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The Book of Knots - Jags

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<strong>Book</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Knots</strong> - Chessboard Seven<br />

128<br />

question: in the past, there may have been settings and dials and control<br />

centers. <strong>The</strong>se have fallen apart beyond repair: they have undergone<br />

atomic decay during the billions and billions <strong>of</strong> years that have passed<br />

since the universe was forged.<br />

Finally, the PC’s may realize that the Deconstructionist plan (to destroy<br />

the machines and bring about the end <strong>of</strong> the Universe) is unnecessary<br />

– there is something humankind can do: to the Department <strong>of</strong> Works:<br />

they can turn <strong>of</strong>f the machines. But it’s all-or-nothing: the Caretakers<br />

would like to erase the boundaries between the Chessboard (giving them<br />

reign over Chessboard 0), without bringing down the outer walls <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Universe. <strong>The</strong> Deconstructionists would like to reprogram the machines<br />

to either erase everything within the Walls or to simply (and subtly)<br />

remove the Caretakers from power without otherwise disrupting the<br />

nature <strong>of</strong> things.<br />

Neither <strong>of</strong> these are achievable, but it is possible for seven humans to<br />

simultaneously shut down everything (there are seven control stations).<br />

It’s not even that hard to do. This would plunge Creation into Chaos; it<br />

would remove all boundaries from everything. Matter and reality as we<br />

know it would cease to exist.<br />

For the Caretakers and the Deconstructionists and most <strong>of</strong> the inhuman<br />

Wonderland creatures this would be annihilation, but for humanity, this<br />

would be enlightenment and freedom.<br />

Afterword<br />

Well, that’s that. “That,” in this case, being about 400pgs <strong>of</strong> game-world<br />

that grew from what seemed like a very, very simple concept (“Hey,<br />

Alice in Wonderland—I bet that could be cool”). Now it’s got monsters<br />

and magicians and eight different chessboards and all kinds <strong>of</strong> stuff.<br />

We hope you enjoy it. We’ve been playing in versions <strong>of</strong> this for well<br />

more than a year (and if you count the source games whose material<br />

found itself rolled into JAGS Wonderland way more than 10 years). In<br />

that sense the effort, tremendous as it has been, has been a success.<br />

In another sense we keep finding new stuff we think we’ve gotta add<br />

and more clarification and this and that (“Hey, Eric? I don’t think we’ve<br />

really distinguished Chessboard Five from Chessboard Six enough. Want<br />

to put in your notes about Caretaker domains and universal constants?”).<br />

Finally, though, you end it somewhere.<br />

Thanks for reading. This is where we’ve decided to end it (except for<br />

appendicies). Well, really here.

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