Enlightenment (GGD Group Game Design)

[talysman]

Totally unsolicited interjection: I really like Gareth's suggestion about dogma accumulating. I especially like the possibility, which occurs to me, that such accumulations are less effective later - i.e., they have become dogma per se, no longer meaningful (ie experienced/understood) but merely obediently mouthed and hence worthless.

If it doesn't fit with the other notions about playing the game, that's cool, but I love that idea.

it's a cool idea, Ron... I'm not sure how to impliment it, however. I think dogma should be decided during the "take turns narrating one fact" stage: it becomes one of the facts a player can add to the group-developed setting.

the next question is: how to use it in play? since Emily raised an important point about being able to break out of a scene if the numbers rise too fast, how about this: a player can choose to put a scene on hold and return to the mentor for advice. the mentor gives the neophyte one of the group's dogmas for spiritual inspiration and the neophyte returns to the scene. the dogma is usable once per neophyte; it acts as a dice boost, either instead of or in addition to a trait-pair boost.

to impliment the diminishing returns feature, we could base the value of a dogma on the neophytes Worldliness; as the neophye becomes less Worldly/more Spiritual, the dogma becomes less useful. another possibility: the dogma has a value that is set when it is created (based on the monastery's Spirituality at the time of creation, maybe?) dogmas in play for a long period of time are less useful because their scores are lower.

this raises the issue of monastery-level scores. I think the monastery should be developed during the round-robin setting creation stage. it would start with a Worldliness equal to the lowest Worldliness in the group, maybe... or perhaps it starts with a Worldliness equal to the number of players... trait-pairs should probably be added as facts about the monastery. I'm not certain what the exact effects of the monastery should be, other than it could provide bonuses for actions taken on the monastery grounds.

I'd say if this recent post looks good to everybody we should start splitting of posts to look at character creation etc.

yes, this is a good idea. I even got an email from kester suggesting that the basic rules look about ready for completion.

I suggest two things:

[list=1]
[*]a "feature freeze"
we can add more to the game system later, but let's concentrate on implimenting the suggestions we already have.
[*]a "run-through"
we have a set of basic rules, and we've given examples of various parts of the system, but we need a description of a game session from start to finish. naturally, we can cheat on die rolls for now; we're just trying to get a feel for how the game would actually play, so that we can break down the play example into sections to determine exactly what we need.
[/list:o]

here's a crude outline of a play session:

[*]players gather and describe the general setting they want to play in (historical france under charlamagne, fantasy medieval europe with a european version of taoism, whatever.)
[*]players suggest trait-pairs. perhaps each player suggest a Passion or a Virtue, then other players suggest what the opposite or compliment should be.
[*]chargen, roughly as described before.
[*]round-robin setting description, starting with abstract facts about the religion, moving to facts about the monastery, then on to the surrounding countryside, and finally on to interesting events. setting description stops when one player suggests an event that gives the others an urge to intervene.
[*]the mentor (temporary GM) describes the selected event in more detail and assigns each player a general duty.
[*]continue in round-robin fashion, but each player describes a scene for how they will fulfill their duty. the scene is then played out.
[*]when all the duties have been completed, the players have a scene with their mentor for possible character advancement.
[*]round-robin setting description begins again, until a new event suggests a new mission.
[/list:u]

[Emily Care]

I prefer #3 - Slow at start, Fast mid, Slow at end.

Me too.

[list=1]
[*]a "feature freeze"
we can add more to the game system later, but let's concentrate on implimenting the suggestions we already have.[/list:o]

Agreed.

[list=1]
[*]a "run-through"...[/list:o]

here's a crude outline of a play session:

[*]players gather and describe the general setting they want to play in (historical france under charlamagne, fantasy medieval europe with a european version of taoism, whatever.)
[*]players suggest trait-pairs. perhaps each player suggest a Passion or a Virtue, then other players suggest what the opposite or compliment should be.
[*]chargen, roughly as described before.
[*]round-robin setting description, starting with abstract facts about the religion, moving to facts about the monastery, then on to the surrounding countryside, and finally on to interesting events. setting description stops when one player suggests an event that gives the others an urge to intervene.
[*]the mentor (temporary GM) describes the selected event in more detail and assigns each player a general duty.
[*]continue in round-robin fashion, but each player describes a scene for how they will fulfill their duty. the scene is then played out.
[*]when all the duties have been completed, the players have a scene with their mentor for possible character advancement.
[*]round-robin setting description begins again, until a new event suggests a new mission.
[/list:u]

Looks good.

Here's a tentative list of areas we want to finalize:

-Char Gen Mentor & Neophyte(how many trait pairs, which ones, etc)
-Monastery Stats
-Conflict resolution (how bonuses are applied, etc.)
-Rise and fall of traits for Char's and Monastery
-Mentor/GM powers and responsibilities
-Lesson Point uses and economy
-Other stuff, what else?...

Applying what we've got to examples of play sounds like a good way to continue.  

I propose we start a new thread, either starting the game at ground zero and work out how each stage/portion works, or pick one section at a time that we want to deal with.

--Emily Care

[Bob McNamee]

I say lets start at the beginning... with setting char / monestary gen...
for the new threads