Redemption in a Fantasy setting means Evil can Change.

 

Does the concept of Redemption fit a Fantasy setting? The hero can change but the villain cannot? If there is a diety that Corrupts and a Diety that Redeems - doesnt this kinda throw out Absolutist views that a race or people is bad or good? Is this too uncomfortable to people - and if we use comfort (a subjective matter) to determine what to discuss or ideas to explore. 

ChatGPT4 Help me clarify my thoughts. 

Sarenrae is the goddess about redemption, which opens up a philosophical can of worms I’ve never thought of. Particularly the role of Evil races if there is a DIETY OF REDEMPTION. As there is a diety of redemption there should be a diety of corruption. Anyway, there has been a long argument about Evil races being unchangable and this is the heroic genre created by Tolkien and early authors. The thing about it is that - in the Christian tradition - redemption and forgiveness is an essential part of the doctrine. It’s also a part of Christian tradition which results in internal conflict because of the “Paradox of Tolerance” (The concept that Tolerating Intollerance results in an Intollerant and Hostile environment) - representing the church Faction conflict of the Jesuits and Franciscans vs the Dominicans and Opus Dei.  

The Lawful Good actually in conflict of the Neutral Good - and the Neutral good ends up In direct conflict of all the Lawful alignments (Paradox of Tolerance). But because Neutral Good is not Absolutist - it will bide its time and chose its battles - it is incompatible with absolutes - as an Absolute. 

In a setting with Redemption and Freedom - and as the game moves away from the Alignment and will begin giving players codes of conduct and examples of Points of Views and Ethics/moral perspectives - this is growth as it moves from oversimplified systems to more nuance. 

Nuance and Complexity. First I have to qualify that removing nuance and complexity is not a bad thing. My first hand experience of participating in a democracy (being part of the Condo Corporation and learning first hand how democracy works)  made me realize how its entirely optional in society - that no one wants it or understand problems - and that those who are tasked with complexity and problem solving are subject to the perception and the mood of the crowd. Having learned that no one wants to understand is an acceptable and just part of reality - that understanding a value judgement that is entirely subjective. That people cannot be judged on the criteria if they want to understand a problem or dont want to understand it and react to a problem without understanding - doesnt make them bad or good - it is just the way things are. Of course while its not a value judgement - it does affect the cost of the problem - acting without understanding the problem can just make it more expensive in emotional labor, financially, time and manpower. 

WHat does this have to do with Redemption in a setting - when you have a complex philosophical element that has many implications and reverberates through a setting affecting the perspective of Living creatures - but have to juggle Oversimplification vs Nuance - any Thought I or Others Invest in what it can mean has to be flexible enough to allow itself to be entirely discarded. 

Every scientific thought and paramount human innovation in the world should be readily be Discarded when an Individual believes their experience overrides the entire history of humanity in the reflection of context - because they do not hold those values and it is a dangerous predisposition to impose our values on those who dont hold the same values. Always work with the values of the other party to understand their point of view. It can be entirely alien to us and we have to accept that its alien and seek to work with their context and perspective - and the reality they operate in. 

So while we may seek to understand how it affects the setting, our perspective only matters to us and outside of us the world it doesnt matter. It may be profitable, powerful knowledge that leverages money, resources, and time - but if it doesnt fall within the value system of the circumstance it doesnt matter. 

GPT4 

Certainly, Justin! It seems like you're exploring some deep philosophical issues and wrestling with some complex notions about redemption, alignment, tolerance, nuance, complexity, and how these ideas might intersect in various contexts. Let me attempt to break down and clarify your thoughts:

### 1. Redemption and Alignment in Fantasy Settings:

- **Redemption in Fantasy**: You're reflecting on the concept of a deity of redemption, like Sarenrae, and contrasting this with a deity of corruption. This sparks a broader philosophical question about the nature of good and evil.

- **Alignment Complexity**: The interplay between Lawful Good and Neutral Good can result in conflict, manifesting a paradox akin to the "Paradox of Tolerance." This might be illustrated through different church factions.

- **Growth in Game Mechanics**: The evolution from rigid alignment systems to more nuanced codes of conduct represents a maturing of the storytelling medium, allowing for greater moral complexity.

