I played it, not huge on it.

Adopting powers from Scion: Hero to simulate divine blessings of Judæo-Christian God, good or bad idea?

It depends on how sacrigileous the game is.  Done in the right spirit, well, is acting how Bible plays or making up your own apocryphal stories about situations that might have occured in those days but were never written down, is all that a bad thing?  If it's tasteful and done well, it could be a good idea, possibly, I guess.  I hope that's a definitive enough answer for you. ;)

The sacrilegious parts (assuming you mean origins of scions) can easily removed. It's just about making a game based on religious believes (not to mention simulate Christian paradigm in Mage).

http://images.wikia.com/yugioh...rofBabelIOC-EN-C.jpg

This has to be my current guilty pleasure card; I always try to use it when I play, but I've never been able to pull it off successfully to my favor as of yet.

Like other cards based on uhh...legends, tales...whatever you call the story of Babylon, the designers made the card rules match perfectly with the flavor of Judaism/Christian morals (but what do I know).

If either your opponent dabbles in magic/spells too much while this card is on the field, a heavy blow is dealt to the one who "builds" the final floor.

A thought occurred to me, in that which I might share to others.

I play DnD, which some (let's take my cousin and her husband for an example) think is an evil thing.  Or rather, they saw my book and said "oh, that's evil".

Alright.

So then I looked over the whole point of roleplaying games, and compared that to nonroleplaying games, and then finally to DnD.

So as I said, a thought occured to me, and I promptly looked up what the source was.

Romans 9:21
Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honor, and another to dishonor?

The DnD rules are not a vessel, but a lump of clay, from which we may create our own vessel.  If you don't want to include certain parts in the game, you simply don't.

Of course, I'm talking about 3rd edition.  4th edition, however, is indeed the devil, yes :)

Not being religious, all I can say is this:

Gaming is just a fancy version of Let's Pretend, the game we all played as children.  Did that make us evil?

Now, more than three years later, are there any results one could download?


And one more thing. I need a quick mechanic for Temptations for my Judeo-Christian RPG.

Wow, almost completely forgot that project :)

It's actually about 70-80% together, but the missing pieces are pretty big. But after freelancing in the industry, I realized that trying to market an RPG system is NOT what I want to do. I'd rather write and leave the heavy lifting to someone else. And because I'm going to pull chunks of the RPG into fiction, I won't be releasing my notes (at least, not without a lot of begging and alcohol), so long story short, 'no', not available for download.

Let me know when you do release that fiction.


Would you be up for some game development cooperation?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Tue 05 July 2011.

If by 'development' you mean 'publicity, layout, contract oversight and artwork', sure! If those were settled, I'd be happy to pull the project out :P

My current work in process is a very different setting. Because my wife was involved in the RPG setting, I'm letting that lay for the moment. However, I did put out a mission for Eclipse Phase called Continuity, I've got some work scheduled for an upcoming release called Rimward, and another adventure I shouldn't speak about yet owing to NDAs and all that.

Out of curiosity, what tact did you take in your religion RPG? Something along the lines of In Nomine? sim Religions? Maybe something like the Illuminati card game but with religions?

Not sure if you're asking me or katisara, but in my RPG I've used universal belief in god, religion, but not necessary the ritual and church. I've used God of Justice (who should not be mentioned by name) as the only true and benevolent deity and all other to be shunned. I've assigned priests some power in healing and defense in line of WarCraft III, since after all this will be WarCraft in space (and not StarCraft, which is wild west in space).



I'm afraid I'm not in that league. I was hoping I'd get a professional game designer to take a look at some ideas I have and then to run a game at RPoL.



I just realized, I've known you for years and I still don't know any module you wrote.

Silveroak,

The way I played it out is that there is a grand and mysterious 'God'. God keeps above everything. He hears prayers, but avoids interfering directly. He's not associated with any particular religion, so you can play him up as the Christian God, Cronos or whatever.

Under God is a staff of administrators, or 'gods'. They're formally roles, which are occupied by individuals temporarily. Some of those individuals are divine creations, and some of them are humans who, through whatever means, have seized that role. In that regard, it's like the Piers Anthony Death series. The gods occaisionally get orders from God. They also are obliged to fulfill their roles, or things go either wrong, or very wrong. They also compete for believers or souls.



