War in the Heavens, early days, help needed
gtroc:
Hey all, I am currently working on a space opera(esque) game. The basic concept I have is it is about holy war(s?) in space. The game, or at least this part of it, combines the best aspects of Star Gate and Dune(in my mind the best parts). I am using a Fate inspired mechanic(though it is not(currently) exactly the same(if you want to see my basic concepts check out the my design journal). I have two issues so far. The first is that I am still struggling with focusing on the players characters, and not on the world. Basically, what do the players do, what is the game about? Secondly, I would like to flavor the game text in a way that makes the players think about what the characters believe. As this is a game about a holy war I would like the beliefs of the characters to be at the forefront. So I am aiming to design the language of the game to emphasize the belief and religious aspects of the game. As i am quite stuck at the moment, any advice would be welcome. Thank you much!
Daniel36:
Hmmm... How about mirroring it a little to the Crusades. Characters are basically soldiers for whatever religious leader(s) you create, and their armour and horses are their space ships, which they can outfit to match their "playstyle", so you could not only have character creation, but also "spacecraft" creation, which can be somewhat the same, as in you have your tanks, your speedy scout vehicles, etcetera. Give them the ability to upgrade their craft with new items, they get when they receive a medal for services.
You could have different religions / houses, perhaps ask them which one they would like to be a part of without telling them whether they are "good" or not so "good", and players will have to think about whether they will retain their faith when they are asked to perform specific tasks that are hard to swallow?
Some food for thought. Hope it helps.
Callan S.:
You could take a leaf from the riddle of steel RPG and every time they pursue their belief (important: Whether they suceed or fail at that pursuit) they get a power up. Then make the world nasty enough, statistically, that they need these power ups to some degree, or they'll get wasted.
gtroc:
Quote from: Callan S. on August 16, 2011, 03:28:20 PM
You could take a leaf from the riddle of steel RPG and every time they pursue their belief (important: Whether they suceed or fail at that pursuit) they get a power up. Then make the world nasty enough, statistically, that they need these power ups to some degree, or they'll get wasted.
now there is an interesting idea. It adds a level of complexity, but at this point the game is very simple so I am fairly certain that a little complexity won't be too out there. As I don't have Riddle of Steel I am not certain how it would work here. but maybe some kind of tier system of beliefs. each religion has things it holds sacred, and you place a number of those precepts(three of them?) in order of importance to you. I will have to work on this idea a bit.
Quote from: Daniel36 on August 16, 2011, 03:23:20 PM
Hmmm... How about mirroring it a little to the Crusades. Characters are basically soldiers for whatever religious leader(s) you create, and their armour and horses are their space ships, which they can outfit to match their "playstyle", so you could not only have character creation, but also "spacecraft" creation, which can be somewhat the same, as in you have your tanks, your speedy scout vehicles, etcetera. Give them the ability to upgrade their craft with new items, they get when they receive a medal for services.
You could have different religions / houses, perhaps ask them which one they would like to be a part of without telling them whether they are "good" or not so "good", and players will have to think about whether they will retain their faith when they are asked to perform specific tasks that are hard to swallow?
Some food for thought. Hope it helps.
I like your thoughts.They got me thinking, What if, instead of designing their ship(s), they instead deign the religion? I could put a few sample set pieces in the game, they they could model off of, fight, or if they don't want to design there own they could play in one of those. maybe ten worlds/systems?
the problem with the crusades, is that it is very specific to a time and a place. while this is fiction, I would like to not be tied down to just Abrahamic religious wars. if there was a Holy Land though...hmm...maybe earth is the holy land. I could combine it with a bit of Shambala and grail lore. earth was lost long ago. maybe earth never had, or realized it had, a gate. still a bit European though. And while I am not against euro-centrism in games, in the future who can say that Western culture gets there first. i find it unlikely that the Chinese and Russians won't be out there. and as the costs for space travel drop lots of fringe beliefs will spread to the stars. I even had an idea for a culture of Luddites, who over came the hatred of technology long enough to get to a new world and start some kind of agrarian utopia. naturally all things go to hell after a while, but that is where the fun is.
Callan S.:
Quote from: gtroc on August 16, 2011, 09:55:24 PM
As I don't have Riddle of Steel I am not certain how it would work here. but maybe some kind of tier system of beliefs. each religion has things it holds sacred, and you place a number of those precepts(three of them?) in order of importance to you. I will have to work on this idea a bit.
Ahhh, that kind of ends up as something else entirely, as the GM decides what is required of following a belief, since it's in the book and a 'GM thing'. I'd suggest that you can list a religions rules, but the player just invents their own beliefs/goals. In riddle of steel it could range from 'love for my lady' to 'I will become king'.
It really doesn't need to be complicated at all. Players who are interested in playing will catch onto it quickly.
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