I didn't want to call this a Game Destroyer thread, because 14thknight seems to want a more fixing/revision/brainstorming-oriented thread. I figured I'd start this up on the theory that there are definitely things I liked about Stained Glass, and I'd like to see some of those problems get worked out. Also I'm counting this as a deposit in the karma bank of Getting People To Give Me Feedback.
So, my basic reaction to Stained Glass is that it's a really interesting concept that needs to be brutally revised. The core of the game seems to be the theme of "what is moral in a given situation," with players judging one anothers' actions. This is a really strong idea, and gives a clear guide to what the game should be about. Other strong ideas are the knights trying to be canonized, and the code of the knights which is also their attributes.
In my only-moderately-humble opinion, everything else has to go - or at least be seriously questioned. If you can't make a case about why it ties directly into these themes, it doesn't belong in the game. For example, your resolution system is broken because it doesn't reflect what the players should be doing (judging each other morally), not just because it's mechanically problematic (although it also is!).
Here's the degree to which I think you should be questioning: do players really portray different knights competing to be sainted? Somehow the competition between players doesn't seem to fit with the feel of your Code. The way you have things set up, the players have no motivation to help each other out, but I feel that brother (and sister!) knights would feel otherwise.
So, in the spirit of radical brainstorming, here are a couple of things you might consider:
- The GM plays a single knight, and the other players portray the virtues. Each player is arguing for their own virtue, and players are rewarded based on whose virtue most affected the knight's eventual canonization. All players lose if the knight behaves badly!
- The players are themselves the council who must decide if a knight is worthy of being canonized, and the GM (or one player at a time, taking turns) brings a knight before them. Each player is responsible for introducing obstacles related to one of the virtues.
- The players' knights each embody a different virtue, and all of them must be sainted in order for some great benefit to come to their order.
I'm not sure that any of these are the right idea (though I'm kind of fond of the second!), but I hope it shows you the kind of questions I hope you'll ask.
As for system, I think that before you try to design a system, you need to ask yourself what it means for a knight to be good and worthy of sainthood. Is the ideal for a knight balance among the qualities? Is it being extraordinary in one or two ways? Is it demonstrating that they're willing to suffer for virtue? Your answer to the question "What does it mean to be virtuous" will actually help you figure out what the tensions in your system might be, and what success and failure might look like.
I do think that at the end of the game, successful players should get to describe what their stained glass window portrays. Fun.
Obviously there's much more to be said, but these kinds of radical questions need to be answered before we can work out any details. 14thknight, is this the kind of thing you were hoping for?