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Non Violent Christian RPG game – Revelator

Revelator

Member

Posts: 226
From: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Registered: 03-22-2001
This is a first draft of how you could impliment a RPG game without violence and yet still challenging and lots of fun.

This is a FIRST draft, but will give you ideas that you can use.
I think it has a lot of potential (and there is no need to learn how to use weapons to attack people - WHICH IS NOT CHRISTIAN!)

I see the setting for such a game as this in a Fantasy Middle Ages Europe where Christianity is outlawed. Different game goals would be freeing other christians, finding lost Bible books or anything that would require them to use their persuasion and prayer skills to overcome opposition from others.

Anyway, have a look and see what you think. I hope the formatting works!


The different sections of THE RULES are:


    1. OVERVIEW
    2. GAME GOALS
    3. CREATING A NEW PLAYER
    4. MOVEMENT
    5. NORMAL DIALOGUE
    6. ACQUIRING INFORMATION FROM GAME CHARACTERS
    7. PRAYER
    8. INCREASING FAITH
    9. CONVERTING A GAME CHARACTER INTO A CHRISTIAN
    10. PENALTIES
    11. ADDITIONAL ACTIONS
    12. SLEEP AND FOOD
    13. INCREASING YOUR SKILLS
    14. ABOUT GAME CHARACTERS

OVERVIEW

    * The Christian Non Violent Game System (CNVGS) is a new way of role playing which pitches Players against Game Characters through non violent methods.
    * Instead of defeating foes through killing them, Players have to convince Game Characters to help them achieve their goals.
    * This creates a more realistic game which is based on simulating the real world. Players will be able to do anything they can do in the real world, except react in violent ways.



GAME GOALS

    EACH GAME WILL HAVE 2 MAIN GOALS.
    1. ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC GROUP GOAL
    * The goal may be to free a man from a prison, find a certain person, find some special item etc. It is something that will usually only be attainable if most of the Players work together

    2. ACHIEVING PERSONAL GOALS
    * The motivation of the Player is to raise his/her skills.
    * This can be done each time a Player converts a Game Character into a Christian.
    * Another way is to find special items
    * or get training for your skills from certain Game Characters along the way.


CREATING A NEW PLAYER


    CHOOSING A NAME FOR YOUR PLAYER:
    * Use your imagination, and maybe reflect on a name or place in the Bible which may reflect personality of your Player Choosing a vocation for your Player
    * Choose what type of Player you want. Each Player is dominant in different skills, and starts off with +4 in that area.

    * SCHOLAR
    * The Scholar, using his intelligence, is very good at bargaining with Game Characters. To gain objects, information or help from Game Characters, the Scholar will find a way to swap something of little value to him for something of greater value from the Game Character.
    * +4 in BARGAINING

    * PROPHET
    * The Prophet, using his communication skills, will gain the information or help he needs from the Game Character by his persuasive use of logic, or by pulling the emotional strings. He is very skilled at making Game Characters feel they need to help the Prophet.
    * +4 in PERSUASION

    * COUNSELOR
    * The Counselor, using his listening skills, can effectively build trust in the Game Character until the Game Character freely makes his resources available to the Player as a friend. The Counselor may take more time to get the information or help he needs, but he usually
    makes a friend for life during the process.
    * +4 in LISTENING

    * HEALER
    * The Healer, using his talents in prayer, has a 50% of his prayers being answered. (Non Healers only have 25%) The Healer can pray to help other Players get their information, or pray to lower the Game Character's skills.
    * +4 in PRAYING

    * Choose how to distribute 7 points in all the skills areas
    * Must have at least 4 in your Players skill area
    * Faith must be at least 5 points
    * Total points in all skill areas and health is 16.

    * FOR EXAMPLE

    Player's Name: Moses
    Player's Vocation: Prophet

    Player's Skills
    Bargaining +2 = 2
    Persuading 4 +1 = 5
    Listening +1 = 1
    Praying +2 = 2

    Faith 5 +1 = 6

    TOTAL = 16

    * You need to distribute 7 points in the Physical Characteristics of your Player. You need to have a minimum of 1 point in each area.

