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Hello TG, I need your help I love God Games, as played in the TG play by post forums. I also think there's a lot to love about PDQ, the system that most of those God Games are built on top of. There have been some amazing god games that have been run here on something awful, and I've had the fortune to participate in a few of them. They're great epics that combine inter-character melodrama, powerful archetypes, high fantasy, world bulding (often literally), and populace management. But I think Godgames could be done better. they could be more accessible, for veterans, new players, and GMs alike. The rules for Godgame consists of the basics for making a character and doing stuff. It's enough for a player to get going, but there's no rules or guidelines for GMing the game. It's assumed either you're a good GM and already know what you need to do to run a game, or you don't and you will probably stink. Another fault of Godgames, and PDQ is that your stats and abilities are qualities you decide are aspects of your God, descriptive words or short phrases that tell you what the God is a representation of and what they're good at. I love this kind of character creation, it's very liberating. But it also means that players in a God Game are likely to justify using their primary domain with the highest stat for every task. When you are the god of Fire +6 and Justice +2, you will try to solve all of your problems by burning them - so why even have justice? But I've recently gotten a new love in my life: Dungeon World. I love the *world system for a lot of reasons, and think it's a great fit for a God Game in a lot of ways. The tiered success rolls for moves, with built-in successes with consequences is a perfect fit for godgames. The rules on running the game, where you help the players build the world around their players by asking questions - rules about using your players' imaginations is what god Games are all about! I also love making things so over the past few weeks I've been bashing these two together to try and make a better God Game. I've been thinking about words like irreducible, and core mechanic, and fun to play. i'm throwing a lot of ideas at a wall and trying to figure out what sticks. Most of what I have is dungeon world with the serial numbers filed off and few extra systems added in. What I have so far: In theory, the game plays like Apocalyps World or Dungeon World. The GM uses her moves to tell the players what is happening and asks them what do they do. as the players say what they are doing, if one of the moves is triggered by the fiction, the moves directs what happens next in the fiction, often determined by a dice roll. It's a back and forth conversation between the GM and the players, but it's also a back and forth conversation between the fiction and the rules. HERE is what I have so far of the rules. HERE is what I have so far for the moves Gods can make. Both documents are very unfinished, some moves are little more than a name. Which brings me to this thread. I need the help of you fine people. I need your opinions, your ideas, your questions. You can find the rules for PDQ HERE. You can find the rules for Dungeon World HERE You can also find the flavor stripped rules for Simple world HERE Here is a link to a currently running Godgame: Game Thread Recruitment Thread madadric fucked around with this message at Jan 22, 2013 around 03:17 |
| # ? Jan 20, 2013 13:36 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 18:17 |
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That one actually just refuses to die. I'm all for innovation but I've got my hands full right now. Good luck!
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 05:54 |
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I like the concept. I think the modifiers are a bit more complicated than they need to be - there seems to be a bunch of things you can do following a dice roll (eg hold etc). Are they all necessary? I don't think I fully understand how the various stats of gods work together - do you buy pillars at creation? What determines a god's class and how does that affect ego? There's probably room for a bit of consolidation there. Harm is interesting, and the ability to cause injury to each pillar independently of the other is a good idea. A neater way to approach things might be to have ego based on pillars, ie to cause a god to dissipate you have to cause damage in each quality equal to its bonus. EDIT: Also Bekwae and Astas! I remember them! Cacto fucked around with this message at Jan 21, 2013 around 11:16 |
| # ? Jan 21, 2013 11:12 |
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Cacto posted:I like the concept. I think the modifiers are a bit more complicated than they need to be - there seems to be a bunch of things you can do following a dice roll (eg hold etc). Are they all necessary? Thanks for the questions, Cacto! Not all moves will do all of the things listed in the "Some Moves..." section. Moves are like special rules you get on Magic: The Gathering cards. The text for a single move tells you everything you need to know about triggering it, resolving it, and the effects it has. Pillars are the 3 main stats for how your god affects the world. i'm thinking that during character creation, you can assign 3 points to your pillars. Each point you assign increases your bonus when you roll with that pillar. Each move will have a pillar associated with it. Example posted:Astas, the God of Fear and Pacts has the following stats. Inspire Hero isn't yet a great move because the first tow options you can spend hold on are too similar, but making it a hold X move as opposed to a choose X move means you can spread the hero's actions out through their lifetime. Classes Class is a point of contention for me at the moment, i'm asking myself the same question right now. In Dungeon World, what separates the Bard Class from the Fighter class is the moves they get. Bard moves are all about playing songs and charming the pants off of people. fighter moves are all about being the big tough guy that kills things. Their class not only defines their role in battle, but their role in the fiction. i'm having trouble translating the concept of classes to Gods without greatly limiting how people can make the god they want. Do I base it on personality type? but then what kind of moves does the "Angry one" get and what does the "Wise one" get? Trickster sounds like it would HAVE to be a God class, it's such a strong archetype in so many myths and stories. but what would it's contemporaries be? If I made a Trickster class and say, and Aggressor class does that mean that the Aggressor is automatically the God of beating stuff up and starting fights, and the trickster can't really do that? Harm, Ego, and Debilities The final score for Ego is currently based on Essence. essence is what makes up Gods and souls and spirits. The reason I called the HP stat Ego, is because i wanted to be just as easy to inflict harm on a god when you show them they have acted against their principles or have attacked their worshippers' belief in them as if you threw a mountain at them. The debilities aren't damage in the sense that you will die from them, more that they just make it harder to do stuff. They would often happen along with harm to the god's Ego as well. I'm planning on using a bunch of memorable Gods from the Games I was in for my examples!
