{"id":5470,"date":"2017-05-31T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T03:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/?p=5470"},"modified":"2022-06-19T11:47:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T15:47:50","slug":"what-is-the-bloody-handed-name-of-bronze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/2017\/what-is-the-bloody-handed-name-of-bronze","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lushly illustrated tome, a feast of tale told and yet untold, a thick tome to read and play with your companions, can be yours!<\/a>
\n<\/b>The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze is a highly social roleplaying game for creating stories of passions and desire; a little like Conan and a little like The Illiad; a little like Dying Earth and a little like Torah or the Epic of Gilgamesh from the Enuma Elish. You can play it with two, three, or four players.<\/b> It takes about a half hour per player<\/b>, so a four person game will be about two hours.\u00a0 <\/span>You can keep playing, of course! Take your companions on further adventures and see what destiny their lives hold for them!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a two-player game, one of you will take describe the character\u2019s actions and appearance, words, and outward expressions, while the other describes those of the world around them. When three or four people play, you\u2019ll take turns expressing your own characters and the world around you.<\/p>\n

You can get the PDF here<\/a>. It\u2019s also available, like all my games, to my Patreon<\/a> subscribers.<\/b><\/h2>\n

The World of Names<\/h2>\n

This is a game in which everything in the world is the way it is because it wants to be that way<\/i>; because it\u2019s following the desires that come from its nature and experience, not because there are natural laws.<\/p>\n

Each thing, if it has a name, has a will of its own; the name is the essence of that thing. The world is made of those names, from the Waters of Heaven in the sky to the Waters of the Underworld beneath the clay.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a world that resembles the Bronze Age of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean: Babylonia, Egypt, Assyria, Hatti, Greece, the Maghreb, and Israel, but it is not a history of our world. It contains many, many mortal peoples, known as \u201cearthen-beings\u201d. In the center of the world, where your adventures begin, they look like you and me: skin that\u2019s some shade of brown or tan, some with markings upon it, some with beards and heads of hair, decorated, arranged, cut, plucked, or shaved according to the tastes of their culture. But elsewhere, the people might be giants, or have shells like a tortoise, or have skin like a dolphin and live on a sunken island. Northern riders, their skin striped like tigers, ride on the backs of giant birds call akum <\/i>that we\u2019d recognize as dinosaurs. In the mountains, there are tribes who herd flying lizards, riding the largest into battle.<\/p>\n

In the world, the earthen-beings are as unique as they are rare. They huddle together in villages and towns on the banks of rivers, lakes, and the sea; or they form into tribes that traverse the deserts and mountains, surviving by trading goods or by raiding towns or travelers. While fish live in the sea and birds in the air and camels in the desert, earthen-beings can live anywhere and do as they please.<\/p>\n

Earthen-beings are burdened with mortality and their little, human languages, but they are free in ways that few other beings are. They are unpredictable, and each one is unique. They are as kind as they are vicious; they make moral decisions for themselves to do good or evil according to their experience, even when they have no hope of success. Many Great Names find earthen-beings to be a constant source of irritation and question their decision to bring them into the world in the first place.<\/p>\n

No Great Name spans the space of the Waters of Heaven to the Waters of the Underworld, nor across the clay in between. The sky of each named place is different, though most skies have a strong right eye \u2014\u00a0the sun \u2014\u00a0and a weak left eye \u2014\u00a0the moon. Any Great Name that wishes to be known past the limits of the sky under which it lives will send a hero (or perhaps a rhetorically talented namedealer) to carry its name afield to lands it does not know. You may find that others in those lands have heard tell of such a name, though they know it pronounced differently. The name of a river might be known to all on its surface, underneath it, and along its banks; maybe even as far as those who trade with the cities, towns, and villages on its shores, but it will be known to none in the desert, or across the Great Ocean to the south.<\/p>\n

The Roles<\/h2>\n

As you play The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze,<\/i> you\u2019ll switch between two roles: the role of your companion<\/b> \u2014 a fated hero<\/b> or a namedealer<\/b> \u2014 and the role of You, Who Know the Will of the Names of the World<\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Namedealers<\/h3>\n

