Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

Depicting "Paralogical" Beings

A topic by ZiggyZapf created Oct 07, 2021 Views: 201 Replies: 3
Viewing posts 1 to 2
(+1)

I suspect the nature of "paralogical" behavior is left vague so as to let GMs fill in their own ideas, but I think I could use some ideas on how to depict Administrators, The Board, and other such entities.

I have one idea for Admins who are acting on conflicting imperatives toward Users: The Users were uploaded for a purpose the Administration knows about, but they must also respect User autonomy, so they can't force Users onto their forgotten mission. They also have a social algorithm that rewards "driving User engagement" with Memory in the form of XP, Rep and Coin under certain circumstances, but at the same time, seeks to preserve "order" also marking disruptive crews with Heat. In the case of my particular setting, they've resolved the conflict by prioritizing User happiness, letting them enjoy themselves until the world crashes around them. Some of The Family wants to prepare the Users for leaving the system by stirring up conflict and hardening them, hence Daemon's bargains, if only to rid of the Users, not caring if they succeed or fail.

I haven't made any decisions about how The Board fits in, but I'm open to ideas.

Developer (2 edits)

The Administration deserves more writing than it currently has in terms of pinning down it's structure and goals, but striking the correct balance is always on the fore of my thoughts and to a large extent I do want this sort of exploration to be table-specific and fit the desires of a given group... similar to how big-picture questions about the nature of, say, Leviathans or the Immortal Emperor are left up to the table to decide upon (or ignore) in Blades. It's very possible for a crew to go many sessions without interacting with the Administration (unless they're actively seeking them out or doing a LOT of high-intensity scores that send them shooting up the Chaos track), and by the time they do that group may have a stronger individualized idea for their conception of World and what Admin needs to be for them.

As was true in Blades, a favorite GMing technique of mine is to solicit guesses or ideas from the whole table of players, as the discovery of your version of the setting is best done in a collaborative format. Not all questions in a Forged in the Dark game are best answered in the text.

What you do with the Board is up to you (and I would also hope the player who takes that Special Ability gets input of their own), but the origin point of the idea is inspired from the video game CONTROL. In case you haven't played it, and you're comfortable with light spoilers for an action game from a few years ago, the following article does a good job summarizing the presentation of that game's "Board"  as well as one very reasonable interpretation of it's themes: https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5ypj3/control-the-board-pyramid

(+1)

Yeah, I'll bear the player in mind. Right now, I've got my own worldbuilding going for varying plans, and it's just fun coming up with my own answers. I should spend some time with my group to discuss the update when it comes out and see if they're still interested and in what. I'll let the ideas from the linked article simmer for a bit, too.

(+1)

So, I've recently been introduced to the idea of a D.A.O.: Decentralized Autonomous Organization, which is essentially a block-chain version of a stockholder's board. It's built around tradable digital tokens that represent influence on the board, and that got me to thinking of the Service Weapon mentioned in the article about Control. I think I might make a faction called The D.A.O. that works for The Board of Hello, World using artifacts as their tokens of authority. Seems appropriate for one faction taking up residence in my Neon City's financial district.

I've also written up a World Anvil article for players that briefly mentions "Paralogicalism" as a philosophy of beings who seek to understand and possibly emulate enigmatic beings like the Administrators and The Board in an effort to seek out a greater purpose.