[UA] True King (was Re: Gardener)

[Chad Underkoffler]

> Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 17:47:53 -0500
> From: Matt Norwood <rowan at media.mit.edu>
> 
> > Maybe a level of abstraction would help with this 
> > Archetype.  Its symbols and regalia are all vegetable,
> > in the same way that the True King's trappings are feudal.  
> > But as you can have a True King of the American Party or a 
> > True King of South American Communists, you could also 
> > have "The Gardener of 67th Street" or "The Gardener of 
> > Children" or "The Gardener of the Ku Klux Klan."
> 
> Eh. Honestly, I thought that publishing the True King really
> threw everyone off the idea of UA avatars. It was too
> abstract, especially after we had all read the "unshaven guy
> on a motorcycle with a big gun" archetype in the core book. 

Hey, you're welcome. One does try.

> The True King could replace almost every other archetype in
> the game -- the Healer becomes the True King of Hospitals, 
> the Flying Woman becomes the Ture King of Rape Crisis Centers,
> the Pilgrim becomes the True King of Route 66. 

I disagree -- a TK of hospitals (or a hospital... oooh, St.
Eligus, cool) would only care about the people in that hospital
(doctors, nurses, patients, orderlies, etc.), not the
wide-ranging "heal the world" vibe that the Healer has going on.

> And it's too saccharine.

Again, I disagree. Depending upon how you look at it, a TK is a
frightening concept: someone who's convinced the Cosmos that
he's fit to rule. Even Arthur slaughtered the innocents, and
he's the prime TK stereotype.

> An aspiring True King in UA should make a decision: am I 
> going to be a Demagogue, a Trickster, a Confessor, a Merchant,
> a Martyr, a Peacemaker? Each of these lends some real flavor 
> and depth to the character of a leader, and they're all more 
> appropriate for a game that's all about power and obsession.

That's your perspective; obviously mine differs. I see the
Demagogue and the TK as often being at odds, perhaps not to the
level of the MM/DS or Trickster/Fool animosity, but there. And
nothing precludes a Martyr et al. being a leader, but the cosmic
wimwam that the Martyr et al. is following *isn't* leadership,
it's whatever the Archetype is... leading folks is just gravy.

> Thre might well be room for some kind of "reaper" or
> "weed-killer" archetype in a metaphorical sense, but I'd just
> make that a specific personal spin on the Dark Stalker or the
> Executioner.

Speaking of, I've always hated the Dark Stalker.

Our Mileage Obviously Varies.




=====
Chad Underkoffler [chadu at yahoo.com]
http://www.geocities.com/chadu/index.html
"Now that is the kind of puddin' that only two-hundred forty dollars can buy."
  -- Barry, $240 Worth of Pudding, THE STATE

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