Newcomb Rationality and Hebrews 6

From the Epistle to the Hebrews (6.1-8, ESV)

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do if God permits.
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

This text is often used to support the thesis that true Christians can lose their salvation. The argument is here that the author is warning his readers of the real danger they face - that of spurning the grace they once accepted and thus being lost forever. Therefore it could not be the case that true Christians persevere until the end. Otherwise, if a Christian believed that he could not take a warning about falling away seriously, there would be no point in giving such a warning. Thus, the Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is false.

However, Calvinism has many places in apostolic teaching to argue for it's doctrine. But then how do you deal with the apparent contradiction of giving a warning. I want to argue that the answer is by appealing to Newcomb rationality, which we discussed in an earlier post/note: "Religious Luck and Newcomb Libertarianism"

True Christians who have received God's necessary and sufficient regenerating grace have been sealed with the Spirit and will endure unto the end. However, there are cases of people who receive many blessings from God but not regeneration. They receive good things from God but not grace sufficient to overcome sin. These do not remain faithful to God in Christ and leave the faith. These are actual cases that will happen but there are other cases were we see fruitfulness and steadfastness into the end.

In Newcomb's paradox, the fallen case is the case of someone who takes goes back and takes the second box before both boxes are finally opened, as if to think he can fool the wizard into believing he's a one box chooser by waiting enough time before taking the other also. Of course, the wizard cannot be fooled.

Similarly, the Calvinist knows he either cannot lose his faith or that he never really had an effectual regeneration but he dies not know which is true. But he would be encouraged to press on on faith since that is what a saved person would do now.

Just as the full description of a Newcomb's paradox case makes clear the rationality of choosing one box, so the assurance of perseverance is essential to explaining the choice to make sense of it's Newcomb-like character. So is the admonishment of the real cases of apostasy.

So because Calvinism is taken as true, the admonishment has force. And this is not so puzzling since God can ordain the ends, He can also ordain the means by which it is accomplished. Those who are saved are saved in part by hearing the warning of Hebrews.

That this is present in the text is clear from the context. The author is in the first verses encouraging the readers to move on from the preliminary matters that concern new believers and to make progress in love, service, understanding, and to keep going forward.

But then to reinforce that standing still as a newbie is not only regressive but also dangerous, he warns be describing an alternate hypothetical possibility that is actually true in some cases. There are some that have enjoyed the more superficial gifts of God, such as the fellowship of believers, the exposition of the Bible, even the touch of the Holy Spirit, or even some Charismatic gifts. They may have all this without the deeper work of God's Spirit regenerating them. So instead of enduring the walk away from God and His people. This is especially relevant here because his audience are said to have not yet moved on to the larger fields of the Christian life. They still revisit the first lessons of Christianity.

And this is important since it's clear from the last part of this section that "moving on" means serving and bearing fruit, the real signs of an actual work of God. The last verses bear a striking analogy to Christ's parable of the Sower, where some of the good seed lands on bad ground receives blessings like sun and rain but bears nothing useful and gets burned. But some seed is fruitful.

So it is true that both the assurance of grace in the saints and the failure of some seed to bear fruit and thus get burned, that warnings about final falling are real and genuine, and that the latter is true not in spite if but because of the former, plus the fact that there is no way for the audience to know which one applies to them prior to their choice. But in choosing to endure another day, they are accepting the description that they have been chosen for grace from the foundation of the world.

The First Amendment: Who needs it?

I see now that genetic evolution means the end of the freedoms secured in the first amendment. I overheard a conversation where a group were taking about a zealous atheist. Then one said that his family was Salvation Army so even though he was an atheist he held it religiously because he had the religious gene.

We are getting to the point where we customarily think that genes determine everything about us including our opinions and that the diversity of opinions is explained by the evolutionary diversification of genes. There is thus no reasonable motivation for discussion or debate over any issue and thus the motives the Founders had for providing and protecting lively civil debate to promote the health of democracy have no force. Opinions are only useful for diagnosing behavioral dispositions in order to manage them socially.

Religious Luck and Newcomb Libertarianism

Calvinism is characterized with a prophetic commitment to the compatibility between Divine Sovereignty and genuine human responsibility. While this involves a general compatiblism between predestination and free will, unlike physical determinism, it insists that man's agency transcends the laws of nature. But it also attributes the causes of human choice proximately to the effects of sin and grace so that different choices do not all have the same kind of explanation. Some choices are the result of the corruption of sin in humanity since the fall of Adam. But to the extent that choices are not sinful but righteous, this is due to the free grace of God curbing, regenerating, or sanctifying the character of the person. This differs from person to person with respect to the willingness to submit to God in his Son, Jesus Christ. But even the unbeliever's goodness is the result of God's grace, given to all but not sufficient for salvation, and which also prevents people from being as bad as they could be and makes the social world stable to allow for the church to fulfill it's mission. Thus, all sin comes from man and all good comes from God. Further, the good that God gives is totally up to him and not based on any perceived difference in quality between persons, but only according to God's own wisdom and pleasure. This is not unjust per se, since apart from grace there is only the just judgment of sin, but God is free to show mercy to whomever he may.