    * STRENGTH
    * This is how much you can carry
    * You will be able to carry 10 times the kg.
    * E.g. If your strength is 3, you can carry 30 kg.
    * MAXIMUM strength is 12

    * DEXTERITY
    * This is how coordinated you are. How well you are at fiddly things, hand-eye coordination, etc.
    * The GAME MASTER will determine how difficult each individual action is.
    MAXIMUM is 12

    * FITNESS
    * This is how much physical stress your body can take.
    * You will be able to run 2 km times the number
    * E.g. If your fitness is 3, you can run (3x2) 6 km before becoming exhausted.
    * MAXIMUM is 12

    * And you will also start off with 20 Gold, and clothes. That is all that you have in your possessions when you start the game. That's all you need to create your new Player




MOVEMENT

    Movement in the CNVGS world is based on real world measurements. You can walk 20 km a day and ride 40 km a day. Since most of the action will take place in towns, the GAME MASTER will determine how far you can move each Game Turn


NORMAL DIALOGUE

    Talking to Game Characters can be done at any time without resorting to the Acquiring Information System (AIS ). Only when the Player wishes to gain information that the Game Character is unwilling to give, or the Game Character wants information that the Player is unwilling to give, then the AIS comes into play.



ACQUIRING INFORMATION FROM GAME CHARACTERS (AIS)

    * Before the Player initiates the conversation with the Game Character, the Game Character has a choice whether it wants to or not.
    * If it does not, then there is nothing that the Player can do about it.
    * If the Game Character is willing to talk, then the following rules apply for the Player to acquire things from the Game Character.

    * The Player must have a Faith score above zero.

    * The Player cannot use Prayer while in dialogue with the Game Character. He can only do it before or after.

    * EACH GAME CHARACTER WILL HAVE THESE 6 ATTRIBUTES
    * Bargaining
    * Persuasion
    * Listening
    * Prayer
    * Resolve
    * Faith

    * The person who wants something from the other is the one who begins the turn. (We will assume it is the Player in this example)

    * THE PLAYER MUST CHOOSE WHICH SKILL HE WILL USE TO ACQUIRE THE INFORMATION.
    * He can choose
    * Bargaining
    * Persuasion
    * Listening
    * (Click here to see how you can use prayer to help others)

    * Usually you will choose the one in which you have the highest skill.

    * Or if you know your oppositions lowest skill, you may choose that skill to acquire the information.

    * The Player then rolls two dice and adds that total to the skill level of the one he chose. Two dice are rolled for the Game Character and added to his skill level and the one with the highest total has won that round.

    * If the Player won the round, points are taken off the Game Character's Resolve .
    * To determine how many points are taken off. First one must see what is the difference between the two skills. For every 5 points more in difference, an additional point is taken off.

    * E.g. The Player has a Bargaining skill of 10, the Game Character has a Bargaining skill of 4. The difference is 10-4 = 6. Because 6 is greater than 5, an additional point is taken off. So if the Player won the round, 2 points would have been taken off the Game Character's
    resolve.

    * Table of how many points to take off depending on the difference of the two skills.
    * Smaller than 5 = 1 point taken off
    * Between 5 & 9 = 2 points taken off
    * Between 10 & 14 = 3 points taken off
    * etc.

    * If the Game Character won the round, points are taken off the Players Faith.
    * To determine how many points, use same system as above.

    * Whoever won the round then makes the next move.
    * Whoever won the round has the option of stopping the conversation without any more loss to their resolve or faith. They have a 50% chance of succeeding.

    * It finishes when
    * Game Character's Resolve is zero or less- thereby giving the information to the Player

    * Player's Faith is zero or less, and thereby gives the Game Character what he wants

    * Either person stops the conversation.
    * You can only have a chance stopping the conversation if you have won the previous round. It is then only a 50% chance.