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 12:29 |
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In the interest of clarity and progress, I've begin work on the classless basic charachter sheet HERE The Inspire Hero move needs better options. the first two are almost the same thing. also most of the stock God names should be familiar to past Godgame players.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 16:26 |
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Making a better godgame is something I've wanted to do for a while now. There's a GMless game I've been slowly working on for a year or so, which I might post here once I've got it in order if that's okay with you. I also had some rough ideas for a *world godgame, with general moves like "When you prophesy that a deed will be undone, roll +Ages until the fate will occur..." (Ages being the equivalent of sessions) and "When you act with contempt, roll +Hubris displayed..." (Hubris could be spent 1-for-1 by the MC to use hard moves against you). All the moves were like that, with a bit of haughty grandeur. There were also things like Debts, which you gain when someone asks you for help and you grant them aid, and Cults, which are basically the overt form of your mortal worshippers whom you can command to do things for you like a cross between gangs and hardholds in AW. It's literally just a couple of moves and a few tags for Cults, though. For my GMless game the idea I have for defining characters is that you have your domain, which is whatever you have control over and responsibility for, and your aspects, the roles you play which define all the massive, world-changing things you can do. Domain is pretty much a record of the things you control, so if you have the domain of Fire you might control the sun, a flame-worshipping cult and a theurgic branch of academic magic used by blacksmiths. They move up and down a meter that shows how close to your domain they are. Maybe something similar could be done in the *world system with a clock for each major creation - the further it goes around, the closer the project/creation/mortal quest is to completion/perfection. Given the distribution of sections that would actually make things more dramatic at the conclusion of each major event or quest. Then, each character has a set of aspects, which they pick from a list, and each aspect has a bunch of stuff associated with it like what you do to take up this role, how you can fall from it, what powers you have that nobody else does and so on. You choose different numbers of powers depending on how much you take on that role, so you might not be very big on being e.g. The King of Kings (ruler of the divine court and official ruler of all mortals), and in turn you could be pretty much the direct embodiment of e.g. The Maelstrom (vengeful, inescapable, destructive god). The way this ties in with the *world system is that the format of the powers (stuff like "You can exact vengeance upon anyone, anywhere") was inspired by *world moves, so they could easily be converted to moves (like "When you exact vengeance upon someone who has wronged or slighted you...") if you wanted a bunch of inspiration. The lists of relationships and effects on mortals in your character sheet are things which are sort of missing from my game - basically I'm hoping that they'll come out during play. You could easily turn the aspects into playbooks in a *world godgame, because unlike in my one where you need multiple aspects to be more than 1-note, you've got the general moves that give everyone broad powers. I've also been building up a database of all the characters from past godgames. I figured that since I was writing my own game I might as well use the massive amount of raw material people have made here. I can put the current version online if you want.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 17:59 |
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Remember that in Apocalypse World itself and some of the hacks, there are options to gain moves from other playbooks and/or transition playbooks entirely. Including stuff like that might help address the issue of how to "class" gods.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 19:16 |
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madadric posted:Classes You could have godly classes treat domains the way most World games treat eyes, if that makes any sense. Like, the Aggressor's domain is Something Violent, Something Brutal or Something Inspiring. Of course, this hinges on the three choices being so broad that just about anything could fit into one of the choices. It's not much of a difference mechanically, but conceptually the Aggressor god of Violence-as-Something Brutal is different from the Aggressor god of Violence-as-Something Inspiring is even more different from the Trickster god of Violence-as-Something Unexpected. (On a second reading this paragraph doesn't seem that relevant to what you're having trouble with, but I still think it's a good idea.) And to echo what malkav11 said, as long as there's a good spread of basic moves and an open multiclassing system you shouldn't have the problem of a Trickster being unable to fight if they really want to be good at fighting.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 20:02 |
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madadric posted:Thanks for the questions, Cacto! Not all moves will do all of the things listed in the "Some Moves..." section. Moves are like special rules you get on Magic: The Gathering cards. The text for a single move tells you everything you need to know about triggering it, resolving it, and the effects it has. Sounds good! I just realised the link for the moves doc in your starting post is the same as for the rules - it would be good to see more details about what you've come up with so far. lurks with wolves posted:And to echo what malkav11 said, as long as there's a good spread of basic moves and an open multiclassing system you shouldn't have the problem of a Trickster being unable to fight if they really want to be good at fighting. I dunno - maybe moves should be bought with a point-buy instead. Then players can decide what kind of god they want to play rather than having to pick a class, because classes of god would probably relate to domain - nearly every pantheon has a thunder god, a fire god, a trickster god, an earth mother and a death god. Of course, you'll probably end up with a situation where players want to choose +3 to one pillar and then pick moves that all rely on that pillar, but that's not such a big deal - chances are that players are rarely going to choose to use a move if they can't all but guarantee success. The key I guess would be to make sure that all pillars are genuinely useful in play. Influence is pretty cut and dried - without it you're unlikely to succeed in building divinity very much. Although of course you could get around that by just using worshippers up to gain divinity as soon as (if?) you can earn any (doesn't matter how many bonds you sever if every success severs at least one and you never have more than one). Essence influences Ego, which might be enough reason to take it. I'm guessing it also has bonuses for dance-fighting with other gods, so that could make it attractive too. Substance is a bit trickier - it doesn't seem to influence any secondary statistic or game attribute, so unless it had strong narrative flavour I'd see it as a dump stat, particularly if moves for other pillars can achieve similar results (eg Influence to get humans to build a temple versus creating it out of fat air). Could it be combined with Essence for a Physical/Mental split? Of course, if the moves bound to substance are more impressive or effective then it will have bonus value.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 20:55 |
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UnCO3 posted:Making a better godgame is something I've wanted to do for a while now. There's a GMless game I've been slowly working on for a year or so, which I might post here once I've got it in order if that's okay with you. I also had some rough ideas for a *world godgame, with general moves like "When you prophesy that a deed will be undone, roll +Ages until the fate will occur..." (Ages being the equivalent of sessions) and "When you act with contempt, roll +Hubris displayed..." (Hubris could be spent 1-for-1 by the MC to use hard moves against you). All the moves were like that, with a bit of haughty grandeur. There were also things like Debts, which you gain when someone asks you for help and you grant them aid, and Cults, which are basically the overt form of your mortal worshippers whom you can command to do things for you like a cross between gangs and hardholds in AW. It's literally just a couple of moves and a few tags for Cults, though. Definitely post anything you've got. Cross- pollination can only make the games better. I'm also fascinated by GM-less games like Fiasco so I'd love to see what you have. Cacto posted:Sounds good! I just realised the link for the moves doc in your starting post is the same as for the rules - it would be good to see more details about what you've come up with so far. Ill fix that link after this post. A lot of the moves are very unfinished but they can help give an idea. I'm thinking that having a common list of moves that players choose from when they level up will work the best and ill scrap classes for the moment at least. Perhaps at character generation I might have an option to choose one of a set of 3 or 4 simple moves, similar to race moves in dungeon world. I haven't thought of a secondary character trait that substance influences yet, but it's definitely something ill consider. Perhaps a higher Sub gives you a larger damage dice. That said, there are a lot of things substance can do that influence can't. If you want to solve a race or nations drought problem and you are a god of weather, you could simply make it rain for a month. If you wanted to make a new continent or chain of islands, you'd need to roll +sub. There are some things you could approach with either Sub or Inf. if you wanted to make the white city, you could either influence a group of mortals to build it, and it may take 30 years. Or you could carve it out of a mountain of marble using your domain of stone or earth, ant it might take 30 days.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 21:57 |
