The Forge Archives

okay, one more little bit of help to ask of you guys for my game, and then i'm done for the day, i swear!

in my game bruise, a sci-fi/fantasy-ish game with some epic gameplay type stuff going, characters have certain traits called memes.  the following is a quote form my notes on memes in game context.

QuoteJust as genes are a physical form of evolution, marking the further physical development of a species, so are Memes a traceable form of evolution.  Memes are a form of cultural trait, ones that can be found in certain social groups, upbringings or occupations.  Memes can be particular passions, individual personality traits, even fashion trends, any kind of mental "coding".  Memes are also transferable, like a virus, and can be transmitted through communication or repeated action.  It is possible, through continued exposure to a certain culture or idea to "catch" a meme.  It is through this concept that one is truly able to "lead by example".

   Memes are capable of evolution as well.  If someone is taught a specific meme incorrectly, it is possible that this incorrectly taught meme could develop into an all-together new meme, one that is perhaps stronger than the ancestor meme.  Two separate ideas can also combine, forming a new meme.  New environments can also create new Memes, specially tailored to deal with the new surroundings.

   Groups of like memes, ones that support each other and reinforce their ideas, are called Meme Complexes or Memeplexes for short.  Religious orders, occupations with a large amount of tradition or ceremony, or families or societies that have a strong cultural identity often develop into Memeplexes.  

   A person's personality can be thought of as a collection of Memes.  Some memes are simple ones, like song lyrics or an affinity for a certain color.  Others are much more powerful.  This kind can perhaps best be thought of as mottoes or axioms by which a person lives.  Instances of these include a belief in a higher force, or the deep-rooted desire to risk your life for the rush of adrenaline that ensues.  These beliefs are powerful and can be of great assistance to those who have them.  Belief in a certain meme can help a person overcome even the most daunting of tasks, through sheer force of will.  

   All characters have a number of memes that reflect their background and their personal beliefs.  Characters can develop more memes during their lifetime through exposure to other cultures, a deep questioning of their own beliefs or if there is a particular event that causes them to consider a new outlook on life.  

so, i'm trying to construct a list of memes for the game.  i've got a fairly decent list, but i'd kind of like to start off with a really huge one and eliminate any ones that don't quite work as playtest goes forward.  the following is my list of memes as it stands right now.

QuoteNever Surrender
Together We Stand
No Guts, No Glory
The Many before the One
Manifest Destiny
Death before Dishonor
Simplicity is Bliss
Will to Power
Greed is Good
Silence is Golden
Power to the People
Sex is Power
First, Do No Harm
Push the Envelope
Survival of the Fittest
The Truth Will Out
A Fool is Born Every Minute
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
There is nothing to fear but fear itself
It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability
Anger is a Gift
Art is a form of Truth
Believe Nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see
Hell Hath No Fury...
Fortune Favors the Bold
A Man's Reach Should Exceed His Grasp

the system at hand is a sort of white wolf like attribute+skill system, card based, that leans towards a narrativistic style.  follow the link in my sig to read the notes on the system at my website.

Characters in the game are criminals that have had their memories wiped.  they start with a couple of memes based on their upbringing and career, their crime, their destiny and fate and one or two personal taste ones.

mechanically, memes can be used to replace a character's attribute or skill ratings, allowing them to get high action draws that they wouldn't be capable of otherwise.  thus, if a character believes in himself and the action at hand, his ability in it goes up.  kind of a distant cousin of the SA i guess.

so, i'm looking for more memes really.  if anyone has any quotes, words to live by, sayings, axioms, song lyrics, whatever that would fit the bill, fire 'em my way.  any would help.  even if you have one that is similar to something on my list, tell me about it.  it might sound better than the one that i chose.  ideally, memes should be concise sayings that would easily fit on a character sheet but, as things are right now, just about anything will do.

the first playtest session is on tuesday, so any posted between now and then would be a huge help.  and, of course, there'll be a post in actual play afterwards!

thanks in advance to anyone that helps!

Might makes right.
My country, right or wrong.
Kill them all, let God sort them out.

Ack, I'm sounding very American this morning. To improve my image:

Moderation in all things.
Men are possessed by women. Women are possessed by the devil.
War is hell.
Everyone has a price.
Every man for himself.
Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse.
Life is suffering.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
God is dead.
Trust no one.

And finally:

Elvis has left the building. (jk)

I'm not sure you need to provide an exhaustive list of these, or that you can.

Is that what you're trying to do?

If it isn't, then how many of these do you feel you need? It seems to me that it should be trivial for players to come up with new ones, and perhaps more interesting if you forced them to do so.

Come to think of it, I agree with SS. If you were to provide the short list you already have, and perhaps give guidelines toward choosing a "good" meme, the players would do a better job of thinking up memes that capture the game they want to play.

Shreyas, loki, normally i would agree with you, but i do have my reasoning for a list like i'm working on.  lemme explain.

In the setting, the characters that the PCs are portraying have no memory of their character's history, just an overall sense of "who they are".  yet, these characters do have a history, one which had an impact on their personality.  While players get to chose three Memes of ther own for their characters, and can during that time make up ones to fit their character, character creation is actually handled by two players.  the player of the character himslef makes up all of the "current" stuff, including the overall look and style of the character, then there's the "Doula" (in-game term), which is another player that makes up the characters pre-amnesiac past.  The Doula also has a character of his or her own, for whom the other playeris Doula.

During the Doula stage of character creation, the other player selects two traits that have a pretty large impact on the character: their past ocupation (Protoplast) and the crime that they commiteed that got them sentenced to life imprisonement on this backwater planet and had their memory wiped in the first place (Crime).  Each of these comes with a new meme for the character as well as skills and such.  Each Protoplast and Crime will have a couple of example memes tied to them, standards i guess.  It's not meant to be exhaustive, but to give a good list of thirty or so, maybe a little more than, to help players out during character creation.  

Players will be allowed to make up their own Memes for their characters, but i just want to make sure that, if they don't want to, there's a fine list of memes to chose from in the book itself.  It's kind of hard to ask a player to make up another player's character, or at least part of it, so i want to be sure that players have a lot of support in this.  I also want these to act as examples, so players can get a feel for what "works" as a meme.  Not to mention the fact that i'll be running the game for the first time on tuesday and i'd really like to sit down at the table with good lists of everything, so i can discard the crap as playtest moves along.  Hey, if the list of memes doesn't work?  Gone!

so, long-winded response made short: i want to have examples and to have a list that i know are tried and true, working Memes.  I feel weird sending a group of players into an environment as crazy as the one i've set up for them and not give them the help and support i could quite easily provide.

or: i am not averse to players creating their own Memes, and actually want them to, but just as Unknown Armies doesn't give you a skill list, it does throw a whole bunch of example skills at you.  Same idea here.

so, not exhaustive list, but a list of examples.

oh yeah, and thanks for the list Loki!  some nice juicy Memes in there all right.