Namedealers<\/b> are the rare people who have learned to speak to the names of the work, making treaties with natural phenomena, with ancient and storied artifacts, and with the mortal beings of the earth around them. They speak The Language of Names<\/i> that predates all human language, the language of which all human languages are just a pale shadow. Namedealers are also the only people who know not to give their real name out \u2014 when you do, you must deal in good faith, and you might not want to be stuck with those bounds. They can achieve their objectives by making an offer<\/b>, by coercing<\/b>, by thieving<\/b>, or by escaping. <\/b>Of those, the one that will give them the fewest negative consequences is to escape<\/i>. It sure is hard to make friends, that way, though \u2014\u00a0and a namedealer will find that there\u2019s nothing as valuable as someone who believes they\u2019re your friend. The object of the game for players of namedealers is to escape the consequences of the promises they\u2019ve made.<\/i><\/b> Whether the player achieves this will be a matter to be decided between the namedealer and the names with whom they have treated.<\/p>\n

Fated Heroes<\/b><\/h3>\n

Sometimes, a Great Name charges the namedealer to produce a hero who can do its will. Those fated heroes<\/b>, born with a destiny that enters their lungs with their first breath, can become the great rulers of the earth, can parent entire peoples, can make the earth itself shake with their passions. Fated heroes are goaded to such greatness by the Great Name that is their patron, but that patron is prone to jealousy. Should the hero outshine them while pursuing their own agenda \u2014 not that of the Great Name \u2014 the Great Name will do them grievous harm, even killing them, to remind them of their place. Their options are forthright: they will coerce, lead, follow their passions for others, <\/b>and test themselves<\/b> in order to achieve the destiny they have been promised. Of those, the one that will lead to the fewest harmful consequences for themselves is to coerce<\/i>. One might find it hard to make allies,\u00a0 <\/span>The object of the game for players of fated heroes is to die so gloriously that the Great Names fear their entry into the Waters of the Underworld.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Most of the time, you\u2019ll play the role of your companion, describing what they do by describing what a witness could see, hear, taste, feel, and smell. But sometimes you\u2019ll change roles to You, who Know the Will of the Names of the World. You will switch often, but only when your companion is the least important person there and you need to know what a god-queen, a river, or any other sentient entity wants. If you\u2019ve been doing it for a little while, someone else should ask you what your companion is up to, asking \u201cWhere are you? What do you? Who joins you?<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

How to Play the Role of Companion<\/b><\/h2>\n

When your role is that of your companion, remember that your will is yours alone, and your objective is to escape the consequences of the promises you\u2019ve made. You can change your mind, of course, like any real person or fictional character can, and you are not obligated to explain your character\u2019s will to anyone. If you want to, lie about what your character wants and feels. You can even lie about your feelings and thoughts when another companion has coerced you into thinking or feeling something. Assume that, when your fellow players tell you the feelings or intentions of their companion that they\u2019re lying,<\/b> unless those feelings or intentions match their actions.<\/p>\n

Have your companion do what you feel like they would do in the circumstances that arise, and do what you can to put them in a position to take action and roll dice appropriate to their destiny \u2014\u00a0whether they are a fated hero or namedealer.<\/p>\n

\n

Hannah is playing Shemut, a boy taken as a slave by Northern raiders, clad in leather and bronze, on their fleet-footed flock of akum. He has slipped his bonds, as he only has three fingers on one his right hand, and was able to free himself from his manacle because of his tiny stature and missing digits. He was taught the Language of Names by his mother, the namedealer who spoke with the sky of the river U that flows from the The Forehead of Abshu, the cliffs to the north. Shemut is trying to warn the next village downriver of the raider, and instead of running to his razed village, has run ahead of the raiders and their conscripts.<\/p>\n

Hannah says, \u201cI\u2019ve gotta get back to my mother\u2019s altar to retrieve the Wheel of Sun and Moon, named Bushud! I take off into the marsh beside the river.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan, playing another companion, says, \u201cOh! You\u2019re escaping! Roll!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah rolls and gets two accomplishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI escape, and I think I\u2019m gonna need this one destiny, so I\u2019ll leave \u2018You are unseen\u2019 unchosen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meg, who knows the will of the Names of the World, says, \u201cAs soon as they realize that you, a child, have escaped, they know you\u2019re headed for your home. They send two riders back up the road after you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah says, \u201cOK, awesome. I hold a log and float downriver, ahead of the raiders so I can warn the next town. Now the raiders are down two riders! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Challenging Each Other<\/h3>\n

Sometimes another companion will challenge yours by taking action against you, perhaps making an offer of sweet, herbed honey wine at a caravansarai, pursuing their passion for you as their fingers reach for your body, or testing their strength against yours as you contend against each other, racing to get to the king who rides against you in her iron-wheeled chariot, leading an army of a thousand warriors to best you. When this happens, they will roll dice (including any they get from you) and you will roll your dice, subtracting your hits from theirs. Then you may take advantage of any misses they didn\u2019t choose, or even to coerce them if they have no hits at all. Remember that, if they choose to alter you thoughts or feelings, you may decide whether it has the effect they desire, no effect at all, or any other effect you want, at all, instead.<\/p>\n