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In AW there are multiple playbooks which centre around, for example, violence (the Battlebabe, the Faceless, the Gunlugger, the Touchstone). If Trickster is too broad or restricts other classes by preventing them from being deceptive then you could do away with a specific trickster class and give some trickster-like moves to other playbooks - a fiendish character who's about destruction and corruption and has a move or two for things like lying through their teeth, a teacher-god whose moves are mostly about educating mortals who has a move for teaching through deceptions, a theatrical character who has a move for playing the fool and being smarter than they seem or for playing tricks on people. Maybe even condense things like deception into options in some moves, so if your crackling evil god has a move for making dark pacts, one outcome they could choose might be "the pact is fulfilled ironically, to your advantage and their detriment".Cacto posted:I dunno - maybe moves should be bought with a point-buy instead. Then players can decide what kind of god they want to play rather than having to pick a class, because classes of god would probably relate to domain - nearly every pantheon has a thunder god, a fire god, a trickster god, an earth mother and a death god.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2013 22:17 |
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Style would be things like trickster, and domain is agriculture or whatever. There would probably have to be some way to get multiple domains...maybe each primary can have a bunch of secondaries that you get as -1 level, something like that. edit: You know, on second thought, I would suggest just getting rid of classes all together and just having a bunch of moves to choose from (some of which have pre requisites perhaps). There is so much variety in what gods are in different mythologies, that you are bound to be limiting with any kind of class distinctions. Sears Poncho fucked around with this message at Jan 22, 2013 around 02:31 |
| # ? Jan 22, 2013 02:08 |
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Fixed the link in the first post, and i'll repost it here. It's a very unfinished list, and a lot of the moves are little more than a trigger. HERE is what I have so far for the moves Gods can make. It currently isn't sorted into a list of starting moves or advanced moves, though Divine Item is definitely an advanced move. As for classes, I think for now, I'll just make one basic "Could be anything" class until I have a solid list of moves for that, then I might experiment with making "Packages" or "Portfolios" which are a selection of specific pre-selected themed domains, bonds, and moves for different concepts that players can use to short-cut to play a lot faster by eliminating options. I also want to work foibles into the character creation - something like alignments in Dungeon world, but not being about alignment, more about the god's personal morality or hang-ups. These could also be moves that establish a type of "Class" such as: Foibles posted:
Advanced moves upon level up will be separated by level requirements, and perhaps "Requires X" or "Replaces X" where X is a previously taken move.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2013 03:36 |
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So I'm still slowly working on this, and I'm currently tackling player VS player conflict, namely straight up trying to murder another player's character. Generally, *World games don't really seem to focus on this, and i'm not a huge fan of inter-player combat, but it seems like something that should be in a God Game, so this is what I've got so far: Divine Power posted:Player VS Player
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 17:13 |
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Just wanted to post saying this looks pretty awesome, and I am looking forward to the final product. I will see if I can be helpful when I have learned more about and played more * World games.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 20:42 |
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I've put together a godgame-apocalypse hack of Geiger Counter called Death is Certain. As the title not-so-subtly states, most or all of the main characters - the gods - will die. The point of the game is more to make sure you die in style. It's basically the opposite of how godgames normally run, with the player characters trying to avoid death while creating their world and building up their base of worshippers. Instead, they create a world while setting up the game, then alternately defend and destroy it with cinematic, apocalyptic violence while bringing their characters inexorably closer towards a dramatic demise, leaving perhaps one or two survivors. This document is a rough version - once I've finished it and added some pictures I'll probably give it a proper format and make it a pdf. Does anyone have any suggestions for it? While writing it I started thinking about using several systems to play through different parts of the same mythical story. What I thought of was using The Quiet Year for the myth-shrouded creation of the world by ancient, primordial beings, then madadric's Divine Power hack for the big, central divine drama and finally my Death is Certain hack (with the DP characters converted to DiC rules, which isn't that hard at all) for the eventual end of the world.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 01:27 |
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UnCO3 posted:I've put together a godgame-apocalypse hack of Geiger Counter called Death is Certain. As the title not-so-subtly states, most or all of the main characters - the gods - will die. The point of the game is more to make sure you die in style. It's basically the opposite of how godgames normally run, with the player characters trying to avoid death while creating their world and building up their base of worshippers. Instead, they create a world while setting up the game, then alternately defend and destroy it with cinematic, apocalyptic violence while bringing their characters inexorably closer towards a dramatic demise, leaving perhaps one or two survivors. This document is a rough version - once I've finished it and added some pictures I'll probably give it a proper format and make it a pdf. Does anyone have any suggestions for it? This looks really cool! The Apocalypse as a setting sounds great, ad a lot of the most fun god games I've played in had a set ending or impending doom as a finale, so building the rules around this conceit makes a lot of sense. The communal character creation is also really solid, especially mixing submissions and having them randomly assigned. My one IRL game of an older system had a real power player that tried to think of the most potent or versatile domains in an attempt to dominate the game. I like your descriptions for havens. I intended to make them a bigger part od Divine Power, but need to go back and do it. Codifying neutral ground as the Forum is amazing too, so I may have to steal bits of it.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 09:45 |
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I think it is about time to consider making playbooks for different archetypes of Gods, or at least time that I start trying to assemble some. If we have several solid playbooks, GMs could allow players to mix and match from the various ones to create many possible ones. Also, I am of the opinion that it would be a good move away from Nobilis and PDQ for Gods to no longer have explicit domains. Gods have certain capabilities, but their purviews are constantly growing and shifting. Finally, I am considering that perhaps if we want to do an X World game, we should expand the three stats so there is more of an X world spread. Easily, if I borrow "Create a stat that reflects each of these tendencies:" Essence Like Will or Weird, working with Spirit-Stuff such as that which you, other Gods, and Souls are made of. Influence Your ability to inspire or direct the thoughts and actions of mortals. When you charm, or persuade, or terrify mortals to do your bidding, you are using your skill with manipulating Influence. Destruction Whenever you are weakening, corrupting, smashing, or annihilating something. Creation Whenever you are building, developing, improving, or creating something. Knowledge Whenever you seek to discover facts about something.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 10:10 |
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madadric posted:This looks really cool! The Apocalypse as a setting sounds great, ad a lot of the most fun god games I've played in had a set ending or impending doom as a finale, so building the rules around this conceit makes a lot of sense. The communal character creation is also really solid, especially mixing submissions and having them randomly assigned. My one IRL game of an older system had a real power player that tried to think of the most potent or versatile domains in an attempt to dominate the game. I like your descriptions for havens. I intended to make them a bigger part od Divine Power, but need to go back and do it. Codifying neutral ground as the Forum is amazing too, so I may have to steal bits of it. As for overpowered characters, I think that's a big problem. In semi-competitive systems there's reason to go for pure power (domains like war, knowledge and magic) rather than more more interesting or esoteric domains and more nuanced characters. Random assortment helps, as does playing a cooperative game where (dramatic, appropriate) character death is desired and not something that kicks you out of the game. One thing I haven't seen much in newer godgames is places where the gods can just talk, or the collective and individual homes of the gods. That's something I thought worked well in Cacto's first game, like the meeting of the gods in Voma's study, or Shesha'haj and Voma talking in her library (not coincidentally, that game was partly what I modelled Death is Certain on). Something else I think it would be good to take from that game is that you and the other players created NPC mortals out of thin air, those who followed you, those who didn't, those who followed other gods, and you had a much stronger degree of narrative control over them. In more recent games it seems more that mortals are all under the GM's control, mainly as a mouthpiece for answering the question "What's going on here then" whenever the god they worship comes around. MiltonSlavemasta posted:Also, I am of the opinion that it would be a good move away from Nobilis and PDQ for Gods to no longer have explicit domains. Gods have certain capabilities, but their purviews are constantly growing and shifting. The Maelstrom - +2 Destruction, probably +1 Influence The Adversary - +2 Influence, probably +1 Essence or Knowledge The All-seeing Eye - +2 Knowledge, probably +1 Influence The Grim Guide - +2 Essence, probably +1 Influence or Knowledge The Cornerstone - +2 Creation, probably +1 Essence Something else to consider would be something like the origins in Monsterhearts playbooks/skins (downloadable here below the product itself). They're basically a list of brief, vague origins for the characters. The possible origins for a Cornerstone might be 'born into it, willingly took up the burden, imprisoned, enslaved, labour of love'. Finally, if we're talking about moving past certain conceits of past godgames, how about doing things other than consensus reality/power through worship unless it has a twist on it?
