A setting that revolves around murderers seeking redemption on an alien world

[SpoDaddy]

I've been bouncing this idea around in my head for a long time. A prison ship crashes on an uncharted alien world.  This alien world is largely populated by a defenseless pacifist race that has the power to heal physical and mental injury.  There are scattered races and monsters on the planet that enslave and otherwise abuse the race of healers.  Enter the criminals from the prison ship; sociopathic killers that get their heads "straight" thanks to the healers and now feel compelled to defend them and seize the opportunity to make amends for their crimes, starting a new life in the process.  Oh yeah, and there's mysterious alien technology scattered all over the planet that nobody really understands.  Most of it is weaponry (chainswords, guns that fire drill bores, etc).  The flavor I'm going for is essentially repentant murderers seeking salvation through using their talents to protect these innocent angelic creatures.  I imagine it being a sort of western-vibe with elements of sci-fi and horror mixed in.  Lots of lawlessness and brutality.  I'd like to have some psychological mechanics but I haven't quite nailed down how they'd work or what they'd measure.  Thoughts, suggestions, system ideas? 

[Seth M. Drebitko]

  I really, really like the idea of this setting. I would say in reference to your system ideas you could say that because the aliens are not familiar with the persistence of the human body to attempt to rebound from damage or change, the character could have “triggers” which may cause them to lapse back to their old ways. Possibly the character could have 7 virtues, and seven sins. As the sins are triggered they wipe away the imposed virtues as the character slowly slips back into their old ways.
  Any how that’s my 2 cents worth, love the idea and would like to see what you do with it.
Regards, Seth

[SpoDaddy]

  I really, really like the idea of this setting. I would say in reference to your system ideas you could say that because the aliens are not familiar with the persistence of the human body to attempt to rebound from damage or change, the character could have "triggers" which may cause them to lapse back to their old ways. Possibly the character could have 7 virtues, and seven sins. As the sins are triggered they wipe away the imposed virtues as the character slowly slips back into their old ways.
  Any how that's my 2 cents worth, love the idea and would like to see what you do with it.
Regards, Seth

The seven virtues/sins thing is a great idea.  The problem I keep running into when trying to flesh this setting out is how to discourage the players from just embracing mass murder.  I'm trying to go in the direction of flawed sinners trying like hell to get salvation; what would be the in-game benefit to maintaining high virtue and not reverting to sin?  I've been tinkering with the idea that the PC's have some sort of innate ability (nanites in the blood, superpowers from the alien sun, etc.) that they can only truly harness as their spirit becomes more pure.  That way, the players that just run with the murderer thing will quickly get dwarfed by the players that get into roleplaying the salvation angle.

[Seth M. Drebitko]

What if their choice was purley fear driven in nature. You could say that each character starts very powerful and begins losing their "powers" as they continue down an increasingly "bad" path. It would almost be like reverse character advancement.

Regards, Seth

[greyorm]

I'm working on a similarly-themed project, and so my question to you would be: how is it redemption if the choice to be better people is forced upon the characters mechanically? Punishment -- "do this, or else" -- is usually a bad angle in design, players chafe against the idea unless it's handled very well. Risk versus reward is a much better way to handle things, allowing players to make the choice knowing the consequences and achieve or fail the objective (ie: "I'm unredeemable" and "Guess I should just do what I'm best at" versus "I can be saved" and "My better nature is stronger than my animal instinct").

If the background is just Color, rather than the game itself, and actual play is about characters slaughtering vicious aliens to protect the innocent, then the only rule necessary should be: this is what the game is about, you're either on-board with it or not. And anyone who wants to disrupt play by stepping outside the bounds of the established "What This Game Is About" just doesn't play (like someone wanting to play a non-adventuring merchant in a D&D game: No. You play adventurers. That's the game. Full stop and end of story. If someone isn't on-board with that they need to find a different game).

Also, it occurs to me you'll also need to explain why these healers can't "heal" their tormentors through the same means they used on the prisoners: why do they need protection if they can just remove violent, aggressive impulses from others? Would you want the game to be less about combat and more about cerebral puzzles and civilization-building? That is, these healers are wonderful and everything loves them, but they live in caves at the mercy of disease, natural disaster, famine and so forth because they are stone age barbarians who barely grasp the idea of tool-use and have no natural predators. Enter the prisoners, who want to make life better for these people and help them create a utopian civilization (shades of "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells).

[SpoDaddy]

I'm working on a similarly-themed project, and so my question to you would be: how is it redemption if the choice to be better people is forced upon the characters mechanically? Punishment -- "do this, or else" -- is usually a bad angle in design, players chafe against the idea unless it's handled very well. Risk versus reward is a much better way to handle things, allowing players to make the choice knowing the consequences and achieve or fail the objective (ie: "I'm unredeemable" and "Guess I should just do what I'm best at" versus "I can be saved" and "My better nature is stronger than my animal instinct").

