Cycles-RPG

The new year's vacations (well, I hope you've got some too) ; the perfect moment to work on Cycles : a bit of writing, delivry of some extracts to the illustrators, texts revision, building an illustrated working version of Avalanche, contacting some people for help in adding systems ... Well, most of the things I've been post-poning lately. But, rest assure, there is much happiness in doing this.

Speaking of illustrations, Jake has just delivered me a new contract. If you don't remember, this american illustrator is working in the story called "the stone of madness". As the essence (the elements who take part in the story) is almost done for this plot, this contract only consisted of black and white elements, the plot in itself ; the existence.

As I have mentionned before, each illustrator has a lot of freedom within this project, and since each has his own story, they come to really put their "mark" on the plot. And Jake has certaintly a good grip on it !!! His illustrations are quite simple, but they have a great feeling about them. I also find he has a great creativity in finding out what exactly to illustrate for a given event. Below, three illustrations I'd like to comment :

The first wave of refugees returns to Raijuvak : the city ceases to be a military stronghold as the first refugees arrive ; life and happiness are back again. Those children are the perfect illustration for that.

The realm of silence draws inward : an icy land is freed from its winter prison and nature regains its rights. A simple illustration, but that depicts exactly what I had described in the text.

Spring is celebrated in Raijuvak : after months of a winter siege, the northen capitale is finally celebrating the coming of spring. Those warriors can finally rest.

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Les vacances de la nouvelle année (enfin, j'espère que ce sont des vacances pour vour aussi !!) ; le moment idéal pour travailler sur Cycles : un peu d'écriture, livraison d'extraits pour les dessinateurs, révision de textes, monter une version de travail illustrée, contacter des gens pour fournir des éléments de système ... Essentiellement, que du travail que je retarde depuis déjà trop longtemps. Mais, rassurez-vous, ce n'est que du bonheur !!!

Spring is celebrated in Raijuvak : après des mois d'un siège hivernal, le printemps est finalement célébré dans la capitale du nord. Les guerriers peuvent se reposer !!

If, while reading the teaser of Avalanche, you get the feeling that it is a homebrew campaign, you are right about it. I don't even seek to hide it. In fact, that feeling is there on purpose. Remember that at its origin, Cycles was created for my own needs, crafted from my desire to work a long time ahead on a campaign I would play later ; and only I !!!

But, as the writing went along, the thinking toward the narrative structure that would correspond to my needs, and the elaboration of a complex website, I began to think I would be able to sell such a campaign. I truly believe it can be used by other DMs.

But, let's get back to this homebrew matter. One of the thing that appears to me, while I was working on Cycles, is that I was doing, somehow, the "unbelievable". At least, in the context of such a campaign. Like I mentionned before, I didn't understand the amount of work needed when I began working on Avalanche. As a DM, who only wished to add depth to his "little campaign", by detailling all the events occuring in a given, vast region, from a high point of view, I soon realised that not only the amount of work was tremendous but also that I would only use about twenty percent of it. That said, I truly believe that some DMs would like to do the same with their own campaign, but I think that they would be litterally crazy to do so, if their campaign would only be played once. And creating an entirely illustrated story, isn't it also the dream of every DM who writes down his homebrew campaign ?

So, I came to believe (and still do) that Avalanche would respond to a real need, that it represents, in some way, the dream of many DMs about their own campaign. This is also why Cycles doesn't hide its homebrew dimension. I believe that the felling that comes out of it is kind of intuitive for its use. So, this is not a typical, formated product as those offered by the main distributor of rpg.

This left me with finding out illustrators. This will be our next topic on the history of this project.

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Si en lisant le teaser de Avalanche, vous avez l'impression qu'il s'agit d'une "campagne maison", vous avez tout à fait raison. Je ne cherche même pas à m'en cacher. En fait, je crois que cet effet est même désiré. Rappelez-vous qu'à son origine, Cycles a été créé pour mes besoins propres, issus d'un désir de travailler longuement sur une campagne que je pourrais faire jouer moi-même ; et que moi-même !!

Or, avec l'avancement de l'écriture, la réflexion sur la structure narrative à mettre en place pour répondre à mes besoins spécifiques et l'élaboration d'un site vraiment complexe à mettre en oeuvre, je me suis dit que je pourrais bien tenter de vendre cette campagne. Je crois vraiment qu'elle peut être utilisée par d'autres DMs.

