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Realms of Chaos
2011-11-07, 01:08 AM
In a medium where most games revolve around the twin goals of “Kill X” and “Find Y”, I have thought up of a concept earlier today that may make for a different type of game. If it looks at all interesting to you guys and hasn’t been done in five other places, I might want to make it and would appreciate any help that others can lend me.

The Basic Concept:
For the most part, this game occurs within the real world. Whether placed in the modern day or in a more medieval setting, hydras and dragons and magic and angels and fiends simply don’t exist outside of myths and stories. Real-world dangers and obstacles ranging from taxes to wars to thieves still exist and the lives of the players need not to have been blessed up until this point. The players can range from children to the elderly and can possess almost any demographic.

Within this world, your players awaken one day with nearly god-like power.

The Twist? This isn’t Exalted:
The concept of a normal mortal gaining god-like power is nothing new in RPGs. This process may seem somewhat like the process of exalting. There is, however, one major difference with this game (at least conceptually. There will be many more mechanically). Namely, the players are alone.

There are no higher powers (or if there are they won’t play a part in what occurs) to interfere, no castes to tell them what they should be doing, and no place where they could truly be said to belong. They may be the first of many to come but this game tells the story of when they were truly alone.

What Drives the Story?
Giving mortals near godlike power, we might wonder what could possibly drive a story? In this case, there are several things that I think could be used (possibly all together).


Interactions with the World: If the powers of these godlings become common knowledge, people will generally have strong reactions one way or the other regarding this. Some may try to worship a godling while others hate them. Some governments may try to form relations with the godling while others will prepare armies against him or her. Reactions may differ from godling to godling and each player may end up with identical or vastly different allies. It should be noted that the strongest armies in the world (even if armed with futuristic or world-demolishing weapons) do not pose any real risk to a godling as they are generally immune to harm except from each other. Even so, these interactions still force godlings to act one way or another.

Interactions with self and with others: As part of the character creation process, several less concrete parts of the character will need to be formed. Among these will probably be 2-3 things your character thinks they would do if they were put in charge (plus another 2-3 things your character would actually do if put in charge), a short creed and/or the character’s favorite virtue, and other such information that helps show what type of godling each character will be. In addition to this, we gain dynamics through the use of multiple godlings simultaneously moving towards their differing goals. An actual ‘Clash’ mechanic may be used to ensure that each godling will oppose another at some point.

Interactions with important NPCs: In a game of godlings, a character wouldn’t often risk inching towards death (though death may or may not be possible if two godlings fight directly) or towards insanity (though their perspectives and priorities may change) as they do in other games. Instead, a godling would continuously be moving towards unrelatability as a character. As a godling accepts their power and uses it more and more freely, it becomes harder to relate to their lives and they essentially lose their humanity. What these characters have left of their previous lives, tethering them to humanity, are the people they once new and felt for. A relationship mechanic somewhere between those seen in within my clutches (http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/within-my-clutches) and magical burst (http://yarukizero.wordpress.com/tag/magical-burst/) will probably be used for this purpose.


Protean Game Mechanics:
These are just the very earliest ideas regarding mechanics:

What It Means to Be a Godling: Godlings do not age and do not suffer from disease, poison, or most other forms of homeostatic disorder and need not eat, drink, sleep, or breathe (though they still can if desired). In most other ways, a godling is identical to the person they once were but possesses the power to perform “miracles” by using their essence. This means, among other things, that godlings are just as strong and smart and charismatic as they once were but that they can move and divine and enchant anything they need to with miracles and effectively ignore these limitations whenever it is needed. Might make it possible for Godlings to detect the presence of other godlings to help players meet and recognize each other.

Statistics: though not that useful, each godling will possess several “ability scores” to represent what they can do without using miracles. If a godling values freedom, for example, it would only make sense for them to try talking someone out of something instead of overriding their will from the start. Likewise, godlings who are trying to hide their presence for whatever reason might have an easier time doing so if they rely on a capability check rather than using miracles for everything. Though a godling might be able to learn any information, simply knowing the information might be faster (if just by a bit).

