Advice for potential game system

so, do we suggest abilities here, and you add them?

And we refine 'em and stuff I guess. But yeah, pretty much.

Also, I guess magic and science points works.


Trying to come up with more science-y options, which is difficult since i don't know much about science

Editing studio (3 Science point, 10 Magic points)

You have all the necessary equipment to film, create edit, and upload high quality videos on-line

Button Camera ( 5 science points, 9 Magic points)

You own a tiny camera placed in an inconspicuous object, difficult to discern

Press Pass (2 Science points, 3 Magic points)

You own a press pass allowing greater access to restricted areas

As you might tell, I'm kind of thinking journalist with these ideas

I like it! I wouldn't have thought of those. Here's my idea for a super basic Science ability.

Smartphone- (1 science point, 3 magic points)

You have a small device that can make phonecalls, access the internet and play games from the Skinner Box. It has a battery life of five or so hours under normal use and is somewhat fragile.

And also

STRONGphone- (1 science point, 1 magic point) (prerequisite, Smartphone.)
Your phone is now much stronger and more difficult to break. It requires an athletics check of 20+your level to damage it and its battery lasts 20+your level hours with normal use.

Wisephone- (3 science points, 1 magic point) (prerequisite, Smartphone)
Your phone is now a magical artifact. It can be recharged and repaired with magic and has three of the following apps on it:

All Seeing Eye: Looking through the phone's camera allows you to see the world without mystical illusion or trickery for two minutes a day. Mundane illusions aren't impacted.

The question: Once per in-game day, you may ask the gmapp a yes or no question and it will answer without embelishment.

Telephone: You can telepathically send messages to any other wisephones with this app and vice versa, no matter the distance.

And other apps I'll write later.

Brilliantphone- (3 science points, 6 magic points) (prerequisite, Smartphone)
Your phone now functions as a small, high end computer. Using it adds a +5 to any science rolls.

Thanks for the help. I suggested those because gods depend on people knowing about them, so being able to create video seems like a useful ability

Oooh, that's a good idea! I hadn't even thought of that! But yeah, after they got over their culture shock, the gods would totally be down with AV.

Speaking of which, have some potential Talk Show Host NPCs

Michael Michaels ( name can be changed of course)

When the fact that Gods exist became accepted as reality, and people began to calm down about them, people realized they had a whole new avenue for fame and fortune. One of the most successful of theses groups was Michael Michaels, a talk show host whose show was about to be cancelled, until he (behind the backs of the network) invited a God as a special guest as a stunt. Ratings blossomed, and Michaels became known by the Divine community as a place for desperate Gods looking for attention. Some people still wonder how Michaels managed to get that first guess though, and if there's a reason no other show has had his success in bringing Gods on the air without incident.

Jack Jackson

While some tried to copy Michaels success by inviting Gods to work with and get ratings, Jackson took a different route. He insists that Gods should not be worshiped, and centers his own show on skepticism, crimes committed by Gods and avatars, and the like. He freely says the world would be better off without gods. Despite the fact that he is, in fact, a God. (of what, and how widely know this is, is up to the GM)

I like this! J.J. could probably be...hm. Well it depends on what sort of figure he's supposed to be. If we wanted him to be more sympathetic, he could be openly divine, a god of self-reliance and skepticism. If he's supposed to be more antagonistic, he could be a god of slander and politics and be working as a "human" commenter to get god-hating mortals to praise him. Or he could be somewhere in between. Thoughts?

The thing about J.J. is that I would like the option to present him in either light. Allows for more story options.

I see M.M. being useful as an expository device, or a source of information, even when he isn't tied directly to a plot.

A few more ideas. Leets talk Elemental gods

Let it Burn (3 Magic points, 3 Science points) X/day
Range: Touch

Set target object on fire

Rock and Roll! (3 Magic points) X/Day

Create a fist sized rock from nothing

Chill! (3 magic points, 7 Science points) X/day

You may either:
-Freeze target liquid
-coat target object in a thin layer of ice

Walking on Air (3 magic points, 15 Science points)

You may float up to 10 feet in the air

In that case, I think JJ wil be a god of skepticism and politics and his divine status is spoken about in the same way people talk about the Bachmann family's homosexuality, accuracy maybe notwithstanding. Adding the elemental things. I'm gonna try and think of some more. I didn't mean to make you do all the work.

Oh, I'm happy to help. Really wan't doing much today.

Right now, I think maybe addressing some underlying issues may be helpful.

In this system, I was wondering if perhaps there shouldn't be a combat-noncombat split. I was actually thinking something similar to this list of rules for grappling

Also, how should abilities allowing a human to appeal to a god or use abilities gained from them?

I really do appreciate all the help you're giving me.

Oh lord, grappling rules. I need a minute or two before I can deal with those.

And I was thinking that there would be a destiny specifically for human priestoids which allows them to actually gain magic points.

It's just, if we're creating an entirely new system, I don't want it to be just Pony Tales with different abilities available. Not that I'm saying that's what we're doing, just a minor concern I have.

This is fair. Which kinda makes it bad that from what I read it seems like the grappling rules in that'll work well for the game's purposes. Do you have any ideas for human magic?

