[The Call] Game Metaphysics

[Juan D. Six]

So I wanted to zoom in a bit more on the question of game metaphysics and how it affects the flow of narritive within a game.

Robert Anton Wilson and Tim Leary talk about "metaprograms" - software we run inside our heads which lends a context and a framework to our sensory experience. To a born-again Christian, sunrise of Christmas Morning means something different from sunrise the day before or the day after: same phenomena, different metaprogram.

In a sense, "reality" is the props, and the "metaprogram" is the script.

Games ship with a metaphysics which is just as real as the game physics represented by their fighting system. Sometimes it is more explicit (AD&D Gods or Warhammer's Fate Points) and sometimes less explicit or occluded (Vampire's off-screen Cain if I recall correctly).

A lot of times, the rationale of the game setting is defined by the metaphysics: Vampire and Mage, for example, blur the line between physics and metaphysics. D&D is rather an interesting case because Magic Users operate essentially outside of the metaphysical framework of the game (that being more the Cleric's domain). I think that's part of why D&D magic feels so mechanical: it's in the "physics" not the "metaphysics" domain.

For "The Call" I'd like to make the "metaphysical universe" that the characters are in part of the game mechanics. There would basically be three "stances":

1> [Unbelief] Basic Scientific Materialism, or Religious Belief based on Faith (not Experience)
- the starting point for most characters.

2> [Investigation] The Truth Is Out There - Or In Here
- some experience, or perhaps a Leap of Faith resulting in a stance where one could call G_d's name and mean it
- still an exploratory stance

3> [Discovery] Eureka!
- a character has an insight into the nature of reality which defines their beliefs and behavior from that point onwards. Seeing a demon or a vampire would do it, but so would a vision of Christ as they're pulled from a burning car wreck essentially unharmed.

4> [Mastery]
- a character builds knowledge and skill around the truth they have discovered. In D&D term, that'd be the Cleric building skills around the Faith that their god is Real.

In state 2 dialog is possible: people can discuss experiences and beliefs, compare notes, learn. In state 3, the door is closed: people *KNOW* the truth and that's more or less the end of the matter. The Great Old Ones are rising, Vampires are real, the Templars still run the World, whatever it happens to be is *real* and displaces standard materialism or lukewarm faith as the foundation of perspective.

Of course, most traditional games have a single Underlying Truth which frames the entire game and it's mechanics. I think that's boring and entirely too convenient.

For "The Call" I envisage something a bit more twisted: all these truths seem completely real to their adherents, and that may include some of the player characters. But, in fact, the game can take place in one of three gears:

0> It's all psychological BS in the minds of the believers, and there is either no truth, or nobody knows it.

1> One (or a few) of the belief systems is real, and the rest are unreal. Vampires exist because of a virus and they run the world. Or the Templars are immortal alchemists led by Jesus, or whatever the case may be.

2> All of the belief systems are real, either because reality is not continuous (i.e. truths create their own microworlds) or because reality is fluid enough to contain all of these completing realities simultaniously. What the thinker thinks, the prover proves.


This ties into what I had envisaged for the magic / occult / metaphysical system for the game: secret truths reveal secret powers.

I feel this grounds the progression and lends itself to an investigative style of play: the metagame bonus for finding hidden truths is that one can use these truths like objects. Of course this requires a strict understanding of the difference between Faith and Knowledge, beteen Belief and Initiation. A "goth teenager" character may Believe in Vampires, but the first time they see one, they're still going to freak out completely (either on the spot or later as it sinks in). The initiation of sharing a car ride with a 600 year old man who feeds on blood to survive and curses the day they died twice an hour is a different kind of truth.

The goal of this model is to ground magic in a way that is more sophisticated than "some people can do it, and some people can't."

Start with the base case: Magic Is Real. That's a Secret Truth right there. Perhaps a character is still getting used to and testing the idea: that's the Investigation phase. These are major truths, and each one should be played as a life-altering event if it happens in game time.

Of course, it's never going to be that bald and unvarnished. Oh no. While the abstract, Mechanical Truth would be "Magic is Real" the roleplayed truth would be "The Magicians of the Order of the Sunrise Can Do Magic Because of their Ties to the Ancient Powers of Atlantis." Then that truth gets built on as characters develop capabilities in the new territory revealed by this discovery.

Interesting angles: characters who believe different things interact. Does one prove to another that this Unthinkable Secret Truth is real, or is it just glossed over.

