u/CodCareful6616

I think it is a great question how a perfect god could've created us, imperfect people to ruin each other - and more importantly, why? I have yet to understand it and hope I will get closer with this thread.

I have never understood how any sin - even the worst - could merit infinite suffering. We are finite beings, so approriate judgement shall be finite. I am/have been a calvinist. May I ask, does universalism have any major differences except for the hell doctrine?

So basically I am new to special types of studying. I was just fine with rereading for my past 7 years of my education, but my school has this 'wonderful' tradition of having a huge ass verbal test at the end of each year, yknow, 12 themes, I will randomly get one. I have basically rewrote them in essay style in my notebook from my notes, so I know them vaguely. Now, how do I study at this type of rate? What is the best method to studying? I heard something called 'active recall' but without context? Is that the best?

TL;DR: How should I implement Drives and Lines into my system?

Heyya, everyone! I would say Im quite of a beginner at design, even though I have been creating a couple games over the course of the last 3-4 years. While I do speak english relatively well, I'm not native, and I might make mistakes, so excuse me for them.

My latest project is Court of Shadows(working title), in which the PC's (and NPC's) are part of the court of a Noble house in a feudal space society (yes, I took heavy inspiration from the Dune2d20), but I plan on making the setting interchangeble (like you could be in the court of a medieval king). They aren't vassals, but rather Marshals, Spymasters, Advisors and the like. They can work together or have seperate agendas, even fighting against each other. The game would have a heavy focus on scheming, politics and not much combat, but still some, probably.

A little about the system, so you have a better picture.

Stats & Reputation: Your 3 base stats are Physique for everything physical, lol. Force (working name) for direct confrontation, arguments and authority and Guile (working name) for plotting, spying, and subtlety. I also have a stat Wisdom, which reflects education and well... wisdom. I am torn between including this, or not. I do not wish to make stats such as Charisma or Intelligence. Reputation has 2 stats, Renown-fame, belovedness etc, and Infamy-fearsomeness, dread.

Resolution-2d10. 1st die: success/failure, the lower, the better. You usually use a stat, rarely a reputation to determine maximum roll to success. 2nd die: and/but, shameless stealing lol. Basically, if you roll a success on the first one under X: success, but(drawback) over X, success and(extra good). And vice versa for failures. It guarantees narrative advancement all the time, and no 'I fail, now what'. Im not sure how to determine and/but thresholds.

I am open to critique/recommendations on these too, of course, especially on the dice system, as it's quite novel and thus possibly horrible, but it's not the main point of the post.

Now, as the system is rather about drama and politics than 'slashing and cutting until it hurts really badly', the characters need pretty well defined personalities, and for that, I have 'borrowed/refined' Drives and Lines. Drives are motivations, goals and beliefs of a character, while lines are moral tenets, which they 'never cross' and Im at a dilemma with it's mechanics. I obviously want people to be encouraged to go along with their own character, however why would you ever not do what your morals say if there is absolutely no drawback.

I'm open to recommendations, or even new sub systems. As seen in the flair, I am mainly looking for theory but mechanics also! Am I overcomplicating it?