### 2. Nuance and Complexity in Society:

- **Value of Simplicity**: You acknowledge that removing complexity isn't necessarily bad. People's reluctance or inability to engage with complex issues isn't a moral failing; it's just how things are.

- **Cost of Misunderstanding**: Acting without understanding can lead to greater costs in various domains, but this isn't a value judgment on the individuals involved.

### 3. Application to Redemption in a Setting:

- **Flexibility of Thought**: Any deep philosophical insight must be flexible enough to be discarded if it doesn't align with the values of those involved.

- **Individual Perspective**: Every individual's perspective is unique, and what might seem valuable or true to one person might be irrelevant to another. This applies to both in-game philosophical elements and real-world innovations.

### Conclusion:

The overall theme here seems to be a contemplation of how complex philosophical ideas like redemption can be explored within a fictional setting, and how these explorations mirror real-world complexities. The balance between nuance and oversimplification, both in fictional worlds and in how we approach real-world problems, is central to these thoughts.

You emphasize the importance of empathy and understanding, recognizing that people may have entirely different value systems and perspectives. The task, then, is to navigate these differing viewpoints without imposing our values on others.

Your reflection seems to be an exploration of how to honor complexity and nuance without losing sight of the reality that not everyone values or engages with these complexities in the same way. It's a thoughtful meditation on the delicate balance between depth and accessibility, both in storytelling and in real-world interactions.

Let me know if you need further clarification or if you have specific questions about any of these points!

High Technical Debt - Ends doesnt justify the means - too much Game in the Brain.

 To a Gamer - Ends Doesnt Justify the Means = High Technical DEBT means. 

Sustainable Means (Low or No Tech Debt methods and principles) means I CAN KEEP ROLLING THE DICE - with lower critical failure. (minor setbacks and opportunity costs are acceptable risks). 

A gamer with a grasp of statistics realizes that - ethical means - means no critical failure consequence. Then every roll without Critical Failure can move the needle a little bit more to a WIN with every roll. 

the Min-maxer who will pursue OPTIMAL goals will pursue Low Tech Debt Actions (Ethical and moral actions) they can Afford to Do - creating as many opportunities to ROLL. 

• Getting to Know people. 
• Helping out, within their limits
• navigating ethics and doing no harm or minimizing harm. 
• Learning and experimenting within our means.  

Whats interesting is that this kind of life - is Playing the Game - engaging, mindful and present, planning, and REVELLING in the small wins and LAUGHING at the failures (along with friends and loved ones). Enjoying the Journey - we play not to win but to experience. Too much Game in the Brain. 

Reflections - What makes it easier for me to run games?

I'm a fan of Seth Skorkowsky, and really like being prepared while being very much open to what the PCs have in store.

What I would like to happen when I run a game is the following.  

1. I'd download the adventure and go through the Outline and Preparation. The Prep is in a Bullet form, like a Recipe. It has all the basic ingredients there available so I can start making preparations. 
2. It comes with Images - Ideally the Vistas the PCs will visit. It will save me the 0.5 to 2-3 mins of researching and downloading or god-forbid making them. While my players dont mind really ugly drawings in Roll20 I want something to put them in the mood. 
1. Thats why Nicco and I are studying Procedural Cities and Worlds with Geometery Nodes. (Eventually procedural Ships that follow the ship building rules we set out)
2. I want it that I have a bunch of Images, I upload it to Roll20 and done. I can have a scene a picture. 
   