There are problems with the view, such as that since behavior is the necessary and efficient function of the grace God gives each person in dealing with sin, so that one cannot choose otherwise than what one chooses. This seems to fail the requirement of free choice that someone be able to choose otherwise than he does. A Calvinist is free, however, to appeal to the standard counter-examples to this requirement, such as those given by Harry Frankfurt. Another problem is that it makes redemption depend on religious luck instead of justice. But as we saw, the question is not why would God condemn me but rather why would he save me. Further, Calvinism gives an answer to the problem that vagueness nay raise for salvation - the soteriological sorites problem. We are saved through faith in Christ but faith is a virtue concept and thus inherently vague. How much faith is sufficient faith? There are paradigm cases but most are somewhere around the penumbra of faith. But Calvinism solves the problem by making God the ultimate cause of faith and God can discern which ones have sufficient faith precisely because of his own grace. This provides an epistemist solution to the vagueness issue.

Another problem is whether a Calvinist who understands the full implication of theistic determinism can truly make an effort to live a faithful life or even choose to believe After, all if it is ultimately out if my hands what I do, why bother?

The answer is that Calvinists are even more responsible to live by faith and obedience because if Calvinism is true, then living by faith is Newcomb's paradox rationality. Newcomb's paradox is a thought experiment in game theory.

Suppose a wizard appears before you and shows you two boxes. In one box, is a 1,000 dollar bill, but the other box is completely sealed and opaque. You can't see inside of it.

The wizard says, "I offer you a choice.You can,

(1) take the opaque sealed box by itself,
               OR
(2) take both boxes.

Before you decide, I want you to know that if you pick both the boxes, I will leave the opaque box empty. But if you just pick the opaque box, I will put a million dollars in it".

But you say, "The opaque box is already sealed. How can you change what's in it or not?"

The wizard said, "I won't need to. Through my powers of divination, I have already foreseen which choice you would make and prepared the box according to my conditions."

And then the wizard disappears. ~~~> What would you do?

On the one hand it seems that you should take both boxes since no matter what is in fact in or not in the box you will add $1,000 to it. But on the other hand taking what the wizard said as true, it would be more rational to take just the opaque box. Taking just the opaque box for this reason is an instance of Newcomb rationality.

Choosing to act in faith presupposing that Calvinism is true is another instance of Newcomb rationality. Jesus says, "No one can come to me, unless the Father draws him and he who does come to me I will in no wise cast out". (John 6) Paul says, "Work out your salvation in fear and trembling, for God is at work in you to will and to do of his good pleasure". (Phil. 2) An unbeliever who is a Calvinist in belief may say, "What does it matter what I do. It's already a settled matter with God whether I am saved, so I will just live as I will.". But God said that if anyone comes it will because He has given him the power to do so and this is promised to anyone who comes to God. So for one to choose to live as they will is like taking the two box option. But if one chooses to give up self to live by faith, is like taking the one box option, according to Jesus promise. Paul's remark shows that this also applies to the believer's daily walk.

What I want to say is that Newcomb rationality permeates the Calvinistic understanding of religion, and it's not much trouble to extrapolate it to the nonreligious good works done in common grace. Further, knowing this makes us morally responsible. Calvinism thus implies a kind moral freedom and responsibility that it makes the holder conscious of. Thus, Calvinism yields a kind of libertarianism (call it Newcomb Libertarianism) with respect to finding peace with God and living morally that ordinary materialistic determinism does not.

Add to the "to do" list.

I've been reading Plantinga's new book on faith and science and reading Francis Beckwith's posts on faith and reason in the courts. Both authors are tracking the fact that it is commonly held by so-called experts on religion that religion has nothing whatever to do with reason, including common sense, logic, norms of evidence, and science. Religion is outside of reason and not subject to reason. This is apparently the official view of society and shapes the presuppositions of politics, media, academia, and the courts.

This, in spite of the major work accomplished in the last decades on religious rationality and epistemology. Even religious experts seem not to be acquainted with it in their preparation. In fact, reason fits positively with religious perspectives while remaining an intractable problem for materialist ones. See: http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/faith-reason-and-secular-hegemony-cont.html

This means that Christians cannot count on an existing literacy about religion and reason, and that the must take it on themselves to make the case for religious reasoning. That has to be on our apologetic "to do" list.

And this certainly reflects on the impact that Karl Barth has had on religious studies. Barth's view had become "the best thing going" for a "conservative" version of religion among religious studies. But Barth's view, even especially compared to other sympathetic thinkers like Emil Brunner, strongly required that faith be wholly other than reason. Now we have to fight this trend, both for the sake defending the faith and religious freedom.

The Philosophicity of Adam

Many evangelicals have been disturbed by a recent trend in faith science reporting that rejects the idea of a historical Adam and Eve. Peter Enns work has utilized this idea to go so far as to reject contemporary believing biblical scholarship and to return to the older critical scholarship as a way if saving Christian faith, an approach many take to have the opposite effect of replacing Biblical Christianity with a religious sentimentalism akin to liberalism. If this is what it takes to save faith, better to just dump faith for some other philosophy.

