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Is there any way to request feedback for what we made? 

What the hell. What the actual hell?

Am I done? Is this system done?

Okay I need to fill things in a bit.

So after we last left off it basically turned into heavy editing on my downtime. There wasn't much point in updating the blog because... did you really need a post saying how Math was in there twice? 

But what does deserve mention in a blog post is a guy who came in on the 11th fucking hour to not only edit this... but made it fucking gorgeous. 

Some of you may know him as Little Mike of the 404s or at twitter at https://twitter.com/SigmaJump or in the cosplay community under the same name. But he's my friend and holy shit did he do an amazing job. Every graphic and formatting job in this document was by his hand and this project went from being a passable first draft to something that looks really professional. 

Honestly, he wants to come back after the jam and work on this further and I'm probably going to let him. 

There are a few things I would really improve if I had the time to make this a bit bigger. I would add a monthly challenge to give Gods more action uses and certainly add more roleplaying options. 

But I've done enough of that. The project is done and I can honestly say I'm proud of it.

So please, please enjoy it.

So I was trying to group the aspects appropriately.

Seriously, I even made physical versions. Look!

* 

This actually led to a different and perhaps more clever solution.

Wanna hear it?

Why don’t I just make the aspects into cards and let the GM shuffle them?

Yeah… you know… only one of THE OLDEST METHOD OF RANDOMIZATION ON THE PLANET!

God I’m dumb sometimes.

Well I tried it and it worked. Even though this is more like a board game mechanic then a TTRPG one, but fuck it. If Monte Cook can put a deck of cards in Invisible Sun. I can to. And I can just as easily assign playing cards to these aspects and people can proxy a deck of cards.

There was one last element I wanted to add but it didn’t make the cut.

My idea was to include a crisis at the top of each month so that God characters could work togeather to give themselves a benefit. Sort of a way to echo that godly feeling. But I think with less then ten days to go, I’m out of time for new mechanics.

So expect a printable deck and list with playing cards in the rules in a few days. Then we move on… TO FONTS!

JUST KIDDING! I DID ALREADY! ENJOY!

Hey all. Who has two thumbs and deleted his transfer file of the core rules?

But that’s okay, since I had the posts and all other info already online I just have to copypasta!

Now the big question is how to divide aspects equally into four?

Well let’s break it down. First of all, we have some parts of the naturally occurring world like seasons, animals, and such.

We have aspects of human knowledge which occur naturally, but are categorized by the field of study like physics and psychology. And the problem is how we code the whole thing too. Is the study of a thing what is eliminated in the choice or what IS studied in the thing that is eliminated? Can we make a world without the laws of physics? Yeah I have the reborn clause that I can put in but what if that denies creativity?

We have things like crime, warfare and combat, but we can break crime into theft, Murder, Harm, but should that be kept as one so that way people aren’t put off by deciding to vote if a real crime that affected them personally still exists? And if I AM including that, why am I not including things like sickness? Or does Medicine cover that?

And we have legitimate man made industries like farming, technology, engineering and such.

I think I’m going to take the next few days to overhaul this list. We’re getting close to the wire here so once this overhaul is done I won’t be able to come back to this if I want to format things nicely.

The heat is on folks.

Also, I’m going to leave you with a question: Can gods sacrifice an aspect for Ichor during the game?

The wording is unclear and I'll have to fix that. Basically each additional action costs one more. So the first is free, second is one, third is 2.

Holy shit. So I’ve been editing this thing. So much so that we now are on version 3 of these rules. I lowered the action economy down to one per month. I haven’t done any proper math for this yet (I’m going to have to do a solo test run on this just to see if shit is even viable)

And I can spot one hell of a flaw.

Can you see it?

At no point do I describe the GM and what the GM does.

So players are Gods, then the GM is Fate itself.  Paying ichor to twist fate. That flows quite right.

So here’s how things stand.

I still have to add fonts and images and such, thankfully that can wait. I also want to strengthen character and GM creation tools.

And by god do the 48 Aspects need both a regrouping and an overhaul. Becaause we can’t have two aspects that are too close be in the same choice, but also allow the GM, sorry… Fate, to group things as they see fit.

After that maybe…. MAAAYBE I can add variant rules and such. We will see.

Till next time.

Jesus. We’re putting the rules together.

It’s kind of odd to be at this point and a bit surreal. But enough of that! Let’s set some guidelines.

The goal today is simple: Put together all existing rules in the posts so far into one comprehensive document. We aren’t editing and we aren’t modifying for this post.

Once that’s done we must:

• Check the rules for flaws or improvements.
• Add fonts and perhaps images.
• Add additional descriptions where needed.
• Just check for damn typos.

Definitely some of the aspects can be tightened up, as well as the action economy needs a revision. Perhaps down to one action a month? That means I may need to playtest this.

There’s also more than a few audience suggestions I have to factor in as well.

And… I need a name.

We’ve kind of settled on Armageddon being a big name here so let’s go with. Armageddon: Among the Gods for now. And the rest is the link to the rules itself: https://bigmiked20.itch.io/mikes-last-game-jam-2020-submission

Until next time.

So I missed this yesterday when I had to write up the prompts… so I just did all of them.

Of all the parts of this game I feel this needs the most editing, but for now we have a first draft!

