LRP: Imperial Principles
So, if we get three-score-years-and-ten, then I am probably about due a mid-life crisis. I think I may get introspective in my next LJ entry but, for now, a bit more about Empire, and developing religion concepts for a LRP game.
As part of providing a stream of updates about the game's development, I wrote a blog article on design principles. It went live on the PD site today and is duplicated below for any interested parties.
Designing Religion for Empire
For Empire, the design brief was to develop Religion with a Capital R. That is to say that the Religion is the most important element. Not gods nor angels, demons or any other divine intervention. Alongside this was the principle that any clerical-type magic would have no direct mechanical benefits, so that the choice to be religious was made as a pure roleplay decision and not for stat- or mechanics-based gain
The reason for making Religion the focus is partly an attempt to do something different to PD’s other LRP settings, but also from the following belief:
Gods are bad for Religion in LRP.
At the very least, they are bad for Faith.
To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, it is hard to be an atheist or agnostic if the gods come round your house and smash your windows. Disbelief in the supernatural in the face of clerical magic, manifest blessings or the Babel Fish requires some torturous explanation. The situation is further strained if the supernatural / divine is also active in mortal affairs.
An interventionist supernatural power undermines the dynamics of Religion. Why dispute theology with a fellow priest when a divine being can overrule one of you by taking a side, or belittle your dispute by taking no interest at all? Why care about being religious if the gods take no interest in how you use clerical magic?
Additionally, problems arise at the point the mortal and divine interact for the simple reason that, in LRP, the divine is shaped and given life by fallible and temporal mortal crew. Fallibility in gods is not normally conducive to religion, and the problem can be amplified if the divine manifests in some form (either directly or through proxies). The expectations and standards are rightly high and a challenge to meet consistently. It works best when players buy-in and concede divine authority to the NPC presence, but not everyone wishes to do so in which case the divine becomes an intrusive, unwelcome and sometimes inescapable presence in a game.
LRP settings are, by their nature, products of Intelligent Design (for a given value of intelligence), and there have been various methods attempted to address all of the above with varying degrees of success. At Empire, we believe we are trying something a little different.
The design challenge for Empire is ensuring that Religion is powerful, relevant and engaging in a world where ‘proof’ of the divine lies in personal experience, priests do not turn swords into snakes, the windows of atheists remain intact, and a significant percentage of LRPers are not of a naturally religious mindset.
Our approach is threefold: Revelation, Moral Authority and Power.
Revelation informs an individual’s understanding of the world, the cosmos, and their place in it. Both science and religion draw on Revelation in building that understanding, whether that revelation comes from empirical experimentation or a personal spiritual experience. The religions of Empire will be based on the experiences of mortals - past and present - and their interpretations of those experiences. We actively want religious players to argue about the nature of this life, the afterlife and the cosmos. The importance of doctrine and threat of schism are signs of a vibrant and dynamic Religion. For players who wish to passionately argue conflicting opinions based on observed phenomena, Religion in Empire welcomes you.
Moral Authority is where Religion engages with the lives of players and NPCs and is at its most relevant. Too often in games, the Moral Authority stems from “because X says so” which is an end to debate and subtle interpretation. In Empire, we’re taking a leaf from Plato’s Euthyphro Dilemma and looking at concepts and principles that have authority in their own right. A concept such as Justice has a clear moral drive, but it is easy to imagine a Priest disagreeing with their god on the practical application of the principle. Such principles are relevant to layman, priests and Empresses alike, regardless of whether or not they are religiously inclined.
Players who went to the Empire Tent at the last Maelstrom saw the draft imperial currency, each of which has a Virtue on it:
• Ambition
• Courage
• Loyalty
• Pride
• Prosperity
• Vigilance
• Wisdom
These are the current drafted Imperial Virtues. Some may be self-evident, whereas others may require some additional explanation, and there will be another blog entry about the Virtues and the thinking behind them in due course. However, instead of Priests saying, “Do this because god says you must” they will instead be able to say “Do this because it is the Courageous thing to do. You are not a Coward, are you? Cowardice is a sin and bad things happen to sinners.” And so it is from concepts such as these that Religion will derive its moral authority, relevance and license to meddle in Imperial Affairs.
Finally, Religion is Power. Religion shapes beliefs and worldviews, which in turn influence culture and action. History offers few examples of Empires without a religious element and many more with it present. Karl Marx did not describe it as “the opium of the people” idly. Therefore Religion will be entwined with the Empire and her political structures, wielding powers under Imperial Law and influential to the average citizen. Of course, it is rare that such Power exists without tension between those who wish to use it virtuously and those who wish to use it for their own ends. In Empire, Religion will include a battle for the soul of the Empire itself and welcomes the Borgias and Cardinal Richleu as eagerly as it does Friar Tuck, Joan of Arc, and Torquemada.
To sum-up, I’ll end with a quote from some test reviewers who were given a draft of the mainstream Imperial Religions and asked if they understood our design intentions. They said:
“We believe the religion game in Empire is: political, theoretical, scientific, argumentative, dynamic.
“Religion in Empire isn’t a matter of having ‘special priest powers’; it’s all about getting into metaphysical debates with other people, promoting your view of the way that a virtuous life should be lived. It’s meant to encourage people to stand on a soap-box and preach, to create rivalry more than conflict. Priests should be arguing vigourously and passionately, trying to discover the Empire equivalent of ‘how many angels can dance on the head of a pin’. They are not casting healing spells and being a priest of the god of luuuurve.”
