Hi everyone,

I’m new at the Forge, but I took the time to familiarize myself with the tripartite model used here.

1. PERSONAL INTRODUCTIONS
For politeness, let me first introduce myself. A French Canadian, I’ve been a published RPG author for the last few years involved with a few projects so far, mostly by French companies :

Publications :

• - Author for "Stéréotypes", EW-System Deluxe, EWS, France, 2005.
• - Author for "Dogs of Wars: an Adventure for GURPS Espionage", Pyramid Magazine, Austin, Etats-Unis, September 10, 2004.
• - Author for "The Thirteenth Wheel", Mechanical Dream, Steamlogic, Montréal, Canada, 2003.
• - Author for "Les Chroniques d'Erdor: le Livre de Jeu", Les Chroniques d'Erdor, la Boîte à Polpette, Strasbourg, France, 2003.
• - Author for "Les Chroniques d'Erdor: le Monde aux Cinq Lunes", Les Chroniques d'Erdor, la Boîte à Polpette, Strasbourg, France, 2003.
• - Article author for "Les paradigmes du jeu de rôle" dans Dragons et Microchips, Oeil du Sphynx, France, 2004.
• - Article author for "Le Bois aux Loups" dans L'Auberge du Cochon Volant, no.4, France, 2002.
• - Beta Writer for Eden Worlds Studios 2.0, Paris, France, 2004.
• - Translator for "Wilderness Bestiary", Mechanical Dream, Steamlogic, Montréal, Canada, 2003.

To be published :

• - "The Mecha Exodus", an adventure for Cartoon Action Hour, Z-Man Games (2005).
• - Author for the article "Morduch" in "Mechanical Dream for Kids", Mechanical Dream, Steamlogic (2004).
• - Author for a campaign for the game Les Chroniques de Némédia (2003).
• - Author for the article "Omega 3" to be published in "The Russian Confederacy", Spycraft, Alderac Entertainement Games (2003).
• - Plus 3 articles in 2nd phase review for the Pyramid magazine.

I’m currently in the process of writing the 2nd edition of the « Les Chroniques d’Erdor » roleplaying game, which is essentially a Sword & Sorcery roleplayinge game set in a humanless world inspired from african, asian and precolumbian Antiquity. One of its metastory features is the upcoming End of the World, the nations’ reactions to this disaster and the possible coming of a Messiah.

For a preview of what the 1st edition of this game was, see its file on the Galactic Gamer Guide (in French): http://www.roliste.com/jeu.jsp?id=1041&ft=1

Its market niche is not unlike Tékumel and Skyreamls of Jorune and did gather some attention by the mainstream French RPG magazines (notably Casus Belli) when first published in 2002. Despite its paper publication, it remained a small press project so it’s technically indie and thus Forge relevant. The game should be out this year or next, being currently in the illustration process.

2. THE QUESTION ASKED
I’m currently writing the first supplement to this RPG and considering ways to bring into RPGs the « Alienation effect » featured notably in Bertolt Brecht’s so-called Epic Theater (q.v. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alienation_effect). My only recollection of one such mechanism in RPGs appeared in the last scenario of the Over the Edge RPG by J. Tweet.

As far as I know, this isn’t a common feature in RPGS, though I take it that Mr. Whitson John Kirk III Already identified some of these themes in his essay « Successful Role-Playing Games » (2005), under the themes Conflicted Gauge (p.37), Failure Reward (p.52) and Narrative Reward (p.98).

Basically, I would like to introduce as a campaign innovation a meta-gaming mechanism in superposition to a classical-style « one-PC-per-player » play. This mechanism would feature, as interludes, the suffering of a divine Messiah (the first of two, actually) trying to amend for the world’s imperfections.

Game events provoking the persecution of the Messiah and Messianics would contribute points to a « Miracle pool », whereas at the end of the campaign a dice threshold of 40 would be required on D20+Miracle Pool for the saving miracle to occur.

