Entry: When The Forms Exhaust Their Variety

[jwalton]

Actually, Kevin, that's a really good thought: providing a list of different minimalist works that are all about an hour long, in case people get sick of one or the other. As long as Mr. Glass figures prominently among them (which he would anyway), that should be enough for the requirement. Reich's Music for 18 Musicians would be terrific, as would Glass' Music in 12 Parts, and some of John Adam's dances. Since most CDs tend to be about an hour long, that should work nicely.

Eric, I'm not familiar with Kim Stanley Robinson, but it seems like most of the Amazon reviewers loved that book except for the final two chapters. I'll see if I can track it down. Also, on a similar theme you should check out David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, which blew my mind a few months back.

Now I just have to figure out what to DO with the mandala... :)

[jwalton]

Okay, this is what I figured out while sitting in church:

The game is for eight players, who, in the beginning, represent Those Who Tarry at the Door, a.k.a. The Petals of the World-Flower, a.ka. the eight doomed Bodhisattva. They are enlightened individuals who have chosen to return to the world of suffering even though the future age is near at hand. They will be trapped in the ashes of this world's destruction and will not escape to enjoy the salvation of the Pure Land.

They have made this sacrifice because they are the ones who must seek out Those Who Come in the Night, a.k.a. The Seeds of the Blossoming Flower, a.k.a. the eight emergant Buddha-to-be, who will, in their unity, bring about the next age. If you want a Christian metaphor, Those Who Tarry at the Door are to John the Baptist what Those Who Come in the Night are to Jesus Christ; they lay the groundwork for great things to come, but they will not live to see it themselves.

Each of Those Who Tarry at the Door embodies the convergance of two universal themes and is represented by one of the colored "petals" on the Mandala of Possibilities, pictured above.

Each of Those Who Come in the Night is represented by the 7 colored "seeds" that lie between each pair of adjacent petals. They embody the convergance of two themes drawn from the Bodhisattvas on their right and left.

The themes and their respective entities are listed below, with Those Who Tarry at the Door in bold:

Paper & Wind -- The Kite-Builder
Wind & Horse -- The Traveler
Horse & Blade -- The King
Blade & Flesh -- The Butcher
Flesh & Temperance -- The Virgin
Temperance & Fire -- The Blacksmith
Fire & Vine -- The Wine-Maker
Vine & Flower -- The Gardener
Flower & Heart -- The Rose-Bearer
Heart & Ribbon -- The Dancer
Ribbon & Throat -- The Assassin
Throat & Music -- The Songbird
Music & Death -- The Mourner
Death & Ocean -- The Corsair
Ocean & Light -- The Navigator
Light & Paper -- The Lamplighter

They will have more expressive names once I find time to make some up, such as Nashpurata, the Corsair of the Hidden Reef.

Notice that, on the Mandala of Possibilities, the Petals do not actually reach the center of the flower, which is surrounded by a cluster of Seeds. This represents that, when the world has reached the cusp of the new age, Those Who Tarry at the Door will fall back and make way for Those Who Come in the Night.

However, unlike Those Who Tarry at the Door, Those Who Come in the Night are not protrayed by a single player. Instead, the Buddha-to-be are jointly controlled by the players of the adjacent Bodhisattva. So, you start off playing one character and end up playing half of two characters. After all, you are not really Nashpurata, the Corsair of the Hidden Reef; he is just a represenation of your dual inner nature. You are really Death & the Ocean and will continue to play Death & the Ocean once Nashpurata is no more and there is only Sikyabarata, The Mourner of All Gone Before and Arusurya, The Star-Counting Navigator.

This is just the meta-structure of the game. Hopefully, in a little bit, I'll post my thoughts on what play consists of, which is where Those Who Tarry at the Door sift through the infinite experiences of the past, present, and future to find those souls who will emerge as Those Who Come in the Night.

[Kevin Allen]

"Those Who Tarry at the Door sift through the infinite experiences of the past, present, and future to find those souls who will emerge as Those Who Come in the Night"

That is perhaps the most intimidating play experiance i have ever heard.

I am in awe of the beauty of this game. "Ribbon and throat" is a better description of an assassin then any prestige class has ever dreamed about.

I would love to see bigger more poetic character names, but at the same time be careful not to loss the simple beauty of the "the noun" format, it reads exactly what it means. I mean, come on dude, in a game of minimalism and budhist enlightement aren't you always striving for simple beauty?

[Doug Ruff]

This is awesome. I cannot think of anything constructive to say; please accept my slack-jawed appreciation instead.

[jwalton]

Kevin, glad you liked "ribbon & throat." I wrote that down and underlined it about 6 times as soon as it came into my head :)

I'm definitely considering whether to use the full names in the text much. Surely, some players would rather go around calling themselves "Nashpurata" instead of just "The Corsair." After all, this is not simply some iconic pirate, but a piratical Bodhisattva who has sacrificed his/her eternal salvation to enable the World-To-Come. But, then again, the long titles can be confusing and difficult to remember. Also, I don't really speak any South or Central Asian languages, which is the kind of color I want, so I'm just making names up. We'll see.

Doug, appreciation gratefully accepted. It's nice to have some support and encouragement when I'm tacking such an ambitious project. For Game Chef, I usually pick something completely insane and then try to figure out how to make it work. This is definitely the most insane thing I've ever attempted to write.

[Joshua BishopRoby]

[jwalton]

Joshua, obviously you've never been to my church :)

[spaceanddeath]

I'm loving the concept. It makes me feel all dreamy and half discorporeal when I think about it with my right brain. Meanwhile, though, my left brain is saying, "Yes, but what do I do when I play it?"

Just so you won't take that in a discouraging way, this is, coincidentally, precisely the feeling I had when I was introduced to Nobilis.

[jwalton]

[jwalton]

I've posted , with the elements and the names of Those Who Tarry at the Door and Those Who Come in the Night clearly marked.

I may end up slightly colorizing the Mandala to make it prettier and easier to read, but I wanted to make sure it would also work in B&W.