Subjects

• Dogs: The domesticated allies of humanity. Loyal and trustworthy if trained. Armageddon: In the end. Humanity’s best friend was left behind to die. The final howl of every dog in the world scars you.
• Cats: Humans tried to domesticate feline predators. Proud, self-sufficient, cuddly. Armageddon: There is a mass of predators who have remembered the old ways. They attack you en masse.
• Hunting: The pursuit of something living. Covers fishing, tracking the enemy, and for food. Armageddon: The human race had to learn to hunt to master the beasts. Now they hunt you.
• Farming: The science of cultivating plants and livestock. Guarantees food and plenty. Armageddon: The nobility always feared what would happen if the farmers rose up. You should have too.
• Winter: The coldest time of the year when nature rests. Sleepy, beautiful, dark. Armageddon: A winter unlike anything you’ve ever known has arrived at your door.
• Spring: The beginning of new life as plants bloom and animals are born. Vibrant, chaotic, bright. Armageddon: New life does not go quietly into the night. You are covered and consumed by the verdure.
• Summer: The hottest of the four seasons and known for vacations. Hot, travel, adventure. Armageddon: The heat is stifling and it grips your body, making it hard to breathe.
• Autumn: A time of harvest and plenty, as well to prepare for winter as plants begin to rest. Food, foresight, decay. Armageddon: Everything wanes over time, aging and dying. So do you.
• Economics: The act of selling and exchanging goods. Finance, Wealth, Money. Armageddon: Debts are always paid with interest by those who owe. You pay in legend.
• Gaming: The act of structured play for entertainment or education. Fun, rules, victory. Armageddon: There are countless masters of even more games. They ply their expertise together to make one final move.
• Sport: The physical act of competition. To improve oneself to complete a task. Physique, training, health. Armageddon: That many athletes, trained for singular goals makes a mighty army. They give one last play.
• Philosophy: The study of fundamental questions about the human condition. Reason, knowledge, mind. Armageddon: The sum knowledge of the human condition is turned to one goal and you are asked a question: What is a god but the will of humans? You don’t have an answer.
• Combat: The art of fighting an opponent in single combat. Guns, Fists, Martial Arts. Armageddon: There are a few million masters of combat who take umbrage with you wiping them from existence. They voice their displeasure in their weapons of choice.
• Architecture: The art and design of human structures. Intelligence, Expression, Crafting. Armageddon: So much was once built to honor the gods, now repurposed to debase them and steal their strength.
• Warfare: Intense armed battle between groups. Violence, Destruction, Death. Armageddon: The history of humanity is marked by the improvement in warfare. Now they have an aligned target.
• Psychology: The human mind and the many facets it contains. Knowledge, patience, healing. Armageddon: The gods are reflections of the humans who worship them, they don’t have complicated mental states on the best of days.
• Crime: Committing an act that is considered unlawful or detrimental to a society. Pain, Chaos, Selfish.  Armageddon: There’s a lot of people that enjoy committing crimes. They have complaints and voice them how you would imagine.
• Law: A system of rules created and enforced to regulate behaviour. Ideally for societal benefit. Control, punishment, order. Armageddon:  Those that create and enforce the law use their collective might to punish the gods.
• Biology: The science behind life itself and how it works. Knowledge, growth, creation. Armageddon: The laws of biological science impose themselves upon the gods making them a bit more mortal.
• Chemistry: The science of matter, from molecules to atoms to ions and how they react. Chaos, Fire, Transmutation. Armageddon: The science of explosions, in all their forms, owes their roots to chemistry. It is a spectacular explosion against the gods.
• Math: The knowledge of numbers that allows many disciplines to grow beyond simple analysis. Logic, Discipline, Science Armageddon: It is a simple equation that tears legend from a god. Really it’s just a matter of subtraction. 
• Education: The ability to pass knowledge and skills onto another through training. Intelligence, generosity, wisdom. Armageddon: Even knowledge of a god is still a kind of education. Sadly Many know less of the gods as a result.
• Visual arts: The ability to craft something with a visual element. Expression, design, craft. Armageddon: To showcase the flaws of another, put on display in hideous mockery and satire is enough for the vainest souls. So too the gods.
• Performing arts: The use of one’s body (including voice) to convey artistic expression. Music, Dance, Acting. Armageddon: They can make performances to make mortals weep. Gods are no different and can see their own death in a performance.
• Literature: The sum total of written work and the crafting of it. Prose, Narrative, craft. Armageddon: Any written word has the soul of its creator in it. That much death makes a considerable wraith.
• Mammals: The wild and untamed fur baring creatures that roam the earth. Beasts, Hunter, Might. Armageddon: There are many predators among the mammals of the world. Some ancient and mighty beyond reckoning.
• Fish: Aquatic life that dwells beneath the water line. Ocean, life, plenty. Armageddon: Many things dwell between the waters and they are enraged to leave their domain.
• Reptiles: The scaled and cold blooded creatures that roam the land and water. Armor, hunter, healing. Armageddon: Great reptiles once roamed the earth, they have returned to fight for their kin.
• Amphibians: The bridge between water and land. Life evolved through them and they remain at the fulcrum. Change, growth, balance. Armageddon: Like removing the keystone of a bridge, their loss echoes across existence itself. Even gods are not immune.
• Birds: The masters of the sky. While not all fly, they are each a hunter. Pursuit, sky, journey. Armageddon: They say the gods dwell in the heavens themselves. A small journey for those in the sky.
• Insects: The smallest and the most plentiful. Sometimes pest, but essential to the cycle of life. Death, rot, swarm. Armageddon: They swarm, they mass. They hunger.
• Government: The leadership of people with organization and rules. Command, Charisma, law. Armageddon: The great leaders of the world have no small amount of power. They organize and destabilize the rule of gods.
• Music: The art of sound. They say even the universe vibrates to the rhythm of a great tune. Joy, Art, Chaos Armageddon: The final song of humanity. Filled with loss and hatred. It wounds even the divine.
• Journalism: The gathering of information and reporting of facts with evidence. Wisdom, Determination, Truth. Armageddon: The finest journalists could destabilize faith in the finest leaders. What is a god’s religion in the wake of such a thing?
• Cooking: The science and art of preparing food for consumption. The first art taught to humanity. Art, Science, pleasure. Armageddon: When there is no food left, the masses will eat the rich. What is wealth but another form of power?
• Language: The ability to communicate with fellow humans in a structured form. Order, Understanding, wisdom. Armageddon: How can a person worship without words? The silence hurts the most.
• Ethics: The concept of right and wrong behaviour in the human condition. Order, peace, law. Armageddon: It is a mighty thing when the human race bands together and decides that something is wrong.
• Plant life: The largest variety of life itself. So large it almost defies description. Growth, Life, Plenty. Armageddon: Unchecked, unrestrained growth that overwhelmed, consumes and proliferates in any environment. Gods make fertile soil.
• Medicine: The science of treating human beings for their maladies. Healing, Treatment, Compassion. Armageddon: The great oath “I shall do no harm” is revoked. Such harm can be wrought by those who know the makeup of life.
• Mathematics: The study and truth of numbers. The first language, the first proof. Logic, Reason, Truth. Armageddon: Even gods know that math is road to the root of the universe. Its loss brings chaos without reprieve.
• History: The human ability to record the past and learn from it. Knowledge, growth, memory. Armageddon: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. The gods will learn nothing from this experience. Or anything else.
• Earth science: The earth, how it functions and the laws by which it abides. Order, nature, weather. Armageddon: The earth lacks laws by which to function. It is free to do and shape as it wills, even against the gods.
• Social science: The human race forms societies to make groups, organization. Order, unity, law. Armageddon: The human race can always organize, form new groups. Even those to fight the gods.
• Navigation: The skill of locating a route to one’s destination. Seeking, Persistence, hunting.  Armageddon: You cannot hide. They find you.
• Astronomy: The knowledge of the stars themselves and how we take our place among them. Knowledge, exploration, time. Armageddon: When the stars go out, they create what we call black holes. Their force is so great they can rip legend from gods.
• Logic: The simple human capacity for reason itself. Truth, balance, mind. Armageddon: Logic’s grasp is where madness is reigned in. It slips its chains and lets the horror free.
• Physics: The natural science of matter itself and how the laws of physics operate on our world. Reaction, Force, Motion. Armageddon: For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. The exclusion of physics itself earns an unequaled reaction in the universe.
• Technology: The ability to create tools and products at any level. Ingenuity, craft, production. Armageddon: The human condition has made many tools, now all turned to a single glorious purpose.
• I’m not sure about ethics and logic as they are kinds of philosophy and physics as a division of Math but I’m leaving them separate for now.