    * FOR EXAMPLE:
    * Moses the Prophet meets a man who has a book that Moses wants.
    * Moses decides that he will try to Persuade the man to give him the book.
    * The Man's skills are:
    * Game Character's Name: Man with Book

    Game Character's Skills:
    Bargaining 3
    Persuading 1
    Listening 1
    Prayer 1

    Resolve 2
    Faith 1 (only used to convert to Christianity)


    * Moses the Prophet's skills are:
    * Player's Name: Moses
    Player's Vocation: Prophet

    Player's Skills
    Bargaining 2
    Persuading 5
    Listening 1
    Praying 2

    Faith 6


    * ROUND 1
    * Moses starts, since he wants the bookMoses walks over to an old man who is holding a small grubby book. This book looks of interest to Moses, and so he decides that he will try to persuade the Man to give it to him.

    * Using 2 dice, Moses rolls 8, adds it to his Persuading skill of 5 to get a total of 13
    "Hello. I notice you have a book there. It is of immense value to me. How much is it worth for you?"

    The Man rolls 7, adds it to his Persuading skill of 1, which totals 8

    * 13 is greater than 8, and since the difference between the
    Player's Persuading Skill and the Game Character's Persuading Skill is less than 5, only one point is taken off the Man's resolve. It goes from 2 to 1.The man looks up, obviously a little baffled and replies, "Well, I only found it in the trash yesterday and was only using the
    pages to roll my own cigarettes."

    * ROUND 2
    * Since Moses won that round, he gets to start again.

    * Moses rolls 3, adds it to his Persuading skill of 5 to get a total of 8
    Moses holds out is hand. "Please Sir, you would help me very much if I could have it. It cannot be much worth to you."

    * The Man rolls 11, adds it to his Persuading skill of 1 for a total of 12

    * Since 12 is greater than 8, the Man wins and Moses' faith goes from 6 to 5

    * The Man wants to stop the conversation, and since he won the last round he can roll the dice for a 50% chance of doing so. Unfortunately for him in this example, he does not succeed.
    The Man takes a step back, but does not move away. He holds his book tight.

    * ROUND 3
    * Since the Man won that round he gets to start the next

    * Since the Man's greatest skill is in bargaining, he uses that.
    * The Man rolls a 5, adds it to his bargaining skill of 3 to get an 8

    He looks Moses up and down and then sees a ring Moses is wearing. "If the book is of such worth to you, maybe you will swap it for that shiny ring on your finger?"

    * Moses rolls a 9, adds it to his bargaining skill of 2 to get an 11
    "No." says Moses sadly. "That I cannot do for it is a friendship ring from a dear comrade of mine. I have nothing of value for you, but only that you trust me and know that
    this book that you have can help me in my quest. Please, I beg of you Sir, hand it over to me."

    * 11 is greater than 8, so Moses wins the round and the Man's resolve goes to zero, and he gives the book to Moses.
    The Man stops for a second, then hands the book to Moses and smiles. "Here, take it. It will be of more benefit for you than I. Good luck in your quest."

PRAYER


    * ANYONE CAN PRAY

    * You can only pray if your Faith is above zero

    * Praying to temporarily increase or decrease skills or physical attributes.

    * ANSWERS TO PRAYER DIFFER ON WHAT YOUR VOCATION IS:
    * Healers have a 50% of prayers being answered
    * Non Healers only have 25%

    * YOU CAN PRAY FOR AN INCREASE OF PLAYER'S SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES
    * Bargaining
    * Persuasion
    * Listening
    * Faith (Permanent increase so long as not above original level)
    * Strength
    * Dexterity
    * Fitness
    * (You can't pray to increase prayer skills)

    * You can pray to decrease the skills in the Game Character.

    * THE AMOUNT OF INCREASE, OR DECREASE IS DEPENDENT ON WHAT THE LEVEL
    OF YOUR PRAYER SKILL IS:
    * Below 5 = +1
    * 5 to 9 = +2
    * 10 to 14 +3
    * etc.

    * Once the action is finished or AIS is finished, then skills and attributes go back to their original levels. (Except for Faith)

    * PRAYING FOR MIRACLES
    * You can pray for absolutely anything to happen in the game. i.e. turning water into wine, foreseeing the future, etc.

    * The GAME MASTER will determine what chance you have of succeeding.

    * The Healer will always have twice the chance of succeeding than others.

    * The general rule is that the greater the miracle needed, the less
    chance of it happening

    * YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE GO AT PRAYING FOR A PERSON DURING THE ACTION.
    * i.e. Prayer is not just a short sentence uttered and then that is it, Prayer is continued until the action is finished. So therefore you can only pray one prayer at a time during the action.