Even more interesting: what if some of these truths are *false* from the perspective of the Game Master? Yes, the character Believes in the Secret Truth but, in actual fact, it's all in their head. The use of psychic powers is rolled for just as if it was real, but in fact the information that comes back is random hogwash... How long before characters wise up? Possibly never...

Other angles: characters initiating each other. One does an act of magic before others who don't believe, and as a result, they now believe. Can the skill be transferred along with the knowledge?

GAME MECHANICS
- a Truth List or Truth Tree - a list of discoveries with associated skills which open up once those truths are discovered.

- Some way of modeling how *reality* works: it it all nonsense, is some of it real, or is it all real to those experiencing it.

- A way of modeling disbelief, where somebody is exposed to a Truth and does not take it in.


I'm still fleshing out how this background connects to the bit I wanted to examine most of all: the "Call" to some kind of higher purpose, or fate. Possibly everything above is actually unrelated bits of another game idea creeping in ;-)

Thanks for your patience!

[joepub]

Very interesting idea.

Just something I think might add to the game: some kind of mechanic/outline for Reactions. If I find out vampires do exist - at the Discovery level... I'm not going to just accept it.
I'm going to fight the belief - go to elaborate lengths to keep my world running status quo.



Or, take for example The Matrix (the first movie, not those rubbish sequels). It kind of seems like Neo could most DEFINATELY be a blueprint character for The Call.

Anyways, if I were playing The Call set in a matrix setting... why wouldn't I take the blue pill?
Why wouldn't I want my reality to stay.... real?

[Juan D. Six]

That suggests a set of traits around that resistance, that stuckness - for some people it might be a fear of madness, or a desire to feel they know the truth already, or fear of the unknown, or a fear they're going against society... fear of change...

I wonder, too, if there aren't truths which are inherently dangerous... like once you know the Illuminati are real, well, then you're involved, and perhaps that's dangerous in-and-of itself.

We see all of that in The Matrix, different characters reacting to their new status in different ways, some even failing to adapt (Cipher) in dangerous ways...

[joepub]

Personally, I think this idea would be COOLEST because you'd have to play those reactions.


Just like some psychologists group came up with the 5 stages of grief:
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

Maybe you could come up with a set of stages of belief that is more REACTIONARY than state of awareness.




While your Unbelief, Investigation, Discovery and Mastery does very nicely cover the stages of becoming aware of something...  it seems a little... robotic? (something along those lines.)


Maybe the stages could look like:
Unaware
Glimpse at Truth
Disbelief
Inquiry
Confusion
Anger
Grasping Truth
Accepting Truth


Something along those lines, where players must react. They can't just say "oh, vampires. Sweet" and carry on.

[joepub]

And if you did go with Reactionary stages, maybe certain players have the ability to bypass certain stages? Like maybe calm, cool Micheal doens't get angry. Or it's only brief, token anger.



If you want a cool, yet possibly confusing way of approaching reactions: Reaction tree.
If I knew how to use the insert table option, I'd draw one.


But that way, players can react in different ways, and end up at one or more endings. One ending might let you use powers that are given by that truth, another let you dominate that truth, another let you ignore it.


Just an idea.

[Juan D. Six]

I really like the idea of these REACTIONS to awareness as a central dynamic. Excellent.

I think this has some implications for the Call of Cthulhu overhauls which have been extensively discussed too - it's a lot nicer than just straight SAN loss.

By the way, feel free to pitch in on this: I'm considering all development work on "The Call" open source or public domain, so contribute / use at will!

I think there's some additional structure around these Truths or Secrets or whatever:

* Other people who know the truth
  - cultists, societies, government agencies etc.
* Implications
  - now you know that Cthulhu is rising, now what?
* Investigations
  - Ok, so Magic is real - what does that mean? How do I *do* magic?

I want to avoid a Rifts-like system which wires these pools of reality into the structure of the (meta)physical universe, opting for something more fluid and tricksy - a world in which, yes, perhaps that did happen, and perhaps it didn't... where truth doesn't necessarily travel well, and just because you saw a Byakhee come down from space doesn't mean that NORAD saw it too, or that you can make it happen again...

In some ways that's the central mystery: what's the limit on Real?