Now here is a thought. On average we know the legend cost of a thing should be equal to the number of players, but do we want to play with that number?

I leave you with that question. Next time… FIRST DRAFT OF THE COMPLETE RULESET BABY! LET’S GET THIS STARTED!

Okay, here we go. 48 prompts.

Let’s get as many as we can today.

There’s some things we have to lay out before we start! First: Nothing here can at all be about or refer to eugenics. We won’t have things like “Hinduism” or “Black Culture” on this list.

Two, the module must reflect that anything that makes it to the new age will be preserved as is. Everything else either gets started over, or is reborn in a new form. So if we get rid of commerce, something new may come up to replace it (depending on what god wins and other factors).

We got that? This is not an excuse to indulge in Nazi fantasies and stuff. This is all about gods being petty and self serving. Even if it is for an ultimately altruistic god.

I’m going to try and do 12 a post at minimum and include the thing, a quick sentence about it, and a possible way it damages legend at the end. The GM can make their own.

Just kidding. I did all 48. But I didn’t want to fill them in as this is a very initial list. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK DONE FOR TODAY BECAUSE THIS WAS HUGE! 

• Dogs
• Cats
• Hunting
• Farming
• Winter
• Sprint
• Summer
• Fall
• Commerce
• Gaming
• Sport
• Philosophy
• Combat
• Architecture
• Narcotics
• Psychology
• Crime
• Law
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Math
• Education
• Visual arts
• Performing arts
• Literature
• Mammals
• Fish
• Reptiles
• Amphibians
• Birds
• Insects
• Government
• Music
• Journalism
• Cooking
• Language
• Economics
• Plant life
• Medicine
• Mathematics
• Life Science
• Physical science
• Social science
• Navigation
• Astronomy
• Logic
• History
• Humanities

So, my dear friends!

However can we make the Apocalypse phase work? Hmmm?

How do I possibly make this work if I’m so adverse to building a whole section from scratch?

https://giphy.com/embed/2w5PwZgB7PG67s7O7s

Of course I have a solution.

Let’s look at our inspiration. Good old Ragnarok.

But wait… Ragnarok isn’t what kills the gods! Why… it’s the final battle! Odin dies to the Fenrir Wolf! Thor bites it to Jormungandr… but wait… those didn’t come from nowhere! They were all encounters from earlier.

In other words… what kills the gods?

Everything they didn’t vote for!

That’s right! Everything the gods didn’t decide to lock away with ichor until the new year comes back to bite them in the ass!

(also thematically that’s what the vote does)

This also means the GM has time to make monsters of the remaining aspects (or we can do it as we design the 48 aspects), since this doesn’t happen in one sitting. In turn the GM (or PC) can narrate each battle of the Apocalypse!

God damn I’m jazzed! This sounds fun!

Okay, so we planned for 48 options of which one out of four will be the outcome! That means 36 aspects show up to kill the gods at the end of the world, 24 at the least.