\n

Meg\u2019s companion, a hero named Gumash Forgiven-by-the-Moon, has been growing closer with Evan\u2019s companion, a namedealer named Ebeg. As the three companions sit around their fire in the valley of Damash, Hannah\u2019s companion, Shemut, falls asleep. As the moon rises, Hannah says, \u201cEbeg\u2019s features shine in the light of the weak right eye of the sky of the valley of Damash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meg says, \u201cI move toward you and take you in my arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah says, \u201cYou\u2019re following your passion for another! Roll\u201d<\/p>\n

Meg rolls and gets three accomplishments, with one of them a die of gold, which means this could be a heroic seduction, worthy of legend. Evan rolls two hits, though, reducing Meg\u2019s accomplishments to one. She says, \u201cYou return your passion for me, else, you may shame me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan says, \u201cI\u2019m really conflicted about this, so I back away, but not far. You can read it on my face: you can see that I want to, but you can also see an expression of sadness and shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meg says, \u201cCrap! Do you shame me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan says, \u201cOh, no! I think I\u2019m into you, but there\u2019s something else going on for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meg does not lose a die, because, though, Gumash was at Ebeg\u2019s mercy, Ebeg had their own reasons to care for Gumash, and does not wish to shame Gumash.<\/p>\n

Because Meg did not choose, \u201cNo others become jealous,\u201d Hannah says, \u201cYou can feel the glare of the moon on you because you were to dedicate your love, now rejected, to her. You must leave this fire to consort with the night sky of this desert to console her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gumash rises from the fire and walks into the night.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Keeping an Eye Out for Each Other<\/h3>\n

There are only four things your companion can do that will produce real consequences: the four actions that they have listed appropriate to their destiny. Anything else they do might give vital context, but they can\u2019t gain destiny without rolling dice, and they certainly can\u2019t make anyone else in the world do what they want against their will.<\/p>\n

To make sure everyone has the opportunity to try to make things happen the way they want, keep your copy open to the page of actions and be familiar with what the companions can do. Did a namedealer just suggest that they\u2019ll help a maimed beggar-king cross the Sea of Mutuak? Point out that they made an offer so they remember to roll their dice! If they didn\u2019t intend to make an offer, but instead wanted to coerce the beggar-king, they can change what they did freely. For instance, they might say, \u201cNo, I\u2019m saying that for the benefit of the witnesses. I make surethe beggar-king can see that I\u2019ve got this dagger hidden in my sleeve.\u201d Or they might say, \u201cWait, never mind. I\u2019m actually going to jump out the window.\u201d Then you\u2019d say, \u201cOh! Then roll and we\u2019ll check the consequences of \u2018Escape\u2019 instead of \u2018Make an Offer\u2019.\u201d Be honest and make your decisions lightly. Let the action keep flowing.<\/p>\n

How to Know the Will of the Names of the World<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ll have your turn to know the will of the Names of the World when your companion isn\u2019t particularly relevant at the moment. It might be the very beginning of the game and you\u2019re simply the last to introduce their companion. Or your companion might have run off to climb over the wall while other companions make a frontal assault, and we\u2019ll catch up with them as soon as it\u2019s important to us. Or maybe your companion is asleep at the campfire while the others vie to impress the moon with their offerings of poetry. Or perhaps you\u2019re playing with only one friend, and you have agreed together that it is you, who knows the will of the Names of the World for the duration of this adventure.<\/p>\n

The first thing you\u2019ll do when it\u2019s your turn to know the will of the Names of the World is to ask a player, \u201cWhere are you? What do you? Who is with you?\u201d<\/b> Your job is to introduce the names you think will be most fun for you<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Namedealers come with one such name prepared: the one from whom they flee. Do you want to see what happens if that name shows up now? Or do you want someone to bring word of their approach, instead? Perhaps an associate of one of their promised names will be present, or perhaps someone they could help makes a plea.<\/p>\n

Fated heroes receive the words of oracles, so perhaps the oracle has sent word? Or perhaps you want to see how the hero reacts to the presence of another hero? Or one who trusts them? Or perhaps one who would deceive them? Seduce them? Ask of them for aid?<\/p>\n

In these cases, remember that every person \u2014 every hero, every monster, every ghost, every passerby asked for aid, every object a namedealer decides to speak with \u2014 has desires and acts in accordance with them. Know the root of their desire before they speak or take action.<\/p>\n

