Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.misc,alt.pub.dragons-inn,rec.games.frp.dnd From: mark@trillian.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Manning) Subject: RE: Re: RE:Creating Gods -> Addendum Message-ID: <1992Jun3.151759.3201@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> References: <107o4lINNm28@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> <1992Jun1.150413.1023@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1992 15:17:59 GMT In article , Rannou@siegfried.vlsi.polymtl.ca (Patrick Rannou) writes: [My original posting deleted.] > Hmmm.. I see a problem coming. If a god retains the ep for a dead follower, > then over the course of a few millenia this god becomes incredibly > powerful. Since a dead follower can't switch god, then the older a god > gets, the more powerful he is, no? Then, even tough he loses all of his > current followers, he still retains the eps from all those he killed (one > hope with reason) in the past, or what? I think it's "or what", but I would > like some more precisions... > Well, the general idea _is_ to make a god incredibly powerful. The more powerful a god is - the more he/she/it can do for you. But when all of the followers of a god die off or are killed, the god is up the creek without a paddle (so to speak). Gods are forbidden from messing around with the prime material plane unless asked to do so by their followers. Further, eps are treated like food to gods. Thus, anything a god does requires them to burn eps. The least number of eps consumable by a god is one ep per day. Thus, to last even a single year would cost a god 365 eps (or however many days The Overseer set to represent a year). It is important though, to remember that _anything_ a god does requires him/her/it to consume eps. And zero eps means no god. > I can see why a god would kill a follower to PREVENT my followers from > perceiving that they could just all decide to switch to another god, thus > protecting my eps at the sacrifice of the tiny amount of eps that was in > that particular character I just killed, but anything else is > uncromprehensible to me without further clarifications. > > Or maybe the eps from dead followers "dissolves over a long period of > time", following a 1/(exponential) curve: some of it dissolves very fast, > but then it dissolves slower and slower, until you get to be a tiny tiny > god any adventurer can kill off and you get to live like that for near > eternity... THAT is wrse than death! (Oh, by the way, when a god DO die, > what happen to it? Does it have a soul like a human? I a human in your game > has a soul, where does it go after death? If it goes to the god powerbase, > then when the god dies, what happens to all these souls? etc... I.E. do you > make your game work in a "oblivion" (when the soul is destroyed, you're > DEAD. That's FINAL.), in a "recycling" (the energy in the soul goes back to > the prime plane, and you effectively get reincarnation), or in a "eternal" > (the soul will always go somewhere, say to the "gods of gods", or whatever) > mode ??? Does the game mechanics allow for these 3 modes to exist/coexist > ??? > > Need to know. > > Paradak. > Again, in Simulacron I, 1000eps is nothing to sniff at. Even the lower value of NPCs is not all that bad. But think also of the extra eps which would be lost. Those prayers don't give hundreds of eps, but if you have ten or twenty followers all praying at the same time, then it can really add up. This is true of sacrifices as well. "The more the merrier," kind of comes to mind. Yes, well, it doesn't use an exponential curve - just a simple straight line dependent upon how many eps the god uses on a per day basis. When a god dies (from lack of eps) he fades from view and can become an undead similar to a wraith, but on a higher plane. There are also other things which can happen to a god - like becoming a servant of another god, or enslaved by another god. A very weak god can become the target of a more powerful god who would then send his minions over to destroy the weaker god's followers. Gods can also suck the life out of their followers if they feel the need is great enough. This is a drawback to becoming a follower of a god. You are basically placing your life in their hands and creating a link by which they are granted access to your eps. Normally this is never done, but under the right circumstances it can happen. You soul has (basically) four places it can go: 1)To the god where it is treated in a positive manner (reward), 2)To the god where it is treated in a negative manner (punishment), 3)Reincarnation, 4)Dissolution. #4 is the realm of all of the luke warm people. These are the people who never pray to their gods, are very self centered, and don't really care about their gods until the god can do something for them. #3 is for those who deserve another chance or as punishment for something they did. #2 is for those who truly deserve it. #1 is also for those who truly deserve it. I think #4 should be more fully explained. When dissolution happens the god has two choices: A) He can let your energy go back to being just that, or B)He can absorb your energy into himself. Usually, it is B which is done since, why should he let all of those eps dissolve? Remember though, that to warrant #1 or #2 above you would have had to have done something out of the ordinary for the god. Just throwing your life away with your god's name on your lips won't work. However, killing off all of your fellow followers _would_ probably get you #2. Unless you converted first to the new religion and then killed the old followers off. Then your new god would probably be pleased with you while the other god would be fairly ticked off. The reason I point this out is because #1 and #2 take a lot more eps than #3 and #4. Why? Because they are an ongoing process (especially #2). Later. Gotta go.