On his way to creating the core ideas of Multiverser, E. R. Jones developed another I-game. In it, player characters would imagine themselves abducted from their living rooms by a group of aliens and impressed into service in a vast interstellar war. By the time I knew of the game, the core Dar Koni aliens were fighting on three fronts. I never played the game; but I did consider the problems it posed and proposed solutions to each.
The most recent conflict in which the Dar Koni, and by inference their drafted mercenary player characters, had become entangled was with an alien race with a very strong corporate mentality. This was not merely corporate in the sense that they all worked together for the common good of the race; it was also a financially-driven corporation. They lived for business, built their lives around manufacturing and trade. They were at the same time a race and a business, a family and a company. The interstellar conflict through which the Dar Koni and the Kreelak were attempting to obliterate each other had strayed near the territory of these creatures. That certainly was not sufficient to begin a war; I asked some questions and got to the root of the problem. It seems that one of the player characters, a hot-shot space fighter pilot, had been off on his own shooting at debris, and he shot an innocuous stray satellite–or so he imagined. That stray satellite was the interstellar equivalent of a billboard, advertising goods and services of this unknown people. Because their entire lives revolved around business, they took this attack on their billboard as an act of war, and retaliated. The Dar Koni, confused about the seemingly unprovoked attack, responded. (They tended toward the mentality of shoot first, then figure out who the target is.) The war was established.
Once I understood the cause of this war, I could see the solution. The Dar Koni needed to send a delegation under a flag of truce, offer to make some reparations and take responsibility for the misunderstanding. It would not be essential to offer to pay for all damages, because the peace offer would contain another element that their opponents would eagerly embrace. The Dar Koni would include the establishment of an agreement to buy arms and supplies from their company. I knew that this would motivate the business-oriented aliens to drop any hostilities. The total production and worth of the Dar Koni Empire went into this war effort. For the aliens to be offered even a small percentage of that would be an enticement they would not be able to resist.
The second war was a bit more difficult. The adversary on this front were a silicon-based life form which, according to the author, suffered from a type of xenophobia, an unreasoning fear and hatred of any carbon-based life form. This made it impossible even to approach them for negotiations. Dar Koni, Kreelak, humans, even the business-oriented aliens were all de facto enemies of this race, because all were carbon-based. I pushed the point. Were they truly driven by an irrational fear and hatred, or was it some sort of religious or philosophical position which could be addressed through rational discussion? It was, I was assured, completely impossible for them to resist the compulsion to destroy any carbon-based creature they encountered.
And so I devised what I might dub the Lemming Defense.
I can’t say I know too much about lemmings; but I know enough to know that they do not “throw themselves into the sea” when they have overpopulated an area. They have a very high reproductive rate, and to prevent overpopulation they have an urge to spread out. They have been known to swim swift rivers and wide lakes, obstacles of which they could not see the other side. The ocean appears no different to them than this, so they enter it intending to swim across. It is just too far. But what I do know about lemmings is that these small rodents are adaptable, hard to eliminate, fecund–if once they were established on a planet, it might be very difficult to eliminate them all. Thus I suggested that every habitable (by carbon-based life forms) planet in the area of these silicon creatures needed to be seeded with lemmings and grain. If indeed our information was correct–if these aliens could not not turn their attentions to destroy the threat of carbon-based creatures–they would be forever trapped in their own territory, desperately struggling to overcome the infestation. If, on the other hand, they were able to ignore the presence of these rodents, we would know that their aversion to our kind was if not exactly feigned at least negotiable.
Credit me with a desire for peace; or attribute it to my loathing for character death; or recognize that I lack the brazenness required to presume I can beat someone in a fight. I would rather find a non-combat solution to most conflicts and confrontations presented in game worlds. That’s not to say I won’t fight when it’s necessary; I just don’t think it necessary in all the situations in which players typically resort to arms.
On one occasion, my cavalier, a rather pompous fellow who thought he was the leader of the party because they let him walk in front, opened a door behind which were several orcs, peacefully entertaining themselves. We were on a mission to find some alleged ancient evil something-or-other possibly hidden somewhere in these tunnels, and orcs were not our interest. Rather than stir up trouble where it didn’t need to be, I said, “I’m sorry, I was looking for the loo.” They indicated that they just used a corner, and I thanked them and closed the door.
On another occasion, my kensai, confronted by a group of gnolls, informed them that he had neither reason nor desire to kill them all, but would not hesitate to do so if they insisted. They gladly went on their way, and we on ours, neither of us having expended resources we might need for future confrontations. Surviving one of these adventures is sufficient challenge on its own merits. Picking fights with creatures of no concern to your purpose makes no sense.
Take the advice with however many grains of salt you wish. There are more peaceful solutions to game situations than most of us ever consider.
Next week, something different.
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M. Joseph Young is co-author of Multiverser and Vice President for Development at Valdron Inc. His many contributions to online literature are indexed for convenience, and he looks forward to discussing these things by e-mail or on our Gaming Outpost forums.
