Alternate Realities Spiritualism

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Spiritualism
A Modular Rules Supplement
for the Alternate Realities Role-Playing System
by Karim Nassar
Draft 4/6/2002
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 Alternate Realities Citation
Statement
"Luminous Beings
are we; not this
crude matter!"
AR Citation Format: [MRS] Spiritualism
(Karim Nassar)
Parents: [PRG] the Alternate Realities
Primary Reality Guide (Carter Butts, Karim
Nassar, and Brian Rayburn)
Notes: This document is a child of the
Primary Reality Guide, and inherits all rules
specified therein unless indicated otherwise. This
version is an alpha level document, and as such is
likely to contain errors and omissions. A more
recent version may be available from the author.
Disclaimer
[Insert Standard Disclaimer here]
Introduction
This is a collection of rules designed to
add a spiritual dimension to characters and other
AR Objects in RGs that require methods of
handling Spiritual Powers, Deities, and other
"real" manifestations of spirituality as opposed to
purely cultural or psycho-social manifestations.
This MRS will explore ways of incorporating into
a role-playing campaign such elements as divine
character objects including gods and demons,
divinations and priest craft, spiritual energies
such as chi and divine wrath, channeling, and
divine intercessions.
As a Modular Rules Supplement, Spiritu-
alism is not bound to a particular Reality, so these
rules should be flexible enough to be find applica-
tions in many different types of campaigns and
realities from High Fantasy to Four-Color Martial
Arts to Science Fantasy. Clever reality designers
will find ways to apply this MRS to create rules
for systems of magic, to achieve elements of
horror, and to adapt certain popular science
fantasy mythoi from long, long ago and far away.
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Level 1 Spiritual Attributes
The Spiritual Character
Ki (Ki). Ki represents the innate power of
a character's spirit. In spiritual confrontations, Ki
can be thought of as analogous to Strength and
Dexterity in the physical realm. Ki can be used
to manipulate objects and inflict damage both in
physical terms and in spiritual terms.
Voice (Vce). Voice describes the nature and
strength of the character's connection with a deity
and or other characters, and the character's
closeness to the deity. Voice determines the
character's ability to channel another character's
actions and act as a vessel and projector for
another character's Ki, as well as the likelihood
that the deity will hear requests from the charac-
ter.
New Attributes
In order to facilitate the portrayal of a
spiritual aspect in a RG, certain characteristics
and conventions must be invented to allow
characters to interact on this dimension. This
MRS will introduce a fifth attribute dimension
which acts in parallel to the existing four dimen-
sions of Mental, Physical, Psychosocial, and
Sensory. The Fifth dimension, aptly called
Spiritual, describes a set of attributes that de-
scribe all characteristics of the character's Spirit
or Soul. These attributes inherit all characteris-
tics of attributes of the appropriate level from the
PRG.
Fastness (Fst). Fastness refers to the
solidity of the character's spiritual aspect. It can
be thought of as a rating of Endurance for the
character's Soul. Fastness is vital in resisting
spiritual attacks and attacks on the soul itself.
Virtue (Vir). Virtue measures the degree to
which a character is consistent within his or her
own particular belief and perhaps more impor-
tantly, the degree to which the character actually
embodies that belief. Virtue will affect many
aspects of spiritual action, but it primarily con-
cerns the relationship between a character and
the deity or deities that the character is linked to.
In general, the higher the Virtue, the more likely
the character's deity is to act on the character's
behalf.
Level 0 Spiritual Attribute
Level 2 Spiritual Attributes
Holiness (Hol). This is the most general of
spiritual attributes and is simply an overall mea-
sure of spiritual capability. Although the word
"holiness" may carry some connotations and
associations, Players and GMs are reminded that
this attribute in no way reflects any alignment or
association between a character and a particular
deity. Rather, it reflects the degree to which the
character is "spiritually sound."
Projection (Prj). Projection measures the
character's spiritual force, and the ability to
project Ki onto other objects. Projection is
specifically analogous to Strength
Control (Ctr). As its name implies, Control
describes the character's ability to finely control
his Ki, and thus acts as a sort of spiritual Dexter-
ity.
Sensitivity (Sns). Sensitivity deals specifi-
cally with the character's ability to sense Ki and
other spiritual characteristics. In the Spiritual
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realm, Sensitivity is similar to Perception.
Channeling (Cnl). This attribute measures
the character's appropriateness as a Vessel for
channeling Ki from an outside source, whether
from a Deity, an object, or another character.
Communion (Cmn). Communion reflects
the ease with which a character can meld the
whole of his Spirit with another for the purposes
of communication whether the communion takes
the form of a Vulcan Mind Meld or The Lord's
Prayer.