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 13:42 |
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I originally went with Substance, Influence, and Essence as the three pillars because rhey felt like the three irreducible ways that a God can affect themselves and everything around them. It allowed for God of Creation without having a double redundancy of the same Domain and Pillar. That said, splitting Substance into Creation and Destruction adds more flavor without watering it down too much. I'm not sure if Knowledge is the word I'd choose for the last stat, or how many moves would work off it, or if you could base an Archetype around it as a core stat that couldn't be covered by one of the other pillars. If the God is trying to gain Knowledge, then they are acting upon themselves and that's Essence. If they're trying to learn from another or teach another, that's Influence. I'm also less worried about power creep and brute-forcing success, since the bonuses to a single roll are minimized to a single Pillar, a +1 from another God's Aid move, (Which that God had to roll for), and perhaps a +1 forward to a move, so the bonuses for a single roll would top out at 5 or so for a high level character with +3 in a pillar. Since the current leveling up model has players ither taking a new move or increasing one of their pillars, and if there are 4 or 5 pillars, it's going to be harder to get to the +3 on those core stats. However, if I go ahead and split all the character creation stuff up into separate Arechetypal playbooks, then a few more pillars makes sense. Archetypes would be defined by individual moves, Domains, (if they're kept. I still like the idea of Gods being based around thematic concepts) Foibles, Bonds, and maybe Harm Dice? At this point though, I still think the game needs more basic moves plotted out before they're separated into Archetypes. Start all Gods equal before tweaking them in different directions. On Domains, I think if they're kept, they need to have more said about them in the character creation. At the moment the sum total of rules regarding Domains is "Choose some Domains. when you act in their service or to control them, you may use your bonus from the appropriate pillar." I'm not really sure that this sells them fictionally in a meaningful way, and they'd have to be backed up by moves, which would mean archetypes that have particular themes behind them. The tricky part is how do you break all the different concepts down into 6 or 8 basic archetypal Gods? you'd either end up with a few generalised watered down archetypes or 500 different playbooks. Is the maelstrom a version of the Warrior? what about the Justicar? Are the Trickster and the Adversary the same? What about the Psychopomp and the Enemy of Life? Is the mother a class, or a domain ofr the Creator class? looking at stuff written on different culture's Gods, it seems like every third God has a warrior aspect. If there is a Psychopomp Archetype, does that mean that the other Gods don't get much say in what happens to their dead mortals? If the other Gods do get a say, does that limit the Psychopomp's agency in the game? Should the Warrior Archetype be flexible enough to make Thor, Crom, Athena, Ares, Mars, The Morrighan, Tyr, etc.? If so, then it's about boiling down their common themes into moves. Individual types of warrior could be initially defined by foibles, bonds, and Domains. A Domain could be like a foible, in that if you act in it's use, manipulation, service, or furtherance, you gain an XP or Divinity. Victory In Your Name When your forces are about to attack their enemy and pray to you for victory, describe the ritual they perform in your honour and roll +INF. On a 10+, they claim a major victory. On a 7-9, ground is neither won nor lost and the fighting will continue. On a miss it is a bitter defeat. Divine Soldier When you go into battle with your armies, spend 5 Divinity and roll+DES. On a 10+, you route the enemy decisively. On a 7-9, you claim victory, but your forces take heavy losses. On a miss, catastrophe befalls your armies.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 17:05 |
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I can see the reasoning behind the Substance/Influence/Essence spread and why Knowledge isn't a great stat. While I see what you mean about creating a redundancy by splitting Substance into Creation and Destruction while still allowing Creation and Destruction as domains, I think just having Substance is still half as redundant. It's essentially Creation and Desruction rolled into a single stat. Aside from that I can think of at least one way a god of destruction might create (making war machines) and one way a god of creation might destroy (recycling, like fungi decomposing a body).madadric posted:On Domains, I think if they're kept, they need to have more said about them in the character creation. At the moment the sum total of rules regarding Domains is "Choose some Domains. when you act in their service or to control them, you may use your bonus from the appropriate pillar." I'm not really sure that this sells them fictionally in a meaningful way, and they'd have to be backed up by moves, which would mean archetypes that have particular themes behind them. The tricky part is how do you break all the different concepts down into 6 or 8 basic archetypal Gods? you'd either end up with a few generalised watered down archetypes or 500 different playbooks. madadric posted:Is the maelstrom a version of the Warrior? what about the Justicar? Are the Trickster and the Adversary the same? What about the Psychopomp and the Enemy of Life? Is the mother a class, or a domain ofr the Creator class? looking at stuff written on different culture's Gods, it seems like every third God has a warrior aspect. If there is a Psychopomp Archetype, does that mean that the other Gods don't get much say in what happens to their dead mortals? If the other Gods do get a say, does that limit the Psychopomp's agency in the game? It seems like you could roll all law/justice/game/contract/tyranny/royalty/rebellion-based gods into one playbook, ask what their principles are and make the moves general enough to apply to almost any concept of ethical good those principles represent. "When you demonstrate fairness to your followers...", "When you punish a mortal for perpetrating injustice...", "When you preside over the settlement of a dispute..." and so on. This kind of combination is what I did with the Maelstrom, combining themes of vengeance, violence, destruction, war and various parts of the natural world to get a broad concept. The Maelstrom could even have a move about protecting their allies or rewarding loyalty to allow some variation on the concept of the temperamental god. Personally I'd say the Psychopomp should definitely have a significant role in choosing where the dead go. It's the same as a god of war having power over other gods' worshippers' ability to wage war, or a fire god having power over their ability to cook and smelt. I mean, the thing about mortals is that every god has a stake in them, so they all have the power to offend, threaten or attack other gods through their worshippers. Another way of treating mortals is to have the vast majority worship all gods as and when it's appropriate (praying to the sea god when making a journey by sea, to the death god when someone in the family dies and so on), and then have small cults