Origins

[mikefernandez]

Hello internet.

     I am working on a miniatures encounters system featuring Chargen, Groupgen, and a dynamic interaction system.

     I would say I am about 8% towards my goal but the foundational elements are nearly complete including resolution mechanics, rewards, and structure.

     Right now what I need help on is what I believe to be one of the more crucial aspects of CharGen and that is The Origin of a character.

     I have approached this in several ways and my goal is to come up with a small list of Origins that have a large effect on what the character is like.

                            So far I have tried the following:

            The first thing I did was organize origins into sources of energy. Were they physical, elemental, aetheric, astral, or cosmic?

            Next knowing the source of energy, what effect did the characters environment have on their being?

            I looked at different opposing lifestyle elements of an environment that could have an effect on the characters development.

                     Connected                Isolated
                     Sunshine                  Darkness
                     Nature                      Technology
                     Sustainment             Development
                     Diversity                    Segregation
                     
                                                                                                       <is sustainment a word?>

Right now Im trying to work on a system to generate your characters origin which will ultimately determine what abilities, and resources you have access to at the start of the game. This is a concept that I'm working on but it seems as if there are too many variables to work with.

Now without worrying too much about values, how does it all connect? Does anyone have any theories on the structure of origins?

In my mind I look at Origins in my game as the replacement for choosing a Race or Class.

I see Origin  as a step ahead of both, potentially able to generate a characters class or race.

Maybe I am out of my mind and reaching for the unreachable?

I hope this sparks some sort of discussion over what Origins is as I could use some fresh minds to help me get past this particular barrier.

Even speculation on what you think could be an element of a characters Origin would be much appreciated.

Aloha

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

That's all really cool stuff, but without really knowing the context of your game it's hard to figure out what to tell you.  Can you answer a couple questions for me?

Is your game an RPG or a Minatures Game?

What is your game about?

What do the characters do?

Peace,

-Troy

[mikefernandez]

Okay, I guess I was being overly optimistic about the information I set forth. But I am working on a miniatures game.

I keep losing focus on what the game is about and it keeps switching back and forth between an rpg, and a miniatures strategy game.

I think that the origins Idea is better suited to a roleplaying game in which the game would be about characters from wildly different backgrounds
coming together in one location and forming a melting pot. The reason for characters to go to this location is opportunities.

Sorry for being abstract, but I tend to work on foundations and structure before adding color.

This location is abundant in resources that attracts the ruling class who attempts to secure it for their own purposes.

I'm thinking an island.

So your goals are based on your characters origin.

[Josh Roby]

So this sounds like a sort of many-races fantasy setting, Mike?  Just for my own internal context; this sounded very sci-fi (different planets spawning different backgrounds/origins) but really, most of that is "just color."

I think picking one of two things five times is pretty nifty; you very simply create 32 different possibilities.  So I can quickly go, "I pick Connected, Darkness, Technology, Development, and Segregation... okay, I'm an isolationist techno-dwarf.  Rock on."  What effect will these decisions have, now?  I suspect they will need to be carefully balanced.

Can you elucidate the difference between the Isolated/Connected and Diversity/Segregation toggles?  They look really similar to me, but you probably have a clearer idea of what you mean.

And instead of "sustainment" you probably mean "stagnation."

[mikefernandez]

well, Ideally I would like it to be just about humans but I think I'm being delusional. Now alien species could work.

As for Connected/Disconnected and Diversity/Segregated the first set how much they interact with their surroundings, while the second set being the overall diversity of their surrounding cultures.

I guess Origins is more of a study of cultures more than anything.

As for Sustainment/Development, maybe it should be more about SelfSutainment/Development?
Actually SelfSustainment may be another category altogether.

Stagnation/Development
SelfSustainable/Interdepent

So the new list of elements that has an effect on your origin which I broke into separate categories are:

Environment
                     Diverse                    Segregated
                     Sunlight                    Darkness
                     Nature                      Technology

Interaction
                     Connected                Isolated
                     Self-Sustainable        Interdependent
                     Stagnation                Development


I think that each "toggle" probally has more than two choices, maybe even values but for now I present these polar opposittes.

A third category I just thought of could be issues:

                     Peace                      War
                     Love                         Hate
                     Understanding           Close Minded
                     Freedom                   Control

or it could be a separate list of problems instead of choices. Sort of like Traits, and Flaws.

And the elements that influenced your origin determines what issues affect you the most where your goal could be to progress towards resolving the issue.

<Victory Points awarded for peace love and freedom! Hahaha!>

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Minor quibble, I'd use "Unified" rather than "Diverse" as an opposite to Segragated.  A planet/island can be very diverse and segragated at the same time.

Okay, so the game is about exploring cultures.  That's cool.  Let me ask then:

How do the characters do that?

What do the players do to play the game?

Peace,

-Troy

[mikefernandez]

Well the Diverse/Segregated part is more about a specific persons surrounding environment. Your right though but This list is for one person's experiences.

Unified's oppositte would be divided and that would have to do with a societies overall view on an issue.


Diverse      Segregated
Unified       Divided

Hmm, I'm not actually sure what the game is about anymore. This game mechanic has separated itself from it's original idea and became an entity of its own.

Oh well...  If anyone else would like to take a stab at it that would be cool, but if not I don't know where a game of cultural exploration could go.

Adventures in the metaphysical plane?

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Hmm, I'm not actually sure what the game is about anymore.

-Oh, there's all kinds of places it could go.  You just have to decide if and where you want it to?  If you had to imagine what a session of this game would look like, what would be happening?  If it were an ideal situation, what would a night of playing this game be like?

Peace,

-Troy

[mikefernandez]

Ok, I'll give it a shot.

Here's what I came up with:

[Rise Up Planet Urth] A four player game


"The Activist" "The Rebel" "The Politician" and "The King" are abducted by aliens.
They manage to not only break free but capture the aliens and take control of their craft.
<How they would manage that I have no idea. maybe it could be part of the aliens experiment? that could be some twilight zone sh!! right there.hahaha>
Through alien technology they all immediately learn exactly what the ship is capable of.
They learn that while the ship is primarily used for exploration and science it has advanced alien weaponry that is so accurate and powerful that it can vaporize a fly just as easily as it could make an entire continent disappear.
And that's where the story begins.

So each player has their role. It could be one of the four above, or they could generate their ideals and they must figure out where to go from here.
Do they work together? Attempt to get rid of each other and use the vehicle for their own purposes? Or destroy the vehicle.

So what do you think?

[mikefernandez]

Delete this post moderator. No more harvesting for the elite.

[mikefernandez]

I see I have no control over my work on this site, no deleting my own post, not even a simple edit.
So go forth now and take the seeds I produced and modify them for your uses.
I say the Forge is a place for mental masturbation in a stagnate environment.

"Moderation is key" I've been told. I'm sure they meant self moderation, not moderation based on a higher powers whim.