Mais revenons au concept de "campagne maison". Un des constat qui m'est apparue en travailant sur Cycles, était que je créais "l'imaginable". Enfin, dans le contexte d'une telle campagne. Comme je l'ai mentionné dès le départ, je ne pouvais imaginer la somme de travail que représenterait Avalanche lorsque j'en ai débuté l'écriture. En tant que DM qui souhaitait approfondir sa petite campagne, en détaillant tous les évènements du monde, de haut niveau, je me suis vite aperçu que non seulement ce travail était immense, mais qu'au final, en jouant, je n'en utilisais, au mieux que vingt pourcent. Cela dit, j'ai le sentiment que de nombreux DMs aimeraient faire de même pour leur propre campagne, mais je crois qu'il faudrait être fou pour s'attaquer à un tel chantier si la campagne n'est jouée qu'une seule fois. Et créer une histoire entièrement illustrée, n'est-ce pas également le rêve de tous les DMs qui écrivent leur propre campagne ?

J'étais donc persuader (et je le suis toujours) que Avalanche répond à un réel besoin, qu'il représente, en quelque sorte, le rêve de tout DM qui écrit lui-même sa campagne. C'est d'ailleurs pour cela que Cycles ne cherche pas à dissimuler sa façade de "campagne maison". Ce sentiment qui s'en dégage, je le souhaite intuitif pour son utilisation. Il ne s'agit donc pas d'un produit formaté, standart, tels que ceux offerts par les grands éditeurs de jeux de rôle.

Il ne me restait donc plus qu'à trouver des illustrateurs. Ce sera d'ailleurs le propos de ma prochaine chronique concernant l'historique du projet.

One of the main concept of Cycles, "to build upon" is as present in the construction of the scenario than in its playing. But what is it exactly ? Let's put aside all theory and see directly how it is applied.

Construction : illustrations
You may have noticed it, there are no physical descriptions of the main protagonists of Avalanche provided in the text. Well, why would I do it, since there is an illustration beside this description ? But, those illustrations are done afterward, which means that the illustrators do their work based on a text which omit, on purpose, all physical references. So, the illustrators build upon my incomplete work, adding their own creativity to mine. Speaking of this, I'd like to mention that the illustrators have a full freedom concerning the physical representations of the characters (and places, races, organisations) of Avalanche. Given this freedom, I truly believe that they make the final product richer. I'm not interested in seeing my own vision ; I'm interested in the illustrator's vision. In fact, each time I receive an illustration, I must admit that this never looks like what I had in mind. And this is for the best.

Construction : writing
Quite recently I began to work with Sylvain on the common writing of the Avalanche, letting him work on the orcs and northen region stories. In the first place, I present to Sylvain the overall scenario from a "higher ground", showing the interactions between the various plots. I am responsible for the global coherence. Given that "plot sketch", Sylvain write down the various events occuring on his stories, choosing the exact number and redefining the titles if he feels he needs to. Well, it occurs that what he finally writes has little to do with what I had in mine ; the details, of course. Things do not happen actually as I thought they would do. To be honest, this is way better than what I would have had produced. And then again, you can clearly see that the writer is building upon my original work. He adds his own vision to mine, thus making the scenario richer.

Playing it
I mentionned it before, Avalanche does not hold the "DM's hand". He will have to add his own creativity, when playing the scenario, by fleshing out secondaries characters, locations and stories. And since this scenario is played on a day-o-day basis, due to its calendar structure, the DM will have to create a lot of things to make the world come alive. Keep in mind that Avalanche is only a backbone, upon which the "flesh" must be added. The DM has to add his own vision to the original scenario, building his game upon it. Just like the illustrators ; just like the writer. Will the actual game be played exactly as I thought, reflecting what I had in mind ? I doubt it. And if you want my opinion, this is for the best.

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Un concept qui est au coeur même de Cycles, la construction par juxtaposition (quelle belle traduction libre, n'est-ce pas ?), est tout autant présent dans son élaboration que dans son utilisation. Mais qu'est-ce que ce concept ? Laissons de côté la théorie et voyons directement la pratique.

Utilisation
Je l'ai déjà mentionné par le passé, Avalanche ne "tient pas la main" au maître de jeu. Ce dernier, en jouant ce scénario, devra apporter sa propre créativité en y ajoutant des personnages, des lieux, des histoires secondaires. Puisque le groupe devra jouer "au quotidien", suivant minitieusement un calendrier, le maître de jeu devra créer beaucoup d'éléments pour faire vivre ce scénario. Il superposera donc son imaginaire créatif au mien. N'oubliez pas qu'Avalanche n'est rien de plus qu'un squelette, sur lequel la chair doit être constituée. Ainsi, le maître de jeu enrichit le scénario original. Tout comme les dessinateurs et les autres auteurs. Est-ce que la partie qui va découler de cette juxtaposition correspond à ce que j'ai en tête ? J'en doute. Mais si vous voulez mon opinion, c'est pour le mieux !!

Important notes : these are computer guys talking.
Like I mentionned in the teaser, late 2002, early 2003, as my writing was following its course, some of my friends were building their own website. Flash was the technology of the moment. Quite happy with my little project, I decided to put it into a website, using Flash, a language I wasn't very good with. Facing major problems, I required the help of one of my friend, Mathieu Milot, who was better than me in web development. Note that at this point, I wasn't thinking of selling Avalanche.

