Freeform Friday: Jorge Luis Borges

If I could recommend every GM to read an author it would be Jorge Luis Borges. The Argentine author is very concerned with ideas of interest to a typical GM: labyrinths, libraries, infinity, mythology, and the metaphysical. Make no mistake, roleplaying games are an exercise in the metaphysical: a melding of the minds at the table to bring to life the shared fiction.

Borges wrote his own mini settings that are ripe for stealing: The Library of Babel is an infinite library consisting of identical hexagonal rooms filled with books that consist of every permutation of the text. 
The House of Asterion portrays another maze of seeming infinitude as well as a portrayal from the point of view and motivations of a villain. The Lottery in Babylon depicts a society governed by a secret group that preordains the favor and disfavor of all individuals, a metaphor for the randomness of life but one that can also be used literally to great effect at the table. 


Borges wrote his own monster manual that is amazing: Book of Imaginary Beings.

The ways he explores the philosophies of places fictional in Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius is a fascinating way to look at another society, another people. To that end here are 1d6 fictional Borges societies:

1. The inhabitants wear masks based on their profession, moods, status, etc.
2. Their language is made entirely of adjectives instead of nouns, to describe the moon: "spherical-bright-lesser-yellow"
3. A secret society prunes all mentions of a group of people that lives in the same city, eventually resulting in people being unaware despite them being only yards away.
4. Ancient prohibition on mirrors for the way they create another being. Inhabitants afraid of reflections of all sorts.
5. The inhabitants of the city may not retrace their steps that day, every path is a completely unique route.
6. The city is built on successive layers: each generation builds atop the next, never destroying what is below.

Finally Borges creates endless playful magical artifacts and monsters in stories such as: The Zahir or The Aleph. With that in mind here are 1d6 Borges inspired artifacts.

1. A musical instrument that plays a new song every time it is played, it can never repeat.
2. A coin that when flipped displays the nations next leader on its head side.
3. A crown that when worn allows the wearer to subdivide each moment into another shorter moment.
4. A tiger that hunts only those who violate its insidious laws. It can phase through walls to find offenders. Trapping it within a labyrinth can buy you time.
5. A map that as you focus on a portion displays in increasing detail and scale.
6. The last manuscript of a long dead author that tells the tale of your mysterious death.

If you enjoyed this I recommend checking out my free OSR hack here: https://skyorrichegg.itch.io/a-crucible-for-silver

Comments

  1. MorganSeptember 26, 2020 at 7:32 AM

    I would also recommend Borges to all GMs, but then I would recommend Borges to everyone, so-

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sofinho - Alone in the LabyrinthSeptember 28, 2020 at 3:52 PM

    I'm Alone in the Labyrinth due to the House of Asterion.

    (I also call my blogroll The Library of Babel)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. skyorricheggSeptember 28, 2020 at 4:30 PM

      Awesome, I'll check it out, the more Borges out there the better in my opinion! Oh cool you did Pariah I believe. I backed that on Kickstarter, the more psychedelic stuff out there in the OSR the better as well. When I was still doing archaeology I worked on a number of Paleolithic projects that my colleagues argued about for evidence of entheogen use or not. Very fascinating stuff.

      Delete
    2. Sofinho - Alone in the LabyrinthDecember 20, 2020 at 6:47 AM

      I did! Thanks for your support! Yes the initial concept of Pariah was the conflict between Palaeolithic hunter gatherers, Neolithic settled communities and the wilderness in the form of spirits (and resource management). I get nervous when archaeologists, antrhopologists and actual shaman start to look too closely at my stuff!

      Delete
  3. Ray OtusOctober 14, 2020 at 2:01 PM

    Borges is great. I would put Italo Calvino in the same bag as a fairly abstract writer with a lot of awesome stealable ideas for GMs (Invisible Cities would be my pick). However, I can't agree that the Book of Imaginary Beings was awesome. About every 6th entry was interesting, but I didn't walk away with much.

    ReplyDelete

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