The Day of Rest: Role-Playing at the Birth of Reality

[The_Confessor]

Hey all, I've got another idea for a game. Right now it's in very early stages, and I'm not sure what I can actually do with it, so I'm tossing it out there to get some feed back.

    The Day of Rest is the first title for an RPG I thought off as I was putting the finishing touches on Cradle. I've always loved to study religion, particularly the Christian religion(s). Now I've always seen the Creation myth as not having happened in a literal week, but in what God would see as a week. So therefore it would happen over a LONG FREAKING TIME. Well, I also always thought that Lucifer and his Angels were probably cast out sometime during this "week." Otherwise how would the serpent have tempted Eve?

   So, I thought it would be interesting to play an RPG in the mythic 'Seventh Day' that God restsed on. An era of time that could be a theroetically infinite length of time.

   I was thinking about this and concluded that in order for it to work, you'd have to go with the "More than One Eden" theory of theology, where Adam and Eve are just one example of many couples and Paradises that God left on earth.

   The player characters would be Angels who are watching over earth while God rests, Demons who are cast down to earth in thier rebellion, or Man.

   My thoughts are that the Angelic and Demonic players would have their own powers while Mankind would kind of have this Shamanistic connection w/ the earth. After all, God did give man "dominion over all life".

   The role-play lay in the conflict between the angels and demons and humans. Mankind striving to hold on to this Paradise without the direct assistance of God, while the Angels attempt to keep the demonic host from claiming the Heavens in God's rest.

  Any thoughts? As you can see, it's really rough so far...

[Shreyas Sampat]

What makes Paradise difficult to hold on to?

While this is a beautiful concept, I suspect you'll want to insert a more complex conflict, one that could be attacked from more than one angle.  Suppose that the Fall is an ongoing process, for example - Lucifer was the first cast out of Heaven, but many of his followers are still there, and they're turning yet other angels to Morningstar's side, while Hell has already started its Temptation of Man and its attempt at ascension back into heaven.  Meanwhile, there are fallen angels who are repentant and seeking absolution and reentry into God's grace.

[The_Confessor]

What makes Paradise difficult to hold on to?

I always saw Paradise as being lost if Mankind sinned.

I really, really like the idea of the Fall having not yet occured and perhaps Lucifer is planning this massive rebellion while God is resting and therefore not paying attention.

Perhaps this can be connected to the Serpent & The Apple, or other early Biblical lore.

I like your ideas. If Lucifer and only a few others are presently cast from Heaven, then it would allow Demons and Angels to be interchangable, or at least allow the option of progressing from Angel, into Demon.

Perhaps, as far as Eden is concerned, once mankind has Sinned they no longer feel at home in Paradise. God hasn't cast them out, as much as they become dissatisfied with these gifts of God. This would allow an oppertunity for role-playing involving interaction and debate with other humans, and even angels and demons about the nature of God.

[garapata]

You can offer more range by allowing the other religious pantheon to exist as well at this time.  Greek, Roman, Buddhist gods can exist at this time.  

Perhaps there was some great game that the Gods had. One to choose who will create the Universe.  Who defines it?

And the other gods lost. Hence, their attempts at reclaiming the title of God in the future through religions?

Just adding to your pot for ideas.