[Gods] The Myth Cycle

[Bret Gillan]

The following is the rough Myth Cycle I've come up with. The Myth Cycle covers the Comics Code that will be followed in the various Ages, and the Ages that can come next. In a campaign, players could follow the Myth Cycle I've laid out, create their own, or come up with the Myth Cycle on the fly as they advance through the Ages. This is meant to be both play resource and inspiration/guideline for what Myth Cycles are about - it was barely researched and is not intended to be definitive.

Also, the playtest draft is completed. Anyone interested in playtesting can send me an e-mail at bret.gillan@gmail.com or PM me (while we still can). It's a busy week for me at work so it may take me awhile to get back to you.

The Myth Cycle
===============
The Beginning
--------------
Everything must be subordinate to the will of the gods.
Nothing may be unmade.

Leads: The Time of Ancients, Untamed Wild

The Time of the Ancients
-------------------------
The ancient races cannot be destroyed.
The bond between the ancient races and the gods cannot be broken.

Leads: Judgment, Age of Wonders

Untamed Wild
-------------
Sentient beings cannot arise.
The wild cannot be conquered.

Leads: Dawn of Civilization, The Great Beasts

Judgment
---------
The ancients cannot escape their destruction.
The gods cannot be merciful.

Leads: Dark Age, Dawn of Civilization

Age of Wonders
---------------
Nothing mundane can occur.
The ancient races cannot suffer setbacks.

Leads: Judgment, Birth of the Enemy

Dawn of Civilization
---------------------
The rise of sentient beings cannot be thwarted.
Civilization cannot be destroyed.

Leads: Golden Age, Age of Heroes

The Great Beasts
-----------------
Beasts cannot lose their control of the world.
Sentient beings cannot be victorious.

Leads: Dawn of Civilization, Disaster

Dark Age
---------
No progress can be made.
Setbacks cannot be overcome.

Leads: The Great War, Age of Heroes

Birth of the Enemy
------------------
The enemy cannot be destroyed or pacified.
The enemy cannot win.

Leads: The Great War, Rise of an Empire

Golden Age
-----------
No one can suffer from poverty.
Progress cannot be halted.

Leads: Dark Age, Age of Heroes

Age of Heroes
--------------
Heroes cannot lose.
Heroes cannot die in vain.

Leads: Birth of the Enemy, The Great War

Disaster
---------
Disaster cannot be averted.
The majority of life cannot escape destruction.

Leads: Wasteland, End Times

The Great War
--------------
There can be no peace.
The war cannot be won.

Leads: Rise of an Empire, End Times

Rise of an Empire
------------------
Disunity cannot arise.
The empire cannot be defeated.

Leads: The Great War, End Times

Wasteland
----------
Nature cannot flourish.
Great cities cannot arise.

Leads: The Great War, End Times

End Times
----------
Nothing and no one can escape destruction.
There can be no hope.

Leads: None

[Andrew Morris]

How is a lead triggered? Instead of gloating?

[TonyLB]

Nothing mundane can occur.

Heh.  I'd almost push toward that path, just to see how people deal with that one being gloatable.

"Goal:  Have sex ... just normal, person sex ... not like, with a divinely attractive squid or a sentient rainbow or ... Gods, I'm so tired."

[Ben Lehman]

How about: After 5 (or whatever number) of Story Tokens are earned via Gloating, the age can end via an Event, with whoever narrates the event deciding the lead?

yrs--
--Ben

[Bret Gillan]

How is a lead triggered? Instead of gloating?

At the beginning of the game during the Creation Myth, Creation is formed. Creation is communal non-character entity that everyone has access to every turn. It's check-off traits never refresh. When all of its check-off traits have been used, the Conflict: "Event: A new age dawns," is triggered, and the player who wins that Conflict decides which of the two leads comes next.

[TonyLB]

When all of its check-off traits have been used, the Conflict: "Event: A new age dawns," is triggered, and the player who wins that Conflict decides which of the two leads comes next.

You're not mechanically tying one side to one lead, and the other side to the other?

[Bret Gillan]

Indeed I am, Tony. I just need to be more transparent when answering questions about my game.

When the triggered Conflict is laid on the table, or when someone rolls up one side or the other, it should be made clear to the group which side is which. "The black die is for End Times, the white die is for The Great War," or, "Okay, I'm rolling up in favor of Untamed Wilds."

[R. Jason Boss]

Damn this sounds cool.

::ahem::

I wish I was in a position to playtest but I am still rallying the troops to play some vanilla Capes.  What do you imagine your ETA might look like?  If you would prefer not to say to avoid people hassling you about it that's cool.  I'll get in on it if my own Capes learning process permits.  Anyhow, I really like the flowcharty structure you have going there so far.  Good luck with Gods!

