Normality
IOWA WE CASK NIACIN WE IX APOGEE IOWA
Enter the world of Normality – how long can you stay sane? What IS sane, when the world is mad? Is madness supposed to be an excuse for those things you did?
Normality began life as a fairly standard post-cyberpunk post-apocalyptic science fiction game. However, that version of the game only exists as a hand-written copy buried in some back corner of a room in a shared house somewhere in New Zealand. What happened next is what matters.
The two authors began on a two-year journey of rage and frustration at the state of the world, and the reactions of those around them to their concerns. We became filled with hatred toward the roleplayers we encountered at local games and conventions, and so we set out to hurt them. To make them cry. We very nearly succeeded.
Emerging from the wreckage we had wrought, we revisited the loosely-bound stack of papers we had used to bludgeon people into submission, and found that (despite what we had thought) there were strong veins of sense concealed in the babble – that with patience, patterns emerged.
We carefully reassembled the hand-typed pages (often pieces of scrap paper – with other text on the opposite side) in what seemed the most logical order. We then edited the book by hand, with marker pens.
From this was born Normality – the world’s first Dada/ergodic roleplaying game.
USE YOUR LIGHT BUT AWFUL CHAINS
The best way to use the book is to consider it as a) a product of the setting it attempts to describe, warped by the twisted nature of the world that produced it or b) the way an actor considers a mask – looking for the shards of meaning that will tie the whole thing together. Certainly, read it all (at least twice) before you dismiss it as mere rambling. Take the introduction seriously. We did.
To make a character, copy the headings we used on our sheets (“Name” “Hit” “Historia” “Good thing/Bad thing” and “Stuff”) then fill them in using the first sentences you see every time you open a book from your bookshelf at random. Look carefully at the resultant sheet, and you will see quite clearly the kind of character you have just created.
There are pre-generated character sheets about halfway through (you’ll know them because they have names on them) as well as a guide for the structure of an adventure. Whether you make use of these is up to you.
Peace,
Hugh Dingwall and Vishãla Jekic
Tags: hugh dingwall, vishala jekic
July 5th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Reading this is…thouroughly engrossing. It has the feel of a poorly Xeroxed culm manifesto…the ravings and disjointed writings of a Lovecraftian Arkhamite.
I love it.
My only rear is that I might not be intelligent enough to explain this revolution (revelation?) to my group…and I am afraid it will collect virtual dust on my hard drive.
September 7th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Generally, we have avoided trying to explain it and simply visited it upon people. However, with a group of people you regularly gamed with, that might be a bit much. Try downloading the GM’s Guide and see if that helps at all.
Good luck :)
September 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I was wondering if there is a way to contact you guys (i.e. email). I had a few questions about your work. And no, it’s not for an explanation. :) I got it the minute I read it. Long story of dealing with a similar type of text.
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:58 pm
My email is objectivereality@gmail.com. Go for your life.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
I am simply confused. There’s nothing in here even vaguely resembling a game even despite the warning that this isn’t your typical rpg. I downloaded the pdf and was greeted by pages of text, all in various stages of legibility. Those that I could make out were confusing and only led to further frustration in deciphering this mess when attempting to read sentences that were too faint or not quite all there.
There’s so much more I want to say, but I have neither the time or will to continue reviewing this piece of garbage.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:52 am
JessicaRabbit:
I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the full PDFs yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that your reaction of anger, to nothing more comsequential than a RPG that confused you a little, is exactly the reason the Normality RPG exists and exactly what the designers were going for.
Real artists, famous and respected artists, have been doing the same sort of thing for sculpture, painting, and literature for almost a century now. (HINT: THEY ALREADY DESCRIBED THE GAME AS DADAIST, AND IF YOU’RE OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL YOU REALLY SHOULD KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.) This game is like the RPG equivalent of Marcel Duchamp mounting an ordinary urinal in an art museum — and it got about the same reaction from people who Just Like Art That Looks Like Pretty Stuff.
You don’t have to like it, but it does have a useful and thought-provoking purpose, and I wish you’d taken five minutes to consider what that purpose might be before you dismissed it as a “piece of garbage.” If it’s garbage, yanno, it might at least be garbage for a REASON. Sheesh.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
#1: Yes, I am out of high school, but I still had to goodle Dadaism. I don’t know what class I was suppesed to take, but I’m pretty sure they never covered it.
#2: I’m using your reply as my character sheet.
February 5th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Good one with the character sheet! :)
Anyway, I just downloaded the book an hour ago and skimmed it with a friend. All he had to say was: “All hail Dagon.”
So yeah, I think I’ll be using the book as an in-setting thing.