This page is part of the archives of the IshCon.org discussion forums, as they existed from November 2002 to January 2007. Some links and other content references may be outdated or broken. For more information about IshCon, visit www.ishcon.org.
Topic: The Fifth World beta
Part of the forum "Garden Workshop" in the IshCon Forum Archive
| Poster and Date | Post |
| jefgodesky Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 10:12 AM |
Today is precisely six years until the end of the Fourth World, according to the Mayan calendar. We also hit our deadline. The Fifth World beta was released today. http://thefifthworld.com/ http://thefifthworld.com/beta.pdf Things I'm particularly proud of: [list][*:dc7e48529e]You don't have an alignment; instead, you have an MBTI type.[*:dc7e48529e]The Mythos system is designed to be light on the math, heavy on the story.[*:dc7e48529e]It's an open source system--meaning you can change the official rules, not just your house ones.[*:dc7e48529e]First magic system in an RPG based on actual, ethnographic accounts of how magic is done in animistic societies, including shape-shifting, trance-dancing, and entheogens to enter the spirit world.[*:dc7e48529e]The entire character creation and advancement system draws heavily from Jungian psychology.[*:dc7e48529e]No classes, but there are tribes, clans, and secret societies you can belong to and advance in.[*:dc7e48529e]More rules for hunting, cooking and tool-making than for combat[/list:u:dc7e48529e] Do bear in mind, though, that this is a beta. We cut a lot of corners and left out things we fully intend to go back and add. But I believe there's enough here now to get started. If you do try it out, please let us know how your playtest goes at our forums. It's an open source system, so we're staking our success to the idea that many eyes make all bugs shallow. |
| prometheus235 Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 10:24 AM |
congrats, Jason. I am looking forward to playing it soon. I am out of the law office all next week, and we plan to do some playing. I'll keep ya'll informed. |
| surrealswirls Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 12:51 PM |
what did they mean by "fourth world" and "fifth world"? I am not an anthropology buff... |
| Nene Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 01:10 PM |
Hey -- Its Mayan Mythology... they believe in a cyclical history, we are currently in the fourth world and after winter solstice 2012 we will enter the fifth world... Janene |
| jefgodesky Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 01:33 PM |
What attracted me to that name was that it wasn't just Mayan. The whole southwest has myths like this, called "emergence mythology." The numbering is all over the place, but some Mayan groups and the Hopi agreed that this was the Fourth World, so I went with Fifth. |
| surrealswirls Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 01:58 PM |
From the Wiki Quote: The end of the 13th b'ak'tun is conjectured to have been of great significance to the Maya, but does not necessarily mark the end of the world according to their beliefs, but a new beginning or time of re-birth. According to the Popol Vuh, a book compiling details of creation accounts known to the Quiché Maya of the colonial-era highlands, we are living in the fifth world. The Popol Vuh describes the first four creations that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fifth world where men were placed. The Maya believed that the fifth world would end in catastrophe and the sixth and final world would be created that would signal the end of mankind. The last creation ended on a long count of 13.0.0.0.0. Another 13.0.0.0.0 will occur on December 21, 2012, and it has been discussed in many New Age articles and books that this will be the end of this creation, the next pole shift or something else entirely. However, the Maya abbreviated their long counts to just the last five vigesimal places. There were an infinite number of larger units that were usually not shown. When the larger units were shown (notably on a monument from Coba), the end of the last creation is expressed as 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0, where the units are obviously supposed to be 13s twenty places larger than that b'ak'tun. In this age we are only approaching 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.13.0.0.0.0, and the larger places would all need to similarly roll over to 13 again to match the date of the new creation. [6] This is confirmed by a date from Palenque, which projects forward in time to 1.0.0.0.0.0, which will occur on October 13, 4772 (a Friday). The Classic Period Maya likely did not believe that the end of this age would occur in 2012. According to the Maya, there will be a baktun ending in 2012, a significant event being the end of a 13th 400 year period, but not the end of the world. According to them, at least, we are already living in the Fifth world, and the end of the world is going to be in 4772. I still don't really understand what they mean by the end of the world, like the end of an era? Their mythology and calendar systems say that time and history are cyclical, and that 2012 will be the end of a cycle - a cycle of civilization in the Americas perhaps? I will it to be so. I don't understand where they got all this stuff from studying Venus and pregnancy. It's interesting to read, but now I have a billion more questions. Damn effing European a-holes for burning all their books - now we'll never know!! arrggh!! God damn my stupid effing ancestors. |
| jefgodesky Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 02:13 PM |
"SurrealSwirls" wrote: According to them, at least, we are already living in the Fifth world, and the end of the world is going to be in 4772. The Wikipedia entry fails to really account for the diversity in Mayan belief. There was no single Mayan civilization, remember, any more than there is a single global civilization today. The Maya were in a peer polity of vying city-states. Some said we're in the Fifth World, others put us in the Fourth. Like I mentioned, that numbering agrees with the Hopi, which I found interesting, and went with that. Each world lasts for 13 b'ak'tuns, and this world ends on 21 December 2012. That's different from the end of humanity, of course, since humans have survived previous worlds, as well. That one's much further away, as the Wikipedia article indicates. |
| surrealswirls Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 02:18 PM |
oh wow, you made a video game! good lord, I'm slow today... must be this stomach flu. I did not know that there was more than one Mayan civilization though. I thought they were one individual entity, one tribe. And the Hopi were a totally different tribe. And the Aztecs, etc, etc, etc. Didn't they speak different languages? |
| jefgodesky Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 02:30 PM |
Quote: oh wow, you made a video game! The video game's still a ways off. For now, we just have a table-top role-playing game. The Mexica (Aztecs), the Maya and the Hopi? Very different languages. All the Mayan city-states were closely related, culturally, but they had slight differences in culture and language, like today's Western Europe. I actually wrote a paper in college that compared them more strongly to the Greek city-states. Sparta was not Athens, but they were noticeably related. |
| JCamasto Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 04:04 PM |
Intense 110 pages. Jason, you crank out ideas like a gerbil continually has to grind down it's teeth - otherwise they'd just keep growing and growing unchecked until it's head exploded. :) -Jim |
| foolish_yeti Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 06:37 PM |
congrats on the beta! I for sure plan on checking things out during the break. Right now my mind's too tired to give the site a good read through, but I shall return... |
| slumberelegy Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 11:05 PM |
As a gamer and a writer, I salute you! A truly fantastic result from what was (I can only imagine) a colossal effort. Tore through it like a wolverine in less than an hour, great stuff, and I adore the system. Now all I have to do is find three or four willing players here... - Chuck |
| MatthewJ Thu Dec 28th, 2006 at 10:26 PM |
"Chuck" wrote: As a gamer and a writer... All your landbase are belong to us. wow :notworthy: |
| This page is part of the archives of the IshCon.org discussion forums, as they existed from November 2002 to January 2007. Some links and other content references may be outdated or broken. For more information about IshCon, visit www.ishcon.org. |