AHH ... got it. Sure, I'd be happy to read over what you have. I'll rmail you my email address. It'll be bottom of the pile, of course :P but I can read over it.

As a head's up, I wouldn't call myself a 'game designer'. The best I can put on my resume as professional work is a game freelancer; doing research, writing modules, writing color, stuff like that. But my background is pretty math heavy, so I'm happy to dig through mechanics as well.



That's alright :) I tend for niche things. I'm writing for interest, not for the money. But I'm up for an Ennie this August! :)

This is almost exactly that I had in mind for my Byzantium inspired game here on RPoL. I had envisioned one overarching deity known as the God of Justice who was the main source of worship, while the rest are viewed as minor gods, angels and demons or saints depending on the province of the empire.

And then I divided that Religion skill covers the supreme god, while Occult covers the rest. And along similar lines is a division between blessings and miracles on one hand and spells on the other.



Got it and I've sent you an email. Still I don't have anything I'd keep from general public. Is there any reason why I shouldn't repost/link it here?



Now you're being modest. Is industry professional better?



I doubt it's heavier than mine. That's why it happens sometimes that bad game mechanics spoil otherwise great story for me.



Well if it's nominated, than I must know which one it is.

Not that I can think of :) Just bear in mind, it's easier to keep a secret than it is to make something public into a secret. Once it's out, it's out.



You could call me an 'industry professional', although I'll still blush and wave it away :P

This game began as an idea to transfer aesthetics of developed Christian art into an SF genre. Human campaign of WarCraft III was especially influential to the idea. Here's quick campaign overview.


Pilintor, also known as the empire, is a city-state on a fictional Earth roughly a century and a bit into the future. The grandiose nickname is in stark contrast to how little Pilintor actually controls in Sol system. On Earth they control precious little land beyond Pilintor arcology itself and several mining stations scattered around asteroid belt and moons of Jupiter. Still, it is far more important than these hundred thousand square kilometers on map.

Main reason for this is that Pilintor is a decade or two ahead of the rest of Earth when it comes to technology. Explanation for that can be sought in history or theology, but in the end it all comes down to Empire of Echran, whose last remnant Pilintores proudly boast to be. Echran (also known as the First State because of its power) was for nearly two millennia without a question most powerful state in the world. And while the technology has since moved on, their achievements in philosophy, culture and state management remain unparalleled. Make no mistake, in these days Pilintor was not exactly central to the empire. Still province of Pilintor was most dedicated to imperial protocols and faith. Due to that, as well as its inaccessible terrain, Pilintor resisted occupation longer than other parts of the empire, but in the end they were overrun by alliance of fringe powers who among themselves divided the empire.

For nearly a millennium control of Pilintor shifted between bickering powers who were united in only one thing -- their hatred for the First State and the faith in Just God. But in spite of all the hardships Pilintores clang to their faith and memory of a state that worked to promote good wherever possible. Finally 270 years ago Pilintor overthrew its occupiers and established itself as an independent state. At first it was no different from fringe powers (whose name comes from the times of the First State, when they were only petty kingdoms on its fringes refusing to acknowledge empire's sovereignty), but pretty soon Pilintores discovered that imperial protocols and organization existed for a reason. They did their best to recreate the structure of the old empire and in the span of a few decades they developed so rapidly that fringe power started seeing their "little brother" as a threat to take father's (empire's) place. In order to prevent this the fringe had been resorting to various methods, from reoccupation, to installing vile dictators, to close cooperation, but whatever they'd do, Pilintor's resourcefulness lead it to reemerge as wealthiest and most cultured of states. At such time fringe powers would show their ugly head again and fringe wars became almost a routine.

Eventually Pilintores got bored of the viscous circle. On 250th anniversary of independence and 50th anniversary of the republic they decided that for once they should fight a war on their own terms. They renamed the state to Echran State of Pilindor knowing full well it would provoke yet another fringe war. This time they didn't even care to listen to diplomacy and the explanations, they simply dug their heels and waited for the attack. In a sense this war was more one-sided than any before, but despite all its might, it became clearer than ever that defending the arcology is one thing and expanding its territory another. Instead it simply served as a showcase to teach the fringes a lesion in power. Satisfied with enemy body-count if not with lack of conquest, Pilintor consented to accept recognition of the new name without any further concessions.

