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Old 10-13-2021, 12:51 AM   #21
The Benj
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

Yeah, phrasing it as "bring balance to the Force" is weird when it's not like the Light is portrayed as being a harmony of multiple aspects and the Dark a disharmony.

Last edited by The Benj; 10-13-2021 at 12:57 AM.
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Old 10-13-2021, 03:53 PM   #22
Mark Caliber
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inky View Post
Actually, Mark Caliber's misremembering, the Destiny trait in GURPS can be an adverse one and priced as a Disadvantage - see B131.
I didn't misremember, but I may have misread the OP.

As I studied the Michale Cule's first two posts, I interpreted that the Destiny his world had as being exclusively 'positive' destinies.

That may have been an error on my part.
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Old 10-13-2021, 04:23 PM   #23
Michael Cule
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

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Originally Posted by Mark Caliber View Post
I didn't misremember, but I may have misread the OP.

As I studied the Michale Cule's first two posts, I interpreted that the Destiny his world had as being exclusively 'positive' destinies.

That may have been an error on my part.
I don't think that's what I was intending. (Though my thoughts on this go through a lot of cycles.) I think the risk of an unambigously bad prophecy would be what kept the practice from being universal.
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Old 10-13-2021, 04:37 PM   #24
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

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Originally Posted by Emerikol View Post
Boy I didn't take it that way. I interpreted balance as equal power between the forces for darkness and light. .
Even if it was, equal power is not the same thing as equal numbers as Palpatine demonstrated when five Jedi went after him and he used them as chew toys.
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Old 10-14-2021, 08:15 PM   #25
Inky
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

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Originally Posted by Emerikol View Post
A destiny is merely a future that is going to happen. It can be any future. Obviously in literature the interesting "destinies" are at the forefront but having a destiny is nothing special. It could be to be a farmer your whole life and die old in your bed.
Like the "mouse-brasses" ceremony in the kids' series, The Deptford Mice -
Quote:
"I come to take upon me my destiny."
"Be it great or small, tall and dangerous, meek and futile?"
In the series this was a thing each mouse kid did at a certain age and was then given an amulet picked at random from a bag, which was supposed to mean something about that mouse's future. But the symbols were vague enough that it was hard to say what it meant for each particular mouse until it happened. One of the main characters gets an amulet in the shape of a cat's face and is worried that her destiny is to be eaten by a cat. In fact she helps defend them against the cat and eventually defeats it by magic.
"Destinies" like that should probably all be represented by 0-point features if you're playing it in GURPS, because until they happen it's impossible to tell whether the event is going to be good or bad or how big it will be.
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Last edited by Inky; 10-14-2021 at 08:21 PM.
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Old 10-15-2021, 02:41 AM   #26
RedMattis
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

My Fantasy setting runs on a kind of Destiny system.

A notable feature is that it can be powerful but never completely absolute. Most Destinies could be given a level of potency where 2 is normal and 6 is basically super-rare divine decree. "Fated" important people usually have 4-5.

There is also the feature where the more specific a destiny is the more powerful it is practically.

Basically "low destiny" people might have destinies along the lines of "die from an infected wound" and "Become locally known for skilled craftsmanship". These kind of destinies seem pretty much random, and are more like a gentle (but constant) push in that direction. A lot of people don't fulfill their destinies at all.

The strongest destinies are the ones which are set by godlike entities. It is quite common for these to be crafted to counter the plots other godlike entities, especially due to specific destinies being innately more potent.

F.ex. let's say we have a Dragon called Bob with the destiny "reduce humankind of ashes". Bob is fairly likely to get beaten by a spunky human with an equally strong Destiny that just says "Kill Bob the Dragon" if both end up in a direct confrontation. This despite the dragon being vastly more powerful.

The actual Player characters are Fateless though, which is basically Destiny NULL and basically makes destiny useless against them. They can still weaponize Fate against other characters though, especially the mage that knows magic that can mess with people with a weak Fate.

In practice having a stronger (and relevant) "Fate" than someone and your Fates means getting +2 to all rolls against them (and they get -2 to all rolls to resist/defend) per level your Fate is higher. A super specific Fate counts as being two levels higher when relevant.

Example:

A Potency 6 Hercules-type character with a Fate to "Slay monsters and be amazing at everything" getting into a Cooking competition with a Potency 3 Cook with a Fate to "Become renowned as a chef". Hercules gets no potency bonus since his Fate is generic as all heck. The Cook has an effective Potency of 4 (3+1) since his Fate is quite relevant. Since Herc still has 2 levels higher Fate the Cook will be making all cooking rolls at -4 while Herc will make them at +4.

------------------------------

To answer the actual topic question...

