Saturday, August 28, 2021

New Fortune Deck, New Realms

 


I'm working on two Everway convention scenarios for October (virtual, and the details on the Gamehole Con scenario will follow in tomorrow's post), so that means I am in the ideation stage and creating new Realms. I pulled four image cards from my collection to get a sense of the Realm, and things that might happen in it. 

The uppermost card on the left is from a Frank Frazetta art card deck and was never part of the Everway decks. It has great atmospherics, and the background details include rather succubus-like harpies, or harpy-like succubi. 

It's interesting that the male figure is completely naked except for his sword (no symbolism there at all, move along!). The female figures are naked as well. The male is crossing water. Is this a ritual activity, perhaps even a rebirth?

Key questions that this card provokes for me include: Who are the women? What wisdom or gift does the man seek from them? What will he sacrifice to gain what he needs? 


The next image, V10 by Janine Johnston, has an interesting question on the back asking: "What is the woman facing a different direction from the person leading the camel?"

I'm less concerned about the presence of the camel (the two final images are pretty Greek/Cretan, maybe) but what the question underscores is countermovement, maybe connected to the Fortune Card that I drew for this Realm's Fault: Law - Inverted: Treachery...


The next card, by Roger Raupp, is S1/71, a Spherewalker Source Card. It shows two wrestling men. Perhaps there is a connection between these two men and the first card? What is that relationship?

The final card, V24 by Roger Raupp, shows a man trapped in a labyrinth. A robed figure with a staff and a bull's skull is also in the labyrinth. A vulture looks down at the trapped man, patiently awaiting its meal. The card asks: "Who put this man in the labyrinth and why?"

I drew a Virtue, Fault, and Fate for the Realm as well. You can see the difference in size and detail between the original Fortune Deck cards and their counterparts in the Deluxe Fortune Deck! 



Each Deluxe card is marked with a number on the upper left, denoting that the card is part of Tier 4 of the Fortune Deck (Tier 4 is Seasons). This is new, and I like seeing how the cards relate to each other. On the upper right (admittedly hard to see on this card) is the Roman numeral X, which is the number assigned to the card in the Fortune Deck. So if you want to store your deck with the cards in numerical sequence, progressing from highest to lowest Tier of the Walker's Pyramid, you can!

Along the left side of the card are also icons representing what elements this card is tied to, as well as the astrological signs relevant to the card. This again makes relationships between elements of the Fortune Deck more explicit. The zodiac signs will also be useful when adjudicating Star River Magic.

So the Virtue is Winter: Maturity.  I think this means that the Realm is an old one, previously stable and well-established. Since the element is water, that reinforces the Greek/Cretan connection for me a bit. Islands and sea trade are important here. The camel headed in the opposite direction of the woman in V10 may really be a ship.

Since the Realm's Virtue is tied to the element of Water and that Virtue card signifies maturity, the Realm's name is Eldersea

With respect to the other Fortune Cards, as noted above we have Law - Inverted: Treachery as the Realm's Fault, and Trickery - Deceit vs. Subterfuge Revealed as the Realm's Fate. 

Its Fault is tied to the elements of Air and Earth, and its Fate is tied to the elements of Air and Fire. Perhaps all this treachery and deceit is due to a conspiracy linked to those three elements. It is also noteworthy that the Fault and Fate cards represent deities - a god of knowledge, law, and magic, and a trickster god.

Interesting times are ahead for Eversea.


Saturday, August 21, 2021

Details on Gamehole Con Virtual Everway Game




My Everway-Silver Anniversary Edition game has posted for Gamehole Con's virtual game track. The link to the event description is here. The game is slotted for Saturday, October 23, from 6-10 PM. 

I had a great time running virtual RPGs at Gamehole Con last year, and am really looking forward to it this year. Anyone, anywhere can register to play. The admission fee for the virtual con is $20, which is very reasonable considering the scale, care, and level of organization behind this convention. 

Go here to register for the convention; registration is open now! Sign up for events starts on Sept. 1 (Wednesday)! Events fill-up fast so if you want in, sign up as soon as you can!

The scenario is called "Everway: The Great Return"

Here is the event blurb:

More than 25 years ago, Wizards published an RPG with three booklets in a white box. Everway reinvented fantasy gaming, taking things to a mythic level in which you play Spherewalkers exploring the Multiverse. Characters were created using Vision Cards, and a Tarot-like Fortune Deck was the tool for resolving character and NPC actions. At the center of everything is the great City of Everway, the city with the greatest number of gates to other Spheres in the Multiverse. Now back in a new Silver Anniversary edition, this is your chance to experience this unique and visionary RPG for yourself! Visit everwayan.blogspot.com for more about the game and the setting.

Here's a hit about what you might encounter in this scenario:



This fall, I will have at least one other virtual Everway game at a convention: ConFABulous. This Minneapolis convention was scheduled to be in-person, but due to the Delta variant, we have pivoted to running a virtual convention. We will be using a different date than the one published for the in-person convention. Date and scheduling information will be available soon, and I will share that here. 




Sunday, August 1, 2021

Deluxe Fortune Deck


Yesterday, my Deluxe Fortune Deck arrived for Everway Silver Anniversary Edition. I'll actually open the box a bit later, but for today I am sharing the form factor and appearance of the box. The cards themselves are probably about twice as large as the original Fortune Deck cards. They will be a lot easier to see around the game table, and MUCH easier to share in an online game, by holding the card up to the camera. Just imagine how great they must look out of the box!


The deck box is very similar in size to the box for a standard Tarot deck. The Fortune Deck works in analogous ways to a Tarot deck, including: 

  • Quick one-card draws for fast, decisive resolutions in-game;
  • Serial one-card draws for blow-by-blow resolutions in an extended conflict;
  • Divinatory spreads to determine particularly complex in-game outcomes;
  • Generative spreads to create new realms or scenarios 
  • Exploratory spreads to discover the deep-structures and conflicts affecting particular realms, spheres or spherepaths; and
  • Personal spreads, used out-of-game for personal divination, reflection, and meditation


The box will be easier to open, due to the side notches. I like the icon of the Walker's Pyramid. The lettering reminds me of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, so it evokes other settings that I have loved for decades. The box needs to be wider than the original Fortune Deck would have required because it contains more than the original 36 Fortune Deck cards: there is also a 41 card Season Deck within the box. Divided into four suits, these cards expand on the Fortune Deck adding the dimension of time and additional setting flavor - a suitable Minor Arcana for the 36 "majors."

I might add that the box has a very nice matte finish.

Over the next week we'll unbox the box (as it were) and begin to explore things we can do with this new set of cards.