Millerism

[paradoxweaver]

Hi everyone!

First of all, I'd like to congratulate everyone behind Zeitgeist, which I thought at first might be equal to "another company's" adventure paths. Finally, I'm thinking that it may very well surpass these adventure paths in many ways...
One of these ways is the presence of much food for thought. All the philosophies presented in setting, the way religion is not a proven thing and all the possible philosophical issues (role of technology, place of old faith, peace with an ages-old enemy, terrorism from an almost-extinct people...).
My question is if it would be possible to have some more information and William Miller and his teachings.
It's relatively easy to find information on eschatology on the Internet. Pragati and Vekesh are quite easy to understand. Panoply could benefit from some more explanation, but I suspect my players won't make more than dip in this philosophy.
Also, I would like to know if some inspiration was found from real-world Millerism, which gave birth to Adventism. Some elements of background seem related, even if the finality of the two ideas aren't related.
Anyway, I would really like an answer from someone related to the adventure path, as I have seen them on these messageboards (another point for them! )

 

[paradoxweaver]

Casting Raise Dead on this thread, since it has not been answered.

 

[Tukka]

I was going to ask this as well. I was trying to come up with talking points for Captain Smith, so what I ended up doing was searching for quotes on hypocrisy, empathy and related concepts.

A better approach might be to take take inspiration from (and mash up) elements from The Republic by Plato and a modified version of the modern theory of liberalism as it pertains to international relations. Given the importance of his free market philosophy to liberalism, Adam Smith might be a good figure to draw inspiration from as well. The Wealth of Nations is his more famous/influential work, but he also wrote a book called the Theory of Moral Sentiments which touches upon topics that are probably more central to Miller's sphere of interest (Moral Sentiments puts a big focus on the role sympathy plays in moral behavior, so it's an ideal starting point in some ways).

 

[Ajar]

I leaned on the villainous conspiracy threads where RangerWickett and various Zeitgeist DMs discussed what the Ob's ultimate goals might be. I had Rutger Smith posit some of the proposed changes as Miller's thought experiments on what might make an ideal society.

Villainous Conspiracy Intro

Debates and Voting