I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we should switch back to Mortal-Divine points, and have a special category for empowered human priests. These abilities would be relatively expensive, but more powerful.

Anther option could be that while the majority of points a God or a Mortal would have would be from their respective category, they are given a small number of the the opposing type of points that they could use to buy an ability or two. Then priestly powers would be bought by spending both Divine and mortal points.

Hmmm...I don't see this being ironed out quickly. I'll sleep on it in seven hours or so. But those are good starter ideas.

Fair enough

When it comes to human magic, I can see there being multiple paths - the voodoo, the Grecian wizards, the divine channelers, the whole fnatasy shebang. But all of it has some divine component to it, which for some characters is going to be a little like poison to their personal philosophies. That's why I think human magic, purely human magic, should revolve around human invention.

I don't necessarily mean technology, although of course gods and some people are going to view technology as human magic (and in many ways they could be said to be correct). But in all the old mythologies, magic, fire, free will, human sacrifice, all sorts of things both good and bad came from the heavens and were stolen or gifted to the human race. Either that or some poor mortal gets transformed into a new species of flower or whatever.

Thusly, it seems logical that any human magic should greatly resemble divine magic, but use energies and components that were developed after the gods faded from the world - important stuff, too, stuff with some cultural impact. Channeling electricity (not natural lightning, but man-produced) might be a major component of human spells, and being able to do so unharmed without proper grounding might be the first thing you learn in wizard school. Bananas, being a food that was essentially evolved by humans for their use, may also be a frequent component of human alchemy. I suspect mathematics, and stringent ones, would be the foundation upon which this new magic is laid, as the earliest recorded mathematics (according to Wikipedia) come from 2000 BCE. Just in time. Perhaps human magic spells might involve recitation of complex equations, and human alchemy might use chemical reactions as the starting point before the sorcery is added?

It might also be interesting if this new human magic was only developed once the gods came back - partially  out of finding a way to fight against them, partially because humanity at large had realized such a thing must be possible, and maybe partially just because people were more confused by the confirmation that yes, the gods existed after all, than anything else. Besides that the idea that a wisened practitioner of the ancient rites, backed up by the great earth god Gurrath, would have major difficulty against a high schooler with a good head for mathematics who happened to see an interesting youtube video about some new type of magic two weeks ago, is sort of funny.

...I believe I've gotten a bit carried away with this concept.

One other thing: now that gods are demonstrably existent, it probably helps to establish in the game's lore, its rules, etc. etc., that there is a definite difference between knowing something exists and believing in it. But you've already hinted you've thought of that, so.

SO, when you're talking about the difference between knowing and believing, do you mean something like:

John Doe knows that Gods are a fact of life, but he does not believe in them. He simply carries on with his life and does not care what they are doing so long as it doesn't affect him

Something like that. Another way to put it might be,

"John Doe knows that gods are a fact of life, but does not particularly trust, care about, or share a personal relationship with any of them."

I know that I'd build many a Nay-Theist Humans and Stop Worshipping Me Gods in this system. XD

....wow. Okay, so that was a whole Lotta words and I don't think I'm anywhere near smart enough to make that work myself, but I would love to do it with help.

And also, potential solution to the magical mortal and science seraph. Gods get 1 science point for every 4 magic points and just the opposite for humans. And Avatars are 1 for 1 to begin and level on either tree.

Also, how APW described it is exactly how belief works. Belief is in not just a human rightly thinking something exists, but them believing in/trusting/fearing their power.

The concept of Stop Worshipping Me Gods in this system is interesting, since to a certain degree, they need strong emotion focused on them to live. Would that type of God be suicidal? Interested in humanity to the point of wanting to live a human lifespan? Just not wanting to be worshipped, but still willing to have other emotions trained on them?

Maybe it'd be a god who doesn't want "Worshipers" & therefore HATES the idea of people doing that to him, but instead wishes and longs to have honest and true "friends"...? Like a very humble & small god or something... That would be really dang neat to play out with. I'd take much inperaction from The Gods of Arr-Kelaan's Ronson the God of Apathy/Alcohol

From the sound of things, you guys would be an incredible group to play this game with. Anyway, here's some other abilities that I came up with. I'll also be making the stats table for my next post.

Divine Form-(At will)
You have a form seperate from a typical human one which more closely reflects your divine nature. You can switch between these two forms at will and can also have more than one.

Beast Form-(2 magic points)
You may take the form of any natural creature of the earth. While in this form, you have all abilities that such an animal would normally have while still having access to all your divine skills. (For example, a god in the form of a raven could fly and a god in the form of a wolf could track a scent.)

Cryptid Form-(4 magic points)
You may take the form of any approximately human-sized mythological or cryptozoological creature. While in this form, you have all abilities that such a creature would naturally have and can use your divine skills.

Monster Form-(8 magic points)
You can take the form of a large mythical monster with all the abilities it would have as well as your divine skills.

Eldritch Form-(16 magic points)
You can take the form of a horrifying beast from the depths. You have very few skills in this form beyond a deafening scream and a lot of tentacles. However, any mortal of weak mental constitution who looks upon your face in this form will go insane from the non-euclidian terror of it all. This can earn you divine EXP.