Belief and Personal Mythology (as Game Mechanics!)

[The Grinning Bandit]

Howdy, indie gamer folks. Dig this concept I'm working on; I stole the idea from an anarchist text on "spellcasting", which is essentially a means of instilling mythology and meaning in life. Through creating personal myths and beliefs (from such simple things as a lucky shirt to a world-spanning prophecy centered around yourself), one instills enough confidence to turn those beliefs into reality.

The Big Idea (this is the summary; check this, as I'm sure the wall of text frightens you)
Things can have amounts of Belief assigned to them. Belief can be spent in imperative situations in order inspire confidence, set off improbable odds, or do things you wouldn't think yourself normally capable of. However, if you still fail despite your Belief, you'll become cynical, "permanently" (until you gain more) losing points of Belief equivalent to the number you spent. Thus, one must carefully toe the line between cautious underachieving and delusional fanaticism.

Stuff You Can Believe In
Stories, people, objects, places, dates (and more?)

This is pretty simple. You can believe in old prophecies, myths, and legends. You can believe in a die-hard friend or a hero you've put on a pedestal. You can believe in the gun you've carried with you since you left home or the pocket watch your father swore got him through a war alive. You can believe in a place that's kept you safe from great danger, perhaps a place that lays claim to a legend of its own. You can believe in a date that's always been magical for you in the past, or one that is predicted to be a day of reckoning in the future. And maybe some more stuff, if I or anyone else can think of any.

I get the feeling that I want specific categories of things one can believe in so that they can each have unique uses of Belief; then again, the general idea of what I want Belief to do is to allow impossible actions during dramatic moments, so it could be as simple as adding a die or two to a roll, surviving otherwise lethal damage, that sort of thing.

I don't want Belief to be a magical cure-all that instantly allows anyone to suddenly become Superman if they believe in it hard enough. I'd like it to be more subtle and realistic, that imperceptible force that drives ordinary people to do extraordinary things; not allowing characters to go above and beyond what any human is capable of, but rather allowing them to reach the full extent of their abilities.

Anyway.

Being a Believer
Still debating this one.

Idea one is that you gain Belief like EXP, gaining some at the end of every session based on certain conditions. However, Belief can only be assigned to things after meeting yet other conditions. Seeing someone/something do something amazing, spending a lot of time in stressful situations with said person/thing, hearing an inspiring story or myth (either a prophecy on its own or a story related to something), or somethin' else I haven't thought of.

Idea two is that the EXP portion is left out entirely and you just gain Belief in something during those exact circumstances I just specified; perhaps, as a limiting element so that you don't go racking up tons of Belief in everything, you have to make a roll based on some sort of stat (Idealism?), which may gain a bonus based on the circumstance (a really impressive feat or story gains more of a bonus compared to a simple tale or easy task); or perhaps the amount of Belief you can gain is defined by the circumstance, but the amount you actually gain is defined by your stat. For example, Grand Event allows you to gain 5 Belief in Special Item, but you only roll high enough on your Idealism Check to gain 3 Belief. It could use some working out.

Fear
I'm also contemplating another counterbalance: Fear. Not the polar opposite of Belief, but the other side of the coin; believing strongly that the odds are insurmountable, that an enemy is invincible, that there are forces beyond your power working against you. It seems like it'd be interesting, but I'm not yet sure what to do with it, assuming the general concept of Belief is worth anything in the first place.

Footnotes
I intend to potentially use the Belief mechanic in some sort of post-apocalyptic adventure, where modern society has been gone long enough that its only remnants in the minds of the players are old myths and stories passed down from their parents. This doesn't necessarily mean that there are no remnants of the old world still alive and well; only that as far as the players know, they're nothing more than legends, with the world now a blank canvass waiting for their ideals and beliefs to shape it. I'll wait and see how the Belief concept plays out before going into greater detail about the grand plan, but that's a quick look at the Big Big Idea.

[jefgodesky]

Oh, I like this! Then again, I've spent my time working on an anarchist-inspired, post-apocalyptic game, too, so that would make some sense. Since you haven't given us much about how you decide if it works out or not, can you push it to the extremes? Can you believe in the stick in your hand, and that makes for a pretty sure thing, or you can believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and that all but guarantees failure? I love the cynicism part. That really makes it hit home: to believe also means to open yourself up to disappointment. You could really have some powerful stuff if you had some very difficult path by which you could erase cynicism by opening yourself up again.

[The Grinning Bandit]

Since you haven't given us much about how you decide if it works out or not, can you push it to the extremes? Can you believe in the stick in your hand, and that makes for a pretty sure thing, or you can believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and that all but guarantees failure?

Not necessarily either way; Belief, by the definition in this concept, is less about whether something is "real" in a tangible, logical way and more about it being a source of inner strength. You might Believe a lot in that stick in your hand if you've used it to slay great beasts or you've taken to heart someone else's story of it doing so. You might also Believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster if you pray to him, instilling yourself with the idea that He is giving you the strength to succeed (just like everyone who prays to God for help, in life or in battle), and achieve your goals afterward.

The only issue with believing in something so intangible as God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster is that it's difficult to truly attribute something to it. If you and your stick do something incredible, it's easy to make the connection. However, it requires a slightly more convoluted thought process to attribute that incredible event to the hand/noodly appendage of a higher power. Perhaps that would mean that less Belief could be assigned to that higher power, or in the dice-rolling method, there would be a slight penalty to the roll to gain Belief.

Unless, of course, there are a lot of other people who also believe in your deity to the point that it becomes natural to attribute amazing things to it. It's easier to believe in something when others do; you could invent some ridiculous god at any time, but it's tough to believe in it if everybody thinks you're stupid or crazy. Then again, if the entire world believes in Flying Spaghetti Monster, it's almost natural to put your Belief in him.

How's that sound?

[Vulpinoid]

This sort of idea is one of the core concepts in the game I'm currently developing, Quincunx.

See for example this page of the wiki.

The key here is that the supernatural beings created by the belief in humanity imbue fragments of their essence in mortals, thus creating demigods who seek to fulfill the wills of the spirits/gods. The more a demigod embodies the beliefs of their cult, the stronger their cult becomes and the more energy they may draw from it. Having lots of demigods furthering the mortal belief in a concept really gives that concept more strength...but on the down-side, more demigods running around means the power is shared among more people.

Thus politics within a belief and politics between beliefs...which in turn explains ideological wars that have raged across humanity since the dawn of time.

I'll be interested to see where you take the concept though.

V