We've got *excellent* evidence that thousands of years ago, and up until the present in many places, otherwise sane people believe in talking snakes, magic that works, visits by space aliens, saints who appear in visions and dreams and sometimes in physical bodies, and an afterlife of various kinds.  The possibility that, *for those people* it was and is completely real, but for us it isn't, is a good enough lump of weirdness that a game shouldn't expect to explain it, only faithfully allow people to play with it :-)

I still can't quite figure out how this connects to "The Call" itself, though.

[joepub]

Some movies I love that I personally think could help inspire this game:
-12 Monkeys
-The Matrix

12 Monkeys because it not only deals with this game topic - it deals with it in reverse. The protagonist starts out knowing that the virus, the destruction of mankind, and time travel are real. And by the middle he believes himself to be "simply divergent".

The Matrix because its one of the most OBVIOUS examples, even if it is one of the crudest and simplest.
But also because I think the red pill/blue pill concept could be key - there's the choice to try and block out the truth.

[joepub]

The possibility that, *for those people* it was and is completely real, but for us it isn't, is a good enough lump of weirdness that a game shouldn't expect to explain it, only faithfully allow people to play with it :-)

I like this concept - The mechanical bonuses for putting faith in a Truth should be such that it *could* be explained as psychological/etc and not paranormal... that way, the nonbelievers are still centered in their reality as long as they want to be.

I still can't quite figure out how this connects to "The Call" itself, though.

I kind of like the idea that these Truths are basically like dumping a destiny in someone's lap.
It's like saying, "Vampires are going to do x. You know about vampires. If you want to be a good person, do the math."

Basically, let players act or not act based on the Truths and Needs they are handed.
Hand them information that only they (and a small group of people know) and see if they take up the initiative or not.

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Well, what if this was all mechanical? So each character assigns traits to their personality. Maybe Openness, Logic, Social, etc. All of the traits have a range of values and are all on the same side of the spectrum so that low values might represent Closed-mindedness, Flightiness or anti-social, etc. AND having values at one end enhance your ability to learn new truths. BUT, having values on the other side enhances your ability to deal with normal people and daily life. For instance, it is hard to take in a world-shattering truth if you are highly logical, but logic may help you make lots of money as a scientist, engineer, accountatn or lawyer...
  Then, assign a trait to a truth, so that some characters are more likely to accept some truths, while others may never be able to. e.g., The Flighty character finds it easy to believe in the Fae, while the open-minded character is put off by their closed society and keeping of secrets and very structured and ordered society. Sometihng like that?

[Juan D. Six]

The beauty of that approach - where the truths themselves compel action - it that it nicely ties together "The Call" and the Secrets. Obviously the weld will need some work, but I think what you get out of it is a notion where a character is Called to discover some Truths, and then perhaps to Do Something about them.

I really like that it doesn't privilege the Real either. I think one could go a long way with a setting in which it is not clear until fairly high levels whether the Illuminati really are talking to the Aliens about the Future of Humanity, or whether the Illuminati are a bunch of guys who have convinced each other that somebody in the club is talking to the aliens.

I think without a fairly hearty dose of delusion, there's no disincentive to going around believing in everything and seeing how far you can get. The notion that a lot of the Bad Guys are simply people who have come to believe things which are Not True, or failed their rolls to assimilate Important Secret Truths and are now fucked up because they're still fighting against the evidence of their own senses...

I like the world this paints, in which there is Black, and there is White, but you're never sure if what you are looking at is Really It. A world in which characters can come face to face with Angels and then, two days later, debate whether that was real or not...

Fred Did that really happen? I mean, yeah, we went to the abandoned church and they really were wearing robes and burning incense and chanting. I know that's real, we've got it on tape. But the guy in the circle, Angel0... I've seen him in daylight and he DOES NOT HAVE WINGS!
George Look, I don't know, you know? People sometimes see things - UFOs, BigFoot, the Men In Black. You know that. I know that. You've read The Gernsbach Continuum just as often as I have, sifting for clues as to what Gibson really was tapping into when he downloaded the Cyberpunk Future. We know that unreal things are completely convincing at times...
Fred How do we know anything is real? Did we just see a Man become an Angel, or just the inside of our own tiny minds...
Henry Look, guys, I hate to tell you this now but this is the third or fouth time I've seen something like this, and let me tell you, it's all real. All that stuff in the grimoires, all that stuff in the myths, the Illuminati, the Agents, all of it.
Fred, George ???
Henry For the fifteen seconds while you're squarely facing it, it's as real as stomache cramp. All the religions, all the stories, all of that stuff really happened... even if it's only inside the minds of the people who were there. Our job seems to be to help stop the bad stuff getting through into the consensus reality, into the place where people live most of the time, to keep the weirdness at the fringes, where it belongs. That's what makes it weird.