The regular (Fate 2) people of the world generally see themselves as pawns or bystanders in something greater. Whenever someone who seems to be a hero (or villain/monster) comes around they tend to get out of the way. Doesn't matter if they are expert fighters with 16 in combat skills when their weaker Fate will doom them anyway.

The Fated often view themselves as greater than everyone else, often including non-Fated nobility. Due to their massive bonuses from Fate it is also not uncommon for Fate 5 wandering heroes to go around with pathetic skills like Broadsword-9. Their massive +6 bonus and -6 penalty to Fate 2 opponents make them feel undefeatable anyway. (Fate 5 character often have special powers granted by some godlike entity as well).

With this in mind Fateless characters (like the PCs) are of course an absolute walking disaster waiting to happen.
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Old 10-21-2021, 04:48 AM   #27
Inky
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

I'm not sure how having no Destiny would make a lot of difference if people who did have a Destiny only had one Destiny and everything that didn't relate to it was up for grabs. For instance, if you have no Destiny and you're planning to fight a dragon, surely you're in the same boat as anyone else whose Destiny doesn't mention dragons one way or the other, and at less of an advantage than somebody who's Destined to live to marry and have three children and hasn't done it yet.

On the other hand, if having no Destiny means that you can defy the rules of Destiny in general, and, for instance, kill someone who was Destined not to be killed yet or rescue somebody who was Destined to die, then that could certainly cause a kerfuffle.

Unrelated, another fictional example of a story about destiny and how that works out is John Buchan's The Gap in the Curtain. It's about an ESP experiment in which six men succeed in getting a glimpse of a page of The Times (a different page for each person) for the same date one year in the future. The rest of the book tells the stories of what they do with the information, and how it doesn't necessarily go the way they were expecting.
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Last edited by Inky; 10-21-2021 at 04:51 AM.
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Old 10-21-2021, 05:19 AM   #28
Opellulo
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

It depends on how you intend "Destiny" as a GUPRS advantage but a society based on such concept may not be that far from our own.

IMHO a good example could be Classical Greece, where understanding and fulfilling Destiny was an integral part of the religious practices. Omens, Haruspices and Oracles had a major societal function covering everything from agricultural practices to state policy counselling.

You are a farmer that tames a white stallion and suddenly all the town think you will be their great hero; you are a major politician that fumble the savoir faire check in front of the Oracle of Delphis and in few weeks you will destitute and your house in ruins.

Or looking at a more modern times you can see how many catholic branches took a side turn in favor of the predestination, like the Calvinists (and i think it only got worse from there, like some contemporary evangelicals way too into the End of Times)

I mean if everybody thinks Destiny is a thing, then there will be enough societal pressure to make Destiny self-fulfilling, without even the need of proper supernatural intervention.
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Old 10-21-2021, 05:32 PM   #29
Pursuivant
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

Such a world would have a high level of fatalism and/or stoicism, especially among people with "non-positive" Destinies. Think of human societies where the notions of predestination or dharma are commonly accepted.

Such societies might also be incredibly callous by our standards. E.g., "We don't need to help these beggars because it is their fate to always be beggars."

In some cases, however, universal Destinies could be used as early & easy "occupational testing." E.g., If destiny can be revealed in early childhood the parents of the kid with "Will become a great musician" destiny know to get them into music lessons. That would mean that most everyone knows their role in society, leading to more social stability and fewer cases of the Peter Principle or Dunning-Kruger Effect.

It might mean slightly fewer wars. For example, the kid with the Destiny of "Will rule all Britain" gets adopted by the current king if he's not already the king's heir. If there are multiple kids with that destiny, the king adopts them all and sets up a power sharing agreement &/or firm line of succession. No revolution, civil war, or coup d'etat required.

In any case, there will be professional fortune-tellers who can detect what a person's destiny will be. They might function like police or first responders to limit the harm that a person with a bad destiny will do (e.g., the cops in Minority Report), or as psychologists to help people with exceptionally good or bad destinies come to terms with their fate.
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Old 10-22-2021, 11:27 AM   #30
Alden Loveshade
 
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Default Re: Destiny: What would a world dominated by it look like?

Personally, I think running a world where everyone has a Destiny and knows what it is would be very difficult to play out--unless you have only one or maybe two PCs, and neither they nor you (as GM) know the Destiny of the NPCs they interact with.

I frankly once found it very tricky making a Destiny known to a single player work out. The PC unquestionably died (I would have had to do some major, obvious, and perhaps even game-breaking changes to keep them alive). I had to twist things so that the wording of the Destiny was still valid even though it wasn't what was expected. I don't remember exactly what the Destiny was, but it was something like, "You'll die in the light of Barnard's Star." Well, they died during the daytime. So it, um, just happened that there was an inn very close named Bernard's Star Inn, and sunlight was shining through the star-shaped symbol on top of the inn....
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