A game based on... ASTROLOGY?

[Xenoheart]

Well, hi there, Forge community. Meet Leo: Israely, fourteen, RPG(And generally a)geek, and without any conception of proper english spelling/grammer.
Seem's you have just met me.

Well, for a big part of my life, i was really deep into mysticem. I read the tarot, mapped the stars, tried alchemy and mastred the Kaballa.
For a little smaller part of my life, i was really deep into role playing games. Exalted, D&D, WOD. The staff you can find preatty everywhere. Even here in the Israely wasteland!
And for an even smaller part pf my life, I was deep into desighning role playing games. This is the now. Or a few weeks back, for the matter.

Well, in the beginning, i tried to go generic. Epic fantasy there, Sci fi there... And than, biting my pencil in frustration, i was struck with inspiration! I thought, well, why not combine my two areas of expertise into one game i can actually enjoy!

And the seed of Zodiac was born. The idea is still extreamly unrefined, but i think in the direction of a modern fantasy game, with an emphasis on astrology, the heavens, and the workings of fate.Wow. it starts to sound like sidreals in the big city.(Oh. wait. Yu Shan is big).

Well, What i have now is some really some quick ideas, but here they are:
      1. The character's face an entity, or a force, known as The Cardinal, who represents the primal force of chaos and entropy in the universe, awakened to balance the desire of god to shape something from nothing. Everything, after all, must have a negative.
      2. Instead of skills or aptitudes, character's will have 12 alighnments, each obviously corresponding to a certain sigil on the zodiac, and each used as a measure for traits that are symbolic to it.(Leo represent's courage and leadership, Geminy representing elegance or intelligance, Scorpio representing cunning... you got it, i belive.). Alternatively,  Alighnments could be used to perform feats of magic, governed by the alighnments keyword or elemant( Leo's keyword is "I will", and is used to command concepts and things, or to improve one's status. Scorpio's elemant is Water, and is used to master water, frost, relaxation, sorrow, or anything that symbolises with water, depending on the weilder of the magic and it's targate.).
      3. Although i have no idea how to do that, i want the system to simulate the ficklness and million pathed nature of fate and destiny. One's traits do not tell how good he is in doing something. They tell what is his potential for being remembred for it, forever written in the stars and the hearts of all man. The higher your trait, the higher is the chance that you will do succseed amazingly at something... but also that you will fail. This way or another, the results will be epic.
      4. Characters will have two traits, represented by numbers(colors? angles? symbols?), called Domicile and Detrimant.  When rollimg the dice(Pulling cards? Throwing stones? Playing rock paper scissors?), more dice the higher is their trait, players gain positive results for rolling a lot of "Domicile numbers", and negative results for rolling lot's of "Detrimant numbers". I'm not preatty sure about the whole thing.
      5. A trait called Arcanum will allow character's to modify her fated hand(That's a more "moody" name for "dice pool"), either adding dice to increase gain, or taking dice to lower risk. The use of arcanum, however, is dangerous. Just like the cardinal was brought into existance to balance god's wishes, so will fate take his "revenge" upon those who defy it, taking/adding an equal amount of dice to the roll of a foe or challange, or to a character's future roll.
      6. Axiomes will allow character's to further rewrite fate by creaing, severing, binding to gether, percieving, or changing the fates of differant things. For a price...

Well, that's about all i've got for now. I will like to see your general opinion about it, but please also concentrate on those questions:

1. Is it a bit... hurtful to do a game in which the enemy is a basterd child of god, called after a priest, who deals with mysticem and astrology?
2. How can i create a base mechanic without resorting to dice? It's a little dull, and i seek something more "in tune" with the theme...
3. Isn't it a little stuiped that a character's traits symbolise both failure and success at the sam time? If yes, how can i deal with it?
4. How should i exactly handle axiomes? I find it difficult to create a mechanic for such a wild ability...

And... that's all. I hope you like it. It's my first try, after all... Please don't verbally abuse me to much...

Good night!

[dindenver]

Hi!
  No, it is not stupid that a high sigil represent the potential for great failure. As you said, it represents the chars destiny, not their skill or luck.
  A standard poker deck is commonly available in the US and is modeled afte4r Tarot, you might be able to us that as a randomizer and keep the cost of materials down and accessible (at least here its a little harder to get tarot cards than it is to get playing cards (you can sometimes get them in line at the market).
  Maybe it might be smart to have the players oppose a group with a strong leader instead of one individual. I do think the idea of a god-like enemy is awesome though...
  Maybe the strength of the alignment is a resource you can spend? You spend it before the randomizer and that way you don't know if it is pass or fail yet. Something like:
1) Declare conflict
2) Declare Alignment involved and any other factors
3) Spend Alignment
4) Randomize (roll dice, draw cards, etc)
5) Success/fail odds should always be the same, but the degree of success/fail should be determined by the amount of alignment spent..?
6) Narrate results...

  I dunno, maybe something like that?

  Good luck man!

[Xenoheart]

Thanks for the reply!
Hmmm... I guess i can use tarot cards instead of dice, using the cards numerical value... but that means you are gonna have 22 differant results when drawing cards, not inclufing the minor arcani. It's kinda difficult to pull a single number out of 22 a considerable number of times. Or maby, you can say that as almost godly beings, the heroes generally succeed at everything they do. Domicile and detrimant are exceptions... But than how do you create a mechanic for dealing with other, equally powerfull beings?

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Well, a US Poker Deck is 52 cards, four suits of 13 cards. Seems like you could use the face value for the sigil and the suit for the outcome (like a 2 might be Gemini and a heart might be success at social action, but failure at economic) something like that..?
  Not sure if that is the way you want to go, but it might be an idea to build on...

[Xenoheart]

Wow! That's extually a great idea, that emulates fantastically the way we read the tarot!
I believe we should expand upon it.

[LandonSuffered]

b]GNS) can also be used, and Karma <Vampire/World of DarknessJames Bond or Top Secret) or at the beginning of each session (a la fate chips in Deadlands) or as a reward for doing well (like experience dice in OTESorcerer.

Things to consider: who/what are the characters?  What are they doing/trying to accomplish? How/why do they come together as a group (if they do)?

GNS[/b]) can also be used, and Karma <Vampire/World of DarknessJames Bond or Top Secret) or at the beginning of each session (a la fate chips in Deadlands) or as a reward for doing well (like experience dice in OTESorcerer.

Things to consider: who/what are the characters?  What are they doing/trying to accomplish? How/why do they come together as a group (if they do)?