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Old 04-05-2016, 01:59 AM   #1
Minuteman37
 
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Default Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

So for the possible Medieval Fantasy I may be running I'm considering having a character's star sign have a tangible impact on game. At the moment I'm pondering a list of 10, 20 or 25 point lenses the PCs could apply to their character based when they want them to be born. I'm drawing mild inspiration from The elder scrolls Oblivion for this if anyone wants a reference.


Thoughts and ideas?
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Old 04-05-2016, 02:18 AM   #2
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Minuteman37 View Post
So for the possible Medieval Fantasy I may be running I'm considering having a character's star sign have a tangible impact on game. At the moment I'm pondering a list of 10, 20 or 25 point lenses the PCs could apply to their character based when they want them to be born. I'm drawing mild inspiration from The elder scrolls Oblivion for this if anyone wants a reference.


Thoughts and ideas?
I've done this before - I used an Unusual Background and figured the cost by using various traits. For example, if being born under a sign makes you impulsive, creative, and strong-willed you might get something like:

Versatile [5]
Impulsiveness (15) [-5]
Stubbornness [-5]
Will +2 [10]

So that would track as a 5-point Unusual Background. Some of the advice I laid out in my article "Thou Art Cursed" would apply as well. Especially the part about turning self-control rolls into Will rolls for repurposed traits.
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Old 04-05-2016, 02:27 AM   #3
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Minuteman37 View Post
So for the possible Medieval Fantasy I may be running I'm considering having a character's star sign have a tangible impact on game. At the moment I'm pondering a list of 10, 20 or 25 point lenses the PCs could apply to their character based when they want them to be born. I'm drawing mild inspiration from The elder scrolls Oblivion for this if anyone wants a reference.


Thoughts and ideas?
I suppose the first question is whether you're using 'real' star signs (i.e. Aries, Gemini, Virgo, etc.), or in-game ones?
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Old 04-05-2016, 04:14 AM   #4
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

Be sure to look at the sign-aspected Magery options in Thaumatology. Easily adapted for other astrological systems, too.
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Old 04-05-2016, 04:35 AM   #5
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

What are you hoping to get out of it?

If the traits provided are all mundane, then it doesn't offer anything that 'unstructured' characterization doesn't offer.
If everyone has to pick one, then even if it provides non-mundane traits, it will be considered very mundane in the setting, and will just act as another race-like peculiarity people have.

I've once tried a similar thing with a dozen Callings, each representing a (somewhat eclectic) 10-Point Talent. The results were underwhelming.
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Old 04-05-2016, 06:36 AM   #6
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

Present-day astrologers tend to say, "The stars incline, but do not compel." If you want that to be true in your medieval setting, I would recommend looking at quirks rather than at anything that requires a self-control roll to resist.

Are you only looking at sun signs (I don't think "star sign" is meaningful in astrology)? Medieval astrologers would have been looking at the placement of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn as well as the sun, and probably also at the rising sign. You could perhaps make a case that any of these is good only for a quirk *unless* the planet is in one of the signs with which it has a strong relationship—for example, the sun rules Leo and is detrimented in Aquarius.
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Old 04-05-2016, 10:10 AM   #7
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

Harn Master is good for inspiration.

I've considered signs and, for modern settings, personality types. In both I toyed with balanced 0pt lenses. E.g. +1 in three skills and two perks for -1 in three skills and two quirks. I'd use the "opposite" sign/personality type to inform. E.g. Pisces and Libra are opposites or Introvert vs Extravert.

Never have put it into practice though. Would only use to give colour to setting, add a differential between characters or to give that edge in certain skills at the cost of others.

To mimic full astronomy charts, you could wing it with player choosing the pluses and GM adding the counter weight.
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Old 04-06-2016, 08:53 PM   #8
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavefunction View Post
I suppose the first question is whether you're using 'real' star signs (i.e. Aries, Gemini, Virgo, etc.), or in-game ones?
Real.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoyoteGestalt View Post
Be sure to look at the sign-aspected Magery options in Thaumatology. Easily adapted for other astrological systems, too.
Page number?

Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
What are you hoping to get out of it?

If the traits provided are all mundane, then it doesn't offer anything that 'unstructured' characterization doesn't offer.
If everyone has to pick one, then even if it provides non-mundane traits, it will be considered very mundane in the setting, and will just act as another race-like peculiarity people have.

I've once tried a similar thing with a dozen Callings, each representing a (somewhat eclectic) 10-Point Talent. The results were underwhelming.
The sign would provide non-mundane traits, but what I forgot to mention was that the characters would of gone through "an awaking" that makes their zodiac sign manifest in a very potent and magical way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
Present-day astrologers tend to say, "The stars incline, but do not compel." If you want that to be true in your medieval setting, I would recommend looking at quirks rather than at anything that requires a self-control roll to resist.

Are you only looking at sun signs (I don't think "star sign" is meaningful in astrology)? Medieval astrologers would have been looking at the placement of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn as well as the sun, and probably also at the rising sign. You could perhaps make a case that any of these is good only for a quirk *unless* the planet is in one of the signs with which it has a strong relationship—for example, the sun rules Leo and is detrimented in Aquarius.
Sorry by star sign I meant Zodiac sign.

A major theme of the campaign is fate, and it's role in peoples lives. The society has a strict cast system that's hard to break free of. As well the role of lineage and bloodline also play major roles.

The campaign will either see the players be drafted from whatever their previous lives were into a powerful organization that operates outside of the constraints of the law and can travel wherever they please.

The other possible option is that the players are all exiles who've been forced to abandon there lives and obtain greatness if they ever want to return to their homes.

Which one all depends on just how the players want the game to unfold. Regardless though, I'm think each player will need to choice a sign, a bloodline and a class within the society.
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Old 04-07-2016, 08:03 AM   #9
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

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Sorry by star sign I meant Zodiac sign.
Zodiac signs are regions of the ecliptic 30° wide. But hardly anyone has just one. At any given time each of the seven classical "planets" (the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) is in one sign or another, and also one sign or another is at the eastern horizon (the "rising sign"). So you can talk about sun sign, moon sign, rising sign, and so on. All eight of them play a role in determining a person's nature and fate. "Zodiac sign" might be used to mean any of them; but really it's "Zodiac signs."

I assume that what you're referring to is the sun sign; that's what people are talking about when they say "what's your sign?" It's probably most sensible to use just the one sign, unless you're playing GURPS Astrology; adding in the rest would be really complex, let alone figuring their interactions. It still seems to me, though, that the effect of any of the planets as described in astrology would be no more than quirk-level.
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Old 04-07-2016, 11:22 PM   #10
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Default Re: Using A Characters Star Sign As A Background Lens?

I think it's a great idea, and I've done similar things with Animal Totems and Tarot Cards. As others have said, you can apply this idea at different levels of complexity and depth, from just one sign, to a complete chart (and by following different astrological philosophies, you can get different results). --Joshua
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