It has come to my attention that the name Schism is being used already so I'm working on a new name. The game is a near future setting where the apparent peace of the world is only a front to keep the people happy while a war rages in the underground.

I'm currently tossing around the following names.

Illusive Union [no illusive isn't a typo]
Frailty
Insurgency

Any opinions would be welcome since I'm a little stuck on this one.

I am not thrilled with any of those choices, but I will say that Frailty is the weakest of the bunch. I would suggest that you come up with a synonym for Schism, but unfortunately the best, rifts, is also taken...

Http://www.bartleby.com/62/01/S1330100.html lists a bunch of synonyms for schism. How about Strife? Or maybe some creative rearranging will help.

I am not sure if this is really a post for Indie Game Design... maybe Publishing?

I dunno if even publishing would be the right spot. This one seems like the closest forum to what I need.

Maybe Bedlam would be a good alternative?

Yeah, none of those three names grab me, either. Although, of the three, I actually like Frailty the best. My Latin is horrible, but how about Bellum Occultus (hidden war), or something like that? Or maybe Undertow, as a play on the "hidden currents" of the world's politics?

Ahh! You know I was thinking of the more violent upheaval I wasn't even considering the behind the scenes manipulation and politics. Undertow is definitely now a contender, thanks! ^^ Also I'll check the latin on that but isn't Arcana the word for secret? Maybe Bellum Arcana [Secret War] so it doesn't carry the occult thing, that could be misleading genre wise.

If I recall my Latin lessons correctly, arcanum is reserved for religious or mystical secrets, whereas occultus just means hidden or concealed. So, strangely enough, arcanum technically carries on occult meaning, while occultus, in fact, does not. Funny, huh? Anyway, in English, both arcane and occult carry mystical connotations, so don't base your decision on that.

maybe Shadow War? I'd use latin but Shadow is Umbra in Latin and White Wolf is lawsuit happy from what I recall lol.

Heh, well, however lawsuit-happy White Wolf might be, I don't think they can sue you for using a word in a different meaning than their "Umbra." But hey, I'm not a lawyer. Shadow War sounds cool, but I think I've heard it before...I just can't place it. How about Pax Infidus (untrue peace)? I think it's actually supposed to be Pacis Infidus, but the former sounds cooler. If you want to go the Latin route, you should talk to someone who knows more than a few half-remembered classes from years ago. Or how about False Peace? Insidious Peace? Anyway, that's about all I can think of at the moment.

don't necessarily have to go the latin route. I think Shadow War was a video game or something. Maybe just Pax would work, kind of an ironic title? Peace is enforced but it's not real.

Another possibility. How does Sedition sound?

For what it's worth, a quick brief brainstorm yields "Dissent," "Dissidence," and "Dissonance."

"Facade"

You might want to expand slightly on what characters do in this game. For instance, if the characters are also torn between differing loyalties, for instance, 'Inner War' and such titles could work.

Other ideas:

Turmoil
Violent Chrysalis

Hi guys,

Well, it's the big bad moderator. StrongBadMun, we'll need more information, specifically about what it's like to play the game.

1. What do characters do? Do they have a choice whether they fight for the authorities or against them? Do they have missions to run? Do they have a shot at establishing their own authority in the foreseeable future of play?

2. What do the players do? If they were all sitting at a table together, playing this game, would it sound different from most other RPGs or not? How much referencing of rules would be going on? When - during combat or not any more during combat than any other time? Would little tokens be pushed around on the table or not? What would they represent?

Gotta have this and much other similar information. Otherwise this thread will just continue as word salad and contain nothing of any conceivable use to you that a thesaurus couldn't provide.

Best,
Ron

Thanks for asking specifics Ron, I'm terrible at figuring out what I need to say when I'm just tossing it out without a guideline.

1. Characters either belong to the large organization [Pillar] that maintains the stability of the post-WW3 world or they are members of an underground organization [Exiles] who fight against Pillar's iron totalitarian grip on their world.

Starting characters will typically be members of Exile "Packs" or one of Pillar's "PacSquads" [Pacification Squad]. Packs are the small commando groups that do the actual damage to Pillar, PacSquads are a sort of commando police who enforce Pillar's control in the wastelands. Of course non-combat characters are also available and very vital as well.

The world also has large areas of unused land that can be taken over and built up by players of either allegiance who are interested in such things. Also Exiles can create their own Clans or Citizens of Pillar can make their own Agencies once they have the influence required. [Clans and Agencies being the largest organizations around other than the central leaderships of the Exiles or Pillar.]

There is also the option of playing neutrals

2. Gameplay is meant to be somewhat thoughtful. A shootout may hurt the enemy but it won't do the same damage as a virus snuck into their computer mainframe. Both groups would be faced with the bleakness of their existence whether it's from the all powerful big brother government, or from living in the abandoned wastes of post WW3 earth.

I would hope that it would sound different from most RPGs, of course there's nothing new under the sun and even I see simalirities in the setting. Rules are fairly straight forward and open to interpretation but most of the important information will be right on the character sheets. Combat is also fairly straight forward but may involve a few more rule checks than normal play.