3. It comes with Handouts. Players can read it. What happens is Mike or one of the players read the hand out to the rest of us. The GM catches a break and everyone starts getting info from the Hand outs. 
1. The GM notes talks about what is hidden or obfuscated in the clues of the handouts. Like if the gov't of the world is not what it appears to be, instead of One faction being in power its actually a puppet. 
2. There are Handouts and Information DESIGNED so that the GM can have it open per scene.
4. I will read the outline - I get the bullet points in case I missed anything. Details are in bullets - explanations are in Pros. I will not embed information Items that cannot be summarized as bullets (this is from my work in Quality management Systems - make it super EASY because GMs and Players are Juggling Work and Responsibilities to play - they PAY you to save them time and  make it easy). 
5.  Character Portraits are ready - I still do People sketches (Ipad 9 and apple-pen 1 procreate, Nicco hopefully the XPpen 16 15") and I still love doing character sketches. Of course given its hard scifi I want some fairly detailed Vacc Suits (which Nicco and I made). A combination of "Thispersondoesntexist" + Themes + random character traits + Tracing over our 3D models to make the Vacc Suits and Tech clear and distinict. (I want a level of detail that a fellow geek will debunk and will say - It should have this and that so that we make a BETTER suit - like how Andy Weir wrote the martian).
6. Warm ups - the problem with Hard Scifi - given how niche it is - we need warm ups. Stuff that is Familiar but we can control 1 or 2 elements that is different. We dont want to overwhelm. The adventure is written with WARM UPS - side quests to demonstrate how the setting is different. 
1. Mneme World Generator - means Travelling around the solar system. Finding an Asteroid or Planetoid or Minor World. 
2. Mneme Variant Combat Rules - a sample combat - which is shocking in how different the process flow is (Referee/GM doesnt roll).
7. Open Ended Hooks - Who done its and Mystery games where anyone can have different key challenges can be embedded in the adventure. Its like when Seth starts talking about how differently the adventure can be run - All these possibilities can be noted - and written with some key priorities or risks - things the GM has to keep in mind when making modifications. 
1. This allows Players never to be able to fully anticipate the adventure EVEN if they read the material. Options that make someone who read this book Trapped by making Optimal decisions that create further complications. 
2. This MEANS other GMS can watch the video or play through and never be spoiled. This means understanding the STRUCTURE of how the challenges play out, things escalate, and players find catharsis. 
8. Project Based Adventure Hooks. I doesnt have to involve killing and unethical activity, but its just HARD MODE when the players apply conflict management, EQ, problem solving and their technical abilities when it applies to Anti-Patterns. 
    

Its hard to Write a project management type adventure - and not do it or be involved with it everyday.  

I like doing this (Writing about Project management type adventures), but I also like teaching OJTs from many different schools and all the many courses to test how adaptable I can be (and fall on my face). I like doing my job - despite the ambiguous complex social conflicts and the incredibly scarce resources - I think I cannot write without these really hard problems plaguing me.


What! I want to push this kind of adventure AND make it hardish scifi. Crazy right? Why cant the adventure be "Set up a Mining Facility in the Brown dwarf found between the gulf of space between Sol and this system." - Freaking RPGs made many assumptions on how Fleets, Armys and KINGDOMS are run - what is the Operations of a Mining Facility in a Point in time that can change and may have different SOPs from different Corporations? 

I guess you have to be so practiced in Writing Problem Statements and Summarizing Challenges and the Chief resource Constraints (Theory of Constraints) its not a terrible chore - but like a normal bodily function.

I want that someone reads another persons' problem statement or report and sees it as an adventure and can imagine the feelings people were going through (How to write non-Fiction from the great courses). They see - they feel the problem, the stakes, and the weight - and know the risks and odds. They know the scarcity of attention and resources - and how much its rolling the dice - but you cant see the dice results.

Business Model: Core is perpetually updated - things you can produce with core pays for Core's support.

 What would 5 years of doing this success look like (we would both be 48, by the 5th year, many of our friends would be pushing 60)? Anything can happen - nicco and i can just get sick and wont have the time and attention to do this. 

• Nicco at 8,000usd/yr from the sales and commissions.
• I can spend about 6,000-8,000usd a year on freelancers for the output.  
• that's 2500 sales of 10usd/book per year (we bring our products to their full price as everyone who bought it at half gets updates and free stuff attached to the core products). 
• Success is 25,000 sales of Assets created by people using our tools or building those tools are generated (we don't get any monetary thing from it except the permission to BUILD ontop of what they have built ontop of; and they can build over and on top of what we build - and a virtuous cycle is sustained). 
• 1000 people buying 5 materials per year. 
• A youtube channel with the thousand people following and getting videos about the products and how better to use it. Youtube Live of Q&A. 
• We do have Product Upgrades - especially when serious rules or usability issues arrises. We have version updates every 6-8 months. The product they initially bought is Upgraded. 
• Complimentary products -  Lets say we create a Core set of Rules and a set of Tools. We upgrade that in the next 5 years continuously. There is no additional revenue because everyone who bought it is getting an Update. How does the game in the brain make money?: Game Assets and packages.   Core Rules updates are forever free - and open Sourced - but specialty products - like additional ship models created using the Core Rules will be new materials that help pay for everything else. 

