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Old 12-14-2012, 01:47 PM   #15
Sindri
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Default Re: Designing How Divination Works

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
Sort of, but not exactly what the picture is that I'm trying to paint... It isn't "retroactive" in the sense that somehow, Al's picture changes...
Not in-universe certainly but doesn't it involve retcons out of game? Al gets a chance to have done stuff whenever something changes the results he got before.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
So, let's say that Bob sees that Event X is something he doesn't want to occur as it will. He tries to change it. Al already knows how Bob will change it, and has the perfect COUNTER to it (assuming that Al wants something different than Bob). Each "possible future" that Bob can envison, Al's divination has already seen, and countered in order to ensure that the event Al wants to avoid in a particular fashion, doesn't happen. So, as GM, you know that there are MANY things that Bob might try, but Al's divination has already found the LIKELY event that will occur unless Al intervenes to change it.

Put another way? Call it a "Temporal High Ground" event where Bob's events can percieve Al's intentions, but is powerless to stop it because of Al's free will.
This sort of transforms divination from a way to gain information that you can try to use to defeat the enemy to a way to warp the future through observing it. For one thing normally just knowing what Bob is going to do wouldn't automatically allow Al to defeat him. For another a scenario where both Al and Bob know each others intentions but Al wins because the universe wants him to rather than because he had more time to prepare seems would feel quite strange as one of the participants. Interesting flavour though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
What is the source of knowledge that is being tapped into via the divination spell itself? Is it a God of Knowledge? Is it an impersonal machine/golem/computer of the multi-universe? Is it GOD? Is it tapping into a horrific deity who forces the questioner to lose something of great value?

How you answer those questions, will determine how divinations should work within the framework of your campaign world.
I probably won't end up with a one source for divination spells thing. For one thing many of them like the augmented reality ones to detect various stuff probably shouldn't be drawing on a source of knowledge at all but just using magic to produce it. For the spells that do they will probably vary much as much as any other magical stuff. Some might focus on developing long term relationships with various entities and asking them while others might summon up local things and talk to them and others with access to magical guilds will contribute and draw upon stores of knowledge like Snowcrash's CIC that they can browse through or do direct question divinations on and yet more will focus on scrying to get information themselves. So yeah I see divination styles as being varied.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
I've been running GURPS campaigns since 1986. DIVINATION coupled with 20 questions and a high skill will generally ruin not only the game master plans keeping things hidden about the future, but also makes it nearly impossible to hide things as a player character from other NPC's who have access to NPC mages with high divination skill levels. In short, it can be a problem not only against the GM, but also against the player characters.

If you want, send me an email and I'll give you a few personal "for instances" from campaigns I've run since 1986. I find that writing via email with out a limit on the number of characters I can post in a single setting, gives me room to give out more details. ;)
Sure!
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