Fortitude (Frt). Fortitude is a measure of
Spiritual Stamina. Under certain circumstances
(which have strong parallels with physical
Stamina), The character may accumulate Angst,
which is an indicator of Spiritual exhaustion.
The rules for accumulation and dissipation of
Angst are similar to those of Stress and Fatigue
and will be discussed later in this MRS.
Free Will (FWl). Very different from the
Psychosocial attribute Will, Free Will describes
the character's degree of cosmic independence.
That is, to what degree is the character's Spirit
or Soul an independant entity? How much
Autonomy does the character's Soul possess? A
Very low Free Will means that the character is
little more than a Spiritual extension of another
being, while a Very high Free Will (usually
reserved for Deity-like characters) implies a level
of spiritual autonomy that in some sense tran-
scends any form of imposition, control, and
perhaps even understanding.
As such, SActs are computed based exclusively
on Spiritual Attributes. To determine a
character's SAct macro, average DRF(Ki) and
DRF(Fst). Multiply that figure by 2 and round
up to the nearest ½.
Spiritual Macros
Aiua (Aiua). Aiua is a measure of "struc-
tural" integrity of a character's Spirit. Any
actions that cause damage to the charater's Soul
directly affect Aiua. Aiua=DRF(Fst)´10,000.
Aiua is directly analogous to Hits and inherits
the rules for Damage, Incapacitation and Scrap,
and Healing for Hits described in the PRG.
More will be said about Aiua, Fortitude, and
Angst later in this MRS.
Spiritual Actions (SActs). Spiritual Act is
similar to the physical Act macro, but refers to
actions taken exclusively in a spiritual capacity.
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Deities And Powers
followers. A Deity's Code is the yardstick
against which any affiliated character's Virtue is
measured. A Deity's Code is normally expressed
in a set of Goals and Taboos, Drives and Con-
straints. The Code could be simply expressed or
could be buried and obfuscated by texts and
tenets of religion. Keep in mind that a Deity's
Code may not have anything to do with its own
Goals and Intentions, it is simply a codification
of the rules by which an affiliated character can
remain in the Deity's good graces.
Deity Defined
Any Reality that makes use of this
supplement is likely to contain deities. Whether
or not the deities actually take the form of gods
is up to the Reality Designer. For the purposes
of this Supplement, a Deity or Power is defined
as any Non-Player-Object containing at least
Spiritual Attributes and the supplemental at-
tributes of Code and Scope. A deity's attributes
are generally scaled so high that there is little
need to even record them. A Deity may have
physical, mental or psychosocial attributes, but
not necessarily. Indeed, a Deity need not even
be an intelligence, per se. Some examples of
Deities are Yahweh, Pallas Athene, Shiva, and
The Force.
Deities generally act through and on the
behalf of those characters that are affiliated with
them.
The terms Deity and Power are used
interchangeably throughout this MRS, and
generally, these terms will be used to describe
the "source" component of any source-target
interaction of spiritual attributes. While either
the source or the target may be a character, for
the purposes of convention, the Character and
the Follower will be used interchangeably to
mean the "target" of the interaction.
Scope is defined as the subset of Objects
and Events within a given Reality over which a
given Deity may exercise its Ki to directly alter
the very shape of Reality. Thus Demeter's scope
includes the harvest, matters pertaining directly
to fertility, etc.; this scope allows her to guaranty
good crops on the one hand, and to strike an
enemy barren on the other (subject to the limita-
tions of her Ki). Objects and Events within a
Deity's scope are potentially subject to its direct
influence without the need to work through
cause and effect, while anything outside of the
Deity's scope cannot be affected directly.
Dam'blesh's scope consists of fire, war, and
drought. Angered by the recent actions of a
tribe of worshippers living in the Arbathian
mountains, Dam'blesh considers his options for
revenge. Because of his scope, Dam'blesh
could attempt to bring drought upon the tribe,
to interfere with their use of fire (possibly
burning down their village or, more ironically,
causing them to freeze to death by denying
them access to his sacred flame), or to turn the
tide of war against them (not a useful option
here, as there are no other tribes nearby).
Notably, Dam'blesh could not punish the tribe
by means of earthquake, flood, or
disease...these matters are not within his
purview, and Dam'blesh could not control them
(though he might persuade some other god to
do his dirty work...).
Code and Scope
Code and Scope are two supplemental
attributes that help to define a deity and the
nature of its affiliation and interaction with the
Reality. All Deities will have Code and Scope,
though for some they may well be poorly de-
fined. Note that Non-Deities may also have
these attributes (even Player Characters!),
especially those with strong Spiritual
charactersitics who are likely to attract followers
and penitents.
Code is a description of the aspects that are
held as the ideal of embodiment for the deity's
It is worth noting that scope is independent
of the abilities of any forms or manifestations of
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