[UA] Devil's Eco (very long and very OT)

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

Sometimes I think Umberto vibrates to some
counter-gaming frequency, or, at least,
counter-loose-thinking-which-runs-rampant-in-games
frequency.

"Name of the Rose" (and here I use the English title
because, being thoroughly Norte Americano, I saw the
movie first) sorta shook me out of the way I used to
play D&D. (I still play it that way, sometimes, but I
can't help splattering people with shit from time to
time in even the most glorious ode to Robert E.
Howard.) 

When I saw it, I realized just how important religion
should be in a game about "primitive" societies and
began forcing gods and devotions on my hapless
players.  
I was delighted when Ars Magica came out, but
dissapointed that the religious life of the mind was
sorta skipped around for the whole magus thing.  (I
didn't square things until a couple years later when I
read Judith Tarr's sappy but compelling "Hound and
Falcon" trilogy and also, well, "Ars Magica," about
what Pope Sylvester II would be like in any campaign
with secret history.)

Foccault's Pendulum did the same thing for me and
Mage, which seemed to be the only modern-occult game I
could get going for a long time.

I dread the day he writes something about space
travel.  Or perhaps I shouldn't.  Or perhaps he
already has.

PS. The subject line is a riff on James Robinson's
"Leave it to Chance" comic book series, another thing
which has been thoroughly discussed on this list but
deserves another mention.  Think of it as UA done up
cute (or UA for the Tri-Stat system, which is sorta
how I sold UA to my current group.  Yoiks.)

=====
-- Rp Bowman, Royal Minister of Stuff
The Electronic Nation of Yokeltania:
http://www.geocities.com/yokeltania/

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