1. How much player power (as opposed to GM power) did you feel there was during YG0?
a. Far too little
b. Too little
c. Adequated. Too much
e. Far too much
Balanced enough. GM is God, hoho, so you could punish for lack of detail/thought in their actions but weren't heavy-handed in doing so. I felt players could do what they wanted and you were alright with it so long as it didn't break the game.
2. What did you think of having a one-dimensional stat (Essence) for gods?
a. Excessive, i.e. remove stats entirely (e.g. use actions) (tentatively...)b. Sufficient, i.e. an Essence stat for gods is enough
c. Insufficient, i.e. need more stats for gods
I'm... not sure about this. Having more stats would make the game somewhat more interesting, but might make it harder for new(er) gods later in the game to get involved with things (this assuming other stats develop like Essence in YG0) but it might make things a bit more interesting dabbling in things a god isn't necessarily good with.
I was under the impression you were trying to make things a bit more streamlined and easier to deal with though. Does adding more stats and having to keep track of how different god stats interact with each other achieve that, or would that result in another part of the game getting less attention?
3. What did you think of the amount of conflict?
a. Too little
b. Adequatec. Too much
Player or NPC? I think there was wasn't enough player conflict, but then again having a character get killed isn't a nice thing to happen, so I'm not sure if there could be another way to resolve player conflict without killing a character (fighting with creations, for eg) and then having the loser(s) paying reparations of some form to the winner(s).
4. How much power do you think the Council had?
a. Far too little
b. Too littlec. Enough
d. Too much
e. Far too much
That was more to do with the players though. I remember toward the end Fortuna getting quite annoyed with the lack of anything useful coming out of the Council and other gods using it for their own ends (specifically in punishing Fusil) but coming just short of leaving because I was worried (as a player) about leaving a god outside the protection of it.
I'm not sure the game would be as fun if the Council was all-powerful though. I think it was seen as a secondary to gods doing their own thing, but interesting enough to dabble in.
5. How much emphasis should secret actions be given?
a. Less
b. About the samec. More
As I understand it, this was one of the things that caused KJP issue in updating (what with the 20+ gods...) but I liked that you had a little bit to fear in terms of gods acting against you in secret, while it was incredible fun to act against other gods in secret.
If it does become an issue, though, perhaps add little things to make secret actions more difficult? (like costing more Essence/whatever the new game uses)
6. How important are prompt updates to you?
a. Not important at all
b. Not important
c. Importantd. Very important
I liked knowing what was going on and not having to trawl through pages of stuff to keep track of it myself. I acknowledge it was a pain in the arse to do it though!
7. How much do you think a god's actions should be governed by sphere?
a. Very little
b. Little
c. Some
d. A lotWith the caveat that some spheres are bigger than others, so should also be more expensive irrespective of it. God of magic vs. god of ducks, for example; it should be much more difficult to influence the force of magic than it should be to influence ducks.
-Bonuses for affiliated spheres.
-No penalty for unaffiliated spheres.
-Penalties for opposite spheres.
Perhaps a bonus for good RP'ing?
8. How would you like to change the emphasis on NPCs?
a. Reduce
b. Maintainc. Increase
NPCs should be kept track of, but only really detailed if gods interact with individuals.
I consider the game a bit like Dungeon Keeper: you can't directly control something in the game unless you possess it, but you can give orders and keep track of everything in your own little corner of the land.
9. How easy should gods be to kill? (suggestions recommended for attack and defense components)
a. Harderb. Easier
I didn't really witness the death of a god in the previous game (Fusil died in the sun toward the end, but Stirk didn't seem too bothered by it so I thought he had contigencies in place) but I wouldn't be happy about putting months of work into something only to have another player take it away from me.
A god should only be able to be killed through overt and public actions. They can be weakened to some extent privately (though the attacked god should be able to investigate to find out who's attacking them) but only ever ended publicly.
10. Would you like to see a ministers system implemented at the start of (a) future game(s)? (The ministers system likely involves increased votes for elected ministers on their departments and a system for electing them. Note that such a system can be implemented ior removed later as with other Council projects assuming a similar or identical Council setup.)
a. Yes
b. NoI would need a bit of RP'ing to figure out which gods my god likes and dislikes before something like that.
11. How much should players be allowed to interfere with each other's creations at the start?
a. Very little
b. Littlec. Much
d. Very much
They should be able to have an influence and gain worship or equivalent, but not do anything too big until the point things are a bit more settled. Perhaps this point should be decided OOC?
