Tiny Frog Wizards playtest draft 0.3 is up. This is a major revision, re-working how spell parameters operate, introducing the concept of uncontrolled spells (and providing buckets of random tables to inspire their effects!), and replacing Paths of Power and Power Dice with a more spellcasting-centric – and, hopefully, easier to use – alternative.
It isn't quite where I wanted version 0.3 to be, but I've conveniently just suffered a hand injury which will require me to take a break from any major writing for the next few days, which I've chosen to interpret as the universe telling me to stop tinkering with it and get it in front of some other sets of eyes already.
You can find the latest draft at the link above, and the changelog under the cut. As always, comments, criticisism, and bizarre rants are welcome!
Changelog – Playtest Version 0.3
Note: All page numbers refer to the PDF vesion.
Two new interior illustrations by @amphibianaday.
Updated Credits & Acknowledgements (p. 3) to reflect reader-contributed random table entries.
Added a first pass at a glossary (p. 7).
Added a step-by-step outline of Tiny Frog Creation (p. 10).
Reworked Paths of Power and Power Dice into Preparation Dice and Foci (p. 12).
Parameters which are not assigned a die when making a casting roll (p. 20) now receive a default value of zero rather than 1.
Reworked parameter descriptions (p. 21) to allow for zero values.
Added rules for uncontrolled spells (p. 22) (i.e., spells with a Control value of zero).
Added explicit discussion of Potency (p. 23).
Rules for partial parameters (p. 23) updated to clarify that using less than a parameter's full value does not reduce the spell's Potency; added discussion of parameters for uncontrolled spells (above).
Clarified that spells which have gone haywire due to disruption (p. 25) no longer count against the number of spells you're currently concentrating no.
Reworked examples of direct opposition (p. 26).
Moved Recovery (p. 36) from a subsection of Misfortune to its own separate section, and addressed Preparation Dice (above) as well as Misfortune slots.
Added preliminary discussion and examples of Non-Player Characters (p. 37).
Updated Playing Without a GM (p. 39) to offer suggestions on how to incorporate the Supplementary Tables appendix (below).
Added notes on how to handle uncontrolled spells (above) to all nine Arcana writeups (p. 42).
Updated Alteration (p. 44) to use language consistent with other Arcana when discussing mundane actions with effective Potency ratings.
Updated Animation (p. 45) and Domination (p. 47) with discussion of open-ended commands like “obey me”.
Reworked discussion of what qualifies as a “phenomenon” in sidebar following Evocation (p. 48).
Clarified that Imprecations (p. 49) may not compel ongoing actions and slightly reworked how durations for spells of this Arcanum work.
Tightened up wording of Simulation (p. 50).
Updated optional rules for cantrips (p. 52) to reflect changes to how unrolled parameters work.
Additional examples of cooperative magic (p. 53).
Initial version of Supplementary Tables appendix (p. 58).
(Also, I'm informed that replies are doing something funny at the moment, so if you tried to comment as a reply and it seems to have vanished, please re-submit your remarks either as a reblog or via my inbox. Apologies for that – circumstances beyond my control!)
I gotta say, this is one of my favourite mugs. the green might turn out more black than expected, it was a mix of a few things and ...who knows. I can't wait for this to get out of the kiln
I think I found my new favorite rabbit hole. This voice actor does Shakespeare scenes in a southern accent and I need to see the whole damn play. Absolutely beautiful
if you're not from the us american south, there's some amazing nuances to this you may have missed. i can't really describe all of them, because i've lived here my whole life and a lot of the body language is sort of a native tongue thing. the body language is its own language, and i am not so great at teaching language. i do know i instinctively sucked on my lower teeth at the same time as he did, and when he scratched the side of his face, i was ready to take up fucking arms with him.
but y'all. the way he said "brutus is an honourable man" - each and every time it changed just a little. it was the full condemnation Shakespeare wanted it to be. it started off slightly mock sincere. barely trying to cover the sarcasm. by the end...it wasn't a threat, it was a promise.
the eliding of “you all” to “y’all” while still maintaining 2 syllables is a deliberate and brilliant act of violence. “bear with me” said exactly like i’ve heard it at every funeral. the choices of breaking and re-establishing of eye contact. the balance of rehearsed and improvised tone. A+++ get this man a hollywood contract.
