Welcome to the Room of Gifts

I’m back in the States, and I’ve hit the ground running.

In preparation for AwesomeCon next week, I’ve conjured lapel pins, QR-code flyers, playmats, artfully crafted metal dice, display racks, poster sleeves and cardboard backing - using nothing but sweat, blood, tears, a lot of time, and what few dollars remain to me.

I’m pretty tired.

Don’t you wish that sometimes the world would just… slow down?

Don’t you wish you could just hit pause on everything, sit down in a quiet room, and just rest?

This is a fantasy, of course, like Santa Claus (spoiler alert to my daughter). Video-game designers (and movie directors, and book authors) understand that crafting a good time requires built-in periods of rest to counter-balance the hectic, pulse-pounding action. Even Elden Ring - a relentless, combat-oriented game - built “Sites of Grace;” checkpoints in the game where progress is saved and the player can put down the controller and just relax.

A quiet room, outdoors

Life (and Elden Ring) is full of sticks, so carrots are important.

What if that quiet room gave you a free magical item?

If you’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons or videogames, allow me to explain the feeling of choosing a magical gift. Imagine if you walked out your door one day and were immediately presented with a choice between:

1. A pair of flattering leggings that let you see five minutes into the future (Uniqlo)

2. A mug that fills with an amazing latte every day, forever

3. A goldfish that can predict the outcome of any horse race (but only speaks German)

As you know, Quiet references videogames often (although indirectly). The title Quiet: Level One is itself a call-out to this fact; Quiet is a Level 1 character AND the first book takes place in Level 1 of the Tree of Worlds (the underground level):

With Quiet, I don’t ever want to be too explicit in my video-game references, as this would interfere with the realism and sense of immersion. And yet, videogames are chock full of amazing ideas just begging to be explored. And few ideas are more compelling than the gifting of items that might help the player:

Legend of Zelda, 1986

In fusing these two ideas, I came up with the Room of Gifts.

Every level of the Tree of Worlds is wildly different - with their own rules, quests, characters and locations - but there is a Room of Gifts in every one.

This is the Room of Gifts, Level One (work in progress)

Every Room is watched over by a Compass Rose. These objects/beings are polite and articulate, incredibly powerful within the confines of the room, and yet as neutral and unthinking as a DOS prompt (am I showing my age?). In gaming terms, they are a Selection Screen. Can they be killed? Perhaps.* But why risk such a dangerous fight with an entity whose purpose is to give you a magical Gift? Select whichever one you like - just select only one.

*they can be killed.

WIP

The Gifts become progressively more powerful with every Level, and while the Gifts on Level One are not exactly Excalibur, they are each useful in very particular circumstances. There is an armor that can withstand a blow of any magnitude, but which is destroyed upon use. There is an amulet that makes you as strong as a bear for an hour. There is even a Speaking Stone that lets the user commune with someone on a different Level… although who that person might be is anyone’s guess.

I don’t know where these Gifts come from exactly.

Uh oh, that Gift can talk (WIP)

And I don’t know how Threadcutter managed to infiltrate them.

From a storyteller’s perspective, the possibilities here are near-endless — not only because of the Gifts, but because of the Rooms themselves, which can be viewed as a resource on their own. It’s all very exciting.

Jonah

Next Week: Gifts - REAL Gifts! - and a Giveaway!