The Book of Knots - Jags
The Book of Knots - Jags
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.