And that is how we are trying to shape a Religion without ‘proof’ of the divine.
As part of providing a stream of updates about the game's development, I wrote a blog article on design principles. It went live on the PD site today and is duplicated below for any interested parties.
Designing Religion for Empire
For Empire, the design brief was to develop Religion with a Capital R. That is to say that the Religion is the most important element. Not gods nor angels, demons or any other divine intervention. Alongside this was the principle that any clerical-type magic would have no direct mechanical benefits, so that the choice to be religious was made as a pure roleplay decision and not for stat- or mechanics-based gain
The reason for making Religion the focus is partly an attempt to do something different to PD’s other LRP settings, but also from the following belief:
Gods are bad for Religion in LRP.
At the very least, they are bad for Faith.
To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, it is hard to be an atheist or agnostic if the gods come round your house and smash your windows. Disbelief in the supernatural in the face of clerical magic, manifest blessings or the Babel Fish requires some torturous explanation. The situation is further strained if the supernatural / divine is also active in mortal affairs.
An interventionist supernatural power undermines the dynamics of Religion. Why dispute theology with a fellow priest when a divine being can overrule one of you by taking a side, or belittle your dispute by taking no interest at all? Why care about being religious if the gods take no interest in how you use clerical magic?
Additionally, problems arise at the point the mortal and divine interact for the simple reason that, in LRP, the divine is shaped and given life by fallible and temporal mortal crew. Fallibility in gods is not normally conducive to religion, and the problem can be amplified if the divine manifests in some form (either directly or through proxies). The expectations and standards are rightly high and a challenge to meet consistently. It works best when players buy-in and concede divine authority to the NPC presence, but not everyone wishes to do so in which case the divine becomes an intrusive, unwelcome and sometimes inescapable presence in a game.
LRP settings are, by their nature, products of Intelligent Design (for a given value of intelligence), and there have been various methods attempted to address all of the above with varying degrees of success. At Empire, we believe we are trying something a little different.
The design challenge for Empire is ensuring that Religion is powerful, relevant and engaging in a world where ‘proof’ of the divine lies in personal experience, priests do not turn swords into snakes, the windows of atheists remain intact, and a significant percentage of LRPers are not of a naturally religious mindset.
Our approach is threefold: Revelation, Moral Authority and Power.
Revelation informs an individual’s understanding of the world, the cosmos, and their place in it. Both science and religion draw on Revelation in building that understanding, whether that revelation comes from empirical experimentation or a personal spiritual experience. The religions of Empire will be based on the experiences of mortals - past and present - and their interpretations of those experiences. We actively want religious players to argue about the nature of this life, the afterlife and the cosmos. The importance of doctrine and threat of schism are signs of a vibrant and dynamic Religion. For players who wish to passionately argue conflicting opinions based on observed phenomena, Religion in Empire welcomes you.
Moral Authority is where Religion engages with the lives of players and NPCs and is at its most relevant. Too often in games, the Moral Authority stems from “because X says so” which is an end to debate and subtle interpretation. In Empire, we’re taking a leaf from Plato’s Euthyphro Dilemma and looking at concepts and principles that have authority in their own right. A concept such as Justice has a clear moral drive, but it is easy to imagine a Priest disagreeing with their god on the practical application of the principle. Such principles are relevant to layman, priests and Empresses alike, regardless of whether or not they are religiously inclined.
Players who went to the Empire Tent at the last Maelstrom saw the draft imperial currency, each of which has a Virtue on it:
• Ambition
• Courage
• Loyalty
• Pride
• Prosperity
• Vigilance
• Wisdom
These are the current drafted Imperial Virtues. Some may be self-evident, whereas others may require some additional explanation, and there will be another blog entry about the Virtues and the thinking behind them in due course. However, instead of Priests saying, “Do this because god says you must” they will instead be able to say “Do this because it is the Courageous thing to do. You are not a Coward, are you? Cowardice is a sin and bad things happen to sinners.” And so it is from concepts such as these that Religion will derive its moral authority, relevance and license to meddle in Imperial Affairs.
Finally, Religion is Power. Religion shapes beliefs and worldviews, which in turn influence culture and action. History offers few examples of Empires without a religious element and many more with it present. Karl Marx did not describe it as “the opium of the people” idly. Therefore Religion will be entwined with the Empire and her political structures, wielding powers under Imperial Law and influential to the average citizen. Of course, it is rare that such Power exists without tension between those who wish to use it virtuously and those who wish to use it for their own ends. In Empire, Religion will include a battle for the soul of the Empire itself and welcomes the Borgias and Cardinal Richleu as eagerly as it does Friar Tuck, Joan of Arc, and Torquemada.
To sum-up, I’ll end with a quote from some test reviewers who were given a draft of the mainstream Imperial Religions and asked if they understood our design intentions. They said:
“We believe the religion game in Empire is: political, theoretical, scientific, argumentative, dynamic.
“Religion in Empire isn’t a matter of having ‘special priest powers’; it’s all about getting into metaphysical debates with other people, promoting your view of the way that a virtuous life should be lived. It’s meant to encourage people to stand on a soap-box and preach, to create rivalry more than conflict. Priests should be arguing vigourously and passionately, trying to discover the Empire equivalent of ‘how many angels can dance on the head of a pin’. They are not casting healing spells and being a priest of the god of luuuurve.”
And that is how we are trying to shape a Religion without ‘proof’ of the divine.