Anti-Pretentious games

Darkness said:
Maybe you'd like her newest work, Weapons of the Gods.

thats a possibility...but from what I've heard, it kind of covers a lot of the same ground that Exalted does.

I didn't really get Ms Borgstroms work there either.

I still await the day someone explains to me how you actually game in the IOSHI setting from the otherwise :):):):)ing hot Ex Machina.

I'm not even being snide there. Lots of people whose opinions I value and respect (Bruce Baugh and Mark McKinnon foremost) have raved about it...but I can't seem to get a straight answer oout of anyone :(
 

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Teflon Billy said:
thats a possibility...but from what I've heard, it kind of covers a lot of the same ground that Exalted does.

I didn't really get Ms Borgstroms work there either.
But you did get Exalted in general, right? 'cause RBS' work in Exalted covers mostly the more esoteric groups of the setting.

I think her work in Weapons of the Gods should be less focused on such things.
Teflon Billy said:
I still await the day someone explains to me how you actually game in the IOSHI setting from the otherwise :):):):)ing hot Ex Machina.

I'm not even being snide there. Lots of people whose opinions I value and respect (Bruce Baugh and Mark McKinnon foremost) have raved about it...but I can't seem to get a straight answer oout of anyone :(
I don't have Ex Machina so I can't comment on it, but... Maybe start a thread in rpg.net? :)
 

Darkness said:
...I don't have Ex Machina so I can't comment on it, but... Maybe start a thread in rpg.net? :)

I've tried it, but recieved no satisfactory answers.

A couple of people came close, explaining how the world as written would function, but it was mostly in terms of a person's workaday life, which was not somehting I found particularly gameable.

I'll admit that as far as Nobilis goes, all of the Flower Terminology seemed silly, purposefully affected, and added nothing to the described setting except non-sequitir.
 

Hm. Did Rebecca herself chime in? She posts there, at least. Maybe she can explain it even if others can't.

And I agree that Nobilis probably isn't entirely serious. I mean, "Hollyhock God?" :eek:
 

Darkness said:
Hm. Did Rebecca herself chime in? She posts there, at least. Maybe she can explain it even if others can't.

No, she didn't

And I agree that Nobilis probably isn't entirely serious. I mean, "Hollyhock God?" :eek:

No idea about the seriousness of it. The rest of it seemed to take itself pretty seriously :uhoh:
 

Exactly! But Mark Rein-DOT-Hagen is claiming the former.

No he isn't. Nowhere does he claim that anyone will have deep moral questions answered. He does say that the game hopes to help people explore the questions, but that isn't the same thing.

Yeah but not so high that they become ridiculous. What if I wrote a rpg and claimed it was written in order to, once and for all, settle the question of God's existence?

Leaving aside the fact that the quote about Vampire is not on the same order (again, your example is one that hopes to answer something, not just talk about something), a game that looked at those themes would be a pretty neat game. There's plenty of gameable grist in theology. Let's set it up.

The game is about individuals with supernatural gifts and supernatural phenomena. The great struggle is over something called The Plan: a concordence of seeming accidents and quests that are supposed to fulfill God's will. You can play someone who believes deeply in The Plan, though others may disagree about the details. You can play someone who is anti-Plan and believes it's a bunch of hooey.

The funny thing is that when someone's conception of The Plan is fulfilled, they change in some noticable (and power-upping) fashion -- but smashing an enemy conception of The Plan does the same thing. All visions of The Plan must include an idea of what God is like and what God wants; if you are forced to contrathis code and rationale, you suffer a supernatural sanction. If God desires peace and you kill, you are judged by your concetion of God. But there are moral and logical paradoxes that can further you long your Plan and violate its laws at the same time. This disjunction has its own effects; perhaps you develop a dark twin or your powers take on a life of their own. Perhaps you suffer some sort of magical scourging.

Anti-Plan characters must live by their own ethos, but are more materially grounded. If they stray, fate turns agaisnt them in subtle but powerful ways. They also cannot benefit from some of the belsings of a Plan. This may include healing and resurrection. They are mostly free from haevy moral paradox, though.

Demons -- or angels? -- support one faction or another, but even they do not agree. It looks like fulfilling certain Plans gives them more freedom to move around in the world.

This might make a good D20 setting or even an RPG in its own right. D20 Modern's allegiance system would port over well when talking about various models for the nature of God, rebels, demons and angels. The roots of the game, though, would be in theological questions.
 





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