Harbinger How To
What do you think? Think it's useful? Blaphemous?
Harbinger How To
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Summary:
What do you think if I lay bare my harbinger for example and discssion. My hope is that eventually everyone will, so I'm offering to go first.
I would prefer if you did not, on the following points:
1) Mystery: I prefer harbingers to be rather inscrutable. It allows more freedom in what games you can put forth, rather than a specific personality essentially playing Director.
2) Continuity: Regions have almost total autonomy in the content of their games. That said, I would not prefer to cross contaminate information overly much as it spoils the illusion of solidarity (case in point: CA games tend to reside solidly in White Wolf, where Alabama games almost exclusively use Call of Cthulhu).
3) Relevance: Harbingers are almost totally unrestricted in power & resources. They may be as powerful & influential as desired. As such, I see no reason to compare them, especially as that may lead to a certain "bar" which is altogether unrealistic. Much better to discuss paradigm of players & template/power tracks than entities as ultimately mythic as Harbingers.
I'm not proposing this as a n academic "You harbinger sux compared to mine" sort of a debate, more of a an expose, an example for creating your own. It's my harbinger that I use, but as you noted his poswers (as he was created are nearly limitless). So to reply to your points:
1) Mystery: Mystery is great! But we can't have one example for noobs? Personally even doing an expose on the Harbinger I have in mind will only deepen the mystery and crtainly wouldn't help anyone dealig with him.
2) Continuity: You don't like the example harbinger? Then ban him from your region! Better yet, say why and provide an alternate example that is acceptable for your region. Let's start a dialogue about what works and what doesn't!
Personally, I wouldn't have a problem if someone were to use my harbinger, but I recommend it as a learning tool rather than a permanent crutch. What worked about him? what didn't? How will that influence your Harbinger's creation (assuming you don't have one yet).
3) Relevance: Personally, I spent many hours trying to figure out (and I still do) what motivates my Harbinger exactly. What motivates your harbinger will directly lead to game creation and background of those games. I find the game is so much more interesting when all of the various "unrelated games" directed by a Harbinger who is fleshed out and it isknown what things in this game interest the Harbinger.
Bottom lineis, My personal hope for this House Games Wiki is that the many and scattered cells can look at what some of the other folks are out there have done. Mabe we don't want a database going, but at least one or two examples worth discussion should be tossed around. Don't you guys think?
Yeah, I chickened. I don't want everyone to know everything about him yet and also, he's possibly a bad example due to being heavily rooted in OWoD paradigm. Perhaps I will take the time to invent another for discussion purposes, but it is haaaaard.
The difficulties I've encountered in making a harbinger so far relate to consistency with the game world (which I'm somewhat inexperienced in) and power/ goal related issues. If you have a harbinger without a personal antagonist impeding their progress to their goal, it seems like the power level of your harbinger should be enough to dole out gifts and such, but not enough to achieve their goal. The reason I say this is because it seems like most goals for players and presumably harbingers would be world-altering events. I suppose those could be considered canon or rec-conned, but it seems a lot easier to just have your harbinger not be able to really achieve their goal.
As it is, going from relatively new to table-top RPGs to being able to GM games is very difficult. Only having generous experienced players around to help guide you makes it reasonably possible at all. It would really help if there were more resources about GMing, harbinger creation, and gift giving. This would certainly support the house-gaming benefit of rotated GM's.
I think part of the trick there is to give them a goal that is somewhat ephemeral in nature. I have a few ideas for a Harbinger that I don't want to share, I'll use them if I ever start GMing enough to deserve one, but a good example of a goal like this is one of my character's driving goals: To overcome his limits. Seems short term, but what happens when he overcomes those limits? New limits. Its a goal that builds off of itself and always grows as the character does.
Truth be told, what little I do know about the Harbingers tells me that a concrete and physical goal would not be enough to drive them into the realms of near-godhood, physical goals are always achievable within the framework of not being a deity, unless it is something completely out there, like killing a god, or destroying the universe. Of course, a character with those goals wouldn't survive very long…
I've seen plenty of Harbingers with goals like killing a god or destroying the universe. As for how they got to be Harbingers, well, I don't see why someone with goals like that would have any less of a chance of survival, unless maybe other High Rollers decided it was in their best interest to take the crazy one out. Note that there are plenty of High Rollers who have "strained relationships" after participating in many games together. You'd be surprised how hard it can be to take out one of your compatriots, especially the ones who seem to be unburdened by moral compunctions.
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