What was not known at the time was that scientists of Pilintor were close to discovery of faster than light travel. Together with the announcement of space flight, Pilintor initiated the settlement program which would be open to all the peoples of Sol system, fringe, overseas and off earthers, under close scrutiny of Pilintor state of course. This of course lead to swelling of Pilintor's population and even faster economical and scientific development. But Pilintor knows that they cannot keep the space travel a secret for too long. Sooner or later the colonists will turn on Pilintores just like the fringe turned on the empire. To prevent this Pilintores have just initiated construction of arcologies similar to their own on strategic locations in the galactic sector that when the time comes can be defended. They have tasked their most competent civil servants with their construction and Imperial Armed Forces with maintaining the order. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to escort colony ship Vasil II to Sevaston star system, secure the location of the new arcology and make sure that all colonies have what they need. Remember, radio messages take four years to arrive to Earth, so one needs to remind the colonists that they are not alone out there.


Troops at your disposal include:

Stellar Infantry, mockingly called space marines (mockingly because Pilindor has no access to Earth seas), are heavily armed and armored elite troops of Pilintor Security Service at the colonies. While nominally a police (because colonies are supposed to have no external threats and therefore no need for army), they use gear similar to the one used by Pilintor Defense Forces in last fringe war.

Echran Palace Guards, paladins for short, are elite among the elite. They are selected for their devotion to the Just God and are tasked with maintaining both spirituality and morale of their fellow troops. In addition they are able to manifest the will of the Just One. While unable to harm their foes with it directly (as far as it's know so far) their blessings (mockingly called spells) can have tangible effects in either protecting from harm or repairing damage done to either ships or men.

Aethernaut Navigators (a.k.a. wizards) are gifted people people who are able to plug themselves in Aethernet computers and use them to project their conscience into physical space. As such they are able to call various Aether subroutines that are able to wreck havoc among the enemies should such methods become necessary. Because such attacks tend to be imprecise they are usually used as a weapon of last resort. And since they are never physically present in combat, the enemy can only temporary disable their hologramic projections. Needless to say they are awarded incredible respect among their fellow troops.

Reconnaissance Knights are the cavalry of 22nd century. While next to useless on Earth, where simply there is no space for them to be effective, in colonies they're able to scour vast tracts of land. Expensive (compared to Stellar Infantry) and vulnerable, they are saved for precision strikes for which space marines are simply too slow.


Other oddities, elven spacepriests, kraken slayers, robo-miners and such will be available upon request.

Sounds like a cool concept. I'll go ahead and give my critiquing notes first ...

'viscous' should be 'vicious'

The setup makes me think a little of Israel; a tiny, modern state surrounded by giant enemies, with a name and government practically designed to provoke attack. The current setup is a little more feudalistic than I'd expect for the year (although I may just be reading it wrong), so I expect that the fall of Echran was a Big Thing, basically a massive civil war, and philosophy and politics took a few steps backwards (maybe a bounce against a big next step? Marx was right, but people fight against the transition to socialism and shifted towards fascism as a defense? Or perhaps the empowerment of the individual through modern technologies (such as instant communication, personal manufacturing and so on) took the state-threatening behaviors we see in Libya and Iran and brought them to Echran, where they were used by fringe groups, so the state had to chomp down on personal liberties and self-destructed. As a reader, I'm curious, and would like to know more about that transition period.

You say Pilintor is well-protected, and somewhere on Earth. I also wonder where it actually is. I imagine it may be in Alaska (and Echran is echoes of the American empire), Siberia or Ural (and Echran is echoes of a new Russian empire), or the Himalayas (and Echran is echoes of a Chinese empire). In each of these situations, Pilintor can also claim an additional cultural heritage of its own (Palin, snow, and Tibet, respectively).

You're a little vague on the tech level, something else I'd be curious on. Pilintor is approaching FTL, which is HUGE. But I don't know if it's a single unusual breakthrough and the rest of the tech is not at the 'believed to be impossible' level, or if all of the tech should be equally amazing. Pilintor is a few decades ahead of everyone else (which may be a little or a huge gap, depending on which scale of technological development you believe in), so I also don't know if 'everyone else' should be 'half a step below amazing' or something closer to what modern people can understand.

