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this is a real departure for me: a game that heavily involves christianity. the point of the game is to portray knights struggling between their religious oaths and their fealty sworn to a lord or king.

to play, you need:
- at least one (1) index card per player
- seven (7) d6's per player --> you should have some red, some white, and some either purple or green

the historical period: 13th century Europe (continental or British). each player portrays a knight who has sworn fealty to a liege of some kind and has gained retainers and followers. each story involves the completion of some task (in the questing style, so a religious and/or martial objective) and the exploration of the spiritual struggles along the way.

there are no character sheets per se, although each player needs an index card to write a bit about the knight, hir liege, hir available retainers (rather, what services they can provide, such as medicine, repairs, scouting, etc.) and the quest zhe has chosen to embark upon.

a quick note: if somebody wants to play a female knight, that's cool. it's up to the group to decide the level of sexism arrayed against knightly women, if it's even a relevant issue, etc.

when you start, each player has seven dice to put between two categories: Heaven and Earth. Heaven dice are red ones and white ones (mix the colors as evenly as possible), and they represent a knight's virtuous nature, hir piety, and hir potential as a martyr. Earth dice are either green or purple (choose one color or mix the two). They represent a knight's wealth, the size of hir entourage, and the favor of hir lord.

red and white stand for the wine and bread of Catholic eucharist, respectively. purple is royalty and green is nature. there's an opposition here between the Spartan trappings of piety and the bounty of material excess.

okay, so at any time, a knight has no more than 7 dice, and these dice are from either Heaven or Earth. Whenever the knight makes an important decision that chooses God and piety over Man and fealty, lose one Earth die and gain one Heaven die. Choosing earthly duties to lord and vassals means the loss of a Heaven die and the gain of an Earth die.

resolution: in a conflict that calls for willpower, wisdom, temperance, or some other mental/social/spiritual trait, a player rolls hir knight's Heaven dice. each result of 4+ indicates a success. a conflict calling for raw strength, social influence, sharp senses, wealth, possessions, or some other crude, physical solution requires the player to roll Earth dice.

challenges are rated 1-5, meaning that truly pious (or truly vulgar) knights can surpass anything that the world of man can throw at them.

each time a knight commits a serious crime, regardless of the Heaven/Earth split, zhe gains one Sin. Sins come from the following six sources: cruelty (includes selfishness), treachery, weakness (includes sloth as well as fatigue/bodily failure), foolishness, blasphemy, and cowardice. a knight must be brave, pious, charitable, wise, honorable, and strong to fulfill hir debt to God and king. When a knight has accrued seven Sins, zhe meets Final Judgment. a player may remove one of a knight's Sins by spending an Invocation (see below).

at any time that a player has all 7 dice the same type (Heaven or Earth) zhe gains access to Invocations. Invocations involve performing a dramatic hand gesture, may be used at any time, and each use must be noted.

A Heavenly knight's player may make the sign of the Cross to invoke God's judgment, causing the conflict in the scene to resolve in favor of the pure of heart, and it's doom for the wicked! An Earthly knight's player may extend an open palm (forcefully) to invoke the cruel whims of nature; the conflict at hand resolves in favor of the side with the greatest temporal power (physical strength, wealth, influence, whatever's appropriate for the conflict).

When a knight has made 12 invocations, zhe meets Final Judgment. a Heavenly knight at Judgment is ready for the Lord's embrace, and must sacrifice hirself to save others at the next available opportunity. this sacrifice must involve a severe or total loss of status/wealth/power OR a mortal injury. an Earthly knight's Judgment means that the character's godless ways have caught up with hir; at the next opportunity, the knight's status/wealth/power/physical wellbeing is severely diminished or destroyed by either a) the revelation of some monstrous secret or b) the swift stroke of a righteous swordarm, toppling the foul fellow.

these are the basic concepts i wanted to throw out there. thanks!!

one more thing: i'm tossing around the concept that knights must receive Holy Communion daily. in an established community (or in a large enough entourage or military campaign), knights can always find a priest to perform the High Mass. the majority of the ritual is color more than anything else, but the knights' consumption of the sanctified bread and wine is the important bit. [as all good Catholics know, you have to at least show up for Communion!]

failing to participate in Mass counts as choosing Man over God for purposes of the dice pool. it's not a Sin (note the big s) but it definitely counts against you. if a knight develops a reputation for failing to observe rituals (Mass being the most important in Hand of God), then hir player should mark hir down for a Sin of Blasphemy. nasty!

another thing that's more Color than anything else: in the medieval period, there was so little potable water that people drank alcohol all the live-long day! most every meal scene, in addition to Mass, banquet toasts, mingling with the common soldiers, etc. will feature knights boozing it up (but not too much *wink*).

i started out with Wine and Bread being separate stats; if they are, i think that Wine is perseverance and zeal, while Bread is wisdom and temperance. not sure if i want to add that in, but i just might if the Wine theme isn't coming in enough as-is...[/u]

Hi Bob,

I find myself intrigued by the subtle combinations of miracle from invocation and retribution from sin. The delicate aromas from your preparations are mingling in a tantalizing fashion. I also find myself interested in what effect the colors of the dice have in the game, or if on the contrary they are solely symbollic.

well, i'm stirring in some dice colors right now. *stirrrrr*

okay, looking good. now, before you folks at home start adding in green or purple, you might want to think about adding in some story motifs. a little "peril found in nature" can get some spice going, but "wealth begets moral tyranny" will really knock the lid off the pot.

*sizzle* i think that the colors can provide strong motifs, but beyond that they're symbolic; they reinforce the dichotomy facing our aristocratic warriors.

i'm working on further details of Invocation and what exactly differentiates Heavenly and Earthly dice. one hors'doeuvre i can put on the table is this: Heavenly dice must be used in honorable, righteous actions; Earthly dice preclude a raw, physical, uncouth manner of conduct.