Entry tags:
Comparative RPG gods
I been reading more campaign settings and rulebooks and wikis (which frequently conflict and which I can't clearly separate edition eras for) and I am developing Opinions on fantasy RPG gods.
Not terribly well informed Opinions yet, might have misunderstood things, certainly need to read the available sources better, and my sources are a tiny proportion of what's out there.
And yet, Opinions.
I know RPG deities are set up for maximum conflict and plenty of adventure
but
they really do make me angry.
( Read more... )
So this is exactly the sort of call to action anger that you want from setting design, so that works out.
And the wall of being perfectly ineffectual forever is a pretty good metaphor once you think of worship as voting, because that's the people who just refuse to vote.
Still, seems to be harder to organise a new god than a new political party.
( Read more... )
It's making me think the scale on stories can get REALLY BIG. I mean SF invents stuff, but Fantasy can just rewrite the entire laws of physics. ... actually SF does that a lot too, but you know, deliberately.
I like RPGs because I like power, and don't get to feel powerful much. This I know about myself.
I get frustrated with them because too often 'power' is just 'hitting things until they stay down', even in settings where there's enough magic that stuff does not really have to in general stay down.
But the power disparities get magnified too. I mean, think how a regular peasant would feel next to even a fairly lowly adventurer, someone with some magic unlocked. They've spent more gold on their equipment than it would take to buy a village worth of goats, and feed the village for a year. They confidently expect to get much more gold later. And they can just casually rewrite reality, one spell at a time.
But they're still outweighed by actual factual gets involved a lot deities.
That's a busy sort of world with some incentives for keeping your head down and hoping for a good afterlife, you know?
I shall go read more about assorted afterlives.
Not terribly well informed Opinions yet, might have misunderstood things, certainly need to read the available sources better, and my sources are a tiny proportion of what's out there.
And yet, Opinions.
I know RPG deities are set up for maximum conflict and plenty of adventure
but
they really do make me angry.
( Read more... )
So this is exactly the sort of call to action anger that you want from setting design, so that works out.
And the wall of being perfectly ineffectual forever is a pretty good metaphor once you think of worship as voting, because that's the people who just refuse to vote.
Still, seems to be harder to organise a new god than a new political party.
( Read more... )
It's making me think the scale on stories can get REALLY BIG. I mean SF invents stuff, but Fantasy can just rewrite the entire laws of physics. ... actually SF does that a lot too, but you know, deliberately.
I like RPGs because I like power, and don't get to feel powerful much. This I know about myself.
I get frustrated with them because too often 'power' is just 'hitting things until they stay down', even in settings where there's enough magic that stuff does not really have to in general stay down.
But the power disparities get magnified too. I mean, think how a regular peasant would feel next to even a fairly lowly adventurer, someone with some magic unlocked. They've spent more gold on their equipment than it would take to buy a village worth of goats, and feed the village for a year. They confidently expect to get much more gold later. And they can just casually rewrite reality, one spell at a time.
But they're still outweighed by actual factual gets involved a lot deities.
That's a busy sort of world with some incentives for keeping your head down and hoping for a good afterlife, you know?
I shall go read more about assorted afterlives.