Tokens could or could not be used depending on the group or GM but if they were used they'd most likely be the individual characters instead of large groups of combatants. Most weapons can kill a starting character in one shot if the damage roll is high enough and I've done what I could to make it so a more experienced character/NPC couldn't simply chainsaw through those with less power.

The over all feel of the game for Exiles is meant to be an uphill struggle where they question if their freedom is worth so much sacrifice and loss. Debating with themselves if they're right to want their freedom or if they should just fall in line to save their own skin.

For Pillar players it's meant to be a struggle of morality, whether or not the peace they have is worth the heavy price it brings, and whether the Exiles are enemy of peace or freedom fighters of a just cause. Of course for either side there's the possibility of some really cool fights and big explosions!

I'll be posting my mechanics up on the forum soon once I have them in a semi-coherent order. I made them from scratch, so hopefully it's at least somewhat original and somewhat playable.

I love the sound of it. Very "V for Vendetta"... and I don't think I know any praise higher than that.

It seems to me that if you aim for party play (all characters being on the same side and pursuing the same unified story) then you miss the chance to explore the same issues from diametrically different viewpoints.

Aiming for play that is bound together not by everyone being in the same scenes, but by everyone addressing the same issues, and being woven together by thematic and (perhaps) narrative links is a much harder goal to strive for.

But if you wanted to go that way then "Mirrors" or "Janus" or something similar might turn out to be a good title for you :-)

There are no rules in place to restrict people to party play or being linked by thematic and narrative links. It's one of those situations where I'm planning to leave that decision to the tastes of the individual gaming group.

Mirrors sounds interesting, and Janus sounds quite interesting. God of gates and doorways, good old Roman Mythology.

Choosing the name of your game can be a challenge.

When I was looking for a title for my game, Fantasy Imperium, I went through several titles.

It seemed that everything was already taken.

I finally decided that I wanted the word, "Fantasy" in the title. So I just looked around for another cool sounding word and I eventually came up with Fantasy Imperium.

I've read that in marketing a product, it is best to choose a title that instantly describes what it is. "Pizza Hut" for instance.

Your game sounds like The Morrow Project. In this out of print game, the players are all military personel put into suspended animation in hidden underground bunkers and were to be revived after a nuclear war. Well, their command center was hit and they woke up 300 years late.....


Anyway, here is an idea for your game title (which sounds cool btw):

Final Exile.

Of those names that have been so far suggested (here and offline), the following are the ones that I think fit the game and sound catchy.

Sedition
Façade
Janus
Final Exile
Deadly Calm [or Deadly Peace]

Any opinions on those or other ideas to throw into the list? Also, thanks everyone for the kind words about the setting, I'll have more complete descriptions of it once I post my system information.

c'mon folks, just gimme an opinion so I can get past this part of it lol

I like Janus - but I have no idea about target demographic's knowledge of that term. :)

target demographic is mature gamers who can handle some heavy subjects. But I won't turn down money from angsty teens who want to blow stuff up! lol

all right, my only vote so far is for Janus. I'll give it one more night and if I get no more responses I'll check to make sure the name isn't in use and then officialy use it as the project's label.

Hello,
I voted for Final Exile, so you have two votes. :)

Just imagine a person walking up and seeing your book on the shelf.
Does the title grab you? Does it conjure up images in your mind?

When I see "Final Exile" I wonder what its about. I get a picture in my mind, and I want to grab the book and look at it.

Then again, whats in a title anyway?

:)

hmm it fits the more I think of it, but now we're tied for votes, uh oh lol

Dude, its your game. Don't let us pick a name.

One of my friends wanted me to call my game, "Extreme Unction".... what an odd name!
I spent literally years deciding on the name of my game.

I used to call it, "En Garde!" but since I didn't have any rules for renaissance combat at the time, this name never satisfied me.

I took the main elements of my game and put it into the title, and at the time it was all about COMBAT.....

My game has since then evolved into including a lot more. My magic system is so fun that it overpowers the (what I had thought) exciting combat elements. So I was in a fix.

I then decided to check titles online. I just did a search for "Role playing games" and found hundreds of games.... it seemed that all the good titles were taken. So I was in a fix again.

You should feel lucky you have so many choices that haven't been taken by someone else!

Don't pick a name quickly.... take your time and get what you want.

I almost gave up and nearly called it, "Mark's Really Cool Role Playing Game."
Another title was, "Mark's All-time Really Cool Universal System (M.A.R.C.U.S.)."


Anyway, you could always just use these as ideas for a better name.

I once heard someone say that the title for astory should never be the first thing you think of.... That way, you won't get obvious things....
I'm not sure if this applies to the name of a game tho.

oh I'm not letting you guys name it, the whole vote thing is just to know which names grab peoples attention and get their interest. I'll call it Skippy McDougal's Funtime Hour if I want to lol.

I think I've got it, Shrouded Exile instead of Final Exile.

The general public is kept in the dark about the existence of the rebellion to prevent others from rebelling as well. They hide the exile of people who might be dangerous to their control with things like kidnapping, fake news reports, etc.

How does that one sound?

or Veil, I like the sound of Veil. *checks to see if it's taken.*