Core Rules and Tools - will be perpetually updated - and Assets and products - PRODUCED with the core rules and tools will help pay for everything. 

Why would you pay for something when you can produce it all yourself? Because you CAN AFFORD to pay money for TIME. Those who cannot afford money for time - don't need the assets because they can produce it with the core rules.  

I'd probably burn through 3k USD as an investment to make this work as a business model as my "hobby". The way Erpnext, Open Source, Teaching Blender, FreeCad and later on NextCloud, PMBOK, and Ojts/Interns are my hobby. 

The way Open Source projects become virtuous cycles that pay for itself is time and effort until it starts to work - growing and learning.

Also I don't think we will get it right, Someone will get it right - the way each Success is paved by many of those who tried. We will be one of the MANY who tried to make this work till someone will make this work. 

What will I be doing: I'll be in the family business using what I learned from failing or succeeding how to do it in Philippines or Developing world markets. I'll probably want to know Who is going to make the dream work - Open Source RPG where anyone can easily produce a TRPG and have a Large market to access and they can easily convey to their Niche the value of their contribution. 

Whats funny is that this is not much of a success - its not enough to pay for the medical bills someone in their late 40s and 50s would be experiencing. The amount of time in a week they lose for health upkeep, adulting taxes and regulatory obligations, losing tens of hours a week to exercise, therapy, and mental health. Like many Manga Artists who die or live a short life dedicated to their passion - i think the life of someone who designs games - here in the developing world would not be as fortunate. 

It is unfortunate - and These are details I like incorporating in games - how much things really cost - and how much work things really need. Because in the Game I can try over and over again to make it work, to make a better world and learn a little each time of one more weakness or challenge to overcome - even if I cannot afford to take the risks of someone far wealthier than me.

The way we ran that Ship business to the Ground in Traveller and I get to see it in real life - running a business negative as the son of a business owner who can afford to lose those amounts of money. I already saw it in the game - i just got to see it in real life and things that haunt me about what real people do to other people. (when I witnessed a business unit was plundered by its management causing retrenched employees and the officer illiciting sexual favors from one of them, the stealing of employee bonuses). Someone who writes games as the impotent 32 year old person who didn't know what to do when faced with these problems. I am the person who grew in experience and ability in light of that point of my life and how I could have tried to fix it with what I know now. Doing everything to avoid the situation that put us in that. I think in Mark Knights game i felt so strongly about that so when i got to play an Administrative Accounting character I enjoyed it because that was where I was weak and this character was strong at. I saw what the skills were used for - in auditing the problems of the company and investigating the plundering.  The Adventurer or Hero character I had in mind was the guy who could have prevented or repaired that huge problem.  

 

what does high will look like? is being changeable or unchangeable high will?

Is it willpower, resolve, discipline to detect, identify, confront biases and deal with them?

Is a person with such great discipline without bias? 

I think someone with such high stat is more able to identify their biases - with a great effort of will it will be handler their ego and be able to listen and understand another person. I speculate.

A person with great will is not what a lot of movies and stories make it to be someone perfect, full of conviction, and so sure- but someone who is deeply flawed, aware of those flaws, and exerting incredible effort to redeem themselves - or live in a way they can accept.

The perfect Saint ideal removes struggle and the hardship that really happens when you build a life in learning from mistakes and constantly changing and growing.

Got myself meditating what is a high will score? Is it stubbornness? I don't think so, denial is easy - accepting something I don't want to is hard.

The hardest thing is being vulnerable - to want something, enjoy it, and letting it be free and possibly being hurt by it.

Having others have power over oneself is harder. To have agency and to be so hurt by rejection and others requires a lot of will.

So I like role-playing believable characters and I like checking different cultures in how certain ideals, virtues, and vices are presented.

I like pretending in imagination to be certain characters and get in their head.

I like using this to humanize real people as well as so much does to dehuamize others and remove context.