Far Beyond Humanity Origins
Day 4 – Occult
This is an odd Origin, in that it fills a hole in the design-space without having any recognizable/popular sci-fi parallels. It goes one step further into the supernatural than the Spiritual Origin, and adds a mix of generically pseudo-pagan-witchcraft mysticism.
In addition to the Warhammer 40k-ish “dark galaxy” style, this Origin serves Magitech / Magipunk style games as well. For example, all the kids from both Hogwarts and Xavier’s School for Metahumans fall into this category (which is why I put in that line about “prestigious mystic academies”).
You may note that the unique Skill has the same name as one of the Chosen skills. Not a typo! I’ve removed the skill-formerly-known-as-Ritual from the Chosen career, and will be replacing it (it was pointed out that the old Ritual was a so-so version of the way Pact would work. Huzzah for good feedback!)
The implementation of this unique was a bit tricky, in that I tried not to dictate the behavior too heavily. My worry is that in practice it will be very “swingy” (either too easy to activate or too dangerous to bother). Will need to playtest.
The cross-class Skills are a smattering from the more magically inclined careers. I’m quite happy with the fact that the unique and cross-class skills all have a very physical, manual component to them.
Tomorrow: The Forlorn
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7eu7e0ofe6f5a7p/Origin%20-%20Occult.pdf?dl=0
This feels the most coherent so far
I like the look of it but is there any chance you could give an example of how you see ritual work?
Richard Evans “Thergar tosses the fingernail clippings into the bowl, chanting. Adding in crushed ashnegla berries, the chant reaches a crescendo as the target begins to feel the effects of the pain.” _Launch Assault + Expertise_
Okay, I see that. How about fortune though?
Which origin has that?
It’s one of the situations under Ritual…
“a situation to your rituals, fortunes, hexes and charms”
Richard Evans oh um I could see that as like casting of bones or reading of entrails or something to perform a reactive move – perhaps maybe:
“Thergar views the spilled entrails of the strange local mammal. The message from the gods is clear – these savages will not harm him. He stands boldly, their arrows falling around him, missing.” Face Adversity + Expertise to avoid the arrows.
Certainly interesting although I think you could end up with a lot of “flashbacks”
Eh I would just do it all in the moment. I imaging Thergar carrying all sorts of powders to cast to the wind, or quickly tossing sticks into the dirt to Assess a target
I dig this one. It’s nice for your “Force Witches of Dathomir” kind of thing, and its so, so perfect for the Wreath of Saga. Marko (or at least Grandma) is absolutely an Occult Military Something or other.
Oh man, do Ghus next!
The Occult and all generically pseudo-pagan-witchcraft mysticism as an uncommon trope in Sci Fi?
Off the op of my head, quick;
Pretty much all Jedi, especially the assorted non-Jedi-Council force-using mystical factions, in Star Wars
Guinan and most of her race, and the residents of Pyris VII, from Star Trek…
Too many Doctor Who references to name coherently…
Anything with Comicbook Superhero Themes, inevitably has a few…
The Six Million Dollar Man knew a few, villains and friends…
EUREKA has a few on staff…
much of The X-files and Fringe…
From the classics like Princess of Mars (1917) and Babylon 5 (1990s)… and on into the future, Torchwood, Hunters, and Legends…
Fairly certain parallels are more common than the absence, the lack of any mystical occult references is usually more noticeable.
That said: I’m intrigued —
Why was the Spiritual Origin not enough to cover for these?
also; complain, I do not… nice, more options, always are.
William Mims Well put, I guess I was working from too narrow a frame of reference. Then again, I was at least peripherally aware of the need for this origin, since I made it and all 😛
As to the difference between Occult and Spiritual, I suppose from a certain angle they would seem similar. The main difference lies in the goals and methods of each social structure; Spiritual seeks enlightenment through a disciplined life, Occult seeks knowledge through exploration.
In D&D terms it’s Wis vs Int, I guess 😛
that’s fair; Intuitive Knowledge vs. Logical Awareness… on Faith into Academia… check.
Is their a third way out?
eh… perhaps I favor Aristotle’s extreme oppositions to moderate pragmatics, a bit too much:– yet all good things come in a fractal of triangles.
😉
I’m a bit unsure about the basic mechanic here. I just makes you able to do anything with your expertise stat instead of whatever would be normally appropriate? What is the actual backside to this? I know it says complicated and unsettling and all that, but in a sense, all moves are potentially complicated and unsettling. I know I’m playing the munchkin here now, but isn’t this just a bit too open to abuse?
Ritual mechanic, that is.
All moves COULD be complicated and unsettling if the MC gets hold of them… Ritual moves have FICTIONAL POSITIONING to be unsettling and complicated at ANY TIME. That’s the difference. Sure, it can be gamed… At which point the MC should bring down the blood-curdling horrors of the void on the PCs head. “You’re gonna repair the ship with ritual? Cool, so the ship’s going to be inhabited by ghosts for the duration or until exorcisms.” “Cool, you want to use ritual to know the contents of the super computer? Rad, there’s a non-zero chance that computer is going to look back into your mind.” “You’re using ritual to open fire with spectral bolts? Awesome, love it; so hell portal opens up in front you, vomiting mystic cannon fire and then the ground beneath you starts to spew magma.” The abuse only comes from an MC who doesn’t bring the unsettling complications like they’re supposed to.
So even on a success, bad complications happen? That seems like a major departure from the standard system.
Alfred Rudzki is using the standard PbtA “give the consequences and ask” GM Move in the above. But some can also be “golden opportunities”.
Complications, when they fit perfectly and follow the fiction, are exactly what PbtA systems are about.
Yeah, Aaron Griffin, you nailed it! Tell the consequences and ask! If someone wants to, like, leap across the void of space sans space suit to make it to safety (actually pretty viable, if you believe the Expanse author and Titan AE), you don’t say “okay but you’ll suffer the bends on a 9 or lower!!!”
No way. The bends is an automatic cost to even trying to face this adversity! 10+ is, best case scenario, you stick the landing and you’re going to suffer for it. Ditto, to me, if you start doing weird shit like conjuring space ghosts and all that.
My answer is 100% PbtA read-as-written, and based on years of play 🙂 I would give similar treatment to the other new origins we’ve seen with their stat swap moves. The Primitive’s move will be noisy and gross and probably make stuff unstable, and so on.
Yes, seems I didn’t really think it through. There are limitations built into the description of the skill. The primitive move never bothered me in the same way, by the way. The limitations to that one are rather obvious.