Enn's case seems to overreach. But the issue itself is pressing. The reason is that the evangelical gospel as it's told in the Scripture requires a historical Adam to make sense of it's account of redemption, as many theologians have argued. The problem is that there seems to be no reason to think that there could be a single first ancestor to the human race.

One of the surprising features of the fossil record is not merely the paucity of apparent transitional forms, contrary to what Darwinian evolution expects, but also the sudden "explosions" of the appearance of new species, starting with the Pre-Cambrian Explosion. Millions of years pass without any great sign of a species. Then suddenly not only does one appear but a lot do in a very short period of time relative to the scale of evolutionary history.

Evolution's bane is Theism's boon, except that science seems to be converging on the theory that the appearance of human beings is one of these explosions or at least that the critical mass of selected sophistication in our more ape-like ancestors was reached at several points over the wide spread population to firm humans. There are problems relating this idea with evidence that the whole human race descended from a specific region in Africa, but I don't intend to get into such matters. I'm not a scientist.

I am a philosopher or at least I play one at school, and I wonder if philosophy may have any light to shed on this. This suggestion comes from several sources, from Plantinga to Pope John Paul II, but the suggestion is mine.

Assume for the sake of argument that the theory that several humans (say 250,000) appeared more or less at the same time all over the accessible continents. This is certainly a scientifically testable hypothesis. It may be what science can speak to.

But we also know more keenly is that science confronts one of it's epistemic limits in trying to relate the mind to the brain. This was a key point in the methods of science and phenomenology in the Pope's statement on evolution. The phenomenological and intentional character of thought is impossible to relate to the dynamic and extensional categories of science and thus it is difficult to relate the mind to the brain. Some vehemently dispute the idea that mind cannot either be reduced to or explained away by the physical features of the brain. For now, I only point the reader to the intractability of the debate over this even among philosophers with no theistic ax to grind.

This means that while science can tell us that there are likely to be 250K original samples of the Hunan species, it may not in principle tell us about whether or not they were "minded". No doubt that sounds implausible since just as we would assume that as a member of a species, a feature of a zebra will also be true of many other zebras, then a feature of a human will likely be true of other humans. And since the other humans of our acquaintance have minds so did all the original ones.

But having a mind is not a typical feature. One of the features of the mystery of mind and brain is the emergence of an agent mind from non-minded animals in evolutionary history. Again the categories seem to make difficult any gradualist account of the emergence of mind. Suppose that God exists and set the initial conditions of the universe to arrange a point in evolution to produce a myriad of human species to make the result more likely that one of them would become minded.

So it's not epistemically impossible that there is only one Adam given the limits to the categories of science. It's important to see that this is not merely a lack of data but based on a principle limitation to our inquiries.

In conclusion, science is not able to rule out the possibility of a first minded human who stands apart from an unawakened human herd, and this is because of the natural limits of empirical science.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Holy Spirit!!!

There are two kinds of kids that don't get any toys from Santa on Christmas and they are not necessarily excluded from each other. One kind are kids who are bad, who don't pick up their toys or do what their loving parents tell them to do. You only get toys if you are a good kid.

The other kind are kids who don't believe in Santa which means they don't expect Santa to do any good for them like give them toys. They will manage without Santa's toys. But as you can imagine, it is often because bad kids are bad and don't expect toys for being good so they excuse their disappointment by refusing to be taken in by belief in Santa.

Now the reason bad and/or unbelieving children do not get toys is not because Santa is some magical law or mysterious fairy compound that fails to work unless the brain chemistry of kids is balanced in a certain way. Santa is not some impersonal principle that has not been activated to get the desired result. The reason bad and unbelieving kids don't get presents from him is precisely because Santa is a person. Santa's actions are reasonable for one who wants to do good but not to reward evil or to those who refuse it. Further, not only is Santa a person but Santa is also the one taking the initiative. The presents that good children receive are not entitlements but remain gifts.

Santa is s myth and the Holy Spirit is not. But Santa is misunderstood by bad kids in the same way the work of the Holy Spirit is misunderstood by defeated Christians.

One of the great blessings of salvation according to the message of the apostles about Jesus is that those who hear and receive the Good News about Christ is that they are said to be sealed with the Holy Spirit and that this sealing preserves them as Christ's for all eternity. The Holy Spirit is the Agent of Divine life on the life of the believer not just at the resurrection of the dead but even now while they live. He is the real basis for the believer's union with Christ.

One of the blessings that comes with this real union is the growth of Christian virtues as the Fruit of the Spirit. Yet because these blessings are said to be secured and because sinfulness is never perfectly removed in life, Christians tend to think about this in naturalistic and physicalistic ways as if this was an automatic process, sort of like a fuel pump of the soul. But this distorts their expectations and they come to doubt when they don't spiritual growth increasing by some identifiable formula.