The actions of the Messiah would be played out in intelude fashion, or cut-scenes between « classical play » scenes. Scene narration would be determined by the Messiah managed as a collective character managed by all players. His/her actions would be determined through a bidding process where players bid their own PC’s « Dream points » (e.g. Action points, Fate points, etc.), thus consenting personal sacrifice to further the possibility of the Messiah’s final triumph, but leading to the short-term defeat of both their individual PCs and the Messianics in general.

Essentially, the story features an all-out final war between civilizations grossly simplifyable to purple Aztecs vs silver Hindus. The PCs’ regular actions will determine the political/military (i.e. « exoteric victory ») outcome of the campaign (will all ends open) while the Messiah’s losses will determine the possibility of a miracle occuring to save the world on the long run (i.e. « esoteric victory »). Victory or losses on both scales, or win/lose options are all possible.

Thus the exoteric victory would work as per classical RPG mechanisms, while the esoteric victory would require something that deliberately distances the players’ goals from the Messiah’s goals (as an individual), favoring game objectives that would encourage tragedy for the Messiah and the Messianics (to which the regular PCs *may* belong, but not necessarily) without railroading them. I’m thus considering using variants of Conflicted Gauge (p.37), Failure Reward (p.52) and Narrative Reward (p.98) for this esoteric/messianic challenge.

These are my design goals. I’m a bit at a loss on how to present the actual mechanisms and how to suggest that this should be managed, from the perspective of a game and a campaign designer (not a game master). Minimal railroading and incentive-based mechanisms from a behaviorist perspective (not just « rules-less » narration) are strong preoccupations in this regard.

Consequently I’d appreciate if the Forge community’s experience could enlighten and improve this design with their experience and thoughts.

Regards and thanks,

Erick N. Bouchard
Quebec, Canada

Hi Erick,

I’m currently writing the first supplement to this RPG and considering ways to bring into RPGs the « Alienation effect » featured notably in Bertolt Brecht’s so-called Epic Theater (q.v. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alienation_effect). My only recollection of one such mechanism in RPGs appeared in the last scenario of the Over the Edge  RPG by J. Tweet.

It doesn't correllate to your Messiah concept (which I like a great deal), but since you mentioned Brecht I thought you might appreciate the link:

Greg Costikyan's Bestial Acts.

Paul

Thanks for the hint, Paul ! I'll check it out. Happy to note somebody else thinks Brecht material might be a good idea to introduce to RPGs. I'm almost relieved, after seeing my player's bewildered reaction. (LOL)

BTW, what I am looking for this mechanism is similar in spirit to what you realised with MY LIFE WITH MASTER (a very innovative concept you had!), in that players must counter-balance objectives on one Gauge against objectives on another Gauge, character immediate power (Self-Loathing) versus escape (Love). Great concept! :)

In my case, exoteric victory vs esoteric victory, and I don't want the players to identify with the Messiah - else they'd attempt to save him from death, which would be counter-productive storywise.

Messianism has rarely been explored in RPGs from a player perspective at least. I want to introduce that dimension, but without player favoritism, thus the idea to go for a "collective play" Mechanism. Not sure yet if the Messiah (a Messenger, really, announcing the upcoming Messiah to end the Final War) should be a PC, or perhaps a kind of Template going from one person to another. This goes with the very concept of a world about to be totally destroyed within a generation - an anti postapocalyptic setting exploring the consequences of upcoming End of Times, albeith in a non denominational/non-Earth perspective. I'd like to pursue this idea further, but sticking mechanisms to it leaves me with little to go from...

Regards,

Erick N. Bouchard
Quebec, Canada

Hey Erick,

Thanks. My suggestion is to make the Messiah something like a cross between a Horror Revealed from My Life with Master and a player turn in Bacchanal. Allow resolution mechanics to force a player to narrate a scene for the Messiah, as well as impose creative constraints on it. Maybe he's teaching a something to his followers. Maybe he's being persecuted.

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I'll give this deeper thought.

Erick