#RPGaDAY2020 14: BANNER

#RPGaDAY2020

14: BANNER

Visual identifiers of groups, in and out of character.

Flags and symbols denoting specific groups are obvious in Tolkien-y fantasy where armies march under banners, and Arthurian heraldry and the like.

These are often simplified for fantasy settings, partially for ease of reproduction on various scales. Try painting a miniature shield with the crest of the Knights of Solamnia from Dragonlance versus something like the modern arms of the Prince of Wales.

See also Crap Pirate Flags.

We have modern banners to show our allegiances as well. Superhero symbols, gang tags, corporate logos, fandom merch and the like. Sometimes these are very obvious, sometimes very in-jokey - I own a Buffy logo T-shirt and one for Sunnydale High School gym, and that’s a lot less obscure than a friend’s replica Bunny’s Dog-Walking Service T-shirt.

RPG social/familial splats in particular gained visual markers at least as early as the Clanbooks in late first edition Vampire: The Masquerade, and people started showing up at conventions with clan symbol tattoos soon after. Were they in-character? Sort of. One of the Clanbooks included an origin story for the modern symbols, and clan heraldry in the Dark Ages setting emphasised some bits that fit the medieval setting and retconned others that didn’t, so the upside-down Anarchy A for the Brujah being crossing swords, for example.

The new fifth edition updates them, and devotes most of a page to commenting on the changes and how the clan symbols can vary in-game, and giving an in-character reason why fans shouldn’t feel obliged to get their tats fixed to match!

Vampire: The Requiem ran with this with the Cacophony, a wider collection of symbols and phrases likely to be found in territorial graffiti, emphasising the more local nature of the setting while still including Clan symbols, which have had some updates during the run as well.