This first post is mostly just by brainstorming; I would love to invite all of you to chime in. The more feedback and discussion, the better the game.

I recieved the following four threads.
<a href="http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=7734.0">Universal RPG
<a href="http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=1936.0">Defining the game and goals
<a href="http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=5281.0">The Shadow of Yesterday (immense)
<a href="http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=24341.0">Some Help with a Concept: Gods and Gutterfolk

Chosen Ingredients:
Lantern, Coyote, The Shadow of Yesterday Thread, Gods and Gutterfolk thread

Initial Concept: This world is ending, as it has countless times before. The gods are fading as their worshipers pass on one by one. Their only hope is to use the ancient divine rites, using the fading light of mortal hope to illuminate a new world. These chosen mortals are called Lanterns and their final moments will create a legacy that will persist into the reborn cosmos. The question is, which god will pass along this legacy?

The four pre-set gods are Coyote, the Earth Mother, the Sky Father and Death. In each scene, one person plays the Lantern while the others portray Gods who seek to convince the mortals to die in certain ways. It costs the gods resources to interact with the scene, so the economy is fading away.  All that is left is an artifact, a list of legacies which make up the next world.

That's awesome.  My game has a similar starting premise (gods and the world ending), but I definitely went a radically different direction with it.  I'm excited to see what comes out of your ideas...  :D

Jason wrote:
The four pre-set gods are Coyote, the Earth Mother, the Sky Father and Death. In each scene, one person plays the Lantern while the others portray Gods who seek to convince the mortals to die in certain ways. It costs the gods resources to interact with the scene, so the economy is fading away.  All that is left is an artifact, a list of legacies which make up the next world.

This is beautiful. I really hope it gets made.

I hope it works out; It would effectively be a series of death scenes, out of which an entirely new world would be built. The idea is to give respect to the power of the last moment and how men rival the gods in that way.

Similarly, I'd like it to have something to do with Achilles's remarks in Troy regarding the gods' envy of mortals.

Great suggestion, I will try to include that!

Really cool, Jason. No thoughts besides that right now. Stoked to see how the gradual shift feels in play.

Man, poignant. I like the blueprint for the new world as artifact after play.

I think I have the general structure in place. This is a GM-less game of sorts, with each player portraying one of 4 or 5 gods. Gameplay consists of a series of scenes where one of the players portrays a Lantern nearing death. The gods can spend resources to participate in the scenes through mortal proxies and try to convince the Lantern to die for a certain reason or fashion. Each god can also offer the character one legacy, something matching the god's portfolio that would be created in the After. The lantern chooses one of the offers.

Economy: Each god has a limited number of influence tokens available.  For every X amount of real time that a god spends participating in a scene, they need to spend some of these tokens. This would force a time pressure on the gods, one not felt by the Lantern. Gods don't have enough tokens to participate in every scene; I am thinking that there there is probably only enough to be in about half of the other scenes.

Lantern Creation: Lanterns are procedurally generated by rolling on some tables, giving you some seeds for characters that you can build off.  Write them in on index cards. The legacy, when chosen, is written on the back of the card and the card will be set aside.

Final Moments: I currently don't know what kinds of "final moments" would associate with which gods. It might be motivations, it might be emotions, it might be actions. Any ideas?

Jason,

This game is crazy awesome. I like that the two roles' time pressures are pretty diametrically opposed - the gods need the lantern to hurry up and choose a death, but the lantern wants to savour the last moments of their life (and make sure they're making the right choice).

One thing I've noticed many times in token economies is an anti-climactic wind-down. People run out early and so just sit around, or they hold out for "something really good" with their last coins, or they just generally spend with less gusto. Consider that wind-down dynamic, and whether Lantern's Legacy needs to do something about it!

One thing you could do is have new tokens enter the economy at specific points in the game. Maybe everyone starts with fewer coins, but gets some more at the beginning of Act II. Maybe when a Lantern dies, all the gods who didn't get that Lantern to die in their blessed manner get a token as a consolation prize. Whatever the case, it may be wise to consider how you can use token replenishment to make sure the game ends on a climactic note, not a waaah-wwwaaaaah note.

Good point Joe,

I think that this particular resource might avoid that particular pattern. The currency is functionally just a measure of screen time for the player and each scene is of equal importance to the gods. If we had players A, B, C and D, I expect the following pattern. to typically happen during play, but I might consider hard coding it.

Scene 1: A is Lantern, B and C are playing, D is watching.  A and D don't spend resources, while B and C do.
Scene 2: B is Lantern, C and D are playing, A is watching.  B and A don't spend resources, while C and D do.
Scene 3: C is Lantern, A and D are playing, B is watching.  C and B don't spend resources, while A and D do.
Scene 4: D is Lantern, A and B are playing, C is watching.  C and D don't spend resources, while D and C do.

I don't know, I could continue to rip off Polaris and simply hard-code it, but I like the psychological effect of actual time pressure on the gods.  Thoughts?

Here are the Gods as proposed, including their three domains and the final moments they seek for their Lanterns.

*The Sky Father - Sky, Order, War - For the Greater Good

*The Earth Mother – Earth, Birth, Chaos - For Love of the Blood

*The Coyote – Fire, Knowledge, Deception - For Change and Growth

*Death's Guide – Permanence, Peace, Death - Go Gentle into that Good Night

*The Ocean Wanderer – Waters, Prosperity, Destruction - Rage, Rage, against the dying of the Light.

I like the idea, the phrasing bugs me, what if the Lanterns are dying and the gods want the Lantern to dedicate their legacy to them?
I know it is just semantics, but since it bothered me, I wanted to put that out there.
I like the pay as you go better than hard coding it. I think that there might be scenes that a player/god will want to be a part of and it may not be on their "turn" similarly, if it is pay as you go, you can back out of a scene if you can't figure out how to play your god in that scene...

I have decided that the gods can spend currency to extend the lives of the Lanterns and to get an opportunity to interact with them. I need to clarify this, but the Gods use the power from the last moments of the mortals to find the new world. In exchange, they ensure that legacy will come to pass in the new world.  The Lantern Rites require that exchange, of final moments for new legacies.

I have finished and submitted the game for the contest.  I hope that you find this interesting and I would love any feedback.

http://www.genesisoflegend.com/2012/04/lanterns-legacy/

Awesome!
  Glad you got it done in time. I was thinking for the next version, what if the game starts by describing the Lanterns of the previous age?

You are quite right, that was generally where my mind was going but in the context of this particular context, I didn't plan on ppening that door.