And to the crux of the matter; it seems like you throw it all away with your premise. You're on a spaceship, traveling at c, through lightyears of empty space. The bad guys don't have the technology to keep up with you. There's no sign of anyone else out there to give you trouble. So what's the conflict?

Go ahead, that's why I posted it.



Eh, despite that you folks on the net forget, I am not a native speaker of English. Every once in a while some mistake passes through my spell checker.



Israel is one of two inspirations for Pilintor, but fringe powers are not Arabs. Also unlike Israel, Pilintor has no right to launch a preemptive strike. Their religion dictates that they must wait for the enemy to fire the first shot.

But I intentionally use a fictional geography of Earth. I have no desire to attract the wrong kind of attention.



You're not reading it wrong. It is supposed to be WarCraft in space.



It was and I plan to run a game at that time as well. That is why some details are vague. I want to leave some space for the medieval game.

But you can think of fall of Rome or Byzantium.



I still haven't worked out the details, but fringe powers eventually united and actually succeeded in destroying the empire. They razed Sevaston (imperial capital) to the ground, and divided pretty much the rest among themselves. Province of Echran was annexed by yet unnamed fringe power, but it will be the main rival of Pilintor.



Actually, advances in technology created a golden age (or rather a series of such), but every time Pilintor would pull ahead fringe powers would attack and pull it back. Eventually Pilintor broke their grip and now they no longer have the power to do so.



Actually Pilintor is the first Earth nation (and so far the only one) that discovered FTL travel and now they have 20-30 years headstart, kind of like Spanish did in America. Others will have to work their behinds off just to catch up once they discover FTL flight.



A mix. FTL is an amazing breakthrough, but the rest of Pilintor technology are jetbikes, power armors, arcology domes and such, but no terraforming. FTL is huge, but wasn't entirely unbelievable. Think electricity when it appeared.

I did my best to imagine Pilintor tech as 50-70 years in the future, while the rest will be about 15-25 years behind them. Let me give you an example.


Harley-Davidson jetbikes vs. Pilintor's own hoversteeds. The difference between the two being that even though they're manufactured on fringe, one gets more bang (speed) for buck with Harley, simply because (in addition to aesthetics) hoversteeds come with built-in AI so that in addition to listening to music one can chat with the steed and have an additional pair of eyes on the lookout.



I did my best to explain. Is now difference clearer?



You missed one important part.


Perhaps it would have been clearer if I called it colonization program.



Basically this means that there are two types of settlements outside Solar system: bigger arcologies dominated by Pilintor natives and smaller colonies, taxed and overseen by Pilintores, but with little to no Pilintor settlers. Therefore there are two scenarios Pilintores are expecting.

1. Colonies will rebel against arcologies, pursue independence or joining Earth nations once they discover FTL
   and
   
2. Pilintor will construct enough spaceships outside of Sol system and therefore out of view of fringe powers and other Earth nations that they will be able to "liberate" other provinces of Echran empire and with them most likely the rest of Solar system.

Now there's the main conflict. How to delay scenario (1) for scenario (2) to take place? How much can they oppress the colonists without incurring the wrath of God of Justice? Remember, their ideology dictates that they may not even launch a preemptive strike. And are the planets as empty as they think? Alien artifacts, space monsters, natives (Did I mention dwarves who don't need space suits and space elves?) and whatnot... More than enough for dungeon crawl in space.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:15, Fri 08 July 2011.

It sounds kind of like you're pitching modern technology with a future twist. So it's still people as we know them, doing people activities, but now with flashier toys? Are you embracing any particular futurism trends, like cyberpunk or transhumanism?

The settlement program is on other planets, correct? But still, all fringe elements are limited by c, whereas Pilintores are not. Plus, the tech factor is HUGE.

Your included two conflicts didn't come through, I just see two plus signs.

I posted my last message prematurely, so I had to edit it quite a bit. I did add some significant parts, so you may want to read it once more.


Now let me answer the questions you have so far.


I am. In a sense between 21st and 22nd century humanity has been developing steadily, there were no major events that have significantly altered technology and/or social structure. That is up until discovery of FTL flight. Then it revolutionized the world in a similar manner as discovery of America or industrial revolution did.



And divine miracles, Aethernet spells, cybernetic implants and genetic engineering.