devoted to one or a few gods, either out of dedication or a belief in their patron's supremacy. Rather than a god ruling the lives of a small number of mortals, they rule one or more aspects of the lives of a large number of mortals. In any case, I think the concern about there being too few playbooks to properly cover every possible kind of god is already resolved by the way they work. Even without each character having a self-made domain move (not sure whether or not that's a good idea, though), they won't share the same moves and features with other gods built on the same playbook, not only because of the variation within playbooks but because they can branch out to others. In *World terms, the Morrigan isn't just a Warrior, she's a Warrior who's branched out to the Psychopomp playbook. Ares and Athena might both be Warriors, but they've taken different moves - Athena has focussed more on the top-down, army-level strategic moves with a few personal ones, and Ares has focussed on the up-close-and-personal violence moves with a few higher ones. Athena has probably also taken a move out of another playbook about material goods or protection or making peace, while Ares is a Warrior all the way. Thor probably has some Maelstrom moves, while Set's built on the Maelstrom playbook with a few Warrior moves on the side. Basically, I think the way playbooks work means that you don't have to look for the common characteristics across every war-god, you just have to look for those common to some of them, and vary who you're looking at. madadric posted:Victory In Your Name
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 22:18 |
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UnCO3 posted:I think a set end-point helps the game in 2 ways: firstly you've got a shared purpose that unites the players and characters (avoid/prevent/survive/get everything done before the end, in the case of the apocalypse) and secondly you've got a timeline and countdown that gives some indication of the pace and time-commitment involved. The only other fixed-end scenarios I can think of right now that fit the mythic world-building theme are the creation of the world (leading up to something like the first rebellion against the gods) or a conflict between two groups of gods (as in Norse and Celtic mythology). I'm a big fan of end-of-the-world godgames, and not just for the fixed timeframe; they're also the few scenarios where gods are genuinely in danger. For a situation to be interesting, there should be higher stakes than "I didn't succeed in making pony people, now what?". Ragnarok lets a GM fail that forward or at least draw failures into the overall apocalyptic theme : "And it was written that the herald of the endtimes would be the centaur Agromech, first and last of his kind, corrupted to sentience by the waning power of the fallen god Belshar and driven by hate for the curse laid upon him." Successes are brighter, too, when the world is going to end. It's definitely easier to write an apocalyptic godgame. UnCO3 posted:Personally I'd say the Psychopomp should definitely have a significant role in choosing where the dead go. It's the same as a god of war having power over other gods' worshippers' ability to wage war, or a fire god having power over their ability to cook and smelt. I mean, the thing about mortals is that every god has a stake in them, so they all have the power to offend, threaten or attack other gods through their worshippers. Another way of treating mortals is to have the vast majority worship all gods as and when it's appropriate (praying to the sea god when making a journey by sea, to the death god when someone in the family dies and so on), and then have small cults devoted to one or a few gods, either out of dedication or a belief in their patron's supremacy. Rather than a god ruling the lives of a small number of mortals, they rule one or more aspects of the lives of a large number of mortals. I think this could work, but only if the players are happy to belong to a single pantheon where roles and responsibilities are decided as a group. So players would decide who gets the death god move list, the prime element for the pantheon move list (do they have an earth or a fire or a thunder god), the war move list, the wisdom move list etc. Applying to a godgame like that could be about coming up with signature moves that will work regardless of domain, a background that reflects a pantheon structure, and maybe some links with other players. It'd be much easier to do with a fixed game group than as a forum game though. For forum games at least, godgames are generally monotheistic; I don't think anyone's really tried to require all applications to make up a coherent pantheon. And that will make narrative problems if players must then - despite wildly divergent histories and population bases - accept other gods meddling with 'their' worshippers.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 23:04 |
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UnCO3 posted:It seems like the 7-9 result should have at least some effect. On a 7-9, you pick a disadvantage and the GM tells you what advantage you won. Supplying lists of advantages and disadvantages is left as an exercise for someone who knows the putative setting better than I do.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 23:38 |
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Cacto posted:I'm a big fan of end-of-the-world godgames, and not just for the fixed timeframe; they're also the few scenarios where gods are genuinely in danger. For a situation to be interesting, there should be higher stakes than "I didn't succeed in making pony people, now what?". Ragnarok lets a GM fail that forward or at least draw failures into the overall apocalyptic theme : "And it was written that the herald of the endtimes would be the centaur Agromech, first and last of his kind, corrupted to sentience by the waning power of the fallen god Belshar and driven by hate for the curse laid upon him." Cacto posted:I think this could work, but only if the players are happy to belong to a single pantheon where roles and responsibilities are decided as a group. So players would decide who gets the death god move list, the prime element for the pantheon move list (do they have an earth or a fire or a thunder god), the war move list, the wisdom move list etc. Applying to a godgame like that could be about coming up with signature moves that will work regardless of domain, a background that reflects a pantheon structure, and maybe some links with other players. It'd be much easier to do with a fixed game group than as a forum game though.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 01:13 |
