The Castle is the Dice
It’s a casino.
You gamble your life every time you go in there.
It is run by a cult.
In that there is an enigmatic yet mysterious figurehead, an inner circle, an outer circle, then everybody else. This pyramid hierarchy system is simple.
The everybody else category of people are generally fleeced for everything they have whenever they come into the castle.
Yet, somehow, if they leave, they leave with a smile on their face, feeling satisfied and planning to return.
‘If’ they leave is a reminder that there are dungeons below the castle. The denizens of said dungeons are a tradable commodity with the everybody else.
There are six possible directions in or out of any room. Seven if you use magic (which requires power ups).
Dealing With A Door
A door is a riddle, a puzzle, a portal. It’s all good and easy if the door is open. If not a way must be found to persuade it to open. This may be use of an appropriate key, appropriately appropriated. It may be the uttering of an enchanting mouth noise.
At The Gaming Table
The first thing you should notice is the floor is chequerboard. The room is the gaming table. Astute travellers will question where the pieces are. Wizards will ponder the rules, which is of course what makes them wizards.
There may indeed be a symbolic wooden tables and benches in the centre or at the side or one end of a room. Whatever is upon it is also symbolic.
A banquet feast means you are eating the food of the place, taking its energy into yourself. While this sustenance may be nutritious, or poisonous, it has the effect of imbuing, the energy of the place into you. Snacks are available to ensure this continues.
The Rules
Rule One : Simplicity
The more complicated a system is, the more potential for confusion, error and manipulation, there is within that system.
Rule Two : Complexity *
Every occurrence of a variable increases complexity of the system.
Therefore it increases potential for confusion, error or manipulation.
Variables add complexity. Complexity is defined in terms of variables.
Rule Three : Preconception
Assumption creates deviation, complexity, variation.
Nothing is ever so complicated than preconceptions.
By this, the visitor exposes all.
*Extrapolation of Rule Two;
There is flow (yin) and there is gate (exchange).
Gate is a variable.
Gate either: splits flow, changes state or direction of flow, streamlines two into one, makes more or less complicated (distillation / derivation).
Gate is alchemical.
An example is a dice roll.
The specifics of the symbolic details relating to the Task-At-Hand or Case-In-Point of any given Situation are determined by the current events. How the Direction Table / Nature of the Gate relates to those contexts should be quite obviously evident with a little lateral thinking.
I am writing this blog entry as the words and ideas come to me in my spare time for the sake of it.
This concept is intentionally fully compatible with The Infinite Castle supplement for Brains&Brawn RPG, both available from DriveThruRPG. B&B and TheInfiniteCastle are copyright Ordo Octopia.
The Castle Is The Dice is also compatible with the open-license free-to-all SLOP game system. The idea cane from a randomly generated AI art picture used to illustrate SLOPs (the illustration with four characters, each representing an element, each representing a statistic from that game system).