What's interesting about a game that works this way it that is presents some really interesting roles for characters:

There are the two simple stances:

1> Trying to manifest Good Weird (i.e. summoning helpful angels or magically curing diseases)
2> Trying to stop manifestation of Bad Weird (Cthulhu)

Plus:

3> Trying to prevent manifestation of *any* weird (because it's, say, bad for reality)

It's a small step to having players cast as Agents in the Matrix sense, fighting against *ALL* the weird...

Fred Please, let's not gun down any more angels. Please, this time, let it be spooks. Or something with tentacles. Even demons.... I just can't keep doing this.

But then this is back into the standard Guardians of Reality script. My gut tells me that there's a different way to handle this, not necessarily a reduction in how black and white things are, but something that's entirely more about how culture and consensus reality creates what is possible, not in the black-and-white sense, but in the creative, productive sense.

Think of the same game setting around the time of the Buddha where you've got this huge community of faith, and miracles, and the odd demon (Hello Mara!) and so on all running around.

Reality is fluid, fungible... socially powerful figures have converted, the traditional beliefs are under attack... the Secret, Powerful Truth is that the Buddha is Enlightened, and the Four Noble Truths are exactly what they appear to be...

See where I'm going with this?

[Juan D. Six]

Dindenver,  I like the idea that an openness to new ideas can be exploited - one one hand, openness and learning, on the other, outright gullibility.

[dindenver]

Hi!
  I think if you took your time to balance them, With one end of the spectrum being useful in the real world and the other end bing useful in descovering esoteric knowledge.
  And if you assign traits to Truths and balance the truths across the traits, then there won't be any need for randomizing or point buying, since every value in the range of values is useful and beneficial.

[joepub]

I think if you took your time to balance them, With one end of the spectrum being useful in the real world and the other end bing useful in descovering esoteric knowledge.

I really like where you're going with this one.
Would there be a set list of traits, or would they be freeform?

And, a possibility I want to add to all of this: reaction tree.

For example, maybe the tree could look like:

A. Disbelief
                          AB. Verification
B. Confusion
                          BC. Inquiry                  (AB)(BD) Belief, Hatred of +2
C. Curiousity
                          BD. Aggression
D. Anger


This is an excerpt of a possible Reaction Tree: obviously not as well thought out as the end one would be.
All end results would either be Belief, Limited Belief, or Disbelief.

However, they'd all also end with an ATTITUDE towards the Truth. In the example, the person hates the Truth, but believes in it fully.



What do you think?

[dindenver]

Hi!
  As far as a reaction stream, I was thinking:
1 ) Character has low Logic, they are terrible with money and business matters. Looking up their bank account balance is like a random number. They also have a high Social, he makes friends easily and had faith in humanity.
2 ) Character's flighty personality feeds their vision of unlimited possibilities
3 ) In a wild inspiration, they wander off the beaten path in India. Soon they see things that would blow other people's minds, but they see it as a natural part of their perception
4 ) After talking to the gurus, they say things that don;t make a lot of sense, but he accepts those statements as real.
5 ) Eventually, they take him into their confidence and he learns their secrets

  Or alternatively,
3a ) Character has many friends in an artists' commune they attended for a time. Finally, one of them takes the character into their confidence. And reveals that the commune is a front for a secret oganization known as "The Majestic" And that they were all recuited from within the commune for their creative talents and connections.
4a ) The character is totally sociable and has faith in humanity and rejects that the person they knew so well had a whole secret life they did not know or suspect
5a ) The character never learns the secrets of "The Majestic" but leads a well socially adjusted life

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Oops, what I forgot to add was that if you do it this way, then the player is free to roleplay the outcome and will pass or fail based on their attributes. And I was thinking of a set list of attributes, maybe:
Curiosity - Desire to learn, low values mean character is confident
Obsession - No fear in the face of their sole desire, low values mean character has a more normalized view of reality and can relate to normal people better
Awareness - How open character is to their senses, low values represent ambitious, take-charge characters
  This is just a beginning, but I thikn it shows what I mean...