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Progress from tonight I've been mulling over the discussion and suggestions in the thread for the past few days, and it's giving me lots of ideas. I've been thining about classes, their terminology, and the parts that will separate one class from another. One thing I'm considering is ditching the concept of specific Domains as mechanical components of characters altogether, and more work them as foibles or conceits, or desires, duties, and fears. I think classes will probably reflect Apocalypse World playbooks more than Dungeon World ones, in that there will most likely be less moves overall, or these will be a specific leveling up guide: -take a new move for your class -increase a stat by +1 -take a move for your class -increase a stat by +1 take a move from another class -etc The other method I'm thinking of is that when you level up, you can either take one of your class's advanced moves, or increase a stat by +1. each class would have a few "Multiclass" moves that allow you to take moves from other classes so you can diversify. A lot of the class structure will revolve around exactly how many cool moves i can think up per class. I'm also thinking of having specific "Choose 1" moves for Sanctuaries, Foibles, Origins, etc. but I'll see how I go. I've got really basic keyword concepts for 8 classes, or archetypes. All Archetypes can perform basic moves, plus their starting moves, and any advanced moves they have taken. The Maelstrom/Tempest storms/passion/lack of control/mutation/chaos/change/freedom/wind The Warrior/Aggressor wars/armies/warriors/soldiers/aggression/violence/strength/battle/duty/iron The Adversary/Devil deals/pacts/fear/suffering/monsters/evil/punishment/greed/avarice/temptation/fire The Psychopomp/Grim Guide death/guidance/afterlife/tranquility/decay/rebirth/reincarnation/resurrection/endings/darkness The Cornerstone/Mother life/creativity/fertility/birth/beginnings/health/construction/foundation/water The Scales/Judge judgement/justice/law/morality/balance/fairness/order/rulers/tyranny/light The Mystic/Seer knowledge/magic/insight/precognition/prophecy/wisdom/madness/stars/music/dreams/spirit The Defender/Protector protection/compassion/shelter/safety/stability/security/barriers/shield/aegis/separation/earth If you can think of any other themes for the classes, feel free to list them here. I intend to use the keywords to inspire moves for the Archetype. Since a lot of my though process is wrapped up in thinking visually, I created a series of symbols to represent the 4 Pillars:  UnCO3 posted:I think it would be interesting to try a godgame where the characters don't have rigid backstories when the players apply, and instead a common history is developed in setup or during the early game with things like a common origin, source of power or reason for existing, basic relations like "siblings" or "opposites", and relations that developed later like "rivals", "allies" or "ruler and rebel". It would at least give the characters more reason to interact with one another. Godgames in general need more contact between the gods in my opinion - most of the time it's just deals or threats. Where are the conversations where the gods sneer at each other's failures, congratulate them on successes, engage in rivalries, discuss major issues of contention, uncover hidden truths, go on quests and so on? A lot of the *world games do just this. The rules of the first session is basically the GM plans nothing, and asks the players questions about their characters and the world and what's going on that puts them in danger right now. Bonds help establish history between the characters before and during the game. A bunch of questions about the gods' pantheon could establish facts about their relationships and their neutral ground. "What place is considered inviolate neutral ground for all gods? What makes it so special?" "Where do your Gods gain their authority collectively? How did you end up in charge?" "What is a past foe you all had to band together to defeat? How did you imprison them?" "Which mortal hero has your two gods both tried to win the affections of?" "What strange plage is endangering the plainsmen of the west at the moment?" "Who do you suspect launched the attack on the exploring vessels sent into the nightstorm sea?" madadric fucked around with this message at Mar 11, 2013 around 16:53 |
| # ? Mar 11, 2013 16:44 |
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I hope someone starts up another god game. I just read through the entire thread of the last game in like two sittings. Cool poo poo.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 22:51 |
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madadric posted:A lot of the class structure will revolve around exactly how many cool moves i can think up per class. I'm also thinking of having specific "Choose 1" moves for Sanctuaries, Foibles, Origins, etc. but I'll see how I go. madadric posted:I've got really basic keyword concepts for 8 classes, or archetypes. All Archetypes can perform basic moves, plus their starting moves, and any advanced moves they have taken. I'd suggest adding another archetype for trade, industry, wealth and so on. Something like the following: The Bargainer/The Master Craftsman trade/wealth/prosperity/industry/the forge/machinery/craft/civilisation/agriculture/stone Also not represented: day, night, different seasons, the sun, the moon, the sky, travel, animals/beasts, hunting/the hunt, art, hope, despair, hate, love, deception, peace You could probably add a Trickster archetype with some of these (deception and travel at least), then add some of the others like so: The Warrior/Aggressor: hunting/the hunt The Psychopomp/Grim Guide: despair, maybe also hope The Cornerstone/Mother: love, peace The Mystic/Seer: art madadric posted:Since a lot of my though process is wrapped up in thinking visually, I created a series of symbols to represent the 4 Pillars: Tyrannosaurus posted:I hope someone starts up another god game. I just read through the entire thread of the last game in like two sittings.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 00:45 |
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UnCO3 posted:If you have archives, this early godgame is probably worth a look at. That's the recruitment thread - there's a link to the game thread after character creation. It's the apocalyptic game I mentioned a few posts ago. It's worth reading the recruitment/OOC thread as well as the game/IC thread. I do. Thanks!
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 03:19 |
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I've been editing my various documents to change references to substance to Creation and destruction where appropriate. Next will be deciding what are the basic "Everybody can do these" moves, and then starting work on class moves for the archetypes.UnCO3 posted:Milton and I can help you with that, and maybe more people. I've made a few changed to the Archetype's names and domains, along with adding those suggested. I was thinking the trickster would be a part of the Fiend/Devil, but now I think it could be it's own thing, a mix of the maelstrom's freedom and the adversary's opposition. With the Bargainer, this will take the total number of playbooks up to 10. I gave the Bargainer/Craftsman the physical domain of loam, since Defender already had stone, and Warrior already had iron. the Trickster got Sand, and the mystic still has spirit. Other names I'm considering for the mystic is Philosopher, Seeker, and Scholar, but I'm not sold on any of those yet. Here's the current document with the 10 archetypes and domains to base moves off of. quote:These are cool, and could probably be easily turned into small icons to put in the playbooks. I've actually made plain ones for just that purpose.     quote:If you have archives, this early godgame is probably worth a look at. That's the recruitment thread - there's a link to the game thread after character creation. It's the apocalyptic game I mentioned a few posts ago. It's worth reading the recruitment/OOC thread as well as the game/IC thread. Ahhh, I remember that game fondly!