If the background is just Color, rather than the game itself, and actual play is about characters slaughtering vicious aliens to protect the innocent, then the only rule necessary should be: this is what the game is about, you're either on-board with it or not. And anyone who wants to disrupt play by stepping outside the bounds of the established "What This Game Is About" just doesn't play (like someone wanting to play a non-adventuring merchant in a D&D game: No. You play adventurers. That's the game. Full stop and end of story. If someone isn't on-board with that they need to find a different game).

I'm trying to figure out a way to reward the players that try to get redeemed (maybe through greater control of innate abilities) without punishing the players that want to just run around and wreak havok.  Maybe the "dark path" allows for greater material wealth and gang leadership while the "light path" allows for greater individual power.  I want the personality meter system to be meaningful in play; right now I'm thinking maybe each PC should choose a mental vulnerability (Sociopathy, Rage, Jealousy, Lust, etc.)  When the player is under extreme stress or faces something that could trigger their vulnerability they need to roll to see if they can keep it together.  Keeping it together and pushing down your score on the "sociopathy" meter, for example, could enhance your powers (however I manifest them) while embracing sociopathy might give you bonuses to social manipulation tests.

Also, it occurs to me you'll also need to explain why these healers can't "heal" their tormentors through the same means they used on the prisoners: why do they need protection if they can just remove violent, aggressive impulses from others? Would you want the game to be less about combat and more about cerebral puzzles and civilization-building? That is, these healers are wonderful and everything loves them, but they live in caves at the mercy of disease, natural disaster, famine and so forth because they are stone age barbarians who barely grasp the idea of tool-use and have no natural predators. Enter the prisoners, who want to make life better for these people and help them create a utopian civilization (shades of "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells).

The healers don't remove violent or aggressive impulses, they just heal mental trauma and disorder.  Their tormentors are inherently evil and incapable of being "fixed".  As for the civilization building, I was thinking exactly along those lines.  I was going to write out a detailed system in which the PC's decide on what type of government to establish (Democracy, Republic, Theocracy, Dictatorship, Communism, etc.) and then follow the path to building it.  Step One for building a Democracy might be convincing the majority of the healers to support it, while Step One of building a Dictatorship might be gaining control of enough weaponry to squelch any uprisings.  What I'm having trouble with is figuring out how to make government building a natural part of the game (most players aren't going to automatically think "Hey let's build a Democratic Republic!") 

[GregStolze]

The way this sort of thing worked in UA and NEMESIS was with the madness meter and its failed and hardened notches.  You could streamline this a bit for SpoWorld, where the only real issue is violence.  You can have up to 10 hardened notches.  The more hardened you are, the easier it is to casually decapitate someone and put on a puppet show with the still-bleeding noggin.  On the flip side, the more hardened you are, the HARDER it is to speak with and understand the kind aliens whos aved your life and showed you a better way to live.  Check out the ideas in "Sign in Stranger" -- there are some interesting "I'm confused by this f-ed up alien culture" ideas.

-G.

[SpoDaddy]

The way this sort of thing worked in UA and NEMESIS was with the madness meter and its failed and hardened notches.  You could streamline this a bit for SpoWorld, where the only real issue is violence.  You can have up to 10 hardened notches.  The more hardened you are, the easier it is to casually decapitate someone and put on a puppet show with the still-bleeding noggin.  On the flip side, the more hardened you are, the HARDER it is to speak with and understand the kind aliens whos aved your life and showed you a better way to live.  Check out the ideas in "Sign in Stranger" -- there are some interesting "I'm confused by this f-ed up alien culture" ideas.

-G.

I think you're right, one violence meter is probably the best way to go.  I was thinking about having each player come up with a brief backstory to explain the nature of their crimes.  One PC might have killed someone on the highway in a road rage incident (rage) while another might have killed the guy that was fucking his wife (jealousy or betrayal).  I guess those are all sort of coming from the same place though (controlling violent impulses), so measuring all these different things on meters is probably counter-intuitive.  Maybe the best way to go is to assign each PC a stimulus that triggers a violence meter check (being lied to, being talked down to, emotional betrayal, etc.)?   

So far here's what I've got for the powers: the PC's are developing strange powers they don't understand (probably side-effects of their healing by the aliens).  The more hardened to violence a PC is the more focused their powers are towards violence (various bonuses and advantages in combat).  The PC's that are not so hardened to violence see their powers manifest in other ways (they gain healing abilities themselves, maybe mind control abilities, etc.)  I'm leaning towards a system in which the PC's roll on random temporary powers tables when they fail or succeed on a violence test. 

What I want is a lawless western-style game that has violent murderers seeking redemption on an alien world by protecting this scattered race of helpless healers and helping them build a government.  I want elements of sci fi (advanced weapons and tech lying around from an extinct race) and horror (demonic aliens stalking the planet       and abusing/taking advantage of the healers).  My problems are coming in finding ways to naturally motivate the players to protect the aliens and build the new government.  I think I'm going for a Dogs in the Vineyard sort of deal, with the PC's dealing out justice against the demon races as they try to bring civilization to this new world (redeeming themselves for the laws they broke on earth).