Mercurius
Legend
One of my favorite experiences is what science fiction fandom has dubbed the "sense of wonder" - that cognitive-emotional sensation that is sometimes generated through a big idea that is something more than "cool, that's interesting," and perhaps something less than a truly mystical/transpersonal experience (although is, perhaps, related). I can't remember my first such experience, but it has often been related to my love of science fiction, fantasy, and RPGs.
Arguably, the sense of wonder is something that gets harder to attain as you get older. I don't think this is inherently true, but do think that as life's stresses and concerns pile up, they act as a kind of obscuring effect; a clutter or "noise" that obfuscates the "signal" of such experiences. So while for children--especially once they reach the greater cognitive maturity of middle school--it is possibly more natural and easy to experience the sense of wonder, if it is less easy for adults it is mainly through being "trained out" of it, as it is sometimes associated with "child-like wonder." For those of us who love what John Clute calls Fantastika--which I will extend beyond literature, to include other media--this is something that we have actively nourished, even if sub-consciously.
For me it is something very precious, that drives both my continued interest in Fantastika and my own creative works. I generally find it easier to find in literature, and most especially older fantasy, science fiction and cosmic horror. Authors such as Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, JRR Tolkien, and Clark Ashton Smith especially come to mind, but tons of others as well (Le Guin's Earthsea, Cherryh's Morgaine, Erikson's Malazan books, Patricia McKillip, some of the works by Vance, Zelazny, Silverberg, Moorcock, and countless others).
Which brings me to the focus of this thread. Which RPG products inspire a sense of wonder in you? I don't mean which games, because that implies the playing of it. I am mostly curious about the products themselves - namely, books - that are more likely to generate the sense of wonder through opening them and diving into the world, story, landscape, what-have-you. Whether or not this arises during game play depends on other factors that are beyond the purview of this inquiry (e.g. the GM and to what degree they emphasize or try to generate the sense of wonder).
For me, Free League game books seem particularly evocative of this sense. In truth, this thread was inspired by me dusting off my Symbaroum books and revisiting that world, which is one of the more sense-of-wonder-inducing game worlds I've come across. Forbidden Lands is also good for this, as is their sf game, Coriolis. I really like Dragonbane, but for whatever reason it doesn't quite evoke wonder like their other fantasy games (for me) - perhaps because it doesn't emphasize setting as much as the others. The One Ring too, but this is mostly due to the original Tolkien works (though Gareth Hanrahan has really done a good job giving a Tolkien-esque vibe).
Shadowdark has potential, but isn't steeped enough in a setting or story. perhaps the Western Marches setting will stimulate this.
Among past games, books from Talislanta, Rolemaster's Shadow World setting, Earthdawn, and Everway come to mind. And of course many D&D works, though for whatever reason this is more true of the older stuff for me - and perhaps mostly due to association from my childhood, and the wonder I felt when I first glanced through Deities & Demigods or Tomb of Horrors and dove into the gray box Forgotten Realms. Some of the OSR stuff inspires this, too. Lots of others, too, have inspired this feeling - but I don't want to water it down too much, and instead stick to the "main subjects" that come to mind.
But for me, right now, Symbaroum takes the cake, with honorable mention to Forbidden Lands.
What about you?
Arguably, the sense of wonder is something that gets harder to attain as you get older. I don't think this is inherently true, but do think that as life's stresses and concerns pile up, they act as a kind of obscuring effect; a clutter or "noise" that obfuscates the "signal" of such experiences. So while for children--especially once they reach the greater cognitive maturity of middle school--it is possibly more natural and easy to experience the sense of wonder, if it is less easy for adults it is mainly through being "trained out" of it, as it is sometimes associated with "child-like wonder." For those of us who love what John Clute calls Fantastika--which I will extend beyond literature, to include other media--this is something that we have actively nourished, even if sub-consciously.
For me it is something very precious, that drives both my continued interest in Fantastika and my own creative works. I generally find it easier to find in literature, and most especially older fantasy, science fiction and cosmic horror. Authors such as Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, JRR Tolkien, and Clark Ashton Smith especially come to mind, but tons of others as well (Le Guin's Earthsea, Cherryh's Morgaine, Erikson's Malazan books, Patricia McKillip, some of the works by Vance, Zelazny, Silverberg, Moorcock, and countless others).
Which brings me to the focus of this thread. Which RPG products inspire a sense of wonder in you? I don't mean which games, because that implies the playing of it. I am mostly curious about the products themselves - namely, books - that are more likely to generate the sense of wonder through opening them and diving into the world, story, landscape, what-have-you. Whether or not this arises during game play depends on other factors that are beyond the purview of this inquiry (e.g. the GM and to what degree they emphasize or try to generate the sense of wonder).
For me, Free League game books seem particularly evocative of this sense. In truth, this thread was inspired by me dusting off my Symbaroum books and revisiting that world, which is one of the more sense-of-wonder-inducing game worlds I've come across. Forbidden Lands is also good for this, as is their sf game, Coriolis. I really like Dragonbane, but for whatever reason it doesn't quite evoke wonder like their other fantasy games (for me) - perhaps because it doesn't emphasize setting as much as the others. The One Ring too, but this is mostly due to the original Tolkien works (though Gareth Hanrahan has really done a good job giving a Tolkien-esque vibe).
Shadowdark has potential, but isn't steeped enough in a setting or story. perhaps the Western Marches setting will stimulate this.
Among past games, books from Talislanta, Rolemaster's Shadow World setting, Earthdawn, and Everway come to mind. And of course many D&D works, though for whatever reason this is more true of the older stuff for me - and perhaps mostly due to association from my childhood, and the wonder I felt when I first glanced through Deities & Demigods or Tomb of Horrors and dove into the gray box Forgotten Realms. Some of the OSR stuff inspires this, too. Lots of others, too, have inspired this feeling - but I don't want to water it down too much, and instead stick to the "main subjects" that come to mind.
But for me, right now, Symbaroum takes the cake, with honorable mention to Forbidden Lands.
What about you?