Wait… I spotted a bug: What stops the players from just paying 1 ichor and taking an option as an aspect each round?

So yeah, we’re going to have to price options. We’ll come back to this.

The ten million dollar problem is: how much legend will a god have at the end?

Keep in mind, only one god is left standing at the end. So it doesn’t matter how MUCH legend these cost because it will all be over as long as one god is left standing.

But let’s do some math!

We have the sliding scale of ichor per month(4-1). That gives a total of 30 ichor by the end of game PER PLAYER

Let’s assume all ichor is spent by end of game (because it does goddamn nothing if it isn’t spent) either in wasted votes or abilities and such.

None of those abilities have a cost on them (yet) so we’ll stick to the 30 as a guideline with some variance.

That means given a total of 36 opponents total with four players have to kill a total 120 legend. Averaging that out that’s 4 legend to the enemy aspect.

But, if we have more players say 6, that’s potentially a total of 180 legend or 5 to the enemy aspect.

So I need input. We can either do it that the GM rolls 1d6 (in a thus diceless game) for each enemy aspect, or just average it for 3 legend for three players or fewer, 4 for four, or… 5 for 5 or more.

Jesus that math works just as that where legend lost per enemy aspect is equal to number of players.

Huh.

Actually, we can even impose a difficulty here, because if we price that each final challenge is based on number of players, we ratchet up the difficulty by adding +1 to each challenge at the end!

This is of course soft math at best. I haven’t even priced actions yet.  

So yeah, Do we roll dice to determine how much legend is lost each aspect attack? Or do we make it equal to the number of players (minimum 3).

Lastly, resolution.

So let's chart all possible outcomes.

• Final god survives with aspects intact, items they voted for made it.
• Final god survives with aspects intact, items they didn’t vote for made it.
• Final god survives with no aspects intact, (same split)
• Two gods survive with no aspects intact (same split)
• All gods get wiped out.

So let’s deal with the first split. Ultimately the GM has to describe the ending and the new world. These are just prompts and I feel we should stay relatively hands off. 

Two, the question is how did the god respond to the parts that are contradictory to it? That can actually be a co-op narration moment between GM and surviving PC. We can give prompts though.

• A new god appears for the things the god opposed. Becomes enemy/spouse (6 or less aspects match)
• The god creates a pantheon to help fill the need (6-10 match)
• The new world rejects the god. (2 or less)

These can be amended though.

Additionally let’s look at what happens if a god has no aspects. Let’s say, if we have a single surviving god who has and no legend they survive and instead we have this:

• The surviving god begins a great rewriting. It takes time for faith to find itself but they eventually begin a whole new existence.

If two gods survive with no aspects or legend? Fuck it, wipe them all out! Unless you think we should have a tie outcome.

If all gods get wiped out this is easy.

•    A new era begins. Will humanity make new gods?

See you next time as… well I guess we draft the rules together and see what we make!

After that… we have to design the 48 aspects of the world.

One of them shall be dogs.

Later!

Okay, it’s time to ratchet this shit we have togeather and see where the holes are.

ARE YA READY KIDS?

First of all character creation (since we decided to go free range on it):

What are you a god off? This can be a single word, a concept, an element, or an industry?

How do you represent what you are god of? What does being that god mean to you?

We need to make this clear, show intent better, but we have a decent framework.

Action phase:

• Preserve an option for next month
• Generate two more ichor to vote
• Stop the vote of a god of your choice (God does not lose ichor on blocked vote)
• The top two voted options are saved instead of just the top
• Eliminate an option before the vote
• Add a choice to your own identity, it cannot be voted upon

Thundermouth gave some good input to this!

“I could see maybe some actions being secret and then things like big miracle or devastations being public.  But if all actions were made in secret I think that would be a really fun type of game as well (more chances for deceit).

As for amount of actions I could see using the voting tokens as currency.  Or maybe you only get two actions but some actions taking up your entire turn.”

And I agree. So let us say that Generating Ichor and Eliminating an Option are both publically seen. While it isn’t attributed to the PC the PC gets to describe the action within their theme.

So we’ll structure this further.

During action phase players get two actions. Each additional action costs +1 ichor to perform. That means this stuff can become insanely additive.

There are natural concerns to this method, however and I think we will need to just straight up assign costs to some options (like the vote blocking one) to make it work.

This also means that PCs need to know what the choices are BEFORE taking their actions.

Each god chooses an aspect they feel is an extension of their godhood and inform the GM. This is their declared aspect for the month.

* This means we CAN make the start of the month significant. Perhaps give a challenge at the top of the month to ensure the players have the most (4) options?

Debate Phase:

• Barring any modifications by players, they are presented with four choices for which to preserve for the next world.
• Players are free to discuss among each other in public or private message as they see fit during this phase or the action phase before it.
• At the end players vote for which aspect of the world to preserve with ichor. The highest voted option wins.
  

Now there’s a thing we need to add here, how much legend does a PC earn when their aspect makes it?

• How about this, for each Ichor you spend, you gain 1 legend. If the option you chose at the top of the month wins, you gain legend equal to the total amount that was voted for that option.

That means:

• A player that brute forces a vote still profits equal to loss.
• Collaboration yields stronger rewards.

Now remember how adding a choice becomes part of the player identity? We can say that during the final battle a PC can sacrifice an aspect for an additional two legend… perhaps even for the ones at character creation!

OOOOOOOUUUUUU!

This ties into a question Thunderfoot had: "what happens if a god survives to go on to the next world, but the thing they are god of does not?"

Which means at this point I need to stop this post, because we need to figure out the apocalypse turn.

