[UA] Re: UA digest, Vol 1 #501 - 11 msgs

[Matthew Rowan Norwood]

>     I like both of these ideas, but I 
also like the moral
> quandary in the other example. Most players, if 
offered superpowers in
> return for being evil, would decline. We've all 
watched enough ABC After
> School Specials to know something in that deal will 
bite you in the ass.
> However--what would a PC do if the offer was 
superpowers in return for
> being *perceived* as evil? Puts a spin on it. You want 
to do some good,
> you could use some superpowers, you just have to 
ostensibly embody the
> Great Satan. If the character isn't Islamic, has a 
faulty of Islam, or
> understands but doesn't respect Islam, The deal might 
look pretty good.
> It would still have the ass-bite, though. In my 
experience, the ass-bite
> is a fundamental and unavoidable fact of life, so it 
shows up in my games.
> It would start with a supercharged Islamic hit squad. 
In order to beat
> them, the PC needs more superpowers, so he needs to be 
more Greatly
> Satanic,
> so he needs to find new ways to embody evil. Soon, 
he's going to run out
> of ways that he's indifferent to, and yet, he'll still 
need the juice.

Well, it sounds like you have some definite ideas in 
mind, so don't let me stop you. I just don't see why 
this is any different from embodying the Rebel -- the 
man who stands against society on the strength of his 
own abilities and nothing else (also possible with the 
Savage or the Masterless Man). What you're talking about 
is the old Faustian theme, where Satan acts as the 
Merchant (with a bit of Necessary Servant thrown in) and 
offers the PC the chance to be a human version of Satan 
by embodying the Rebel (or possibly the Masterless Man). 
Satan-as-Rebel also shows up in Milton, and there are 
lots of examples of Lilith/Satan parallels where the 
Flying Woman is equated with Satan. Representations of 
Satan as the Angel of Death draw on the Executioner, he 
who claims the souls of the doomed. There are plenty of 
other potential "Satan" archetypes -- the Trickster, the 
Two-Faced Man, the Dark Stalker, and the Demagogue come 
to mind -- without inventing a one-sided "Bad Guy" 
archetype.

But again, whatever floats your boat.

-Matt Norwood

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