Thou Art But A Warrior (AP)

Monday, September 17, 2007

We're Muslim knights in Iberia, 1031 AD. The Caliphate is falling (has fallen, really) and we're gonna hang on to the bitter end (or convert to the cross). It's Tony, Ben, Alexis, and me.

There's a scene where things finally turn violent. The Christians in Cordoba are rioting, burning down a mosque. My knight is inside, killing them by the dozen, but there are so many more. The fires are everywhere. This is a special scene brought about by our rising Discord. The game says that we must get a clear message from God that the caliphate is doomed. I have a great idea, using one of my abilities, "Calligraphy of the Sword" and I'm about to say it, but Ben's eyes are all lit up. He's my Infidel, the player who provides adversity for me. He has the same idea.

"You're fighting and killing as the mosque burns around you," Ben says. "Huge flaming timbers fall everywhere. Some of the embers alight on the blade of your sword as you fight, carving a path of flame through the smoke. Each sword stroke forms a character in Arabic, burning an after-image in the air."

"It writes a message," I say.

"Yes," says Ben. "It reads: JESUS SON OF MARY."

So it's like that. We're having a wonderful time. Aside from the massacre, the story we're making has mostly been about the death of the old caliph and the succession (or not) of his bastard son. It's been great to dig into a political kind of thing for a change.

The game is a Polaris adaptation by Anna Kreider, in playtest now. It is the hot hotness.

Labels: play report

posted by John Harper at 2:45 PM