Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth
One of the items I got from the bring-and-buy stand at Gaelcon this year (which I was running, so I got first choice on everything) was an RPG called Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth. I've been trying to read it since, because I know it's useful for world building, and has a number of concepts in it that, when it was published in 1994, were new and interesting, and many of them haven't been touched since. In particular, I'm fascinated by the notion that the game doesn't centre so much on characters as whole narratives and worlds. But they really didn't make it easy - every single concept from other games is renamed, from character ("Persona") on up, and all the terms have Initial Caps. It's also some of the most convoluted writing I've ever come across, such that even with my inhuman reading speed, I'm only getting past the second chapter now, three weeks later.
Posted by Drew Shiel at November 12, 2008 12:51 PM
