Enlightenment (Group Game Design)--Character and Setting Gen

[Bob McNamee]

So setting the Monastery stats is based on the lowest non-resolved stats of the Mentor level monks?

I think it would it be based on the lowest level of all the monks, though the example only listed Mentor level monks.

Ahh... the Player character monks and mentors... cool
(somehow I was imagining factoring in every last person)

Come to think of it the stats going down because you just brought in a bunch of novices makes sense.
At my work we've seen this..."That shop just isn't the same since those three old guys retired... its half 'wet-behind-the-ears' apprentices now...not what it used to be"

I would suggest one of the following for resolving monastery trait-pairs:

the monastery stays in-sync with its community. when one monk drops Lust/Chastity below the monastery's Lust/Chastity, the monastery's score changes to match. however, the monastery would only resolve Lust/Chastity once all of its monks have resolved that trait-pair.

the monastery changes independently. perhaps every time a monk reduces personal Worldly by one point, one of the monastery's trait-pairs is reduced one point.

the monastery only improves if a mentor spends a Lesson point.

Ilike the first option best. Wed the monastery's levels to that of the monks.  This means that a monastery that takes on new monks is opening itself up to more worldly influence than one without.   The monastery's trait pairs are the meta-stats for the whole group of monks, essentially.  

I like the first as well...........

Question: Do we want these stats to represent the victory conditions toward which the players are working, or to affect the lives of the monks through the system? Some suggestions on how they could do the latter are:  by modifying scene ratings, by affecting how lay people view the monks, by representing the number or severity of challenges that the monastery is facing that relate to each Passion, or by having tangible advantages awarded to the monastery when each pair is resolved, or whatever else.  

I'd like to make the monastery ratings have an effect on reactions with the community, possibly effecting "difficulty levels" in certain forms of "Problems that involves the monastery"

I would assume that everyone in the world who isn't specifically working on their spiritual advancement has a 5/1 in Worldly/Spiritual. a 6/0 would indicate that a character's story is at an end (dies at the next incapacitating wound.)

Okay, that's a neat way to do it.  If we can work it in, I'd like there to be an option for monks to sacrifice themselves for others.  Mechanically speaking, this could give the other monks a bonus to increase their score in a related Virtue. Bonus Lesson points could be awarded to the survivors who were present, or bonus dice could be added to appropriate pools to let the survivors accomplish their tasks.  A statement about it could be appended to the each monk who was present, or the monastery etc.

That's cool!

Dare I say it? I think that we've accomplished our goal.  The questions I listed in my post have been addressed.  The final form may be somewhat different, but we've at least got concrete suggestions for setting and character generation.  

Along with what's in the post above, I'm going to list any related questions I have remaining below.  I encourage us all to do so. Let's address them (briefly?) and then we can move on to working out more about missions and challenges, Lesson Points and how the mentor's mechanics work or whatever we want to tackle next.  

Char Gen & Setting loose ends:

*Have we agreed on how to handle non-monks? I'd like them to have stats solely in relation to the monks. Perhaps as a statement on the monk's char sheet, next to the Passion or Virtue they evoke in the monk.  

We are moving right along!

I think they should only be mentioned as they relate to the monks. There might be a case where an NPC could be written up as how they relate to the Monastery as a whole (ie. Warlord Bansi is a devout follower and supporter, beloved and protective of all the Monks... Shogun Waik-zan conspires to steal the land granted to the Monks, and hates all the brothers for 'defying' him)

*Would the monastery's Spirituality rise when the last monk to resolve a given trait pair does so?

That would be a great time to have it raise. IIt would be cool if this was automatic.
Does it go down if the Monastery gets a new novice? (perhaps that would be cause for a roll for the monastery, to see if it drops)

Thats all I've got for now. Thanks!

--Emily Care

[Emily Care]

Hmm... I wonder if future threads about Enlightenment mechanics should go onto the Indie Game Design forum... That sounds like a lot of pressure to me. :) But technically, we aren't talking theory, we're doing development.

There might be a case where an NPC could be written up as how they relate to the Monastery as a whole (ie. Warlord Bansi is a devout follower and supporter, beloved and protective of all the Monks... Shogun Waik-zan conspires to steal the land granted to the Monks, and hates all the brothers for 'defying' him)

In the course of the Community Development phase, figures in the area could be created as benefactors/challenges of the monastery.  

During play, interactions that the monks have with local folks may eventually affect the monastery as a whole. When they do, the situation/incident could get written up as a statement on the monastery's sheet next to the appropriate trait pair.

Temple of the Eight Winds
Violence/Compassion  2/4
*The monks of the temple risked their lives to protect Warlord Bansi, by hiding him from Shogun Waik-zan.
*Shogun Waik-zan has been allowing "raider" attacks against new farms of the monastery to go unpunished.
Wealth/Poverty 4/2
*The Warlord Bansi converted to the monastery's religion, and  granted them many acres of farm land.

(In the example above, I'm seeing the monks being caught in between political power plays and border conflicts.  That sounds like a great setting.)

Positive relationships (grants of land etc) might be something that Lesson/Event points could be used to create. They might represent a challenge to another spiritual value--as acquiring land would if the religion prized poverty.

Since the monks have to call up on the virtue they wish to raise in order to increase it, it is in the best interest of the monastery, and thus the player/gms, to provide areas of conflict that connect to the pairs.  Does that make sense?

--Emily Care

[Bob McNamee]

Makes sense to me...

Love the extension of the example!

I was wondering about the design being in RPG theory. It would make sense to move it to the design area.
 (I had trouble finding it one day when I wasn't using the "New posts since last visit" funtion)

I'm going to be doing a lot of shopping, and presents/crafts, over the next month ... so I might not be as active (but then I need to take a break from carving, painting , wrapping etc once in a while.... so who knows?)

[Bob McNamee]

As long as we finish this thing. It won't be a Fantasy Heartbreaker!

One question popped up in my head earlier.

What are we rewarding?
 I assume narrative struggling with the easy power / virtuous action conflicts.

What is the reward? (other than the facinating play... :> )
This I'm not too clear about...

Although perhaps its the 'franchise' building idea like Inspectres...

[Mike Holmes]

It's a self-rewarding cycle.

As the character progresses, that's indicated statistically. IOW, the player is rewarded by the sense that the character (and his organization) are proceeding through their history. That they are "getting somewhere". You don't need more than that.

In this case what sort of play is rewarded? I think it's plainly Narrativist. There is no incentive to play tactically (to "win"), and it's not about an "accurate" portrayal of some part of the world events. It's about how the character changes in terms of his personal themes.

Which is nothing but Narrativist, IMO.

Mike

[Emily Care]

Thanks, Mike. That sounds dead on.

--EC

[Bob McNamee]

True, still a bit of XP's in my background...

I hadn't thought of the fact that addressing the narrative concerns creates  change that is its own reward