After a quick presentation of the project (those are characters, places, races ... this is what's happening), Mathieu quite understood its structure, althought I didn't get what it was meant for. Normal, in some ways, since he had never role played.

Mathieu : if I understand this right, for a given event, you can consult the elements that take part in it ?
Me : well, this wasn't planned, but yes, that would be nice !!
- And from a character, for instance, you can follow his story ?
- Yes, that would be fine too !!
- So, bottom line is you that can move through space and time, changing constantly the point of view ?
- Oh yes, that would be just great. Is that possible ?
- Given what you've build, yes, it's possible. Isn't that what you wanted ?
- Not really. I haven't thought of that. But, if we can do it, I want it. Badly. So, we do it ?
- For one thing, not in Flash. You'll need a database for that. And this is going to be complicated. And a lot of work too.
- When do we begin ?
- Once you provided me with some specifications.
- Specifications ? You must be kidding me ?
- No !! I think you do not realize what you're trying to do. Anyway, you write down specifications everyday, so you know the drill ...
- Yes, I know how to write those, but this will take me hours !!!
- And building the website will take hundred of hours. We won't even try to work in the dark.

Hopeless, I went home, but filled with new ideas, a new vision of the project. Soon after, I took a week vacations to write down the specifications. Well, it turned out to be a difficult task. Having a vague idea is one thing, to express it in clear terms is another. But this really allowed to advance. Finally, those specifications were finished after three versions, more than two weeks vacations (over a time of six months) and required more than a hundred hours of work. But I've got at my disposal a complete document describing exactly what I wanted. The site has come to a high degree of maturity.

It turned out Mathieu was not involved directly later into the project, but his help was precious, his contribution very important. What did I learn from that ?
If you have a project, you need to talk about it, stay open to other's ideas and never hesitate to add them to your own. And often, it is others who force you to go beyond what you had in mind in the first place.

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Note préliminaire : cette rencontre a lieu entre informaticiens.
Comme je l'ai mentionné dans le teaser, vers fin 2002, début 2003, alors que l'écriture suivait son cours, certains de mes amis commençaient à se créer des sites web. Flash était la technologie du moment. Poussé par l'entrain de mon projet, je me suis également mis à la tache. Utilisant Flash, une technologie que je ne maitrisais pas vraiment, je rencontrais de nombreux difficultés pour atteindre l'objectif que je m'étais fixé. J'ai donc eu recours aux conseils d'un de mes amis, Mathieu Milot, qui s'y connaissais davantage que moi en développement web. A noter qu'à ce moment, je n'imaginais pas pouvoir vendre mon scénario.
Après une brève présentation du projet (voici des personnages, des lieux, des races ... voici ce qui se passe), Mathieu en avait saisi la structure, bien qu'il n'ait pas compris ce à quoi à ca servait. Normal, en quelque sorte, puisqu'il n'avait jamais fait de jeux de rôles.
Mathieu : si je comprends bien, à partir d'un évènement, tu peux consulter les éléments qui y participent ?
Moi : enfin, c'est pas prévu. Mais, ouais, ce serait sympa !!!
- Et à partir d'un personnage, par exemple, tu pourrais suivre son histoire ?
- Ah oui, ca aussi, ce serait bien !!!
- Finalement, tu pourrais te déplacer dans l'espace temps et changer de points de vue à ta guise ?
- Ah oui, ce serait super !!! C'est possible ?
- En tout cas, avec ce que tu as conçu, c'est possible. C'est pas ça que tu voulais faire ?
- Non, pas vraiment. Mais si ca se fait, c'est ce que je veux faire !!! On le fait ?
- Pas en Flash en tout cas !! Ca va te prendre une base de données. Et ca va être pas mal compliqué. Ca va demander beaucoup de travail.
- On commence quand ?
- Quand tu m'auras fourni des spécifications !
- Des spécifications ? Tu te fous de ma gueule ?
- Non !! Je pense que tu réalises pas ce que tu veux faire. De toute façon, des spécifications t'en écrit tous les jours, alors, tu sais faire ...
- Ouais, je sais faire, mais j'en ai pour des heures !!
- Mais ca va prendre des centaines d'heures monter ton site. On travaillera certainement pas à l'aveugle.

Finalement, c'est pas Mathieu qui développe le site, mais son aide m'a été très précieuse, son apport très important. Que retenir de cette anecdote ?
Si vous avez un projet, il faut en parler, demeurer ouvert aux idées des autres qui peuvent venir se juxtaposer aux vôtres. Et bien souvent, ce sont les autres qui forcent à aller de l'avant.