We have some key questions:

• What causes the loss of legend during the apocalypse turn?
• What happens to players who sacrifice all their aspects (even starting ones?)
• What happens if a god survives to the next world but none of their aspects did?

Until next time!

Danke Thundermoth! As always. I think I'll go with freeflow as the keywords would be more of a board or card game design ethos.

Character creation. Okay. 

Let’s break it down.

(missing break it down gif because all the ones I found were depressing)

We need to make this as simple and elegant as possible. 

So the easiest thing is to ask the player to choose something to be a god of. It can be an element (Fire, water, etc), an aspect of culture (Music, art), nature itself (The sky, forests), an industry (Farming, Engineering) etc.

The trick here is, as elegantly as possible, allow for as much diversity as we can. Because for Greek gods Aphrodite is the goddess of love, but among Hindu faith Shiva is the god of destruction in a way that brings in new innovation and improvement. Then there is Odin, god of the gallows, magic and sacrifice.  So it isn’t enough to just say someone is a god of something, how do they represent that which they have domain of? 

So let’s say these are our twelve things someone could be god of.

• Fire
• Water
• Earth
• Air
• Passion
• Death
• Life
• Knowledge
• War
• Nature
• Deceit
• Truth

If we were giving a list of things for players to be gods, they could be attached as keywords to each of the 48 options we have to generate (four a month) for things to keep. 

Thus we can add two keywords to an option so multiple players can make a bid for it and it benefits them, even in secret. 

The problem with this method is, it isn’t really a secret who is voting for what. It would all be out in the open who would benefit and a lot of deception in the meta would be lost.

Or we go simpler.

First of all, we ask a player What are you a god off? This can be a single word, a concept, an element, or an industry? 

Second, How do you represent what you are god of? What does being that god mean to you?

Whenever an option comes up during a month, before all other actions, each player tells the GM what they’re going to vote for and how it ties in to the answers to the two questions at character creation. after all, Poseidon was god of horses and the sea. 

Yeah, I don’t get that one either.

As it stands right now, I can’t think of anything I can create at this point for character creation that influences the final outcome. 

BUT, here’s a thought. Remember all those actions in the first phase? 

• Preserve an option for next month
• Generate more tokens to vote
• Stop someone’s vote
• The top two voted options are saved instead of just the top
• Something that aids your odds to survive at the end
• Eliminate an option before the vote

I want to modify the odds of survival one

• Add a choice to your own identity

Yeah. What if players can add choices of what to preserve to their identity during the game? 

It won’t make it to the new world, but it will be part of that god’s identity and let’s make it that gods can sacrifice those aspects of their identity to survive longer in the final round. Even more! They can use those new identifiers as arguments for why later choices apply to them. 

So say we get a Poseidon that says he wants horses, and later down the line, Sports becomes something he votes to preserve because chariot races.

Now that might work. 

So here’s the question: Do we do keywords, or allow players to have free reign? 

Your question has actually made me restructure the whole end! Thank you!

Holy cow I’m on the last phase. For initial design. My god there’s so much left to do!

ANYWAY!

Time for Phase 3

Phase 3: Plan

• How do we determine victory?
• What happens to players who do not achieve victory?
• Are there any conditions at Character generation that can swing the result?

(also I low key corrected a grammar mistake in the first posting)

I’m going to go on a bit of a tangent here so please follow me. And be patient.

Now if we use a simple point metric cut off where the most points wins and that’s it. That’s not enough. While fun, works better for board games and video games that are fully played in one sitting and not something that will be played over twelve. This means we have to make failure meaningful and noteworthy in the final decision process.

This, in turn, means either in the last month or in one bonus month, we have a special turn that represents the final battle, the end of the world, Armageddon, and all that jazz. Whoever survives that phase, survives to the new world.

Now we have a large question that needs to be answered: What is the Apocalypse? As in, what kind of Apocalypse is it?

Right now, I don’t have a solid answer for that. In stories like the Prose Edda Ragnarok and the Catholic bible and even the legend of Pendragon, what kills the heroes isn’t the battle itself, but old enemies who rear their heads then. If choices during gameplay determine what may or may not kill them at the final battle, then it puts an emphasis on those choices, and ends narrative well for the player.

For example, if we have a god that during the 12 sessions decides to piss of the American military (again rough example) and he dies in a battle with the marines which was a large feint to lure them near a nuke, then we have some nice elements there.

But we’ll bold that for later How do we make previous decisions appear in the final battle?

Now, how to determine victory?

We can’t make victory dependent on ichor because players would just horde it for twelve months. So we need a new metric. If gods are fueled by worship and that feeds their legend, then we make legend a metric.

Therefore the goal is to, by making choices and taking actions, generate as much legend as possible to go into the final battle. Once there, a variety of scenarios drain that legend (based on decisions made prior) that subtract from that legend. In the end, whoever is the last god standing, survives.

That works.

Now for the final question: Are there any conditions at Character generation that can swing the result?

And here’s where I’m stuck.

At character creation we need to make a PC a god of something. But we also need more to help round that out.

Aphrodite isn’t just the god of love. She’s known for being jealous, manipulative, etc.

Odin isn’t just the god of the gallows, he see the future, knows magic, and his entire life is a metaphor about sacrifice, cunning and ultimately the irrefutable end.

So if I’m going to have character creation mean something at the end… I have to define what character creation is. I need to make it brief enough to be in the spirit of this game, and allow those choices made during game play help round out that character.

And that has to be a post itself.

So let’s put a pin in that. For now.

Thank you! I'm going to incorporate your suggestions!

Thank you for your feedback! Feel free to let me know if there's anything you see that you don't care for!

And I got…zero… zero replies.

