Paladin: Multiple Orders?

[urbwar]

Looking through the back threads in the forum, I saw Zak Arneston had his Inquisitor orders, of which he had 3. Has anyone else run Paladin with more than one order?

As I am still toying with my idea for a Paladin setting, I am contemplating having different orders around, with different enemies, just to allow some variety.

[Mike Holmes]

Hmm. Would they have different sources of Animus? Would they coexists without conflict?

It seems to me that in most cases, there's only one "true faith", and that adherence to it is what gives you your power. Seems weird to split that up and say that there are many true faiths.

But I like weird.

How about a send up of D&D where every good god can give you Animus? I'm sure that every one of them has as one of the more stringent requirements that they be worshipped above all others. But I could still see player trying to shift order mid-game.

Hmm. If you were an Order, would you take a member of another Order in if they said they wanted to change sides? Wouldn't that make them untrustworthy by definition? Hmmm.

Intriguing.

Mike

[Clinton R. Nixon]

It is intriguing, but not very Paladin, to be honest.

Paladin's pretty much monotheistic, with one Big Truth. Now, in the game as written, that's not the coolest thing ever. I'm the first to admit that Paladin is my best half-baked idea.

I really, truly have been working on it while working on the Shadow of Yesterday, though, and I think the monotheism will be a lot more interesting now - characters will enjoy being part of one Order. If nothing else, the new rules to go up against everything holy and say, "Hey, you! We ain't doing it this way anymore!" will draw in players.

[urbwar]

Hmm. Would they have different sources of Animus? Would they coexists without conflict?

It seems to me that in most cases, there's only one "true faith", and that adherence to it is what gives you your power. Seems weird to split that up and say that there are many true faiths.

But I like weird.

How about a send up of D&D where every good god can give you Animus? I'm sure that every one of them has as one of the more stringent requirements that they be worshipped above all others. But I could still see player trying to shift order mid-game.

Hmm. If you were an Order, would you take a member of another Order in if they said they wanted to change sides? Wouldn't that make them untrustworthy by definition? Hmmm.

Intriguing.

Mike

Mike,

What I was thinking was along these lines:

One group would be sort of a priesthood, who handle funeral rites, suppressing undead, etc. The influence for this Order is the Mr. Vampire films. They would use a wooden sword as their arms, but their animus powers would be more magical (paper charms and such) to deal with binding, controlling and laying to rest undead.

Another group would be swordsmen, like the Wudan, Wa Shan and other sword schools, etc. Their animus would allow them to do stuff based around their swords. Think Li Mui Bai from Crouching Tiger, or Jet Li's Swordsman II, or the male lead from Bride with White Hair.

Wudan, Wa Shan, etc followed the Taoist faith (or so I've read), and the priests from the Mr. Vampire films were Taoist, so they all follow the same faith; they simply access Animus differently. The priests are more spiritual, while the swordsmen are more martial. I guess the laws for each order would have some differences, but some might overlap.

The priests would have enemies who are more like them (ie evil priests, necromancers, etc), and various undead. The swordsmen would normally face off against villainous swordsmen, etc.

I'm still toying with ideas, so I appreciate the feedback. It does help

[urbwar]

It is intriguing, but not very Paladin, to be honest.

Paladin's pretty much monotheistic, with one Big Truth. Now, in the game as written, that's not the coolest thing ever. I'm the first to admit that Paladin is my best half-baked idea.

I really, truly have been working on it while working on the Shadow of Yesterday, though, and I think the monotheism will be a lot more interesting now - characters will enjoy being part of one Order. If nothing else, the new rules to go up against everything holy and say, "Hey, you! We ain't doing it this way anymore!" will draw in players.

Clinton,

I really look forward to seeing what you've done to improve on Paladin. I really like the simplicity of the game, but I do feel it could use a little expansion.

As I mentioned in my reply to Mike, I am not looking at going outside the concept of monotheism. I'm just thinking it might be fun to have different orders who all follow the same faith, but use Animus in different ways. Kind of like the Knightly orders, but more diverse. Maybe I'm thinking too much inside the box with the idea though. Then again, it's still ideas in my head, with nothing put on paper

[Andrew Ciotti]

It is intriguing, but not very Paladin, to be honest.

Paladin's pretty much monotheistic, with one Big Truth. Now, in the game as written, that's not the coolest thing ever. I'm the first to admit that Paladin is my best half-baked idea.

I really, truly have been working on it while working on the Shadow of Yesterday, though, and I think the monotheism will be a lot more interesting now - characters will enjoy being part of one Order. If nothing else, the new rules to go up against everything holy and say, "Hey, you! We ain't doing it this way anymore!" will draw in players.

I would point out that just beacuse there is a monotheistic church or big truth it does not need to force "one" order. How many orders in the RCC could you think of? They must have a saint for almost every occasion. Things you would never think of. I think one saint is the St. of Bridges because he hung himself from one. This may not make or disprove anthing because I do not have the game. ...It would help if I got the game ...

Drew

[Andy Kitkowski]

As I am still toying with my idea for a Paladin setting, I am contemplating having different orders around, with different enemies, just to allow some variety.

Actually, I was thinking about htis thread last night when I went to sleep, and had one of those flashes where you have a great idea at the time, but upon thinking about it when you wake up the next day said great idea doesn't sound so great.

Anyway, my idea was that you keep the groups using the same Code, with minor variants.  So, like, they all have the same Unbreakable Laws, but there is ONE Major Law that is different, and 1-2 Minor Laws that are different. On top of this, keep about 80% of the Anima powers the same.

What this would do is to simulate the aspect of Monotheism where more than one group has, what they feel, to be the Right path.  It could create an interesting group dynamic, if your players were into that kind of light conflict. Overall, the groups have the same goal, and are pushing towards that same goal, but they all have SLIGHTLY (this is important: the differences are SLIGHT, not DRAMATIC) different ideas of the Path to get there.

This perfectly reflects differing orders of the same faith. I actually got the idea when I was thinking about how the church was run in the popular fantasy series The Coldfire Trilogy by C S Friedman (people from the Other Continent in "When True Night Falls" had the same faith as the folk from the first book, "Black Sun Rising", but had differing tenents).

In the end, it's important to keep them as Mostly the Same powers and code, with very minor differences, rather than making each group have its own unique code and animus powers. Because when you do that, you're bringing in a plurality which the game wouldn't address very well...

-Andy