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 04:48 |
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madadric posted:I was thinking the trickster would be a part of the Fiend/Devil, but now I think it could be it's own thing, a mix of the maelstrom's freedom and the adversary's opposition. With the Bargainer, this will take the total number of playbooks up to 10. I wouldn't worry too much about cross-over; that's inevitable and okay. I think it's probably best to have a limited number of playbooks and more generic moves or movesets that can be taken by anyone. (eg pick three of these domain types and add them to your playbook moves). quote:Ahhh, I remember that game fondly! Yeah, you get to see me absolutely gently caress up with the way I introduced new mechanics (ie not provide any advance warning whatsoever, be all sanctimonious and judgemental with players etc). In my defence it was the first game I ever GM'd, but yeah, definitely lessons in it for any budding GM, and some good reasons for codifying godgame rules like madadric's proposing. EDIT: very fun game though nonetheless. Cacto fucked around with this message at Mar 12, 2013 around 07:33 |
| # ? Mar 12, 2013 07:29 |
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Yeah I'll probably pick 4 to 5 "core" classes to start with so it's not such an overwhelming task
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 08:56 |
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This post is all about the Basic Moves I have so far. Basic moves are the moves that every God has access to equally. they are the abilities, behaviors, and actions that every God can perform as part of being a God. Some gods are better at some basic moves than others, this is expressed through the modifiers of the 4 main Pillars, and class moves that modify the basic moves, or perform a more specific version of a basic move with better results than using the basic move. Worship Bonds When you do something to make a mortal race, species, or society worship you, write or choose an appropriate worship bond from below: ___________ Fear my power ___________ are grateful for my aid I am the ___________’s creator I have cursed the ___________ I have enslaved the ___________ ___________ owe their freedom to me I saved the ___________ ___________ pray for the gifts I can give them Without my protection, ___________ are doomed ___________ are awed by my exploits I have driven ___________ to madness I have blessed ___________ with love (I'm not sure if Worship bonds are going to be a selected set of 3 or 4 that are tailored to each archetype, or if you can just have as many as you like. I think if it's the as many as you like option, you can wager up to 3 bonds to perform the recieve worship move.) Receive Worship When you go amongst your worshippers and receive their devotion, choose 1 to 3 of your worship bonds. Roll+X, where X is the amount of bonds you have chosen. *On a 10+, you receive D4+(Your total number of worship bonds) Divinity, then lose 1 of your chosen worship bond. *On a 7-9, you receive D4+X Divinity and then lose 2 of your chosen worship bonds. *On a miss, you gain 1 Divinity and then lose all of your 3 chosen worship bonds. Receive Worship (alternate version) When you go amongst your worshippers and receive their devotion, roll +worship. *On a 10+, you receive D4+worship Divinity, then lose 1 worship bond. *On a 7-9, you receive D4 Divinity and then lose 2 worship bonds. *On a miss, you gain 1 Divinity and then lose all of your worship bonds. Smite When you Smite a worthy target with your power, roll +Des. *On a 10+, you harm your enemy. At your option, you may choose to do +1D4 harm, but expose yourself to your enemy’s attack. *On a 7-9, you deal your harm to the enemy, and the enemy makes an attack against you. Take Action When you take action to prevent, or despite of clear and present danger, say how you act, and roll. If you deal with it by... ...Destructive force, roll +Des ...Creative energy, roll +Cre ...Influencing another, roll +Inf ...Taking action or changing yourself, roll +Ess *On a 10+, you do what you set out to, or the threat doesn’t come to bear. *On a 7–9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice. (Take Action is the bread and butter move, it's the basis for all other moves, which are just more specific variations on it that can ensure better or more predictable results than Take action) Earthly Avatar When you take physical form to walk the mortal world, roll +Ess. *On a 10+, your form inspires awe, reverence, or fear. *on a 7-9 Mortals take notice but are not immediately impressed. (I'm not sure it Earthly Avatar currently does anything interesting or if it's neccessary.) Seek Knowledge When you investigate something in order to understand it, describe how you investigate and roll +Ess. *on a 10+, ask 3 questions from the list below. *On a 7-9, ask 1. Take +1 when acting on the answers. What has happened here in the past? What is about to happen? What should I be on the lookout for? What here is useful or valuable to me? Who’s really in control here? What here is not what it appears to be? Recover Ego When you retreat to your Sanctuary to lick your wounds, for each Divinity you spend, recover 1D4 Ego. Heal Debility When you retreat to your Sanctuary to recover from your ailments, spend 3 Divinity to remove a Debility. Assist When you attempt to assist another player’s God in an action, roll+Bond. *On a 10+, they take +1 to the roll. *On a 7-9, they take +1 to the roll, but you expose yourself to danger, retribution, or cost. Interfere When you attempt to interfere with another player’s God as they take action, roll +Bond. *On a 10+, they take -2 to the roll. *On a 7-9, they take -2 to the roll, and you also expose yourself to danger, retribution, or cost. Dissipation When you have been reduced to 0 Ego, and your identity has dissipated, you lose form, and all of your Divinity. Roll 2D6, without adding any modifiers unless another moves says you do. *On a 10+, you reawaken in your sanctuary a short time later, with 1 Ego. *On a 7-9, you may choose to return to existence, but you must pay a price. either you will have a task to complete, or you have gained a new Foible, or you must sacrifice something or someone important to be reborn. *On a miss, your form is scattered to Oblivion, and only a great undertaking by the other gods may return you to existence, if they are so inclined.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 14:39 |
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I don't know if the following moves are going to be basic moves, or moves for specific playbooks yet. Inspire Hero When you spend 1 Divinity and inspire a mortal to a life of great deeds, roll+Inf. *On a 10+, hold 2. *On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend hold, 1 for 1, on the following: The hero leads a life exemplifying a creed of your choice. The hero inspires a small group to establish a lasting organization exemplifying a belief or purpose of your choice The hero completes a single task that is legendary, but within mortal capabilities. Divine Item (Divine Item pretty much needs to be rewritten since domains aren't going to be a specific mechanic. Perhaps something along the lines of creating something that has a special move attatched to an item that can be given away, or the item has hold that can be spent for auto successes related to the item's use?) Brawler Your Harm dice increases from D4 to D6. Warlord Replaces Brawler Your Harm dice increases from D6 to D8. Destroyer Replaces Warlord Your Harm dice increases from D8 to D10. Egomaniac Replaces Recover Ego When you retreat to your Sanctuary to lick your wounds, for each Divinity you spend, recover 1D6 Ego Harvest Souls When you harvest the souls of your dead worshippers and convert them to raw divine power, roll +worship. *On a 10+, you gain D8+worship Divinity and then lose 2 worship bonds. *On a 7-9, you gain D8+worship Divinity and then lose all of your worship bonds. *On a miss, you gain 4 Divinity, and then lose all your worship bonds. Create Species When you spend 8 Divinity and create a new species, roll+Cre. *On a 10+, choose 3. *On a 7-9, choose 2. *On a miss, choose one, but they will have a fatal curse or flaw, the GM will tell you what. The species is intelligent, and capable of worship. The species has a positive tag that makes sense in the fiction. The species is long-lived, a single individual’s life lasting twice as long as average. The species is prolific, they breed