So at this time, I have two choices:

• Go back and make these decisions myself.
• Move forward and orchestrate a second round pass.

And honestly, I want to move forward. There’s a lot here we’ve yet to cover and I’m only on Day 7!

Now we enter Phase 2: Debate

Do you remember our questions from last time? Here they are.

• What is the currency for voting?
• Can it be used in other phases?
• How is it generated?

I think I can answer the first and last question today, perhaps, if I’m lucky, I can get two done as well.

So, what is the currency for voting?

Well let’s look thematically at gods for a moment. If we boil down a god to the most basic concepts we have a being that has followers whose faith empowers a god to be capable of divine acts that affect the world.

So as I see it (and correct me as always) gods have two possible currencies. Followers, and their own divine power. In Greek mythology that divine power is known as Ichor.

Now if we deal in followers we’re talking thousands if not millions of people (depending on when we set this game, which is another question we have to deal with later). In theory that number should go down over the course of a year (cause apocalypse) which can create resonance when actual human lives are measured.  Here’s the problem, that’s a lot of large numbers to track, spend and gather for a relatively short game.

But Ichor, we can make whatever we want at whatever size.  We can also give it a value to add resonance. Such as “A single Ichor point is worth 10,000 worshippers. We can also change the name too. Prana, Mana, Ki, (*coughtheforcecough*) whatever we like. So if you see a term you like, please let me know.

Now, how is Ichor generated? Well people pray all the time and during the apocalypse they would probably pray more, so the player ought to generate a specific amount at the start of the month. Since it is still an apocalypse that number ought to go down as people are dying.

So let’s set up a baseline. We have twelve months to generate ichor. How about this? Three months where the PC gets four ichor per month, then three, then two, then one. Going from 12-1 feels too gradual to me and we do need a declining mechanic.

Lastly, can Ichor be used in other phases?

To me, the only simple answer is yes. In all three phases of our loop it can. Which means, it can be spent (as well) for actions or bonus actions in the first or third phases.

We have to come back to the first phase and see how Ichor can be spent there and what is its limits.

And we will have to populate our choices soon.

But for now we have a second phase planned! Until next time!

Motherfucker count dropped because it was silly.

It’s time to hit the music! It’s time to hit the lights!

It’s time to watch Mike leave proper Tabletop RPG Design dead in an alley tonight!

So we have some directions we can carry into now. We can begin going into the individual phases and start answering some questions, or we can take a look at our overall structure and perhaps modify it.

Honestly, at this point, I want to stick to answering my questions. Yeah, it means stuff goes by incomplete, but it also means I follow a structure and not just my own whim. Problems I see can be highlighted for later.

For example, in terms of overall structure, when do those choices get revealed to the players? Is there to be a bonus 13^th turn at the end of the game showcasing how the players face the apocalypse?

PLUS! I haven’t even gone into character creation yet.

But there’s something to be said for structure, plus, as I go along this way, you all can just tell me what I’m not addressing as potential consumers of this game!

So for now, the first phase! Godly actions

Our problems were:

• What are the godly actions?
• How do they affect the meta?
• How many can be made per gameplay loop?

Well I had time to come up with some (because this is a post and I can edit things like that):

• Preserve an option for next month
• Generate more tokens to vote
• Stop someone’s vote
• The top two voted options are saved instead of just the top
• Something that aids your odds to survive at the end
• Eliminate an option before the vote

That’s what I’ve come up with so far in terms of possible choices that affect the meta. Now with these choices, each has to be written such that it sounds like a godly action. For example, generating more tokens to vote can be written as:

Perform a Miracle: Describe a divine miracle to the GM that you perform that reassures faith in you, this does not have to benefit your worshipers. (Gain X more tokens).

Keep in mind, this is an example. We certainly don’t have worshipers as a metric for this game (at this time) but by scripting it that way, I’m attempting to code in the player’s mind that a godly smiting is just as viable as a miracle that saves lives. Thus I can hope for a spectrum of player choice.

Now, there’s one thing I’ve noticed, none of the actions as I’ve described them are written as being made in secret, but, by those actions do they benefit from that?

So that’s my first question to you, Should the player’s actions be made in secret?

Second, How do we determine the amount of actions a player can take? Is there just a fixed number, OR do we make it cost voting tokens for each?

Lastly, Are there any actions we should add to those of the players?

Motherfucker count: 0?

It’s time to cover our first problem! Which is actually time itself! Specifically, how many actions, debates and resolutions we have per game as this has a finite ending. In short, how many times do we let the loop occur before the end?

Okay, so if we stick to the single year concept, that’s 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8760 hours and…

Behold. The gif that my fiancé will leave me for.

Now we have to quantify that in gameplay. 365 sessions (or any larger denomination of that) is not something we can fill feasibly for the course of this month, even if we have a random generation table for a possible event or choice for each one. (Also something like that adds a lot of steps and goes against my concept of elegance.)

If we did go with that it would mean we’d need over 900 choices for every active day to decide upon (if I had a team and a budget it would be a hell of an achievement), or at least double the number of days (730) if we have a mechanic that things we don’t decide to keep still exist until the end of the year.

Are you all still with me?

Cool. So let’s scale it down.

The 52 week model: Every week the players, roleplaying as gods, meet to decide what will survive in the new world. Whatever else DOESN’T make that list is gone for good.

Pros: That is something with an interesting real time life cycle and definitely creates a long term solution.

Cons: We need multiple choices for each week and more than two to add diversity. Which means if we have three options a week we would need to create 156 options per week or 212 for four to make this viable.

Granted there are more than 212 fields of study, interest, and just straight up stuff. We also run the risk of this becoming routine and blasé. We can’t guarantee that each of the 52 weeks will be meaningful. Also group members dropping off.

