Preface

Was "Introduction"

From above:

"What if pixies lived in your garden, trolls under that bridge, or the neighbor really was an ogre? And you suddenly could see them!" -- Fang Langford

From before:

Introduction - Set the 'Editorial Voice'

Play example goes here.

From the Forge:

Strategically placed pieces of seeming fiction will actually be cleverly disguised examples that the chapter following it will rely heavily upon. Subtle system characteristics will be doubly hidden and be referred to more than one chapter backward (such as "remember the example back in Chapter Two where...").

Another innovation we plan (and this is the reason for the extensive index), is combining creature, gizmo, or non-player 'cast' lists with the "Genre specific mechanics." That way not only does each power, spell, or otherwise have a concise example, there is also a goodly list of base creatures/non-player characters/gizmos for the reader to start with.

The secret plan is to introduce examples in a special way. Rather than isolated concentrated examples sprinkled randomly through out the book, I decided several things:

1. All examples would contain the same characters. The 'players' would be the 'chara' from the companion book.¹
   
2. The examples taken together and in the order presented, would create a 'full' story: beginning, middle and end; complication, crisis, climax, resolution and denouement; all characters encharacterized, both 'players' and 'chara;' setting, character, theme, plot, style and action; characterization,
   setting, conflict, tone and irony; statement of conflict, rising action, 15 steps of complication; all done in tiny snippets of story.
   
3. They would showcase some of the 'catalog' of elements elsewhere in the book.²

Here are the original product specifications:

Title: The Unseen
Subtitle: Plying the Courts of the Hidden Kings
Handout 1: Live Action Rules
Handout 2: Avatar Rules
Handout 3: LARP Magic
Features: Live Action & Avatar Rules
Premise: The Horror Within Oneself
Augmentary Feature: Reflection Shifting
Augmentary Feature: Monsters as PCs
Augmentary Feature: Magic Users
Augmentary Feature: Tabloids
Card Game Notes: Tarot Motif/Magic
Card Game Notes: Færie Catalog
Card Game Notes: Useful LARP Resolution
Universe: U3 - with Færie visitation
Dynamic Background: Seelie versus Unseelie plus Fianna
Notes: Related to Charles DeLint's works

Fang Langford

¹ All twelve Scattershot products were scheduled to come out in pairs:

Universe 6: The World of the Modern Fantastic Superheroes	Færie Tales Typical Fantasy RPG
The Unseen: In the Courts of the Hidden Kings Færies, Trolls, Vampires and et cetera in the Modern World	Steel Cages: Ten Minutes Old and It's Free Cyberpunk
Gothic with a K Vampires, C'thulhu and Horror	"Romance Novel" 'Nuff Said
Tales of the Laughing Fox Science Fantasy with Laser Swords	Double Feature Cinematic and Over-the-Top
Sinclair Cat: Consulting Detective Detective, Steampunk and Anthropomorphics	"Time Travel" 'Nuff Said
"Spec Trek" (Split-Infinity Drive) Think Distant Speculative Future Battleships	ÆgisTech Mecha & Street Kombat

As you can see, I hadn't "named" all of them yet.

² Scattershot trade secret: It's boring to have a list of spells. It's boring to have a list of monsters. Why not combine them and spice that up?