Big Three Questions...

There are three big questions I'm told I need to ask myself about any game. These are:

1. What is your game about?

My last post talked a lot about what my game is about. Its about the Roman Inquisition and specifically the year running from August 1632 to July 1633. Its about the 12 months leading up to the trial of Galileo. Its about two oppossing irreconcilable philosophies: 'Heliocentrism' and 'Geocentrism'.

Its also about political infighting and the fact that the overt conflict (in this case the two philosophies) may not neccessarily reflect on the deeper conflicts going on.

2. What do the characters do?

I've got a pretty good idea about this. They use political, theological and cultural power to influence the debate. They take sides and switch sides as it as and when its of maximum advantage to them. They form temporary alliences, and drop them when they become inconvienient. They look for weaknesses in their opponents that can be exploited, and they don't let their personal beliefs neccessarily influence their ability to achieve their personal goals.

Looking at what they do from a slightly higher level, they attend functions (balls, diners, lectures) and involve themselves in social fencing to in order to achieve their aims. The aims vary but may include fame, power or they may actually be working achieve something purer like promoting a genuinely held belief.

3. What do the players do?

This is the tough one. I already know that they will create their characters based on a set of randomly generated beliefs and objectives. I know that they will be responsible for framing scenes, and that scene resolution will be based on some form of secret ballet. This is the core of the game, and its unfortunately the bit I'm currently unclear on. Its late though, so I'm going to sleep on it. Perhaps by tomorrow evening something will have perculated to the top of my head.