12. How much should lack of originality be penalized?
a. Not at all
b. Not muchc. Some
d. A lot
Players should be able to draw inspiration from some things, but should at least add their own tweaks and flair to it.
13. Given the Captain Ersatz rule, do you think my fear of lawyers was excessive or insufficient?
@. Yes
b. Excessive
c. Sufficient
d. Insufficient
You're not making any money from this (presumably) but I prefer originality over plagiarism.
14. How important is an overall cooperative goal for the gods? (YG0's cooperative goal was intended to be any combination of understanding, expanding, assimilating with the Void factions, or beginning a long quest to exterminate them.)
a. Not important
b. Important
I like forcing gods to work together to some extent, but once/if we achieve the overall cooperative goal, do we get another one to work toward? If so, b) if not, a).
15. How much realism would you prefer to see?
a. None at all, i.e. a world running on godly actions alone requiring no connection with reality
b. A little, i.e. a fairy tale-like world where much is possible with some resemblence to reality
c. Significant, i.e. a high fantasy setting where technology dominates and magic and divine action are useful only for certain special cases.d. Near-full, i.e. a world adhering to natural laws with godly actions treated very realistically
Something between b) and c). I need some realism to relate to the world and I don't like the idea of somethings, like magic, being OP, but I also want to feel that anything is possible to do and create.
16. What part of the game did you most like?
The Machiavellian machinations between the gods and influencing creations.
17. What part of the game did you most dislike?
The Council. Has a lot to do with my distaste for politics and politicians, but I didn't like how some people were using it for their own gains (again, specific to punishing Fusil) and it was something to do entirely with the players, but I didn't like it heh.
I did also always feel that if I had a question that it would overburden KJP though, but again that's a personal thing (anxiety...)
18. What do you like ior dislike most about my writing?
You always surprised me, and you punished oversights and mistakes fairly in your tick updates.
0-10 scale questions (10 highest):
19. How much would you like to have the pantheon split into 2-3 administrative teams at the start?
For: Reduces individual risk; Allows normally minority positions to pass (locally)
Against: Demands increased participation; May supersede per-player diplomacy?
3
I assume you meant 10 being for
but again, distaste for politics and politicians, and increased participation isn't necessarily a bad thing.
20. How much granularity/fine-grained control do you feel is ideal for world design?
For: Emphasizes one of the main attractions for god games in general
Against: Increased overhead with little effect?
7
As you say, god games. Lack of detail should be punished with unintended effects, but some effects should be assumed (like gravity and an atmosphere)
21. How much would you want increased attention to intrigue?
For: Focuses on a popular feature for similar games
Against: Comes at the potential expense of some dissatisfaction
10
I f*cking love intrigue.
22. How much do you value randomness (dice with non-arbitrary modifiers) over intuition (KJP's festering and brooding)
High: Less change to last game's design; Prevents KJP's mood from affecting much
Low: Leads to luck overriding skill; Increases the "human touch" to the story
5
Difficult question. I liked your input for a lot of things, but randomness is cool too.
23. On a scale of -5 to 5, how much anthropomorphism/anthropocentrism do you expect of unspecified NPCs?
High: More relatable; Easier to interact with(/write?)
Low: Possibly more realistic; Aligns with realism more closely
+2
I need to be able to relate, and this is a game in which we're all gods. Realism isn't necessarily good.
24. On a scale of -5 to 5 (higher being stronger), how strong would you want the Captain Ersatz rule to be?
-5: Require creations to be references?
-4: Abolish it
0: Retain it for possible future amendment (in either direction)
4: Strengthen it
5: Block anything previously existing?
0
I mentioned previously I prefer originality, but I don't think it's possible to be absolutely original.
Open-ended questions:
25. What do you think of secret goals and how they should be rewarded, determined, integrated, &c.?
Secret goals are good, but shouldn't be the be-all-end-all.
They should be determined by spheres, not sure about integration though...
A player can ignore it if they want, but if they achieve it, it shouldn't end the game, but should be rewarded to some extent if achieved. I don't know about specifics at this point
26. What sort of magic system do you want? (I have already prepared a more mechanically developed one to replace the loose, broken old one. It is still highly extensible.)
Magic wasn't something I was necessarily into in the last one, but I'd like one - preferably GM created like the new one to prevent butthurt - to have reasonably specific rules to it such as: how it can be used; who can use it; what misuse does to the user; player ability to influence it and other such things.
27. Any other changes/features you want in the base game?
The original was a fun game, so I think it should be built upon rather than changed.
I would very much prefer to avoid over-burdening KJP again though... not sure how that would be achieved though, short of player-lmits and limitations.