Ever since I left my office I was struggling with finding the right word. Best I could come up with is: Theopunk. First and foremost what a just god would approve of? What would it tolerate and what wouldn't? What would such god forgive a person or nation? What answers would a benevolent church offer to actually contribute to solving moral dilemmas (for a change)?

Until two days ago I had no idea what transhuman means, but none the less I've created a character type of Aethernauts, who deal heavily with this issue. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but the idea is that as their Avatar is getting and getting stronger (as they level up), their physical bodies are getting and getting weaker. What exactly happens after Apotheosis, that I haven't decided yet. Do they keep haunting the Aethernet as poltergeists? (Anyone for a game ghostbusters in space!?) Can such poltergeist be tied to a mainframe or possess a living human? Do they enter symbiosis with willing hosts? What of this would church and state allow? Do they lock them in cybertombs, only allowing those who are licensed to ask their advice? Or do they return as saints (martyrs, who gave their lives for betterment of mankind) to pious individuals?

Cyber implants and plastic surgery don't directly lead to sin or harm the soul like in Fading Suns, but they do lead to Temptation. Yes, I need Temptation game mechanic quick.

Genetic engineering and gene therapy are cardinal sins under most circumstances, but occasionally, when no other satisfying treatment treatment exists they're permissible. Church and the state constantly work to resolve gray areas which of course must exist.

The church was adamant, however, as parents of a child which has been modified face expulsion from Pilintor if they consented to gene therapy and doctors who performed it life in prison, the child itself cannot be harmed. It is to be carefully educated to "understand" perils of breeding artificial strains of human beings. As such they're not even expected to be celibate (although many do as a sign of piety), but are expected (and monitored) to avoid mating with people known to have similar or compatible modified or exceptional genes. As such church is confident that couple of generations of interbreeding with "wild" humans would forever erase any trace of tempering.

In theory that is. In practice a big row was raised when Pilintor's national basketball team won fifth world championship in a row! Nothing was proven, but fringes were red with anger.



Beyond Sol system.



Light speed?



As I said, I clicked "Post Message" by mistake. Read the message now, it has one whole new paragraph and some minor corrections.

Yes, sorry.



Alright. I lean towards hard sci-fi and transhumanism. IMO, expecting technological development at that rate is unrealistic, but that's okay, since you're writing fiction. Discovery of FTL is a HUGE issue though, so you're going to need to discuss how people discovered it, how it works, and what the limitations are. Sword of Stars made FTL a major plot point, with every faction using a completely different method. But the method of discovery is still pretty important, since this is, if you'll pardon the joke, lightyears beyond where technology is likely to be in 100 years (barring the singularity), muchless a basically modern setting. You can say it's a fluke discovery, an alien artifact or whatever (or cloak it in mystery and make its discovery a plotline of its own).

And still, restrictions should be considered. How big is it? How much energy does it require? How fast does it accelerate? Even with FTL, how fast are we moving between locations? Can we transmit information FTL as well, or will data be transmitted by courier? Do we have sensors that can detect FTL ships, and transmit that data back in time? (Remember radar and every method of communication is limited by c. That works both ways; your radar stations can't detect attackers before they arrive, and your navigation computers can't tell what's ahead of you until it's behind you.)

FTL also brings up other issues, like relativity, safety, time-travel. I assume you're going to sweep that under the rug and operate on a basically newtonian universe, but it obviously won't be hard sci-fi :)



Can you expand on miracles and Aethernet spells?



That's a cool idea. I've never heard of Theopunk. I assume this is a very active, objectively provable God. So how do people deal with issues like human suffering?



Interesting. Are these changes linear, or do you see diminishing returns?



What do you mean 'temptation'?



Do I assume then that genetic engineering permits more awesome troopers, and is used exclusively by the bad guys? Are there any mechanical effects for committing sins beyond social stigma?



Yes. So fringe guys are getting to xenoplanets how? Hitching a ride with Pilinth? Why would Pilinth launch their own enemies into space? Are all of the space bad guys ex-Pilinthians who are now rebels?

I do see the two conflicts now, but they still seem a little weak. We should be presented with the underdogs. Right now, the Pilinthians control lightspeed, so they control everything past the solar system. On Earth, they're outnumbered, but they still have a huge tech advantage, and are confident enough in their situation that they're actually inviting attack. There is indeed conflict, putting down pesky rebels and perhaps taking the aggressive on Earth, but things are under the control.

