I had to laugh when I read this:

[The forthcoming Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game] is unlike any other roleplaying game, even other diceless ones. The entire game is built around the premise that effort, not probability, should determine outcome. So basically, players put in stones of energy to overcome the stones of resistance of a problem, like catching a falling bus or defusing a bomb. If they put in enough stones, they succeed. If they don't try hard enough, they fail.

A resource-based diceless RPG. I think it's been done.

Easy chuckles aside, the game sounds like it could be superb. There will be an apparently very complete preview edition bundled into the next issue of InQuest Gamer, on sale March 6. The design is by Dan Gelber, of Paranoia fame.

Guardians of Order has added a Nobilis section to its redesigned website, with a prominent graphic link from the front page. They've made the old Hogshead-era downloads available again (character sheets, sample chapters, brochure).

To each of her Nobles, Raya explains why an Excrucian who weakens an estate isn't simply strengthening another estate and leaving Creation in toto as strong as it was before.

"Tom," she says to the Power of Shelter, from her chair at the table in the corner where she likes to sit and look through the shutter slats at the weather. She appears as an old woman, one you might expect to meet at a tea room in Manhattan or a shtetl kitchen in the Katyn Forest. "Take half this pillar" - she pats the heavy timber with her hand - "and add its material to the one in the middle of the room there. The Inn is as sturdy as ever? Weaker pillar here, stronger pillar there, same difference?"

Tom, who can feel the strong and weak points of any building as surely as his own itches, knows better. Even without Raya actually shifting the pillar, which he knows she could do trivially, he can foretell the stresses, sags and eventual buckles that would ensue.

"Tempe?" Raya continues. "In Breughel's Icarus, for example - you like that one? I think it's sad. I guess that's what he wanted - you know the hawk perched on the branch in the bottom right hand corner? It's hard to see, in front of a dark part of the ocean like that, not far from the head of the . . . I think he's a fisherman. Crouched down in the white coat and the red scarf."

Raya pauses, attention taken by something beyond the slats of the shutters. You suspect far beyond.

"Right," she smiles. "The hawk. On the branch. Say Breughel made the hawk bigger, maybe in flight, so you couldn't see Icarus anymore. All you can see now is his legs? He could even change the name of the painting to 'The Hawk.' Would they write poems about it?"

"And you," she says, looking sternly at Ratatosk. (But as she glares, her forefinger flicks a shelled peanut across the table to him.) "You like stories, I like stories. What happens to a story if you make the beginning bigger at the expense of the middle? Or add all the stuff from the beginning to the very end?

"It's not so good. We're keepers of a part of Creation. But Creation -

" - is an arrangement. But listen to me rambling on like this."

And she turns her attention to the peanuts, picking each one up between thumb and forefinger and pausing before popping the shells open. Those at the closest tables can smell the peanuts roasting as she gazes.

There's a brand new site for all of your Ratatosk, the Squirrel Tale-Bearer needs!

Just go to http://dunlaing.tripod.com/ratatosk and browse to your heart's content. There's a character sheet, there'll shortly be write-ups on his anchors, and there's even a comic.

Raya, Imperator of Light, Lady of the Hearth (Shelter, Stories, and Fire)

Raya is Passionate about her Cause, and has given this "gift" to her Powers. By following the Code of Light, a Power can earn 1 MP. Failure to do so leaves a feeling of guilt. (Powers who are also Code of Light earn 2 MP for following the Code, and lose only 1 for disservice).

Raya is also Considerate of her Powers, and does not force them to do menial tasks about the Chancel. While they may still be called to provide service in other ways or for special reasons, generally the Powers are only required to attend to important duties.

The primal nature of the Lady of the Hearth does have a drawback in that her Powers may not use telephones, the item that is the epitome of the growing seperation of people in the Prosaic World. Their words simply do not travel through the devices, nor can they hear any messages that come out of them. THeir Anchors are only so hampered while being possessed by their Nobilis.

