Why are you special?

I like to think that I think a lot about how stuff works in my games. In fact, I like to think that I think too much about thinking about how much I think about how stuff works in my games, and yet I had not until recently thought about thinking about an in universe explanation for why our Heroes of Hell have unique mechanics. Unthinkable.

I had thought from time to time about why the PC's would end up going on an awesome quest in Hell and being able to make a big change, but never quite got down to level of why each of them individually were able to do the awesome things. In this post, I hope to explain to you, my avidly dear readers, why each of the characters has their power and acts in the way they do.

The Bard:
The power of the Bard comes from their belief in the power and reality of their own story and truth. The Bard is an artist who believes that what they say is true and worth sharing. For this reason, in Hell their story is true and worth sharing, meaning they have the ability to sculpt their own reality in a way no other character has.

The Crusader:
The power of the Crusader comes from their belief and representation of an idea. Instead of trying to understand many frameworks and thoughts, the Crusader takes one and becomes the master of it, applying its reality to all facets of the world. This single minded determination bends reality to fit into their understanding, and gives the Crusader dominion over their singular interpretation.

The Fake:
The power of the Fake comes from their understanding that the ultimate function of something is more important than how that function comes about. Nine times out of ten, reality deals with black boxes whose content is unimportant. By knowing and understanding this, the Fake has the power to change the outside of a box without bothering with the inner workings, and so has the power to manipulate how they are perceived and function in the shallow world of Hell.

The Genius:
The power of the Genius comes from their belief that given the time, resources, and will, they can do anything they wish to. They are much more engineer than scientist: more Elon than Einstein. This means that the Genius is a master of reality, who can wield the most powerful forces and cause the most impressive effects, as long as they have enough minutes in the day, dollars in the bank, and shits to give.

The Lord:
The power of the Lord comes from their belief that they should be the one to lead. Whether through birthright or earned through practice, the Lord knows that they should be in charge. Though they are not above getting their hands dirty, they know that their place is at the head of the table, giving orders, passing judgment, and planning big plans. This gives them dominion over those looking for someone to give their services too, those looking for someone who is fit to rule.

The Priest:
The power of the Priest comes from their knowledge of the importance of ideas. Not just knowledge of what is, but of the frameworks and understandings which we put together to represent these things. If they were to write a book it would be called Maps of Meaning,  and it would detail how to create an ideology which could change the way that people look at the world around them. They are able to shape these ideas and understand and effect reality in a way that someone who didn't understand this never could.

I actually do think this image is pretty cool, even if I hate Peterson.

The Rebel:
The power of the Rebel comes from their understanding of the power of relationships. Everyone says its not what you know, its who you know, but only the Rebel is able to take these relationships and understand them well enough to turn them into power.

The Thief:
The power of the Thief comes from their understanding that the concept of individual ownership is not as important as we think it is. Of course this is clear when you take physical objects from people, but it is also true of stealing ideas, copying looks or style, and appropriating techniques and approaches. Even if one has a quality, that does not mean that they alone are that quality, or that it can not be taken from them. By understanding that one does not own beauty, the Thief is able to be beautiful like no one else is.

The Villain:
The power of the Villain comes from their belief that they are special; that they are the chosen one who can on their own cause great changes to the world. The Villain believes that they are above others, they are unique amongst sameness, they are a wolf among sheep. This power means that the Villain are able to put themselves above others and do things which the "plebeians" can not.

A big part of why I ended up thinking about and writing about this particular idea is first reading this article and then Alan Moore's Promethea and thinking about their connection to "self-referential reality" and specifically the characters I made to inhabit and represent ideas and ideals in my Hell game. As always, if anyone reads this and has thoughts please bother me with them, as talking about these ideas is probably my favorite thing other than making jokes about smearing vanilla ice-cream all over my naked body.