Divine Essence: Each godling effectively possesses 10 points of divine essence within them, essence that can be divided among one or more tasks. It might be possible, for example, for 1 godling to spend points miraculously gathering an army around him to prepare for battle against a hated nation while another godling uses this essence to create peace between the two nations and a third godling splits her essence between leaving a hedonistic divine lifestyle and suppressing their presence from the world at large). In order to perform a miracle, a godling directs a certain amount of divine essence at it (possibly reallocating it there from another task). If the amount of points exceeds a certain amount depending on the difficulty of the task (lots of example tasks will be needed for this purpose), the effect succeeds. Otherwise, the godling can roll a d10 and if the result is equal to or under the number of points spent, the task succeeds (if it fails, the godling immediately gets back those points and henceforth can’t perform that specific task with that many or fewer points). If a godling spends 10 points on a task, there is essentially a 100% chance of that task succeeded unless directly opposed by another godling. If magical means are used to perform an appropriate task (such as using an army miraculously gathered to lay siege to a town), it has an equal chance of succeeding. Divine essence can be withdrawn from a task at any time but must be fully withdrawn at this time. When this occurs, reality starts to take its natural course where the magic left off (floating boulders fall down to the earth and enemy nations made into friends may start bickering once more in short order).

Note: Instantaneous Effects, Divination, and Charming: When performing an instantaneous effect (such as pushing a boulder aside or killing a mortal or erasing a memory), the points of divine essence are immediately regained. Divination doesn’t require any divine essence but can’t reveal anything about other godlings and their lives. Charming and dominating the minds of individuals likely doesn’t require divine essence but it’s not subtle and not permanent, making it rather impossible to rule a nation from the shadows or to mind control the entire planet (or even an entire nation).

Note: Infusing Others or “Conjuring” creatures: With the emphasis on NPCs, it may seem logical for a godling to empower an important (to them) mortal with a bit of their own power. In essence, a godling can put up to 1 point of divine essence into a given mortal, making them the rough equivalent to Hercules, Merlin, or some similar figure. If that figure works on completing a task with the godling, the point of divine essence invested in them is treated as working towards this task as well. Sadly, a godling cannot invest more than 5 points of divine essence in mortals at a time. No matter how much they may wish it, a godling can never make a mortal a true equal. Alternately, a Godling can “conjure” a being from their own imaginations (such as a mythical creature or an avatar of the godling) to hold 1 point of divine essence in the same way with the same limitations.

Note: Other Limitations to Magic:
-Cannot truly create life: Though conjuring creatures is close, these creatures are formed from the godling’s imagination and vanish the divine essence is taken back.
-Cannot travel through time
-Cannot travel to other planes/dimensions
-Cannot return the dead to life
-Can’t increase the speed (in body or thought) of others
-Can’t speed up or slow down (or stop) natural processes such as aging
-More to come (suggestions?)

Note: Godling vs. Godling:
If rules are made to allow one or more godlings to kill other godlings, they will probably be made as optional rules unless you people of the playground think that it should be one of the main parts of the game.


How to Progress and End the Game:
This is an area that I haven’t put too much thought into so far (everything that you see above was worked out in the course of 1-2 hours) but that I’ll likely need some input for.

Tvtyrant
2011-11-07, 01:13 AM
I think the issue with this is that you cannot see the things you make in the game. The reason pen and paper games tend to be about overcoming obstacles rather than making things is that you cannot see the things you make in the game like you can in a video game.

Amechra
2011-11-07, 02:31 AM
Take a look at Dawn of Worlds. You might be able to steal a couple ideas.

You know, I've been meaning to run a 3.5 game with a similar theme- something like all players being 8th level in a world where the next most powerful challenge is CR 3, for example.