Their is a simplicity to the Hearth; its nature is Straightforward. The mystery that normally shrouds those touched by spiritus dei does not seperate Raya's Powers from the people she calls them to protect. However, this makes the behavior of the Powers more fathomable to their enemies.

Note: the Inn currently does not have a name. I gave it a placeholder name, which probably means that's it.

The center of the Chancel is the Inn. It always has enough rooms for whoever may need to rest there, subtly shifting as necessary to be as big or small as is required at the time. It is built of stone and wood, with a huge fireplace and roaring fire, tables and benches and comfortable chairs, a big thatched roof, and large windows shuttered tightly against the storm that rages outside.

The inside is lit by torch sconces and lanterns, and there is plenty of good solid food and drinks of all sorts. There is always a singer or storyteller sitting by the hearth, bringing tales and songs from all over Creation.

Outside the inn are roads leading in all directions, dirt paths well-beaten by travellers. There are many campsites throughout the Chancel, where big bonfires keep out the dark, and wagons and lean-tos and other temporary shelters from the elements come around in circles to defend the travelers as they take warmth from the fire and tell stories.

The innkeeper is a man named Algernon Braddock, a big, balding man who had been planning on suicide before the enChancelment. His pain, feeling lost and without a reason for life inspired the Imperator Raya to gift him with a purpose: to keep her inn and to provide to the needs of those seeking shelter. Algernon has taken this task very seriously, but he has also never quite figured out the full nature of the Chancel. He keeps a tight fist on the books, and never leaves the inn himself, afraid that it will fall into disrepair and disorder and non-profitability while he is gone. He focuses on making sure it is a well-run business, and businesses that are well run make money. While all are welcome to seek shelter at the inn, he is not one for giving away anything. More than one poor soul has washed the dishes in leiu of payment for a meal. However, he does keep the inn running smoothly, arranging for supplies to be delivered and (begrudgingly) paid for. (where they actually come from is another matter).

The one constant source of Algernon's (and indeed, everyone at the inn) problems is the Thing in the Basement. Lurking in the best wine cellar is something nasty, and while you can bring in new supplies to be stocked there; getting them out again is another matter. Regulars to the inn just stick to ordering the second-best out of courtesy.

Outside the inn, the Thing That Lurks in the Darkness is what keeps the people close to the fires -- wandering around after dark, especially alone, is a sure way to disappear forever.

And yes, there is daytime, the time of travel for the Chancelfolk, but no one ever quite notices it, except to say "Ah, we can leave the camp and go to the Inn now!" and the like.

Chancel Properties:

• Extra Landlord: Algernon Braddock, cynical businessman and Agreesive Warden (-3)


• Banes: The Thing in the Basement and The Thing In the Dark (-1)


• Technology Barrier: the primal/primeval nature of the Chancel blocks modern technology from working inside the Chancel. The only type of technology that works beyond a Dark-Ages sort of level is the things that Da Vinci dreamed up, and these work as he thinks they should have. (+1)


• Magical Beings: At any point in time, some of the Chancelfolk are actually magical beings -- creatures from stories or merely other places on the World Ash.


• Borderguard: The Will o'Wisps. Level 2 -- they will use Ghost Miracles to lure hostile mortals (and attempt to lead hostile others) off the beaten path, usually to death at the hands (or whatever) of the Thing In The Dark. They will also warn the Powers of any incursions.


• Accessibility: semi-convienent and open (+2/-2)
  
  • Anyone seeking shelter (especially in a storm) can end up at the Inn for sanctuary.
  
  
  • Those traveling there by intent do so by.... ????
  
  

Several repositories of Nobilis play materials:

The Foreshadow campaign has chancel and character writeups. No play logs so far, no house rules.

Nobilis:Glendalough has a very nice front page design but not, as of this writing, any working links. Try again later.

The Windy Road has character writeups, place descriptions, synopses and a bunch of Georgio di Chirico thumnails.

UPDATE: Can a Nobilis web ring be far behind?