[GroupDesign] - Advanced Archivism

[Doug Ruff]

OK, this makes more sense.

So, it's not about Presence, it's about cosmic power, which Hosts don't have. So, let's call it Energy, as you suggest, and not even bother with giving Hosts a stat for it (it's zero anyway.)

IMHO, this is a roll-back to some of the earlier suggestions for implementing possession and Burn (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

I would suggest some tweaks though.

Firstly, the sheer act of possession should involve Energy transfer, the Archivst is inside the Host at this point. So I would suggest 1 (or more!) Energy as an "ante" (which means Burn from the outset. Possession always has consequences.)

Second, how is the Archivist boosting the host's abilities? If it's by "investing power" into the Host, then that's Burn for the Host, not Fade for the Archivist. If it's by sharing knowledge, that's different, but I don't see how this would Fade the Archivst either.

IMHO, Archivist Fade works better when there is an emotional dimension to the mechanics, the Archivist Fades through being overwhelmed by the Host's emotions.

However, your core mechanic is quite workable for straight implementation of Archivist powers and how they Burn the Host. At the cost of providing a means for a Host to Ascend - do you have an alternative mechanic in mind for this, or do you think that we don't need to simulate Hosts turning into Archivists?

[Andrew Morris]

So, it's not about Presence, it's about cosmic power, which Hosts don't have. So, let's call it Energy, as you suggest, and not even bother with giving Hosts a stat for it (it's zero anyway.)

Right, dead on.

IMHO, this is a roll-back to some of the earlier suggestions for implementing possession and Burn (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

Right, I wanted to toss out an alternate system, preferably something simpler.

Firstly, the sheer act of possession should involve Energy transfer, the Archivst is inside the Host at this point. So I would suggest 1 (or more!) Energy as an "ante" (which means Burn from the outset. Possession always has consequences.)

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, it sounds good. The only thing that worries me about this idea is that there's no way for an Archivist to simply observe. If I remember correctly, that was the foundation of the Archivist concept -- going back in time to fill out the recorded history of humanity. I'd like to see at least one safe path, so that the players have some sort of liminality that they must cross in order to be effective (bringing proportionate risk, of course). I like the idea of a clear line of demarcation -- "up to here, it is safe, but no further."

Second, how is the Archivist boosting the host's abilities? If it's by "investing power" into the Host, then that's Burn for the Host, not Fade for the Archivist. If it's by sharing knowledge, that's different, but I don't see how this would Fade the Archivst either.

Okay, let me spell out how I see Fade and Burn working in this setup:

Archivist Fade -- caused by extending some core element of "self" to the host in order to make their actions more successful (specifically not investing any Transcendant energy)

Host Fade -- caused by the Archivist draining away some core element of the "self" of the host in order to make his actions more successful

Archivist Burn -- caused by altering elements of the timeline that affect the Archivist's mortal life and elevation to Archivist-dom

Host Burn -- caused by the Archivist moving more fully into the host in order to fuel superhuman powers (Transcendant energy)

Hopefully that should clear it up. I think my terminology was vague and imprecise when layout out the concept.

At the cost of providing a means for a Host to Ascend - do you have an alternative mechanic in mind for this, or do you think that we don't need to simulate Hosts turning into Archivists?

No, I don't have such a mechanic. But yes, I think we should figure out how a human becomes an Archivist.