Legend of the Seeker

[ivyfic]

I am halfway through watching season two of Legend of the Seeker. Holy crap, Richard Cypher is the Marty Stu-iest Marty Stu that ever Marty Stu-ed. So he started out as a poor farmer's son, chopping wood in the forest. Now he's:
- The Seeker of Truth, the only one capable of wielding the Sword of Truth (eh, well for the first season), destined to kill the evil Darken Rahl, whose birth was prophecied.
- The grandsom of the only remaining wizard of the first order.
- The half-brother of Darken Rahl, and therefore, after he kills Darken Rahl, the only remaining Lord Rahl and inheritor of the D'Haran kingdom.
- Oh, did I mention that his adopted brother was the king of that world? Well he was.
- The most powerful wizard born in ages, who has a whole room of prophesies about him, entirely seperate from the prophecies about him being the Seeker, etc., etc.
- He has the most powerful han anyone's ever seen. OMG he's Luke Skywalker times a billion.



What I find in watching this show is that the world building is absolutely fascinating to me. So I want more of the show, just maybe...better done. (See above.)

I realized yesterday that what I'd really like is a Sword of Truth RPG. I'm particularly fascinated by the interplay of the wizards, confessors, and Mord-Sith. They are all three capable of magic, but they're kind of the rock, paper, scissors of mages. Wizards defeat confessors, confessors defeat Mord-Sith, and Mord-Sith defeat wizards. I think building a party around these different abilities would be really interesting, since each has abilities that work only in certain situations.

I can't help thinking about confessor powers in combat--a confessor's most effective weapon is her ability to confess someone, and turn them into a slave. But it leaves her vulnerable. This seems perfectly suited to RPG-style combats--that yes, you can make people on the other side fight for you, but only if you take a turn (or two) and have no defensive abilities at the time.

Oh, and there's this guy with a big honking sword that works on righteous anger or whatever, but really, the Seeker is the least interesting part of this universe.

Comments

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

Once you realize that the Sword of Truth and Wheel of Time are the exact same universes down to some of the slang, it makes a lot more sense.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I read about fifty pages of Wheel of Time before I gave up. I might try Wizard's First Rule, but from what I've heard about the books...I'm not hopeful.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

I'm doing the book series on audiobook now, I'm up to #4 or so. They are not bad, really. Not amazing, and definitely less gary stu (Richard is all the things you say he is, but also everything bad ever happens to him as well, so it's a litlte more balanced), but not bad. Which is about all I ask out of a billion hours of audiobook.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I'd need to watch the show to actually get a full idea of what each character type can do and how/why they'd end up working together. I'm not sure how "dramatic" versus "functional" their powers are, for instance, which makes a lot of difference in the way you set up the base mechanics.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, the powers break down like this:

Confessor:
Has the ability to "confess" someone, i.e. bind them permanently to their will. In order to do this, she must grab them around the neck and look into their eyes. It takes a few seconds, and weakens the confessor. The person is only released when the confessor dies. In combat, this is done to get an opponent to fight (suicidally) for you. It's also a fantastic interrogation technique. Confessors will automatically confess anyone they have sex with, leading to much emo and squidgy consent issues, as they have to have babies to continue the line. Confessors can also sense if someone is lying (depending on their willpower), and have a recognized status as judges and rulers. That is, if you're walking through the countryside and encounter random people, they'll defer to the confessor, and frequently ask them to arbitrate a local dispute. Kahlen, the main confessor character on the show, is also fantastic at combat. Confessors are only women. It's an inherited trait, and the order of confessors kills any male confessor children.

Mord-Sith
This is also an order of only women. (Kinky, dominatrix-y, leather-clad women.) Their main power is to reflect any magic directed at them. Wizard's powers are useless on them. But if they are confessed, they die. Mord-Sith fight with aegils (don't know the spelling), which are short sticks that work like tasers, incapacitating enemies with pain. But they only work in contact. Aegils can only be held by people who have been tortured with them. All Mord-Sith are kidnapped as young girls and tortured into submission. As a result of this practice, if you're wandering through the countryside and encounter random people, they will run screaming/organize a lynch mob.

Wizard
Wizards are your totally generic D&D type wizards. They have wizard's fire, and can blast people with shock waves, and create and use magical items, etc., etc. In the show, we know the least about their training, but they are ranked into "orders," first order being the most powerful.

Then there's the Seeker, who has to be named by a Wizard of the First Order. There can be only one at a time, but the Seeker doesn't have to die to give up the role. A wizard only needs to have the Sword of Truth to name another. The Seeker seems mostly to exist to go on quests. The Sword of Truth is basically just a big sword, but when the Seeker feels rage, it glows and gets a combat bonus.

Doesn't that sound like it could easily be adapted into an RPG? And the roles are different enough that they should prevent one person in the group from being too shiny. Wizard is the most broken (okay, Seeker is the most broken, especially if you're talking about Richard), but you need a confessor for interrogations and a Mord-Sith to fight magic. And a Seeker to stab things while all the magical people do their stuff.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Also, people who have been confessed will always strive to do what they think the confessor wants. Depending on the intelligence of the person and how explicit the confessor was, this can end OMG SO BADLY. Like, dismembering themselves, murdering party members badly.