    * e.g. Moses wants to lift a rock that is 40 kg, but his skill level only allows him to lift 30 kg. Dorcas prays for Moses to increase his skill level so he can lift the 40 kg, it is a successful prayer, and she prays continually while Moses lifts the rock successfully.

    * PRAYER GROUPS
    * If you have more than one person praying for the same thing, then all answered prayers are added to whatever you are praying for.
    * E.g. Dorcas and Eve are praying that Moses' Persuasive skill goes up. Both are successful prayers and so the 1 point from Dorcas and the 1 point from Eve's prayer is added to the 5 points of Moses
    Persuasive Skill. Now it totals 7 points

    * UNSUCCESSFUL PRAYER
    * When a prayer is unsuccessful, 1 point is taken of that person's Faith.



INCREASING FAITH

    FAITH MAY BE INCREASED IN TWO WAYS:
    1. Someone makes a successful prayer to increase your faith
    2. Spending 5 minutes in meditation to increase one point in your faith.
    * When you are meditating, you must not be interrupted at all, and you cannot conduct any activities while meditating.



CONVERTING A GAME CHARACTER INTO A CHRISTIAN

    * If a Game Character becomes a Christian, they will share all their resources and knowledge with the Players.

    * Because Christianity is outlawed, Players must be careful whom they try to convert, because it could land them into trouble.

    * THE CONVERTING PROCESS

    * First find out which players wish to help convert someone to Christianity.

    * If there is a group of Players doing the converting. All except one Player can pray to increase their fellow Player's Skills to give them a better chance.

    * Then out of all the helping players, find out who has:
    * The highest Bargaining Skill - i.e. 7
    * The highest Persuasion Skill - i.e. 6
    * The highest Listening Skill - i.e. 8

    * Count together all the highest skills to get a grand total - i.e. 21.

    * The GAME MASTER then totals all the skills of the Game Character:
    * The Bargaining Skill - i.e. 4
    * The Persuasion Skill - i.e. 2
    * The Listening Skill - i.e. 1

    * Total the Game Character's Skills - i.e. 7

    * A percentage of success is determined from the 2 figures:
    * 100 - ((21/7)*100) = 66%

    * The Players role the dice and if they are successful, 1 point is added to the Faith of the Game Character

    * If the Players are unsuccessful, the Game Character's Faith is reduced by 1 point.

    * When the Game Character's Faith reaches 0 then he will betray you to the authorities.

    * When the Game Character's Faith reaches 5, then they are successfully converted to Christianity and will help you any way possible

    * All Players who participated in converting the Game Character will gain one point which they can add to any of their attributes.

    * The Players will not know what the level of the Game Character's Faith is. After each turn, the GAME MASTER will tell them the response of the Game Character and then the Players can decide whether to continue converting or not.



PENALTIES

    * Penalties are imposed on the Players if they do anything that is against God's Law.

    * Depending what they do depends on which skills points are taken off. The GAME MASTER decides when and how penalties are involved.
    * There will be points taken off the Player's Faith
    * There might be a permanent point taken off one of the Player's skill level.

    * EXAMPLES OF WRONG THINGS.
    * Lying and deceit
    * Stealing
    * Breaking town rules
    * Breaking ten commandments.



ADDITIONAL ACTIONS

    * Any Action that is difficult is not automatically successful.
    * E.g. Trying to sneak around a guard in the dark.

    * The GAME MASTER will determine what chance each Player has in succeeding. Physical Characteristics will be taken into account to determine the chance of success.

    * Prayer can be used to heighten the chance of success.



SLEEP AND FOOD


    * Sleep and Food will restore a Players Fitness, Strength & Dexterity
    * Sleep and Food will need to be taken into consideration when a Player travels long distances. * Otherwise, since the game will focus on small areas, Sleep and Food will not really need to be worried about.
    * The GAME MASTER will make a Player aware of when he needs Sleep or Food.



