Bringing Xenogears Into D&D 4e

[Leliel]

Now, I'm not suggesting that we create a Xenogears setting. That would probably cause people's minds to bleed.

However, I had the idea to inject some of the mythology of the game into my Magitek Space Pirates idea. You know, the gradual revelation that the reason they're linked to their ships is beacuse they contain Anima Relics, and the main villain is trying to revive Deus in a form he can control, stuff like that.

So how would you suggest doing this in a form that will allow the players to understand the story without taking crash courses in Jungian psychology?

[Starsinger]

The story of Xenogears? Err.. for that don't you need like several copies of the Bible, a bunch of scientific texts, and a lot of scrap paper for note taking?

[Leliel]

The story of Xenogears? Err.. for that don't you need like several copies of the Bible, a bunch of scientific texts, and a lot of scrap paper for note taking?

Well, other than the Jungian Psychology aspect, the myriad consipiracies, the weird genetics, and the incosniquential nonsense, it's actually pretty simple.

At least, if you have an eidtitc memory.

[Tengu_temp]

Xenogears without mecha ain't Xenogears. :|

That reminds me I haven't completed the game yet. Stupid second disk and its wasted potential.

[Starsinger]

It's been a long, long time since I've played, but all I really remember is that

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Chu-Chu dies for your sins

[Tengu_temp]

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She doesn't die, actually. People (and weird fuzzy pink creatures) survive crucification all the time. It's just a meme.

[Starsinger]

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She doesn't die, actually. People (and weird fuzzy pink creatures) survive crucification all the time. It's just a meme.

I'm aware That's the only scene I remember from the game though, probably because the meme was so prevalent (and I actually used her).

[Dacia Brabant]

Fortunately they don't need to study Jung to know archetypes when they see them (unfortunately the developers of that game series thought otherwise). If you want to put together a story inspired by that stuff in a way that's understandable and playable, just focus on the types and symbols that are more recognizable and let the story unfold through them.

A few possibilities (spoilered for folks who haven't played the game):

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I liked its version of Eve, who was immortal through all her female descendants, which could be a good way to introduce a mysterious recurring villain who reappears even after she's been killed--just figuring out how she's doing that would be interesting, and then figuring out what it is she's up to of course, maybe working the whole God thing in from there.

Likewise the hero who from time to time goes absolutely crazy-evil for no apparent reason and no memory after the fact, would be a way to work in the repressed anger/power/self-destruction theme. You wouldn't need to go too far into the Id/Ego/Super-ego Freudian stuff to play around with this, after all Jekyl-Hyde is pretty well known, and you could introduce that through the ancient technology by having it bring out the best and worst in its users.

Heck, the idea of a lost precursor civilization that was more advanced than ours is one of the oldest stories in the book, and that's probably one of the things that worked best in Xenogears. Of course people would use that recovered high-tech for warfare, but they'd also wonder how/why it was made and who left it there, and if you include those divine energy sources, the anima relics, that would seem to lead the answer back to God.