One thing I see is that there are some ways to move through the Leads that would make a game much shorter than other combinations.  The Beginning-->Untamed Wild-->The Great Beasts-->Disaster-->End Times being the shortest I noticed.  No value judgement on that, just an observation.  Other paths could be at least twice as long.  Seems to give room for apocalyptic deities to imminentize the eschaton for sure, which I think would be a feature.

Jason

[Bret Gillan]

Thanks Jason. I'm extremely excited about the game myself. Ever since a conversation with Tony brought about the Myth Cycle idea I've felt like Gods has really developed into something more than "Capes, but different."

I'm not sure what you mean by "What do you imagine your ETA might look like?" Do you mean publishing it in, like, book form?

And yes, I realize that some paths to the End are quicker than others. That's not a bug, it's a feature. :) I want to allow for variations in game length from group-to-group. My main concern with the Myth Cycle, actually, is that it might steer the plot of the game in specific directions, so I think in my text I'm going to be emphasizing it as an example, and expand on the idea of groups making their own Myth Cycle beforehand or as they play. The purpose of Gods is to have groups create their own worlds and mythologies, so while I think the Myth Cycle-Comics Code idea is awesome I want to emphasize groups creating their own.

Thanks for your thoughts, Jason, and good luck getting a Capes game together!

[Hans]

My main concern with the Myth Cycle, actually, is that it might steer the plot of the game in specific directions, so I think in my text I'm going to be emphasizing it as an example, and expand on the idea of groups making their own Myth Cycle beforehand or as they play.

As an aside, I would not be so quick to think of steering the plot in specific directions as a flaw in the design.  Frankly, a game like this might NEED some steering.  Also, from your list of myth cycles, its hard to consider that much steering is taking place anyway.  The list seems pretty darn comprehensive to me, and while the number of possible combinations may not actually be infinite, it is a very, very large number.  Saying people can make up their own is a good thing, but you could play a lot of games before you exhausted the possibilities inheirent in the ones that are already in your list.

[Eric Sedlacek]

My main concern with the Myth Cycle, actually, is that it might steer the plot of the game in specific directions, so I think in my text I'm going to be emphasizing it as an example, and expand on the idea of groups making their own Myth Cycle beforehand or as they play.

It seem like the end game in particular have very few paths.  Does the world have to end from empire or war?  I don't know if this is a bug or a feature, but my intution would be to try to find more than two penultimate steps. 

[Bret Gillan]

Eric,

The game can also end from Wasteland, but your right - the endgame options for Ages are a little iffy for me and I haven't figured out how, or if, I want to do something about it. There's a couple of stickers with the current flow:

- The Untamed Wild path can be a little isolated from the other Ages if you go that route. I feel like it's the most deterministic one.
- The endgame options seem limited - if you don't want to hop right into the End Times you seem to end up in a Great War/Empire loop.

However, I want a rush to a quick endgame in five "moves" or a never-ending game to both be possible. I don't want to create a ridiculous network of Ages that get people stuck in loops or don't relate to other Ages in a way that makes sense, so simpler is better for me. Basically, I'm going to have to playtest it and see what I think, and while I want to let the other players in my playtest organically shape what happens I'm definitely going to be "aiming" for problem spots in the Myth Cycle.

Really, though, the more I think about it more I want this Myth Cycle to be a "sample" Myth Cycle, not the only one - that frees up my angst about it as well as pushing the hack towards what I want it to be - an opportunity for a player group to go crazy with creativity. I want to provide guidelines for structuring your own Myth Cycle as well as encouraging a "freeform" option where the winner of the New Age Conflict gets to set the Code for the next Age ensuring that it will be hotly contested.

[Hans]

My main concern with the Myth Cycle, actually, is that it might steer the plot of the game in specific directions, so I think in my text I'm going to be emphasizing it as an example, and expand on the idea of groups making their own Myth Cycle beforehand or as they play.

It seem like the end game in particular have very few paths.  Does the world have to end from empire or war?  I don't know if this is a bug or a feature, but my intution would be to try to find more than two penultimate steps. 

May I suggest the following as titles for alternative endings (what the codes would be, I have no idea)

"The Wheel Turns" - Everything is wiped clean to make way for a new history to begin, ending the story of this history, but indicating another is about to begin.

"The New Heaven and New Earth" - Everything is transformed to eternal bliss and paradise, essentially ending the story of history.

"The Twilight of the Gods" - The gods come to an end, although history continues on without them, just fine, thanks very much.

"War of the Gods" - the gods themselves battle each other, causing tumult on the world, which only a handful of gods will survive.

The 2nd one may not really fit in with your premise of gods troubled by ennui.

[Ben Lehman]

Giving "an empire emerges" a lead to "golden age" would be swiffy.  Then you can have a few ages of Man.

yrs--
--Ben

[Bret Gillan]

The Myth Cycle will probably undergo at least several revisions. I cranked it out in its entirety over the course of three or four episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and walking the line between complexity and simplicity in a way that's satisfying to me isn't going to be done in an hour while Master Shake distracts me with his hilarity.

So I appreciate the ideas. We'll see what happens.