Though not a traditional “book”, the rules and world-building instructions for the fantasy role-playing game, Nobilis, has more than 300 pages in it. And reads like a beautiful work of fiction.
“His eyes open, black as night. A star falls through them. ‘It is strange,’ he says, ‘how humans need but a taste of power to grow arrogant. You walk in a world of things greater than you can imagine, and you speak defiance.”
Nobilis by R. Sean Borgstrom, Bruce Baugh
The game itself has been labeled so complex that, after reading the rules book, some gamers don’t bother to try it. Therefore, I think it’s fair to rate it on Goodreads where it can be appreciated more for its fantastic literature rather than its playability as an actual game.
“The Imperator Ananda rules Murder, the Infinite, and (some say) the Fourth Age that is to come. His glory is terrible: humans and Powers weak in spirit dare not face him, lest his countenance drive them mad with joy.”
The basic premise is there are major forces behind the every day reality that we all know. These forces are striving to either preserve the universe or end it.
They work through intermediaries and lesser servants to influence what goes on in the real world. The point of the game is to create a story with levels and nuances rather than to brute force your will into existence.
“More beautiful than the angels are the Excrucians, whose eyes show darkness full of ever-falling stars. It is said that the Creator bargained with them long ago, that he or she might capture a touch of this beauty in the world of Ygg- and then failed to carry out his or her end of the bargain. It is said that this is why the Excrucians on their pale horses seek the destruction of all that there is…”
The rules book describes all of these powers in extraordinary detail, or the manner for choosing a custom name and backstory of your own. There’s no limit to what you can create except your imagination.
The players embody the ruling powers and all of their minions simultaneously. So, a game scene can go from the real world, to the divine, to a place where a god resides and back again.
And you begin to see why so few people attempt this game in the first place… 🙂
“Powers bridge divine nature and human nature, the supernatural and the natural. They fight battles on all those levels, facing the challenges of gods and ordinary humans alike. They must learn to move fluidly from a world of spirits and myths to a polluted world of highways and computers, and from their Imperator’s custom reality to the broad Earth.”
Recommended for gamers who are looking for an incredibly detailed fantasy world to romp around in or readers who like open-ended works of fantasy. Beyond simple enjoyment as a game or work of literature, I could see Nobilis being a useful tool as a writing prompt for fantasy authors.
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