Night
Sky
Games
In the U.S.- $19.50
Internationally - $22.00
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Q: What's your game about?
A: You play Courtiers in the palace of the Sultan. No-one can leave Court. No-one can say directly what they think of each other or make any sort of move openly in Court. To pass the time, you tell Stories, which is also where all the pointed comments and political maneuvers happen. However, if you're not careful, the Sultan could get wind of it, and you could end up beheaded. Q: Is it competitive? A: It surely can be. You want to declare interests in the Story to get gems, which you then use to avoid being beheaded, achieve your ambition, or win your freedom to leave Court at will. You can also spend gems to undercut other Courtiers. Q: Why the Arabian Nights theme? Did you choose it because it supported the storytelling, or on a whim, or because you've always liked it, or why? A: I love it, I've always loved it, and it was what I thought of from the very begining. The idea of telling stories to pass the time, stories that are as dramatic and engaging as any RP session could ask for, seemed a natural fit. I write about this in the preface of the game, too, about the need for fantastical tales from places not our own. Q: So, what about the story-in-a-story thing, does it do that? A: Well, the basic game has our characters telling Stories, so it's already a story-in-a-story, so the simple answer is yes. To make deeper levels, all it would take would be for someone's Story character to start a Story-within, and see how it went. I think it's possible to go down at least two levels, so Court, Story, Story-Within. I'd suggest having different GMs for any multiple Story levels. And you can definitly do linked Stories already, sharing characters or setting or whatever. Q: What's the art like? A: Oh, the ART! I *love* the art. It's all beautiful black ink illustrations that were made by H.J. Ford a hundred years ago for Andrew Lang - I had nearly all the Rainbow Fairy Books as a child, and this game grew straight out of them. When I was a kid, Mom didn't buy us coloring books, so once I reached about 10, I took my colored pencils to the Rainbow Fairy Books, with Mom's blessing. Shading all those pictures taught me a ton about drawing and draping. I thought about doing the same thing in Photoshop with the ones I use in the book, but I decided against it. I really hope somebody somewhere colors in the pictures in their copy of the game.
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