Since you've described it being like Warcraft, I assume the goal is combat simulation, so you need a reason for some combat. You also want to be careful about copying starcraft (which is unfortunate, owing as starcraft is hugely generic).

So, to toss out some ideas ...

You have the Fringe, who, ironically, is everything EXCEPT the fringe :P But they want Pilinth technology. They outnumber, but Pilinth holds a superior position. So their dominant tool may instead be espionage. Play them like the USSR; a TON of stuff, but trashier. They have lower respect for human life, so they don't mind just throwing guys at it. They also have a superior espionage program.

Pilinth proper has some issues though. The capital is working engaging in some fuzzy dealings, has been extorting resources from the colonies, has been asking questions they have no business asking about. Worse, the priest-king (whatever you want to call him) has not been performing the appropriate traditions. What people haven't realized yet is he's been somehow turned to the other side/extorted/whatever and is actually working for the Fringe. He's been releasing data to the Fringe, including tech and strategic data. However, the government is so strict, there's no space for questioning.

In the colonies, things are also getting tough. Some people see the writing on the wall and want to break off. Others are loyal to the state, even if they have questions about their leader.

Finally, you have the aliens, and whatever hostile artifacts may still be bopping around.

I must admit that for me personally it's more about aesthetics and atmosphere of the game than believability of the science. This is why this game is technically SF fantasy, closer to say Dune, than straight-forward science fiction.



I do have answers to most of questions you asked, but I've omitted answering them until now because posts were too big already.

I will answer the main points now.


First thing you need to know about FTL in this game is that it's less a flight, but more a teleportation. In other words it's instantaneous. That's not to say it's easy or cheap. Quite the opposite. Here are main requirements for it.

1. Ship in a vacuum. That is to say no faster-than-light emails. No launch from atmosphere.
   
2. At least one competent Aethernet Navigator inside. Navigators are specially gifted people who exhibit a certain degree of talent for astral projection. It is not yet fully understood why, but it appears that psychic phenomenons are tied to Aether. With use of special computers Navigators are able to achieve control of Aether on big enough scale.
   
3. Power. Lots of lots of power. I haven't decided what main power source of Pilintor is, whether it's solar, uranium or anti-matter, but Aetherships will use same power source. To understand the amount of energy needed for teleport one should consider this: amount of power needed for Jump between Earth and Sevaston of a medium sized ship, such as strike cruiser Yabuchil, is equal to gross energy consumption of Pilintor arcology for a week!
   
4. Time. While travel is instantaneous, preparations (of Aether around the ship) take time and lots of it. It takes a skillful Navigator at least several hours to arrange the Aether for jump.
   
5. During that time the ship needs to maintain synchronous orbit with celestial body that exerts the most pull. In other words, no evasive actions, no dogfight, nothing. Just stand there and wait.
   
6. That also means that a strong source of gravity is needed.

At the moment Pilintor has total of two FTL capable strike cruisers, one (one-use) capital colonization ship (that carries premade skeleton of arcology dome), one tiny mail ship per arcology, three capital supply ships and couple of emergency troop carriers. Yabuchil itself carries barely enough energy for about a dozen jumps.



Miracles are nothing special. In narrower terms it's spells paladins can cast. We all played WarCraft and Dungeons and Dragons. Various healing spells, aura that strengthens stellar infantry power armors and the like.

In broader terms anything that would otherwise be attributed to luck in this game would more likely be attributed to divine intervention. If you played FATE or similar games you'll be familiar with terms such as collaborative storytelling rather just roleplaying.


Aethernet routines are basically spells. They follow the lines of what various spellcasters in WarCraft can do. Examples include fireballs, teleports, lightning bolts, various summonings and the like. I wanted to put a credible modern/futuristic spin on concept of wizard.



That's not at all surprising since I've just coined the term.



Pretty much. Maybe not fully provable, but certainly more "felt" than in our world.



That's a good question and to a point I'm gonna let my players contribute significantly to the answer.

Pilintor itself is of course a utopia, so saying that there is pretty much no suffering within the arcology is not really a problem. How their just god would react to their oppression of others is something Pilintores will have to make a best guess and then live with the consequences.



I expect them to be linear, but in reality only playtesting can give us the final answer.



Here's the example.