However a fun hack would be having each player bring in an article for the week and using each article as a prompt as a debate what to keep. But again, the duration is imperfect.

So let’s go with twelve.

Twelve sessions to decide the fate of the world. Now that’s something with resonance. If you only had twelve decisions to make, twelve sessions to play as your god, then you as the player, would be encouraged to make the most of each one.

So the gods meet once a month to decide on what lives and what dies. Fuck that gives me chills. Has a real corporate executive coldness to it.

Then going by the previous criteria, each month the group must pick from a list of three to four options to decide what will survive the new world. That’s 36 or 48. That is far more manageable.

Now that we have a relatively solid session number we can move on to designing the phases of gameplay and figuring out what even goes in on a single session. For that I’m going to need to start asking you fine people who read this for your feedback on what you’d like to see in there! Expect it later today as I neglected to put one up yesterday!

Motherfucker Count: 0

Excellent, we have design pillars and a gameplay loop. Let’s build the spine of this thing.

First of all godly acts. We need the player to have some kind of decision mechanic or action that they can do that evokes the feeling of godly power. We don’t necessarily have to define that action YET but we do need something more for the players to do beyond debating with other players.

Something that feels powerful but is ultimately fruitless, like building a sandcastle while the tide is coming in.

So let us say for one phase of the game the PC’s god can take actions that both affect the real world but CAN also benefit them in some way in the second or third phase of the gameplay loop (Debate and Plan).

Now here’s the thing, as a god, it doesn’t make a lot of sense (to me anyway) to roll to see if your actions are successful.

What is the thing? Motherfucker I don’t know!

So any and all actions we do as gods have to just happen. What those actions are is up for some discussion at this point but if the player says “I drop a motherfucking miracle up in this place.” It happens.

Cool? Cool.

We will set an appropriate number of actions a god can take per loop, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Second part. Debate.

This one is easy. After players take their actions in the first phase, they meet and decide what lives on past the apocalypse and what doesn’t. Now a standard vote of one vote per PC doesn’t work for this because we’ll inevitably have a hung vote.

So PCs will need a currency to spend for votes. Something they can keep all the way to the last month (or even spend it to become the survivor? [save it for later dude]).

And, of course, this is a pure roleplay/debate phase that allows players to openly talk and possibly stealth make deals at the same time. If you recall entry one, we needed something that could be enhanced by remote play and this adds nicely.

Third part: Plan.

This is the part I’m stuck on, so I’ll happily take input on it.

We need a way to decide which god survives the apocalypse, or even if there’s more then one in the event of a tie.

The only analogue I can think of in TTRPGs that is close to this is Fiasco with its resolution system, but keep in mind, that gives an ending for ALL players, not just the player that got the best result. Every OTHER kind of metric I know of comes from boardgames and Mario party, and that doesn’t work for a TTRPG. Even one with an obvious win condition.

So we need to have it that each player gets an ending, even if they don’t survive.

That being said, we have to introduce a way to measure victory.

So let’s make a task list.

Overall Problems:

• How many gameplay loops will we have?

Phase 1: Godly actions

• What are the godly actions?
• How do they affect the meta?
• How many can be made per gameplay loop?

Phase 2: Debate

• What is the currency for voting?
• Can it be used in other phases?
• How is it generated?

Phase 3: Plan

• How do we determine victory?
• What happens to players who do not achieve victory?
• Is there any conditions at Character generation that can swing the result?

Tomorrow we start with the overall issue. Cycles and how many.

Motherfucker count: 2

Okay, so we have a concept, a group of people roleplay about being gods and decide what lives and what dies, while subtly scheming to be the god who gets to rule the new world.

Also apparently there’s a video game called “Godfall” so hey, out the gate we get to ditch our cringe first draft name! Who says the creative process has to suck?

So, we’ll get to the name later. Now we gotta figure out the core of the game.

I came across a lovely little tweet that was actually a handy guide for making a game. True it was for video games, but good design is good design and I’ll be honest she’s a hell of a lot more positive then the white box essays.

Heck, for how stupid I am the white box essays are saying the same thing and I’m too dumb to see it, so what the hell do I know?

So let’s take a look at the tweet (Link here: https://twitter.com/moreelen/status/1329083625720090625) 

See where I screwed up?

I haven’t even set what my game play pillars are, and jumped straight ahead to game play elements.

But this wouldn’t be a worthwhile process if I didn’t make mistakes and learn something.

So pillars.

We have a game about playing a god at the end of the world. How do I want my players to feel?

Well, they’re playing gods so I want them to feel powerful. That every act they take not only matters, but does something large and forever changing. It’s not enough that they debate things like every other aspect of real life. They have to feel like they are GODS. Creatures of myth and legend that tower of the human experience.

Two, I want the players to feel a strong sense of self-preservation. At the end, they want to be the one to live. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to resort to what we’d call “dirty” tricks to get that, but there’s an implication there. That being said their time is running out, and there is an impending dread. So yeah. Let’s say Dread for the second.

Third. I want a motherfucking debate. I want players to feel the need to compromise against each other, the frustration of wanting it all and not getting it. To want to scheme and plan against each other in anticipation. And possibly come to a reasonable negotiation in the process. So what is the best word for that? Stymied? Frustrated? We’ll go with frustrated for now.

So that seems like three decent pillars.

• All-Powerful.
• Dread.
• Frustrated.

So then, what’s our game play loop?

We’ve already parsed out part of it, but let’s do this motherfucker right.

Crisis->Godly actions->Debate->survive

Already that looks wrong to me.

Looking at the example (Mario) we have Jump-Move forward-Overcome obstacles.