But this forgets that the Holy Spirit is not a thing or a law or a stuff. The Spirit is a person - Divine Person in Communion with the Trinity from all eternity who covenanted with the Father and Son to deliver the Christian's life.

The security of the Holy Spirit's life giving work is not secured as a law but as a gift secured through a promise. The Spirit cannot by shut off or fail to activate. But He can be grieved and quenched.

He is grieved by our continuing in sin and our neglect of our character. When we try to ignore our sins or try to deny how sin deceives us it is not surprising that we don't see progress in our life.

The Spirit is quenched when we stop trusting in Him to be our seal. When our prayer is cold or flippant or when we neglect to pray or worship or give or serve or in any other way fail to show our gratitude or trust, we cannot be surprised by our lack of progress in the Christian life.

So we discover that the "secret" to the fruitful Christian life is to neither grieve nor quench the Spirit, that is to keep turning from sin and trusting in God's promises. The conditions for continuing in the Christian life are the same as the conditions for beginning the Christian life; repentance and faith. But this is no growth that we credit to ourselves but is only made true in our lives by the gift of the Spirit.

So just as we can understand how good and expectant kids can look forward to presents from Santa, we can also understand how Christians who trust and obey can expect fruit from the Spirt. Yes, Virginia, there is a Holy Spirit!!!

The Psuedo-Conscience of Modernity

The Psuedo-Conscience of Modernity

Today I had breakfast at my favorite vegan cafe - I'm not vegan but the food is good - where I was confronted with anti-cruelty arguments in pamphlets for veganism. The moral certainty that attaches to such arguments is so alien to the secularity underneath them. The fact that hedonism is the real principle is obscured by the Puritanism of the histrionics stating the view. That such hedonism is morally dubious does not seem to enter the mind.

Further, a friend just reported that the American Philosophical Society has politicized their policies against schools that require traditional morals about marriage, life, and family, in the name of defending previously unheard of civil rights. Again, a new kind of Puritanism that is centered on the premise if hedonism seems behind it.

In our present day, it seems that we see a new Victorianism, where the authority of a public conscience has become sacrosanct. But this authority of conscience is absurd given the account that modernity gives us about conscience.

Both traditional and modern accounts agree that the formation of conscience is like the formation of a habit. It grows and develops according to reinforcement which comes through custom and training. However, the modern view argues that this is all there is to it and that the impression that we have that we are obliged to follow duties immediately recognized by intuitions is an illusion created by the reinforcement of what were originally merely hypothetical imperatives but which had become second nature to social custom before we were born into it. Consequently, we no longer are aware of their rationale but are still aware of their imperative force. So we construe it as a basic duty.

Be that as it may. It may well be true that intuited obligations were originally hypothetical imperatives. Still, the epistemological foundation of such an analysis - some version or another of the Verification Principle - is famously self defeating. If we grant that we know anything at all, then there may be most anything that could be a basic belief - including basic moral beliefs. These may even be hypothetical imperatives but ones the that realize an objective good or end to human nature whether individually or socially. These original intuitions would not just be customary. They would be constitutive of the proper functioning of human nature.

A way of trying to grasp what this original moral information wired into nature might be, one might seek to describe the way humans actually make moral judgments in the world. It's here that the thesis of descriptive moral relativism is given - that different cultured hold different duties as valid than other cultures do. However, this picture is richer than is often presented. Fundamental moral codes and moral decision procedures have more in common across different cultures than first appears. The picture is consistent with a moderate moral objectivism that affirms that different codes aim to recognize objective moral truths from the perspective of their own concrete situations - and sometimes they make mistakes.

However, modernity, once it accepts that conscience is purely epiphenomenal to nature, goes about to rescript in totum according to one ideal theory or another, similar to the attempt to rewrite language into a more pure ideal or scientific form. Such extremity can only be a risky experiment. The result is, by it's own lights, a radically altered conscience that has also lost sight of the experimental riskiness of it's project and the cost of what might have been the natural basis of the moral life.

Besides this Cartesian-like radical replacement of our previous formal frameworks, there is the implication that conventional morality is neither necessary nor obligatory but neither is any alternative morality. The wedding of Nietzsche with Mill underneath the mask of the mechanism of conscience shows that modern morality is just a bid for power by the alert morality brokers over those who simply conform to conscience. But for all they know, the sheep may just be the beneficiaries of a kind of induced moral psychosis that both stands as moral truth for them and between them and moral truth.

But to those who bank on the possibility of moral truth will be sensitive to the history and demographics of traditions of moral thought and only change as necessary - rejecting Cartesian remove and replacement for the example of Nurath's boat, fixing leaks by moving boards around whole staying at sea. Such an exploration of tradition will be for them a standpoint that will enable them to see through the power games of modern Victorianism. Rather than moral tradition representing a moral monstrosity, it may be the only cure for a generation where everyone is a moral monster.

Campaign Notes From ARCON XI 2012

Shaolin Samurai

Here is the story from our Shadows of Syracuse adventure held at ARCON XI by the StoryTellers' Guild at SUNY Oswego the last weekend of April, 2012. It was based on my home brewed noir urban fantasy hero setting "Shadows of Syracuse: Wonder Tales from the distant Present". This year, I used the rediscovered hero system "Villains & Vigilantes" to create some of the old school feel to the game.

