The Art of Eidolon & Simulacrum Curation
Let's say you're curating a library of eidolons and simulacrum. What are your concerns? How do they differ from those of players just bringing an eidolon or simulacrum to the table?
How would you organize it? Is it part of a common origin campaign? Or a broader collection of inspiration?
How do you present it to your fellow players? Or do you keep it secret, a treasure trove that only you can draw from?
I think some thematic grouping would be useful, to somehow point the game in one direction or another.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if you take a gallery of Brom illustrations from Dark Sun, you can rightly expect a game of eery creatures and muscled warriors under a scorching sun, a desert theme, and so on.
If you present 20 images with dark skies, raging storms, drakkars, krakens and vikings, well, that's probably the general environment people will think of.
Not that it's mandatory: people's use of the Eidolon isn't so strict.
But it's a clear (though unspoken) hint, isn't it?
If all the images feature dismemberment, blood and gore, it's a thing... if they are all images of chivalrous grace it's another :)
ReplyDeletePinner can add/edit tags John, folks can comment to suggest/request further tags (but others can't add tags insofar as I know).
ReplyDeleteIf I'm curating a library I personally want to make sure that I hit the tone right. While anything can be classified as an eidolon (I want to talk about my old viking and how he's inspired by this worn out, old, but comfortable pair of shoes) there should probably be a purpose behind your curation.
ReplyDeleteYou could ultimately make a giant pile of things that elicit a 'that's awesome' from you. But I aim to hit the sword-and-sorcery theme. Sworcery is a bit of an oddball genre and it's quite distinct from it's successor - fantasy (particularly dungeon fantasy). And as a curator I want to make sure my tone is right.
So looking at some goals:
Sworcery also tends to be a bit more wide ranging globally. The emphasis on kingdoms tends to bring in other cultures and civilizations which is a bit off from the usual 'fantasy europe' fare. Having options for various kingdoms and locales is probably good. (I'm still bemoaning not having a cache of some good egyptian stuff for Stygians)
While we see more and more absurd armors, and anime style swords in fantasy art - sworcery also harkens back to iron age (and slightly post) so having a good selection of more primitive weapons and armor on display is good.
Sworcery also has roots in the turn of the century pulps which (let's face it) had some issues with sexism and racism. If I'm to curate (and not just pile) I try to make sure to have some awesome looking rogues for everyone at the table.
Sworcery has a bit of Wierd to it. Tower of the Elephant had aliens in it. Plenty of ray-guns in John Carter. Trying to not make everything into historical fantasy is also good.
So personally:
I try to mix some classic art (Frazetta) with some more modern takes. I try to adhere to the above rules, and also add some of my own personal tastes (I love dinosaurs and wierd mounts, which are a staple of some Sworcery tales - like Lemuria). So my curation will probably have more dino-riders than some others.
Yeah... I specifically added several non-white-male inspiration characters, and will try to keep doing that.
ReplyDeleteHeck, for US standards Conan wouldn't exactly be white either, would he?