Concern yourself with the desires of only those names, and not with the desires of the companions. They might find their interests aligned with those of the companions, of course, but the names pursue their own interests.<\/p>\n

\n

The three companions \u2014 Hannah’s namedealing little boy, Shumat; Evan\u2019s attractive namedealer, Ebeg; and Meg\u2019s mighty (if heartbruised), hero Gumash, have found themselves in the catacombs beneath the lost city of Muhfush. They have fled here together from the raiders pursuing Shumat, as Gumash needs to be able to heal before facing them, and she has heard that her quarry, the duplicitous Labum who stole the heart of the moon, has retreated here.<\/p>\n

Evan says, \u201cWhen we enter the catacombs, we find our way barred by skeletons, some partially dismembered, rising from their crypts, armed in the fashion they were when buried. They have bronze swords and wicker shields decayed with time, and some, behind the leaders, are armed with long, leaf-bladed spears. \u201d<\/p>\n

Meg asks, \u201cWhich is their leader?\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan says, \u201cUh, yeah! There\u2019s one with a plumed helmet made from the head of an akum, and he looks out through its teeth. It\u2019s inlaid with silver and bronze to give it strength. He has a bone, also inlaid with gold and precious stones, in his right hand, and he\u2019s wielding it like a mace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah says, \u201cHero of old, what is your name that I might pronounce it when I tell this tale?\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan responds for the dead hero, \u201cI am Atumat, Feller of the giant, Dubun! I have slept many centuries in the waters of the underworld and will return there with you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah replies, \u201cWhat is it you were promised, that you would tempt the sea demons to torture you there by returning here to the land of clay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan thinks for a moment to figure out the answer before saying, \u201cI fight for Labum, who promised to tell my descendants of the greatness of my deeds; to make them fear and adore my name!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLabum,\u201d Hannah says, \u201cI would inscribe your chronicle for all to read, for all time, on the walls of a city, if you would join us in a battle far greater than that you would taste against us, alone. I will put your bones into a great eidolon that all might see you for a thousand years, that you need not return to the waters of the Underworld.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meg notes, \u201cYou\u2019re making an offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah has already picked up the dice. \u201cYou bet I am!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Deciding When You Know Too Much<\/h3>\n

Feel free to ask another player to know the Will of the Names of the World when you want your companion to come back to the spotlight. If you don\u2019t know who to ask, ask the person whose companion was last to act to know the will of the Names of the World. They will then ask you where you are, what you\u2019re doing, and who else is there so you can put yourself in position to take action.<\/p>\n

Describing new Peoples<\/h3>\n

When you know the will of the Names of the World, you\u2019ll often need to know how a people\u2019s culture works so you know what they care about. Most people in the center of the world, where your adventure starts, want the things anyone does: they want social status, they want the respect of their parents, they want wealth, love, sex, safety, or dominance. Whatever way their culture expresses those things, that<\/i> is the thing they will demand of the world. Describe what they do and how, but not why! When a companion asks a question about what they can perceive, answer it, but don\u2019t explain why until the companions can perceive the causes.<\/p>\n

Describe their physical presence in whatever way the companions can perceive, from the way they wear their hair, to the colors and patterns of their skin and clothes. How do they act to express their social status, from socioeconomic status to gender to individual taste? Their outward appearance comes from a set of assumptions and pressures that they\u2019re responding to at every moment. As the moment develops, keep looking backward to how the character got to this point to find out what they want.<\/p>\n

When You Have the Opportunity to Cause Harm<\/h2>\n

When a companion takes action and rolls dice, they risk some harm. Either they are facing a name represented by the one who knows the Will of the Names of the World (a person, a monster, a natural phenomenon, or simply a heroically difficult task worthy of legend), or they\u2019re facing one of their fellow companions. Remember that even if a namedealer so much as makes an offer of a piece of bread in exchange for a stay in a tent, the player must roll the their dice. Similarly, if a hero casually insults a passing character by calling them weak, that\u2019s an implicit threat, and so they are coercing them.<\/p>\n

The outcome of those rolls can be an opportunity to do harm. Remember that, when you have the opportunity to do harm, it does not obligate you to do it. A servant boy, offered a seduction by a hero who rolls zero accomplishments is at the mercy of the servant boy \u2014\u00a0but the servant boy may respond in any way he wishes, according to his will. When the target of action is another companion, their might will tend to give them greater command over the situation \u2014\u00a0but their reaction is up to them, alone.<\/p>\n

There are several circumstances in which you can do harm.<\/b><\/p>\n