Syracuse is an old upstate city struggling with expanding crime and a poor economy, with strong ethnic neighborhoods. Unaware to most of it's citizens, it is also at the intersection of the Five Mystical Circles of Power, the resident base of the estranged members of the Imperial Family of the Galactic Empire, and Ground Zero of the coming Apocalypse - the true center of the Universe. Several citizens have in various ways been touched by these forces and have received hyper-natural or supernatural powers. But this has cast them from the full light of day and made them targets of even greater forces they do not fully understand. They must try to carve their own way in the hidden recesses of the enchanted city.

This often means privateering for the various factions working to manipulate the direction of these forces. Our touched characters, natural born citizens who have received powers, have been recruited by Catholic Charities: Special Lichtensteinian Refugee Services Branch: (LRS) has contacted and called a meeting with them to help them with a serious internal matter. The archbishop in charge of the local organization cannot be it's recognized authority unless he possesses the original charter document. But during the last transition of power, an agent of Destiny Corps. and one of it's Corporate Ninjas (not a metaphor) has stolen the document and hid, to gain control over the LRS "assets". The intended successor has been de facto regent secretary but cannot rule fully. Only recently, by recovering one of the other victims of the Villain, have they been able to find where he is. However, he has picked a particularly reinforced place to protect himself - the Hotel Syracuse. A landmark of the city, the Great Hotel has seen hard times in recent years. Guests who stayed during the NCAA tournament complained of yellowing sheets and "a strange smell". Businesses in the ground floor have closed their shops and the property has been purchased by an Israeli interest. But the word in the Shadows is that some dark force has claimed hold of the building and scared away all the normal customers and that these other interests are seeking to contain the dark.

The only person to come out from that darkness is this recovered hostage. But she seems to have "Stockholm Syndrome". She is desperate to return to her former captor. So the plan is for our heroes to follow her lead back to the Ninja, defeat him, and recover the charter.

In late evening, she directs the group to enter the service entrance on the far side of the hotel front. Showing them a secret stairway, they descend steps to a sub- sub- sub- basement. This chamber seems more like a natural cave formation than a human structure, except the walls are covered of a strange crystalline material, "Watch your step. This is very slippery" the hostage says. Exploring reveals a few passages away from the main chamber but they arc dangerously down into deeper caves. The heroes decide not to go further. In the center of the chamber is an elevator shaft with an old elevator car from the early years of the hotel. After debating various strategies, the heroes decide to just take the car up. The hostage reveals a secret key which she inserts in a hidden keyhole which activates the car.

The heroes get the distinct impression that the car is going up higher than the actual height of the building. The car stops in the service corridor in he center of what looks like a typical floor of the hotel. The heroes have maps of standard floor plans from the public library. The other elevator shafts are sealed in concrete and useless. The hostage warns that some areas have been damaged by collapsed structure and some have been sealed off. But the way to her "dear one" should be accessible. The elevator does not go all the way up. They have to find the stairs to the upper level.

There are only three stairwells and the one in the service area is completely sealed up. The heroes then step into the elevator lobby. One of them. Using his magnetic power, opens all the room doors to insect the rooms. Contrary to the map, it appears that the hallways extend indefinitely long in opposite directions. Looking for an open stairwell, the heroes go in one direction and discover that this appearance is an illusion created by mirrors that block the way to the stairs. Using incorporeality, one hero passes through the mirror and peels off strips of the backing so all can see through the glass. He also discovers that the second stairwell is completely caved in.

He and another hero, looking through the glass, sense danger and see something at the end of the corridor - a pair of children in nightshirts. Suddenly, the group discovers that they are surrounded by the Hungry Dead - former guests of the hotel who died there but have come alive as hungry ghosts. First the group tries to fight them. At this time, one hero reveals her pet - an invisible "phase ape" - she named him "Fluffles" - that came with the cache of alien tech that she discovered in her uncle's pawn shop. The ape allows her to attack remotely and gain a facing advantage. Another, using magnetism, is hitting the ghosts with hotel doorknobs. However, more ghosts keep coming. Making agility saves, the group evades the ghosts and runs to the opposite side of the floor. One hero grabs the hostage and swings her onto his shoulder, taking out another of the Dead in the process. They find a similar mirror but this time with a secret door. Blasting a hole with a disintergrating ray through the mob of the Dead, they make it to the one maintained stairwell.

