Hello, I am currently working on a game(the working title is Alien History) and I have run into a bit of a plateau in the mechanics. the game is set in an alternate 1820s where three distinct groups of alien beings have arrived on earth(no one knows how, or why). I would like the game to be about hope, and being a light in the darkness. it will be very cinematic(bordering on superheroic) however I am having some difficulty coming up with a mechanic that encourages telling a story about hope. I am(currently) using dice pools of D6s, and I am leaning away from the standard Attribute+Ability roll. instead I want to use somewhat unique traits. I would like to use a pool of points to power these traits. this is where I am stuck. If anyone could give some advice I would be much appreciative. I hope I have given enough information, though I fear I have not. if you need more simply ask and I will deliver all I have. I am still at a very early stage in the design of the game. thank you.

Hi gtroc (do you have a real name we could use?)

Could you tell us more about this darkness the PCs are being lights in? What is causing the despair to counterbalance their hope?
What behaviors do you want to see from the players at the table?
What do you want the PCs to do in the game while they are hoping?

Are we talking treasure hunter, devoted sign-watcher, budding musician or movement leader here? Is there hope in themselves, in a group (which they may be part of) or in some hidden thing that will soon appear? Is there hope something they prove, prepare for or just tell people about?

My first impression is that there are things in the world that oppress people, or make divisions between them, and needs that remain unmet, and the PCs prove those things' fragility with symbolic action.

This suggests to me that you could have set problems and a number of reasons why people think they can be changed, with people spreading hopes rather than just one.

If I'm right on this, then sort of like what James said you need to specify why people are hopeless to know what the player characters are helping to sort out.

Hi,

I think you're in super interesting thematic territory with your aliens+hope concept. Fill me in a bit though. How do you see "hope" possibly playing out for player character stories over the course of gameplay? Give me a few examples.

Paul

OK, thank you all for your responses. no on to the questions. as to the nature of the hope, I was looking at the rise of individuality and anarchism in Europe, as well as the decline in the aristocracy, and so I was leaning toward a very personal and inspirational hope. the oppressors in this case would be the "Old Guard". there is the beginnings of the industrial revolution and this pervasive feeling of desperation throughout the world as old ways  are dying out and new ways are coming to the fore. the main characters would represent hope to the world around them. I want the players to put forward the democratic ideals that were running rampant throughout Europe. So, that's what I got...what do you think?

Jake

Thanks Jake. Unfortunately, that doesn't really help me understand your game. Its too abstract. I need more concrete examples of stuff that happens in play. What are the characters doing? Can you give me an example of a conflict that might arise during play? Are the characters playing Godwin and Proudhon and having political debates and distributing pamphlets, or are they stabbing the Old Guard in the eye with bayonets and blowing stuff up?

There seems to be a few layers of conflict there between the different elements;

People's fear of change, vs hope's association with the unknown

Democracy advocates who themselves have unnaturally large portions of power

Now you could make that a part of the game, with the first being part of the reason the old guard have their power, and the latter being something the characters have to struggle with; "all men are created equal" says the 16-foot high silver man!

Perhaps that acts as a strange and interesting power limit, like Leto Atreides in God Emperor of Dune; use of power breeds awe and dependence, so power must be concealed so that people will learn their own strength.

In other words, characters would be treading the balance between inspiring people to act and inspiring people to passive awe. But perhaps, as my examples bely, this is too extreme a view of your protagonists (as they only border on super-heroic, rather than Doc Manhattan'ing around the place!).

In that case it would appear that the focus on hope might be on change, but of a particularly stable kind. Combining that kind of thing with a cinematic system could be pretty interesting; are people stealing machine parts to set up a workers collective? Protecting a libertine center of arts from it's censors? Actually organising stuff by giving super speaches? A lot of variation there, as James says, it will need a little more specificity.

Apart from that, where do the aliens come in this? Specifically how do the aliens interact with hope? If this is unclear it could be used to form the bridge between cinematic styles and the politics.