Mord-Sith can also break people to their will. It just takes a few weeks...and a dungeon.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Initial thought: High drama-based, possibly with a power system based on Vampire and treating confession as the blood bond. Limited combat designed to be deadly. Emphasis on OMG TEH ANGSTORS.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

...I'm not sure what that means.

Yeah, okay, confessors are broken. But as the GM, you can try to limit the number of confessed slaves by either having them oh so unfortunately get themselves killed or make the possibility of them causing massive damage too great to make it feasible to keep a horde of confessed slaves. (The geni wish problem.)

Also, for the purposes of the game, you could limit the number of confessed people a character could have, or the frequency of confession. The show focuses on the Mother Confessor, i.e., the most powerful confessor evar, but as in all these campaigns, you would not be playing such a one.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

There's actually lots of combat in the show, but mostly with minions and elevated mooks.

The 4e combat system would actually work quite well, I think, since there's a substantial number of crowd-clearing/combo-attack-like moments.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Well, there's a lot of combat in the show because it's a Sam Raimi show on the Hercules/Xena model. I just love it cause Kahlen's dress looks fantastic in combat.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Not too surprising. A lot of their costume team seems to have worked in or with WETA.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Her confessor's outfit is AMAZING. If I had any talent at costuming at all... Cause it's leather pants and a corset, then the dress on top of it with the dagged sleeves and the hood...yeah. I'd totally wear that.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Umm...seriously? Wizard looks like the least broken. They're blasters and utility casters, from the sound of things, they don't cast insta-kill spells or turn people into frogs, right? And the Seeker is a fighter/wizard who gets a special sword. Easy to model and run.

Mord-Sith have automatic spell turning. Being immune to offensive magic--as you might remember, having played a character with basically that power--is nearly as useful as magic itself, and more so in many combat situations. If the majority of the characters (and therefore, the antagonists) are wizards, a Mord-Sith character has a massive advantage. This is a big game-balance issue.

But it's Confessors who are really broken. They can permanently mind-control anyone they meet. Evil wizard? He's your slave forever. Contingent of powerful knights? Just sleep with them one at a time. Kings? Viziers? Tycoons? Brain-zaps for everybody. How do you deal with a party member that can acquire a nigh-infinite number of slaves relatively easily?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Zed kind of has plot powers. ...And in one episode he did turn someone into a mouse.

In the show, it's pretty clear that both the wizard and the confessor would be ruling the world if it weren't for their pesky consciences. Pretty much any time you meet another confessor, they've set up their own private fiefdom.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

So, a PC party would be insanely powerful to begin with. Hmm.

Really, this comes down to me not trying to design a system without first actually watching the show and perhaps reading a few o the associated books, to get a sense of the mood and actual power levels that a game would need to mimic. After that comes figuring out how to make it a fun and not totally broken game.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

See, this is actually something I'd be interested in working out. I just don't think I know enough about gaming systems to adapt one so that it would be functional.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Start fiddling, then ask for help? You'll notice, I tend to post stuff and ask for comments fairly often.

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

You might try reading the books.

Your mileage may vary on the books - mine definitely did. The books have been called "Conan the Libertarian," after all.

The world-building is pretty interesting, the characters are okay, the hardcore libertarian philosophy is annoying. IIRC, the first book was very readable, the second was still entertaining, and I petered out on the series after that.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Your mileage may vary on the books - mine definitely did.
Really? The show has been pretty heavily filtered through Rob Tappert's OMG BOOBIES aesthetic, so that's not what I got from the show. Kinky dominatrix women, yes. Libertarianism, no.

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

I've only caught an episode or two of the show on NetFlix in passing. I'm not surprised the rather hardcore libertarian philosophy's been filtered out of the show. It is offputting, the same way hardcore rationalist stuff tends to be. It's the sort of thing that makes you do a double-take and say "what just happened?"

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Kind of like reading Starship Troopers made me make the O RLY face a lot?

It definitely is a show that makes you uncomfortably aware of Mr. Goodkind's...preferences.

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

Exactly :)

I think reading any author at length gives you some insight into their character, like talking to somebody a lot about life and different situations. It's just that Mr. Goodkind ... overshares.

[alizarin-nyc.livejournal.com]

Legend of the Seeker! Yes, Richard is pretty damn annoying, he's definitely a Mary Sue - more girly in fact than his counterparts. I loved watching it for Kahlen and Cara and the badass women stuff. It was very femslashy, which I also liked. Worldbuilding, yes.

And then the stuff you mentioned which took it directly into *eyeroll* territory. It had potential that it only sometimes lived up to.

Also, check out the awesome vids by hollywoodgrrl - Ladies with Pretty Hair is one of my faves.

[mithras03.livejournal.com]

I remember they had a whole big second season premier thing in NYC a couples years ago....and then it got canceled.... http://scifiandtvtalk.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/legend-of-the-seeker-stars-in-times-square/
The actress who plays Kahlen was on Law and Order: CI as an ADA (and a redhead - small part as a victim's fiance) - I just saw the episode again, and it caught me off guard like WHOA.

[sasha-b.livejournal.com]

Have you read the books? I just finished the second one. LONG. The man could have benefited from an editor.

However, I adore the show despite it's inconsistancies and the things you mentioned here. I love Richard and Kahlan - and CARA! So much fun. I only wish they hadn't ended it where they did.