quickly The species has a specific talent, instinct, or usefulness that stand them apart. The species is loyal to you above any other. Enhance Species Requires: Create Species When you spend 5 Divinity and attempt to enhance an existing species in some way, roll +Cre. *On a 10+, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 1. *On a miss, choose 1, but they have a fatal curse or flaw, the GM will tell you what. The species is intelligent and capable of worship The species has a positive tag that makes sense in the fiction. The species is long-lived, a single individual’s life lasting twice as long as average. The species is prolific, they breed quickly The species has a specific talent, instinct, or usefulness that stand them apart. Create Location When you spend 8 Divinity and create a new location within the world, roll +Cre. *On a 10+, choose 2 *On a 7-9, choose 1 *On a miss, choose 1, but the location will have a fatal danger, curse, or flaw, the GM will tell you what. The Location is as large as you intended There is something desirable about the Location: describe what makes it desirable The Location is protected by something, describe it’s protection The location is either easy or hard to find, your choice. Create Demigod When you expend 3 Divinity and create an immortal Demigod, roll+Ess. *On a 10+, choose 2. *On a 7-9, choose 1: *On a miss, choose 1, but they will have a fatal curse or flaw, the GM will tell you what. The Demigod champions a cause of your choosing The Demigod becomes a figure of power or renown The Demigod has a positive tag that makes sense in the fiction The Demigod is loyal to you above any other madadric fucked around with this message at Mar 13, 2013 around 04:32 |
| # ? Mar 12, 2013 14:49 |
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My commentary is in regular text, move titles in bold and yours in italics as in your post:madadric posted:Worship Bonds madadric posted:I don't know if the following moves are going to be basic moves, or moves for specific playbooks yet. Enhancing species should probably be a basic move, as should inspiring heroes. Maybe creating a lesser divine item could be a basic move. So the associated stats and basic moves are as follows: Worship Bonds - Receive Worship (wagered or total depending on the move variation) Divine Bonds - Assist/Interfere (or help/hinder) Creation - Create Lesser Divine Item (needs a better name), Enhance a Species Destruction - Smite (good all-purpose destructive move, see below) Influence - Inspire a Hero (also covers cults and other organisations, 2-in-1) Essence - Seek Knowledge Any stat (i.e. not Bonds) - Take Action (maybe rename as Enact Your Will or something more suitable) No stat - Recovering from Dissipation I think that works out reasonably well for basic moves. Enhance a Species should probably be changed so it works both ways (I noted that you can't choose to make a species loyal to you by enhancing, just by creating) - you can enhance your own worshippers and give them useful talents or traits, and you can curse your enemies' worshippers or their livestock or make the local wildlife go nuts. In the latter case, the 'curse' for a bad result would be something that's actually good for them. I guess to simplify this you could have 2 lists (one positive, the other negative). If you want to help a species you choose from the first, if you want to hinder them you choose from the second, if you screw up the GM chooses a problem from the opposite list. Maybe Smite could be expanded to any worthy target, not just combat targets as it seems to be set at currently. That way, people could smite rebellious cities or rival cults too. What seems to be lacking is a way of manipulating the natural world. Perhaps a move like Shape the World could be added under Essence. Semi-relatedly, here's a couple of ideas for class-specific moves the Psychopomp can take: when they Seek Knowledge of a mortal or group of mortals they always get the answer 'when and how will this mortal die?' for free in addition to the other questions they're allowed to ask; they can use Essence to Smite sapient mortals (i.e. taking their souls); definitely some kind of bonus or special move for helping dissipated gods, especially those who've completely fallen into Oblivion.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:06 |
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Someone put up a god-game on story-games.com called Eternity. Their pitch is through the link (plus a condensed version of the game), but the short version is that it's a GMless game about supreme, nigh-invincible beings who used to be mortal a very long time ago, who exist in collectives for mutual protection, but chafe against the restrictions that imposes. Giving them form are Attachments (connections to certain concepts that also restrict them - a bit like domains) and Burdens (things that want to steal their power or destroy them). From what I've read so far it's got kind of a Hobbesian feel, if Hobbes was writing about gods. There are only a few possible Attachments - looking at the character sheet it's more like they're supposed to guide what you do and how you act rather than what you can be. The Attachments are Creation, Destruction, Nature, Elements, Lineage, Laity and Vengeance. UnCO3 fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2013 around 19:22 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 19:19 |
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Perhaps for receive worship, its about the god getting the mortals to make a wild, extravagant display of their faith for the god, like shouting "I DO believe in fairies! I do! I do!" to bring tinkerbell back to her full strength in Peter Pan. This display exhausts their mundane and spiritual resources, and could be seen as settling a debt.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 02:37 |
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madadric posted:Perhaps for receive worship, its about the god getting the mortals to make a wild, extravagant display of their faith for the god, like shouting "I DO believe in fairies! I do! I do!" to bring tinkerbell back to her full strength in Peter Pan. Maybe some moves should burn bonds then instead, or 'receive/exploit worship' becomes a boost used alongside another move which is intended to achieve something, eg you use 'receive worship' to provide a bonus to your 'resurrect X' move. EDIT: It does make sense to me for worship to be an exhaustible resource; there's always a limit to what you can believe in, and there's definitely limits for most people in how far they'll go for an afterlife. So losing that bond doesn't necessarily mean that the worship is over, just that it doesn't burn strong enough to be of practical use to the god any more.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 06:06 |
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Cacto posted:Maybe some moves should burn bonds then instead, or 'receive/exploit worship' becomes a boost used alongside another move which is intended to achieve something, eg you use 'receive worship' to provide a bonus to your 'resurrect X' move. When a move tells you to mark off x worship bonds, tick them off on your sheet. Describe how your worshippers had worshiped you n relation to the bond, either a huge ceremony involving the population, or daily prayers. After you mark off a bond, they don't devote their time or effort to worshipping you for it anymore, but it is still a tale or legend they will tell to their children. madadric fucked around with this message at Mar 17, 2013 around 06:36 |
| # ? Mar 17, 2013 06:23 |
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In effect you're introducing action points but instead of being based on the whim of the GM, players just need to build up worshipper bonds. You should be careful about what moves they're required for because AP were always a pain in the arse to play with.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 07:01 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 18:17 |
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I just finally saw this. I wanted to say I fully support you and think that this is an awesome idea. I enjoy Godgames (even though I don't play them anymore), and I love Dungeon World. If you needed to do any playtesting when you're ready just let me know. Also: Grammy Mae will eat you if you steal her spider cakes.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 07:33 |
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