Suppose I have a warrior who uses cybernetics to increase his strength, he is clearly opening himself to the sin of Wrath. Alternatively a singer who uses plastic surgery to increase size of her boobs and scientist who uses genetic engineering to boost his/her intelligence are opening themselves to sins of Lust and Pride respectively.

Now I don't want to make these necessarily sinful, but I do want to make such people more susceptible to sins, either making them less resistible to sins or having them suffer serious consequences once they do sin.



Actually this hasn't occurred to me. I was planning that Pilintor is the only one to have that advanced gene tech and the main issue was supposed to be if all the advantages they have would turn them into bad guys.

And while fringes are indeed adversaries, I never planned to portray them as bad guys, just someone with opposing interests. Are some of their methods uglier than Pilintores', sure, but I'm not into that kind of stereotyping.



Not yet, but I need them. Badly.



Number of reasons.

1. They need workforce
   
2. They believe fringes can do less damage separated from Earth
   
3. Pilints know that colonists are for now at their mercy.

For the time being colonists are working hard and paying some serious taxes. Can it be called oppression, maybe. That's the debate and these are moral dilemmas characters will have to face.



That didn't occur to me, but is definitely a possibility.

The bad guys I had in mind:

1. Rebellious colonies,
   
2. Greedy Pilintore governors,
   
3. Fringe infiltrators,
   
4. Colonists turned pirates or brigands,
   
5. Space monsters,
   
6. Alien remnants,
   
7. Mad AIs and poltergeists.

Isn't this enough for now?



Indeed. The main danger is that Pilintores themselves may turn into oppressors and that their god may decide to punish them. In a sense I want to give characters a honeymoon period when they can do pretty much as they like and then hit them on the head with consequences.



True. I believe that ATM there is enough potential for combat. The rest will come up once we get the game going.

Plan is to start with one paladin, one navigator, several infantrymen and couple of more unusual characters, such as space elves, robots or reconnaissance knights for instance.



StarCraft is pretty much rednecks in space (if you don't mind me saying) and I'll reserve that for the colonists. They don't have god in StarCraft and I believe that will be the difference enough.



All ideas you posted are noted and some of them closely match my own.

Now all I need are some players. Anyone interested?

ALright, I think you have a good idea of what you're missing. You've answered all of my questions, although I still feel my comments stand (especially regarding the strength of the conflict; I don't think you need to 'start it easy' by any means. It's not necessary, and it's weak story-telling. You need to hook them early.)

I am a little concerned about what exactly Pilinth is, in its character. Is it the golden-child? The chosen people? A corrupt artifact? The core of a new, slave-holding empire? Honest priests or arrogant inquisitors? I get the sense that my character SHOULD respect Pilinth, but whether Pilinth is actually behaving responsibly at this point isn't specified.

Once you settle that, I'd say you have a strong proposition sheet for the game. Then you just have to worry about everything that follows :) (starting with the dice mechanics!)

If you put it like that it makes a lot more sense. Believe me since Monday I've been struggling with reconciling this with atmosphere of isolation characteristic for early settling of American continent that I want to use in my game.



Personally I strive to ask those questions, not provide answers. Whenever I write a setting for a game I do my best to leave freedom to players to do with them what they like. Heroes or villains, Pilintores have potential for both (perhaps even at the same time). Lure of power and what one does with it is indeed intended to be one of the main themes of this game.



Actually dice mechanics (with exception of Temptation) are already there. I'll be using core of White Wolf's World of Darkness importing the cool stuff from Scion: Hero (I never bothered with later Scion games mainly because I'm not fond of the power level). And while paladins may have a boon or two themselves, most of epic attributes and boons will be distributed to equipment (gadgets), power-suits and cybernetic implants. If I do get a genetically modified character or two, I will allow them some enhancements, but they will be using more or less same game mechanics.

This should cover pretty much what I need for paladins and infantrymen. I'll combine systems from Mage games (they're almost identical anyway) with Wraith: the Oblivion (and Orpheus if I find time to finally read it) to create the feel I want for Aethernouts, whose bodies are dying while they live in Aether.

I was also planning to add space elves and dwarves, but fitting them to Pilintocentric setting that has formed in my head feels so far artificial, so I may shelve them for now.


Now, you wouldn't know any artist who would be interested to do a bit of concept art for a game that will most likely never be printed?