Sunday, April 30, 2017

Cloakers...Tatters...Whatevers.

I like the cloaker. Always have. I get that some people don't like those monsters created just to occupy an artificial niche in dungeon ecology designed solely to mess with adventurers. I don't care, but I get it.

A monster that looks like a cloak, just to fool adventurers, can seem a bit silly. And silly certainly has no place in some folks' epic fantasy adventure gaming.

I don't find the cloaker to be silly. I also don't have adventurers encounter cloakers that hang motionless on a coat rack. Silly is as silly does. Though I happen to like a little silly from time to time, I take the cloaker very seriously. The thing is built like a ray, and maybe a little like a bat. Whatever the case, there is a framework for a believable creature there. Still, for Avremier, I took it a bit further. From the start, the cloaker sparked my imagination. That's what good monsters do.

What, in Avremier, is a cloaker? Well, that depends on who you ask. If you ask most everyone - they won't know. In fact, the vast majority of them will have never heard of the thing. Cloakers don't get out much. They are found underground - usually, deep underground. If you were able to ask an actual cloaker, it might tell you something like this:

The god of all is the King in Tatters. The Tattered King. Also called Susurrus. We are but bits of his ragged robes, given sentience and purpose - sent out into the Vastness to learn all there is to know, before returning to the source to share our experiences. To become greater - and whole. Myriad - and one.


So, each cloaker has the potential for different or unique traits depending upon how it became independent from the robes of its deity. Did it just fall off? Was it torn free? Was it sent forth? Was it cast away? Did it flee? Whatever the circumstances, it matters. That's what makes the cloaker what it is. In fact, in Avremier, it isn't called a cloaker. The creature is a 'tatter'. No one really sees it as a cloak-like monster.


And all of this came from my contemplation of the cloaker's place in my setting. Not just a living trap for unwary adventurers. Something more fitting within the Avremier multiverse. Is the origin myth mentioned above the actual truth within the setting? It might be. Maybe someone will find out for themselves during the course of a future adventure. That's what Avremier is about.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

...a vasty place...

I started this thing called Avremier when I was about eleven. I am now forty-six. I don't like math - you do it.

"Avermier is a vasty place..."

Truer words, and all that. All those years do add up. I rarely throw out an idea if I can recycle or evolve it instead. The setting encompasses a world---a solar system---a core planar configuration---an expansive outer planar structure...

Add to that the fact I am known for my high level of detail. Probably not on the order of Forgotten Realms detail. After all, I've not been doing this quite as long...and I don't have lots of other writers contributing material...nor do I have publishers waiting to put everything I do into print...also, my setting doesn't have international legions of fans. Well, anyway. Avremier probably does have that order of detail - but I'm not publishing it. Much of that is for me - and my players.

Don't get me wrong, I want to share Avremier with the world. But, I want it to be YOUR Avremier. I'll publish whatever people want to see...but I won't push my vision upon anyone. Besides, I'm not the biggest fan of hyper-detailed campaign settings. World-building can be taken too far. Is Avremier a hyper-detailed setting? Yes. That's just how my mind works. After 35 years, you're gonna have a lot of detail. I never stop writing. Even so, I am extremely conscious of how much detail is really necessary to put into print.

That's one reason I decided to start out with the 0e rule set. Frameworks. Foundations. Outlines. Places for adventure to be presented and fleshed out as the Referee deems necessary. Shared settings where the players can contribute to the outcomes and outliers of the world in which they roam. A sandbox. So, there will be five books - to start. After that...I haven't decided. There is so much to share. I've been keeping most of it to myself all these years. Sharing Avremier out in carefully-plotted bits and hints. I want more. Many of you have asked for more. I have much more to give.

With that in mind, I'm going to get back to work on the Mauvolg supplement.