This takes them to a floor which hosts many dining rooms, meeting rooms, and a grand ball room. "That's where he will be", the hostage says. This floor is more damaged than the other. Caved in areas create a functioning maze trap. Eventually, in the master kitchen, one of heroes found materials to use as weapons with his magnetic power. Unfortunately, the also found a string tall figure with pale white skin and hair, black outfit, obsidian eyes, pointed ears and a broadswords the he welded as easily as a throwing knife - a genuine Drow Elf from the Unseali Courts of the Underdark. The only possible form of communication with him is through telepathy - which he invites since he is willing to parley. The hero who links with him is filled with dreadful images of the Underdark realm, including visions of caverns covered with a crystalline material like the basement. The heroes realize that the hotel has become touched from beneath by the Dark Fey realm and the taint of it has corrupted the building, bringing back the dead as hungry ghosts and who knows what else. The Drow sees the hotel as an extension of the Drow domain and demands tribute or he will not allow them to leave alive. The heroes shiver as it us clear to them that "tribute" means offering a human life to him. The elf allows them to contemplate their choice and leaves.

Moving this to the back of their minds, the heroes go next to the grand ball room. When the hostage sees her beloved she runs to him. He us also a powerful experience character with robes and a polearm. He is serene looking and glad to see them. He returns the expression of love from the hostage but in a more brotherly family way and not as a lover.

In response to questions, he explains that the former archbishop was murdered - not by him, a faithful disciple - but by the so-called successor who was the real agent from Destiny who disguised himself as a member of LRS from HQ to take over the organization. The former archbishop, before he died, entrusted him with the charter to prevent the complete transition of authority to the usurper. He has been holding on to the charter pending an appeal to HQ to rule on the matter and take care of it internally. The "hostage" was never her prisoner but was a member of a family that helped him hide from the usurper - which cost them dearly as many were killed helping him escape. She only survived. It was then he decided to take the risky measure of hiding in the "fortress" of the Hotel Syracuse, only letting her know how to find him in an emergency. He shows them the charter document. The heroes come to believe that they might have been used. He is, in fact, though Catholic, a very very eastern rite version. He us the Shaolin Samurai.

This gets confirmed when the "phase ape" appears to everyone, and then transforms into the usurper himself. Unknown to the hero, she was picked for this assignment to open the way for the usurper to face the Shaolin Samurai himself. The usurper, using his powers, killed and replaced Fluffles, to hide among the heroes. He then calls out. The windows of the great ball room smash as four gargoyles become animated from the roof of the hotel and come at the command of the usurper. Combat ensues.

The Shaolin Samurai and the incorporeal powered hero attack the usurper himself, while the others go after the gargoyles. The magnetic hero gets a lucky shot using the kitchen utensils like a billing ball picking up first strike like a seven ten split. one hero uses psychic force to pin two gargoyles to the wall while another blasts them with disintegration (getting a facing advantage from the pinning effect). Shaolin Samurai finds himself equally matched by his opponent getting no experience bonus to hit with his chi enhanced polearm attacks. Meanwhile, the incorporeal hero is able to take advantage of facing and incorporeality - which was a good thing because it prevented the usurper from using Touch of Death on him.

Eventually, the players succeed at their goal to kill all the gargoyles and wind and restrain the usurper using paralysis ray. Shaolin Samurai still holds the charter and is allowed to leave the hotel freely. The true usurper has been caught and given over to the Drow Elf as tribute - although no one can say if this "justice" was proportionate. The Shaolin Samurai promises the LRS will reward the heroes for their great service.

On the other hand, the loser is the "hostage" who finally realizes that the Shaolin Samurai is bound to an oath of chastity. He could never be hers. Also, mourned is Fluffles, the loss of whom will embitter her owner against Destiny Corp forever. And finally, there remains the yet unknown effect of the taint if the Dark Empire on our heroes.

GM notes: Total truth. V&V has "open powers" during character creation which simply ask the player or GM to come up with something under the general category. When this happened, I used the "Unlimited Powers" handbook from "Mutants & Masterminds" 2.0 for inspiration.

RIP, Fluffles. We hardly saw thee!

Psychological Egoism and the Homosexuality Debate

One of the great mysteries in the public debate over homosexuality is the widespread acceptance of genetic determinism argument for homosexuality -- a homosexual simple cannot help themselves so they cannot be obliged not to be gay. the religious spin on this is that since it's genetic, it must be considered God's gift and will for that person -- and you can't go against God. The mystery of this is that there is no evidence at all that genetics plays a significant role but plenty of evidence that a convergent set of certain types of environmental factors over the course of a person's development from pre-natal to childhood to adulthood can induce an intransigent homosexual orientation - a case such that as a child the person is helpless to do anything about and for which he cannot be held responsible for its origin but which is something he can start to deal with as an adult and the prevention of which is something the community can control and prevent for the children.



But a better explanation is that the genetic argument is just an archetype of legitimacy that characterizes the worldview of the age and reduces it to a cliche that does our thinking for us. The real point is the socially settled view that humans have evolved from nothing but natural causes, thus their behavior is determined in all cases. Also, human behavior is necessarily egoistic and hedonistic, focused only on the basic instincts for survival and pleasure in common with other animals. Consequently, no one can behave in any other way that to seek these and that no matter how things appear otherwise. One might object that if this were true how could we have ever come by our intuitions about morality or our great moral institutions. The answer given is that these formed over the course of time as a kind of cultural evolution. Practices which had value at the time for encouraging survival against hostile forces and which were reinforced by repetition to become habits. As habits they continued to be observed even when the original motives for introducing them ceased to exist. When asked about them now, we no longer see how it came to be that we observed such customs, although we still feel the note of approval and disapproval about following or failing to follow them. We thus take them to basic intuitions of moral truth, even though they are just detritus from previous circumstances. Thus the Voice of God in the Soul turns out just to be a shadow of our evolutionary history.



