[Starry Messengers] Putting the punk in clockpunk

[Thor]

I started over here if you want to know what the game is abouthttp://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=31049.0

I have been thinking about what the characters in SM will be made of. They will have their Humors; but they will change all of the time. I wanted there to be something for the player to hold on to. I have been reading a book of post-cyberpunk stories which includes a number of correspondences between Bruce Sterling and John Kessel. One of the things that stood out in there was the Us versus Them nature of the time. To that end I was going to give the players a chance to put themselves in the battle ground of this Anachronistic Third Wave as it were. I want to have five pairs of stats there will be one for characters who look to the past and another for characters who look to the future. All of them should be useful and players might wind up with some of each. Because each character will have only five of the ten nobody can be perfect. Additionally, it looks like taking both sides of a pair will make the character very strong in a field to the detriment of another. Your choice of these (I don't have a word for them yet) Key words will give you access to different Skill sets, Memberships or allegiances, and be responsible for both your wealth and Standing in the community.

Sword / Gun - Having both would make a military character
Myth / Invention - Having both would get possibly academic
Guild / Patron - Having both would make a finance character
Church / State - Having both would make a diplomat character
Pastoral /Urban - Having both would make you a land baron

Do these cover the Change Wave for you?

One of the things I have been thinking about is how to make the players feel the changes in the world. One of the things which has occurred to me is to have the characters receive an income based on how well their position in life is faring. So, if your character is of the Church Key word and something the players do helps to bring down cardinal Richelieu then that character will receive less in the next adventure. Similarly your influence in many situations will be based on which key words you are using in the situation.

What other ways can I help the players feel the changes in the world?

[Callan S.]

Hi,

Do mean the player feels it whether he wants to or not (the income might be an example of that) or feel the changes because they enjoy feeling and trying to feel that and that's part of what everyone does in the activity?

The underground RPG had some ratings of society and such, each with a one to ten scale and each adventure was worth X amount of points, which could be spent to change those society values, via a set cost.

[Thor]

I had not heard of the game till now and reading the designer notes online it is very much the sort of stories I want this game to tell. That said I want players to have the capacity to be on both sides of the story. and feel the loss that change will bring to those who are invested in the old system.