Lore? A Bore? Nevermore!

I love fictional history. I'm not talking about made-up history that says that Lee Harvey Oswald, not aliens, assassinated Kennedy. More like what makes a fantasy world tick. While there's nothing wrong with this, today I found myself bordering on the obsessive, simply because of some Magic card art and a single line of flavor text.


I was playing Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 on my Xbox last night (that's how geeks recover from sickness, after all!), and I ran across this card.

At a cursory glance, it's already pretty sweet looking. An impossibly large creature with a rule that says "protection from everything" is wicked, even if you know nothing about Magic. And I was on board with this just being a powerful card until I read the flavor text.

"The Soul of the World has returned." What in the planes could that mean?! With that bit of text, I was immediately entranced by the artwork. Hydras are often portrayed as mindless beasts whose soul purpose is to attack villages and serve as a testing ground for heroes. But what hero could possibly contend with that creature? Its heads could stretch beyond the clouds - what mortal weapons could even annoy such a creature? And then I go back to the flavor text...

Please indulge the English geek in me... Soul of the World is a title. Such a title is often reserved for a Gaea-like being - something almost motherly, from which all life originates. Couple that with a name that is rooted in the word "progenitor," and in the lore of this world, Progenitus is seated in a place often reserved for benevolent deities.

But this is the Soul of the World. This monstrous creature that could destroy anything spawned life on this world. I was fascinated, but I was also too tired to go to the computer, and my phone was out of reach, so I let it go with a simple huh, that's cool.

But then I got to thinking about it again today. I had my phone nearby, so a-Googling I had to go! I found an article on the Magic website that answered all my questions. and I wasn't disappointed. I now want to go add the Shards of Alara books to my collection (more on that later), but now when I see Progenitus, I'll know that he's not just a 10/10 creature that can't die. He is Progenitus Soul of the World. He's back, and he will not be destroyed!

And that about sums up my process when I find something interesting in a fictional world. Wikis, fan sites, lore articles, books... anything with a semblance of official knowledge demands to be read. Sometimes it's incredibly boring, but I can't help myself. If someone creates a world that doesn't just exist in the present, I want to know everything!

Unlike many of my geeky habits, this isn't something that has grown out of maturity. Back in my early teen years, I still remember going to Borders Bookstore any time I beat a video game, just to see if I could find a book about that game. Resident Evil was my first successful find, and I've been amassing my collection of useless knowledge ever since.

Just a small sampling

After years of giving books away, my bookshelf has dwindled a bit. But after doing a count of my larger collections, I currently have books for the following games:
-Halo: 3
-Warhammer 40k: 1 + 2 collections (unfortunately my group has most of the Warhammer novels, so I have very little excuse to buy my own.)
-Dungeons and Dragons: 14 + 3 collections
-Magic: 6
-World of Warcraft: 6 + 2 collections

That's saying nothing of individual books, or the lore contained in various rulebooks.

Granted, that's not an immense collection; but for the most part, these were all purchased after a situation similar to Progenitus. I no longer beat a game, or spend a long time in an RPG world, before I start my digging. If I dig it, I start digging in to it.

Most won't go as deep in their fictional worlds, but that doesn't mean people appreciate a well-crafted world any less. Even if you only appreciate the surface-level of a game's fiction, it can't be denied that it elevates a game's immersion by leaps and bounds.

Let me give you an example of what happens when playing Warmachine with any hint of flavor removed:
Pieces 3.3.12.1 - 3.3.12.4 advance 6" and stops outside of cover-granting rectangular obstruction 3. Pieces 3.4.1 - 3.4.10, as well as attached auxiliary unit 3.4.1, advance toward green circle 1 and end activation with most pieces inside green circle 1, granting an advantageous position as per rule 17.128:2 with regard to opponent piece 4.2.6 and piece 4.1.3.

I AM SO BORED! I was going to do the activation of an entire 25 point army, but I'm just not that self-loathing. For those curious, here's what you just read:

My unit of Widowmakers advance 6" up the board and take cover behind a low wall. My 10 man unit of Winter Guard Infantry, along with the Officer and Standard Bearer, move in to the nearby forest to get concealment against the nearby Cygnar warcaster Coleman Stryker and his Firefly warjack.

Functionally, there's no difference in what just happened. Both used the same pieces and used the same rules. But no one wants to see their "piece 3.2.8 removes pieces 4.3.6.1 - 4.3.6.10 from the game using piece 3.2.8's special activated rule 1" when they could instead see their "Beast 09 wipe out an entire unit of Cygnar Long Gunners with a single thresher attack!"

And that's part of the allure of games. Whether you're dedicated to immersion or you play to win, you appreciate the thought put in to your pieces. It's why people choose Grey Knights over Eldar, Cryx over Trollbloods, warlock over warrior. When playing a game even slightly more advanced than checkers, we love the flavor attached to what we do.

This will be a post for another time, but I want to end this by emphasizing that the story shouldn't always be the motivating factor in what you play. I chose my Khador army based on a balance of lore and rules. I chose Orks based entirely on the army's personality. I loved painting Orks, but I can't stand playing them. I like Khador's fluff and rules enough that I'm never disappointed when I play them, because both factors influence my enjoyment.

So there's my brief essay on why I love the flavor of my games. I'm curious to hear from all of you. So sound off in the comments here or on my Facebook post. Let me know why you play what you do, and how much importance you place on a game's fiction.

See you tomorrow!