The thing that just destroys me about this, though -- we think of Shakespearean language as being high-cultured, and intellectual, and somewhat inaccessible. And I know people think of Southerners as being ill-educated (which...let's be fair, most are, but not the way it's said). But that whole speech, unaltered, is so authentically Southern. And the thing is: Leaning into that language really amps the mood, in metalanguage. I'm not really sure how to explain it except... like... "Thrice" is not a word you hear in common speech...unless you're in the South and someone is trying to Make A Fucking Point.
Anyway. This was amazing and I want a revival of Shakespeare As Southern Gothic.
One of the lovely things about this, and one of the reasons it works so well, is that from what we can piece together of how Shakespeare was originally pronounced, it leans more towards an American southern accent than it does towards a modern British RP.
In addition, in the evolution of the English language in america, the south has retained many of the words, expressions, and cadences from the Renaissance/Elizabethan English spoken by the original British colonists.
One of the biggest examples of this is that the south still uses “O!”/“Oh!” In sentences, especially in multi-tone and multi-syllable varieties. We’ve lost that in other parts of the country (except in some specific pocket communities). But in the south on the whole? Still there. People in California or Chicago don’t generally say things like “why, oh why?” Or “oh bless your heart” or “Oh! Now why you gotta do a thing like that?!” But people from the south still do.
I teach, direct, and dramaturg Shakespeare for a living. When people are struggling with the “heightened” language, especially in “O” heavy plays like R&J and Hamlet, a frequent exercise I have them do is to run the scene once in a southern accent. You wouldn’t believe the way it opens them up and gives their contemporary brains an insight into ways to use that language without it being stiff and fake. Do the Balcony scene in a southern accent- you’ll never see it the same way again.
This guy is also doing two things that are absolutely spot-on for this speech:
First, he’s using the rhetorical figures Shakespeare gave him! The repetition of “ambition” and “Brutus is an honorable man”, the logos with which he presents his argument, the use of juxtaposition and antitheses (“poor have cried/caesar hath wept”, etc). You would not believe how many RADA/Carnegie/LAMDA/Yale trained actors blow past those, and how much of my career I spend pointing it out and making them put it back in.
Second, he’s playing the situation of the speech and character exactly right. This speech is hard not just because it’s famous, but because linguistically and rhetorically it’s a better speech than Brutus’ speech and in the context of the play, Brutus is the one who is considered a great orator. Brutus’ speech is fiery passion and grandstanding, working the crowd, etc. Anthony is not a man of speeches (“I am no orator, as Brutus is; But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man”) His toastmaster skills are not what Brutus’ are, but he speaks from his heart (his turn into verse in this scene from Brutus’ prose is brilliant) and lays out such a reasonable, logical argument that the people are moved anyway. I completely believe that in this guy’s performance. A plain, blunt, honest speaker. Exactly what Anthony should be.
TLDR: Shakespeare is my job and this is 100% a good take on this speech.
definitely one of the challenges I have with reading Shakespeare is that it sounds so weird to me. “The good is oft interr’d with their bones”?? Who talks like that?
Well,,, rednecks. Despite being Elizabethan English, none of this is really out of character for a man with that accent; southern american English has retained not only (I am told) the accent of Shakespeare, and the “Oh!” speech patterns, but also so many of the little linguistic patterns: parenthetic repetition (“so are they all - all honorable men”), speaking formally when deeply emotional, getting more and more sarcastic and passive-aggressive as time goes on, etc.
Someone sent this to me a while ago and I dropped it in my drafts because I wanted to comment on how RIGHT this sounded but I couldn't express why it sounded right, so I'm glad other people have picked it up
There's a theory that Appalachian English in particular retains a lot of the qualities present in Shakespearean english that are now gone elsewhere. Thinking of my Mamaw, who says "twice't" instead of twice and other things like that...
First of all, this is brilliant acting. Second of all, the language analysis above is great for anyone interested in it. And lastly, this video, to me, does a great job of pointing out the effect of type of media on the story you're trying to tell. Shakespeare's plays work best as plays. Not as scripts, not as movies. Plays.
A visual and literary art annual based in southern Appalachia, The Red Branch Review is seeking submissions in visual art, poetry, and prose. Submission guidelines through the link: https://www.redbranchreview.org/submissions.html
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