But once this has been dispelled by scientific discovery that needs neither God nor morals to play a role in explanation, we now see that there could not be any possible moral grounds to base a rejection of homosexuality. Further since as a survival driven organism humans must necessarily seek themselves, they could not be obliged to do otherwise. This means that is we are to speak of moral categories at all we must speak of a right to pursue ones own satisfaction as one sees fit. Finally, one one says for whatever reason that someone cannot enjoy their homosexual lifestyle, that denies them a pleasure they desperately desire and also adds the pain of being shamefully regarded. Since hedonism is also hardwired in the species, the cannot be obliged to accept this misery.



As this account came to be developed, starting with the advent of early modern thought's adoption of nominalism and its denial of formal and final causes, it was thought that (or at least presented as if) these ideals would be no threat to conventional morality. But history has shown us that once natural teleology has been rejected, panmaterialism erodes the conventional codes progressively. The shift in perspective from Aristotelianism to Corpuscularianism in the 17th Century has undercut the foundations of traditional morality, but not all at once. But the history of modern western thought has been the progress of the acceptance of one previously unthinkable conclusion after another so that now what has become unthinkable is morality or justice in the traditional sense.



So the genetic argument is only an ectype for the real argument and the grip it has especially on the rising generation is that we have crossed another threshold of unthinkability. The problem with it is that this explanation does not adequately explain the experience we all have of moral reflection. In deciding what the right thing to do in a situation, and especially in situations when we are faced with conflicting moral demands, we have the capacity to reason from moral intuitions to novel applications which being situation based are necessarily new but also seen to be sound. We are also able to discern exception cases that enable us to distinguish actual duties from merely prima facie dutiesAlso beside the ability to deliberate with these principles , we also see an appropriate emotional response of approval, disaproval, shame, or guilt - including the difference between moral guilt and just regret for getting discovered - and that the fitness between the two is logical. If our intuitions were simple de facto affirmations that have passed there sell-by date, we shouldn't expect this to be the case. But if they are genuine intuitions of moral reasoning along with their appropriate feelings, then it is odd that such should emerge from the flux of cultural evolution alone. I can give real and valid assent to the idea that I am guilty of wrongdoing, which suggests less an old piece of doctrine and more a Voice speaking to me about my conduct.

Finally

I just installed the Blogger App so expect more posts from me. Thanks.

Special Post for "ScottyCon".

This post is a birthday present for my friend Scotty, who is having a special personal Gaming Convention coming up soon for his birthday at the beginning of the most depressing time of life, middle age.  When he is having his home based convention, I will be attending ARCON XI at SUNY Oswego with the Story Teller's Guild, a college coterie devoted to gaming, and running a Villains & Vigilantes game in my Dark Age Superhero campaign setting "Shadows of Syracuse".

To give Scotty a pertinent gift, I know home made gifts are most appreciated.  So this is meant to be several home brewed RPG links for his perusage, from this site, in one place.  I hope he can piece togather something entertaining. Happy ScottyCon, Scotty!

A "Pick Your Own Ending" Adventure (sort of)

Pulp in the Cup

Pulp in the Cards

A Review of the Armitage franchise

Armitage the Third: Doujin RPG

Armitage Encounter Deck

Fairyland Diner: The RPG

Fairyland Diner: Character Creation

Original Dungeon Squad Download  (Not a game I made but you need it for the remaining links.)

Shadow Squad of Syracuse: Part I

Shadow Squad of Syracuse: Part II

Shadow Squad of Syracuse: Part III

I hope that you will taste the love that only comes from receiving personal craft work of conspicuously poor quality from friends.  Thanks again for Jackson this year.  Happy Birthday, John

Shadow Squad of Syracuse! Adversaries

In addition to the monsters in Dungeon Squad, here are some additional adversaries for your SSOS! adventuring.

VERMIN
Attack with D4, Adventurers automatically hit one per attack, but they come in swarms
Nanobot Puddle: Eats metal, Can assume any form in a victim's mind, 25 HP

WEAK
Attack with D6, Adventurers need a 2 or better to hit, travel in packs
Cyber gulls: Blowgun dart D4, 4 HP
Paladin Bikers (Used to raise hell and listen to Metalica.  Now support third world orphans and listen to Antestor): Chain D6, Shiv D4, Leather Armor D4, 8 HP
Sports Fans: Over-sized fan prop,  D4, Beer Bottle d4, 4 HP

AVERAGE
Attack with D8, Adventurers need a 4 or better to hit.
CRUD (Cannibalistic Retrograde Under-Dwellers): Nails D6, Bite D8, Infection D4 per turn for D6 turns, 8 HP, Characters turn into CRUD if HP goes down to 3 or less and they fail a average vs TUF check.

