless your definition of "monster" is an unusual one.
I soo like playing crazy old wizards, I can't help playing him like one. Of course, this may be just because he's on a different level altogether. Who knows? If I say you I see tiny spirits in the air, am I mad? Or am I gifted with a magical Sight?
The story goes that he fathered Oberon on the Unicorn.
If you've slept with monsters and still can talk with your grandkids, you might seem half-crazy.
In my current ftf campaign, Dworkin has been very involved with the PCs and has proven a very useful ally (not that he views himself as one). Because of his very special... insight, and his opinions about things, not to mention the shapeshifting bit.
He's not a powerful monster and such, nor is he a crazy old wizard, but the players believe him to be. Which means I must be doing something right! ;)
My opinion is that he's just another player in the great game of powers, albeit a more important one, and one with much more history than the PCs and most other NPCs.
Quote from: ArrefThe story goes that he fathered Oberon on the Unicorn.
This strikes me as the kind of things no one seems to spends too much thoughts on. But, as you said, this is far from normal behaviour.
Dworkin's sex life is turning out to be a major plot point in Phases. He authored a memoir, "My Nights Among the Monsters," which several people have found to be an important book.
Quote from: CroakerThis strikes me as the kind of things no one seems to spends too much thoughts on. But, as you said, this is far from normal behaviour.
Of course, being a shape shifter Dworkin could esily have assumed the form of a male unicorn.
OR perhaps the Unicorn, being something of a nebulous creature, came to Dworkin in the form of a beautiful woman, and only assumed her more bestial shape once the deed was done.
I've always portrayed Dworkin as existing as an equal to Pattern and Logrus, so basically a third power which gets along with both of the other primal powers. Oh sure, Logrus was irritated about that whole pattern thing, however they have since patched things up. However living as both a primal power and a human grandfather will lead others to believe your mad, simply because they don't see everything you do.
It's kind of like shadows that believe someone is a sorcerer simply because they have a lighter, the don't understand cell phones, and television makes them faint, they can't/haven't imagined it, so it's scary/crazy/magic.
I'm not too keen on the idea of Dworkin being an equal and impartial third party - he clearly has strong ties to the Pattern, and Suhuy is presented in Blue Horse, Dancing Mountain as something of Dworkin's equal and opposite in Chaos.
What if dworkin wasn't crazy but just... Senile? :lol:
Quote from: TrevelyanI'm not too keen on the idea of Dworkin being an equal and impartial third party - he clearly has strong ties to the Pattern, and Suhuy is presented in Blue Horse, Dancing Mountain as something of Dworkin's equal and opposite in Chaos.
This might raise another great question... Is Dworkin the Pattern's pet or is it the other way around. (Similar question for Suhuy and the Logrus) pardon me if this has been covered somewhere else.
Thinking along the lines of the damage to the Pattern and the resulting mind, is the Pattern just an abstraction of part of Dworkins mind, and there for NOT real at all. They are tied intrinsically with one another, that much is certain. So would the Unicorn, which many view as the embodiment of the Pattern thus also be part of Dworkin's mind. So Oberon is the result of an asexual act.
The question of pet then wouldn't apply, as the Pattern could then be viewed as a fantasy of Dworkins, the same might be able to be said about Suhuy, but the timeline clouds the issue. There would have to be a succession of dreamers since it would stand to reason that Suhuy isn't as old as Logrus, however I could be wrong here as well.
And now Corwin has done the same thing, makes for some interesting plot possibilities.
Tricky question.
I had the logrus as a collector or personnalities and memories, being both the persons who asseyed it and what they could have been. A group mind of sorts, but not without its various voices, which explained both its changes and the logrus madness (as asseying the logrus implied being into contact to such an insanity). Suhuy was an extension of this, a kind of avatar, closely tied to the logrus but not yet subsumed by it, which allowed it to best serve as an interface with the Chaosites.
Pattern, otoh, was both similar and different: The brain child of Dworkin and the Unicorn, it shared characteristics of both, and was linked to both as father/avatar types. It gained the memories and knowledge of those asseying it, but not their personnalities.
Corwin's pattern is something new, the product of one mind. Yet a simplification of the process. Nonetheless, it still gains knowledge like the pattern.
I like that idea.
The Logrus then becomes something like a prototype Pattern, built according to the same basic principles but without having all of the bugs worked out.
Quote from: CroakerTricky question.
I had the logrus as a collector or personnalities and memories, being both the persons who asseyed it and what they could have been. A group mind of sorts, but not without its various voices, which explained both its changes and the logrus madness (as asseying the logrus implied being into contact to such an insanity). Suhuy was an extension of this, a kind of avatar, closely tied to the logrus but not yet subsumed by it, which allowed it to best serve as an interface with the Chaosites.
Pattern, otoh, was both similar and different: The brain child of Dworkin and the Unicorn, it shared characteristics of both, and was linked to both as father/avatar types. It gained the memories and knowledge of those asseying it, but not their personnalities.
Corwin's pattern is something new, the product of one mind. Yet a simplification of the process. Nonetheless, it still gains knowledge like the pattern.
So we have Chaos (Pattern v1.0), Pattern (Pattern v2.0), and Corwin's Pattern (Pattern 78)... Sounds familure somehow... :)
I see Dworkin as a all-powerful being, the embodiment, or "enmindment", more accurately, of the whole existence, crazed with the imposibility of keeping all that in a mind he chose to limit. He gained somehow a deeper understanding of the Primal Chaos, and became a god by fathering the Pattern, but he does not see it as perfect or finished, or even absolute. He is on a whole different level because he is the one who knew, from the very beggining, that the "absolute reality" wasn't real nor absolute, and nowadays, being a wee bit cuckoo, he probably sees the whole "conflict" as the petty squabbles of the two little children he raised.
On the roleplaying side, I try to portray him as crazy, but with sort of a sinister streak.
all great posts, and I agree w/ the 50/50, but I also had it played that he took a dip over the far side when the Pattern was damaged, he is it, it is him.....
But even mad men have great moments of insight and clearity.
Simply in my FtF's he is usually not around as he is one extremely powerful dude.