Gods: The New Ideas

[Bret Gillan]

Because there really needs to be a thread in this forum where we don't argue with Sindyr. ;)

So I came away from Dreamation with some cool ideas for Gods, and I'm ready to start showing it off at the various conventions I hit (Get-your-geek-on-a-thon, Arcon, Dreamation, and Dexcon). Most of the core concepts I came into this with are still in place, and I've made some tweaks. I should have a playtest draft of the new rules soon, but I'm also juggling the layout for a cheap PDF of Pundits & Pollsters at the same time, so soon could be this week or within a month. Anyhow, here are the new ideas:

- Creation: This was actually born in the first fifteen seconds of Actual Play where I said, "Man... we need to do some floating-in-the-void, 'let there be light' kind of stuff. But basically, the first few turns of the game are about filling out Creation as a character. You lay down Conflicts like, "Goal: Create a Black Sun," or suchlike. If you succeed at the Goal, then the trait "Black Sun" gets written into Creation (which acts as a communal non-character-entity with check-off traits). In this first turn, no Creations are in play, and God's Miracles are Debt abilities instead of the Checkoff abilities they act is once play proper begins. These turns continue until Creation is filled out.

- Destiny: Destiny and Creation are bound together as a list of check-off Traits once the Creation Myth (the series of turns where Creation is filled out) is over. Destinies will be things like A New Beginning, The Golden Age, The Age of Legends, etc. When all check-off Traits on Creation and Destiny have been checked, that Age's Destiny has been fulfilled and a Conflict is immediately put into play: Goal: Decide the Destiny of the next Age. Destinies will operate on a linear "lifepath" sort of system which each Age leading to two new possibilities. The ultimate destination is The End Times, though the group could in theory stave off the End Times for quite awhile.

- Ages: Gone. Because of the check-off Traits provided by Creation and Destiny, and because of the game structure that Destiny provides, I've gotten rid of Ages and their infinite level-1 checkoff Trait. Everything else about the game remains intact.

Now, I'm not just posting here to noodle you guys with my ideas. I'm looking for suggested references for creating the Destiny Track - Campbellian sort of theory - or your own suggestions for Ages. So suggest away!

[Bret Gillan]

Oh, and to clarify something that I didn't realize was confusing when I wrote it:

old Age - Ages were originally the name I had for turns. When one Age ended, a new one began. The turn-starter was able to name the new Age which gave a communable, level-1 trait that didn't incur Debt and could never be checked off.

new Age - Basically a convenient way of referring to the divisions in the game when a specific Destiny is in play. When A New Beginning is in play, that's an Age, and when The End Times comes into play, that's a new Age.

[Hans]

Now, I'm not just posting here to noodle you guys with my ideas. I'm looking for suggested references for creating the Destiny Track - Campbellian sort of theory - or your own suggestions for Ages. So suggest away!

I'm still interested in this, Bret, but need to wait until I see some more complete rules to really understand what you are talking about.  It sounds like there are some big differences between this version and the last. 

I would like to figure out a way to playtest this for you as well, but don't have enough takers locally to do so.  Maybe somehow at GenCon?   Perhaps via chat?  I've been interested in this since you first posted it way back when on one of the other boards.

[Bret Gillan]

I'll post the complete playtest draft as soon as I find the time to write it up.

Sadly, I'm not going to GenCon this year (my financial situation didn't come through). Chat is more of a possibility. Let me get some of my real-life affairs in order and I'll try and plan a Gods playtest.

[TonyLB]

I totally want in on a playtest of this.

Will different Destinies imply different Comics Codes?

[Bret Gillan]

I totally want in on a playtest of this.

Will different Destinies imply different Comics Codes?

Tony, you just blew my mind.

They will now.

[Tuxboy]

Ok...so looking forward to the revised play-test rules...some great changes there...much more deity feel with the Creation portion.