Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part II

This turned out to be a much larger (and I suspect more fruitful) endeavor then my initial 2 part idea led me to believe. So it will not be in 4 parts! This Part will cover the first 3 Themes, and the ideas generated by them.

Born Under a Bad Sign

• Mechanics: A “Omen” roll before an action, broad sense, determines whether that idea was “born” under a bad sign, and has a mechanical benefit.
• Sign = Portend = Fate. A world where characters acknowledge Fate, live with Fate, but, most importantly, do not accept Fate. Fate is something to be combated, contended with. Sometimes it wins, sometimes characters overcome Fate.
• I read this bit on Mouse Guard, specifically post #7

“No magic, not directly. There are some efforts afoot to hack it. IIRC Luke has referred to the weather system (!) as "magic" but I'm not totally clear what he means by that. Probably the fact the player proactively states what the weather will be, rolls, and if he's a good enough Weather Watcher, the player's intent is retconned into the game's ongoing fiction. That's just so ridiculously cool and easy and hackable. I think what you wouldn't get is a magic missiles/fireballs/chain lighting style of tactical magic. Again, probably hackable since the scripted conflict thing in MG is so nice.”

I haven't read Mouse Guard (yet!) but this sparked a huge AHA! Moment for me. A Mechanics like Tools that can be used to add to rolls. Good Role Playing can be rewarded as a Tool (blatant rip off of Mouse Guard.) An Omen or other form of Magic can also be used as a Tool. Skill: Divination roll, Successes can be stored for later use. Shared Prophesy making, with each Player vying for a piece of the Prophesy that plays into their skill set. A form of “Magic” for each faction with a different Skill. Stuff like that...

Calligraphy

• Mechanics: This one has become interwoven with Collapse. The idea is that action “collapses” into a single roll, multiple actions in a turn, but one roll. Just as Kanji start with a basic symbol for a single and simple idea, but layer on more brush strokes to create more complex ideas with one symbol, this aspect of Calligraphy would have the players perform multiple actions, but the more graceful and interconnected the ideas are, the more would be awarded as a “tool” for the action.
• Calligraphy/Choreography: A faction that places action before thought, the smoother and more fluid their actions, the better. Tying this to kata and performance as an idea for a Magic type for one of the factions.
• Calligraphy = Symbols = Signs. Calligraphy as a method of Divination.
• Calligraphy as a coordinated series of movements, a single action being the most basic, but later actions adding further meaning. A combination of actions forming a whole greater then the parts.

Collapse

• Mechanics: Already touched on this one. Intend to use a Dice Pool system with the ability to gain multiple successes. One idea to “collapse” the dice, possible to increase difficulty, perform multiple actions, etc. If the threshold for success is 3 or lower on a d10, then normally multiple 0, 1, 2 and 3's would yield a success. In a “collapse” the dice would be ordered in ascending (!) order, so maybe 0, 0, 3, 4, 8, 8. A collapse of 2 would group them as such [0,0], [3,4], [8,8]. Take the highest of the groupings, so 0, 4, 8. If the threshold was 3, then 1 success. A collapse 3 would yield [0,0,3] and [4,8,8]. Still a success. Collapse 4 would yield a single set [0,0,3,4] with a result of 4, failure.
• The Great Collapse. Dark Ages on steroids. A setting in which the society has failed and been plunged into a millennium of darkness, stagnation, a century to century struggle to regain footing. Progress has not yet begun again. The Age right before the Age of Enlightenment.
• Or Alternatively, just after the Great Collapse. The moment right as it becomes clear this is no ordinary pause in Progress, but a free fall into the abyss.
• Collapse under the weight. Collapse, an external force that drives play. Will the characters succumb, or will they persevere? What is the weight. What is the mechanism that represents Collapse. How do they characters contend with Collapse. Or maybe the Collapse isn't of the characters, but of the locations they visit, They must stem the tide and keep the communities from collapsing...