INCREASING YOUR SKILLS

    * YOU PLAYER SKILLS OR PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS MAY BE INCREASED IN 2 WAYS:
    1. Whenever you go up a level in the Real World Junior Secret Service, you have 1 point to put on any skill or characteristic you want.
    2. If you successfully lead a Game Character to become a Christian, you will have 1 extra point to use.
    3. If you meet a Game Character who is willing to train you. This may cost you gold pieces.



ABOUT GAME CHARACTERS

    * Game Characters will come in different levels

    * Level 1 means that all their characteristics have been created using only one dice
    * Known as working class people
    * Poor

    * Level 2 means that 2 dice were used
    * Known as middle class
    * Well off people

    * Level 3 means that 3 dice were used.
    * Known as upper class
    * Rich people.

    * A Game Character's Faith can be any number between 0 and 10
    * If a Game Character is already a Christian (Faith is 5 or above), when a player identifies themselves as a Christian, the Game Character will try to help them in whatever means possible.

Well, there it is. Took me ages to edit it into a format that you can read easily.

Please feel free to use these ideas. I think they have a lot of potential - but will have to wait and see how it really does work out in a computer game.

Good Luck

Revelator!

[This message has been edited by Revelator (edited March 24, 2001).]

Revelator

Member

Posts: 226
From: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Registered: 03-22-2001
Just a note: My homepage is www.revelatorgames.com .

Revelator!

[This message has been edited by Revelator (edited March 24, 2001).]

Mack

Administrator

Posts: 2779
From:
Registered: 01-20-2001
Hey man we're (Two Guys Software) going to sue your butt for having a name too close to our game name Revelation!

LOL, j/k

Welcome to CCN!!!

Revelator

Member

Posts: 226
From: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Registered: 03-22-2001
Thanks for the nice welcome.

I wanted to have www.revelationgames.com, but someone had already taken it. So I went for the next best thing.

I would love it if you guys would join the Christian Game Creators Guild (its a webring that I am in charge of)
Go to www4.tpgi.com.au/makunz/Guild/guild.html to check it out.

We'd love to have you on board - and anyone else who has a webpage on designing Christian Games!

Revelator!

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[This message has been edited by Revelator (edited March 24, 2001).]

Mack

Administrator

Posts: 2779
From:
Registered: 01-20-2001
*double post, oops!*

[This message has been edited by Mack (edited March 24, 2001).]

Mack

Administrator

Posts: 2779
From:
Registered: 01-20-2001
http://www.twoguyssoftware.com is our URL, check it out! I'll go check out the guild right now!

------------------
So tell me, Who's the solid rock on which I stand? Jesus Christ is the solid rock on which I stand!
Two Guys Software - Rebels with a cause

Revelator

Member

Posts: 226
From: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Registered: 03-22-2001
Hi Mack
You put the wrong URL for the guild-(twoguysoftware.com) But it's OK, I fixed it for you. You should get an email with all the info to add the link.

Welcome to the guild!!!

Revelator!

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Imsold4christ

Member

Posts: 305
From: Gresham, OR, US
Registered: 01-20-2001
Pretty good stuff Revelator. Here's a Christian RPG I'm pretty sure you'll like. It's called LampQuest. As far as I can see, it's infallible. The only trouble I could see would be if there was a bad narrator. I've probably lost you by now because you don't know what I'm talking about. That's because you need to check out the site first! It's at http://www.sammson.com/products/lampquest.htm I still haven't actually played it yet but it looks top rate. Now if only someone would make it into a video game...

†Caleb†

Revelator

Member

Posts: 226
From: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Registered: 03-22-2001
Thanks Caleb

I will look at it on Sunday. I am always interested to see how other Christian Games work.

Revelator!

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www.revelatorgames.com

CobraA1

Member

Posts: 926
From: MN
Registered: 02-19-2001
Cool ideas! I'll print the post for future reference . . . if you don't mind.
Yeshuaknight
Junior Member

Posts: 7
From: charleston
Registered: 01-20-2001
uh, i actually made up a christian rpg in which there is some violence, but not without the chance to change from light to darkness, it's on i'm gonna start playing with some friends of mine as a text rpg in the crosswalk chat room, if you wanna see what i'm talking about email me and i'll send the info out to you, later