So let’s try this. We need to evoke those pillars in our design loop.

Godly acts->Debate->Plan

Now that feels like a solid loop. Remember, we can always modify the actions and game play, but the loop is a foundation we are working with. We can still change things and add to this but a good spine helps us frame this.

So how am I doing so far? Did I screw up somewhere? Let me know so I can improve.

Motherfucker count: 2

Oh also! Do you want us to submit when the project is finished or do so early and we make improvements as we go along?

Welcome one and all! Thank you for being a part of this process. Yes! This is very formal and professional. Yes.

 So about a month ago I found out about this game jam on Itch.io https://itch.io/jam/the-last-rpg-jam and if you aren’t familiar with game jams I’ll explain. A Jam is where a group of people get together and make something. The principle is that you start with as few prepared materials as possible but you prepare yourself to be able to do the thing as much as you can. So you can have a laptop, comfort space, but you can’t have code prepared (if you’re making a video game). I’ve done TOJam once before and had a lot of fun, but honestly; I’m not a video game developer and I lack the skills.

But this one caught my eye:

Game: Tabletop RPG (no video game submissions).

Content: Can be a role-playing system, dungeon, adventure, map, monster guide, etc.

Size: At least one page long.

Format: PDF

Theme Choices (Optional): End of Year, End of World, Start of Year, Start of World

Oho, a Tabletop RPG you say?

Yeah, I could have done a nihilist adventure with a countdown clock or a monster that dies and comes back with the same skill and aptitude you used to kill it….

Actually I’m going to put that one in the “Let’s come back to this at a later time!” pile.

You may want to get used to that pile. We’re gonna put a lot in there.

But there was something to designing a Tabletop RPG that appealed to me. This was an opportunity to create something with empowering gameplay during a time where people feel… well disempowered.

And, to see if I could realize and create what I’ve always talked about wanting to see in tabletop games. Less “Time to put my money where my mouth is.” And more, “Can I create that which I want to see?”

If I can’t, eh. I’ll have a greater appreciation for those who do. If I somehow succeed at this, this being a creative endeavour with no end goal or measurable statistic beyond my own arbitrary criteria, then who knows?

So I’ll be making a game, and I’m allowing you, the reader to be a part of this. You could be a D20 Live fan, an old 404s loyalist, or just someone who followed me up until now. This blog will record your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

So if we are going to start we need rules about how we are going to do this:

• Be cool. This isn’t a place to shit on the opinions of others.
• At this time I have no intention of selling this for profit. That being said, if I come back to this and revise and update it, I have the right to do so and use that for profit. Anyone whose suggestions I use will be credited.
• I have final say. This is still my project. If I don’t go with what you say, it doesn’t mean your idea was bad; it just didn’t work for me.
• I’ll be doing posts in the community option for the project while trying to structurally compile those ideas into a cohesive document. Typically anything posted here will end up in the document a few days later. Put your comments and thoughts here just to keep things simple and in one space.
• I’m not a tabletop dev. So be kind.
• I’m also kind of an idiot. So be even more kind.
• This game has to work in the era of Covid-19, meaning people shouldn’t have to be in the same space for it to function, in fact, not being able to see someone might enhance it.
• Our goal is elegance and ease of use. If we can limit down steps to make the process flow better, we do. This is to dispel the erroneous outlook between “crunch” and “light” rules.

Got it?

Let’s get started.

So, the end of the world! A thematically tragic narrative that brings to mind themes of disempowerment, (not a word, I know) sorrow, loss, and death.

While I am a person who enjoys stories about overcoming adversity, hope, comedy, and life.

So there’s two concepts that come to mind when I go over the prompts (End of Year, End of World, Start of Year, Start of World):

• Majora’s mask and repeating a cycle of time over and over again.
• Motherfucking Ragnarok.

Why yes I am a fan of Norse mythology, how did you know?

Now for the first concept: A cycle of repetition that ends with… the world ending, while memed to death, we can work with. The only reason I would justify that kind of a gameplay loop is one in which the player got to do better each time and improve each time. Therefore there’s no consequence to the world ending, you just start over a bit better until you break free.

Yes like Hades. Yes I have played that game a lot.

So, we take that concept and add the issue of social isolation to it. Perhaps make a game where someone creates tasks for a month (or the year, whatever) and if they don’t complete it, they just start over. These can be therapy goals, workout goals, and application goals. Etc.

Pros: Assist mental and physical health, can be played solo. Allow the player to accept failure in a controlled environment. Cons: How the fuck does completing those daily tasks create reward in a solo roleplay experience?

Second concept: Ragnarok. A oft overlooked feature of Ragnarok when it gets a modern interpretation is that, while the world does end, a new one springs up in its place and SOME (not) all of the old gods make it into the new world.

So how about this: it is the last year of the world. The apocalypse is coming. The gods have to decide WHAT from their world will go on to be part of the new world, but there’s a caveat to this. Secretly, by the whims of fate, one (or more) of them will survive to be the new god of the new world.

Pros: Nothing more empowering then being a god. We can make some fun as hell things to be god of, and get some nice diversity representation in there.

Cons: Cannot be a solo game. Will have to avoid features that turn this into a board game since we have a “win” condition that is potentially measurable.

Well, the choice is mine and honestly, however beneficial a therapy task RPG could be, the more enjoyable option is the Ragnarok one.

So let us begin with a name: Godsfell:  At the end of the World. (Name motherfucking subject to change)

I’ll be in tomorrow with the rough concept! See ya then!

Motherfucker count: 2.

Are we okay to share and chronicle our steps as we create our individual games? If I need to do this separate from Itch I can.