TOUGH
Attack with D10, Adventurers need a 6 or better to hit.
Killa Grrlbot with a Soul: Carries weapons, cybernetically interface with networks d12, 20 HP on skeletal mainframe, 10 HP on flesh overlay (which are taken off like armor).
Replicant: Hands D8, Armor D8, eye laser D10, 15 HP
Full Combat Android: Hands D8, Weapon from the Future D8, Hand held Gatling Gun D12, natural armor D6, 30 HP

RUN AWAY!
Attack with D12, Adventurers need an 8 or better to hit.
Giant Cephalapod: Tentacle touch attack D10, Projectile Bile D12, natural armor D10, 60 HP, Characters must resist insanity (hard vs. ATN)
Autonomous Anti-Personnel Stilt Tank : Gatling Guns D10, Missles (3) D12, Armor D12, 60 HP

Shadow Squad of Syracuse! Links to Resources.

Download Dungeon Squad! for free.

Zombie Squad! (Vehicle Rules)

Welcome to Syracuse, NY!

Syracuse at Wikipedia

Shadow Squad of Syracuse: Organizations, Cosmic Factions, and Adventure Locations

ORGANIZATIONS:

Organizations are groups in the city who use front organizations for their activities to keep them from being discovered by ordinary society and its authorities. They are aware of some of the mysteries of the city, although not necessarily possessing the total picture. The try to exploit their knowledge to serve their own agendas and often recruit or temporarily hire freelancers and privateers from among the Touched to serve their interests. A common adventure begins with recruitment or hiring by such an organization for a job or mission.

GENERAL FEATURES OF AN ORGANIZATION

These features are not necessarily true or true in the same way of all organizations but they do describe a typical organization. Each organization has a public profile as one of the conspicuous social societies in the city. They also have a specific ambition that is not public. The organization is two layer in structure, a superficial layer that is the apparent structure of the public face of the organization (and where people may be working who have no idea of the organizations main goal) and a deeper structure designed to see to it that its true aims are realized. Finally there is often a specific type of soldier or agent that works for the organizations true purpose and answers directly to the true authority in the organization.

The MIB: the Men in Beige:

While it is generally true that civil authorities are in the dark as much as anyone else about the Touched, there is one branch that answers directly to the mayor's office and is responsible for policing the shadows. This organization uses the city offices for its front, disguising itself by an obscure organizational chart of of obscure public sanitation offices, such as the officer in charge of pop sickle stick distribution and the city manager of Canadian Geese safety. But they are as close as one can expect of a sheriff of the Touched. However, their conduct is not under any strict oversight since no one understands anything of the professional competence required to protect against the Cosmic forces. This gives the MIB a free hand to manage things as the see fit and the style of management tends to to be very inscrutable. One thing that characterizes the MIB is their emphasis on Psi abilities. A typical MIB, wearing a beige three piece suit, lemon yellow shirt, red tie and sepia toned sun glasses, also has some psi ability as well as special equipment and pistol. The MIB often "recruits" as many psi powered Touched as the can for training and research.

The Institute For Human Excellence

The Institute For Human Excellence is a research facility within the university and medical school community and has the public face of a special research institute. However, below the building is a secret network of labs and facilities, exploring time-travel, space-travel, cybernetic and robotic mechanisms, genetic engineering, mass social engineering and control, etc. A truly Promethean organization, it is suspected by some to be secretly kidnapping many of the homeless in the city and using them to test a new "super-soldier" project. Agents are often super-scientists or technicians. Otherwise, they may be Cyborgs or Androids.

The Native American Nations

There are two reservations near the city who struggle to receive their due respect from the social contracts they have with the city and state. But no other group has as comprehensive an understanding of the real secrets of Syracuse as these nations. Before the white settles came to central New York, one of the great ancestors of the tribe who was a great medicine man was hunting at night and discovered a strange glow in a clearing. As he approached, he saw a man levitating and giving off a strange aura. The man identified himself as Lord Abe No Seimi and told the medicine man that he had come from the other side of the world and from another time to warn his people of a great battle that would endanger this dimension. He gave his wisdom to the medicine man and it was passed down ever since. Agents of the Nations are typically shamans with healing powers and insight but they tend to be underestimated by the other organizations who often overlook them.

The Future Corporation

The Future Corporation is a major company in Syracuse that has offered its services to provide investment opportunities and jobs to the citizens of Syracuse. They have big ambitions for developing the city, which the proudly describe at their giant yet somehow always unfinished mega mall. But behind the scenes, the organization is investing on what it hopes will be control over whatever resources the shadows supply by making the city more and more dependent on them for its own well being. The Future Co, is responsible for the city subway, which is a private subway system that only some of the Touched know about outside the leadership of the company and which is largely abandoned. Their Agents are the notorious Corporate Ninja, an elite team of spies and assassins that carry out company directives.

The City Bus System

CitiBus is a public transport system that the city uses as a public-private company for city transportation. But the city service is also an evil cult of assassins.  While it has its ordinary operations much like a regular transit company, it has a shadow organization that recruits from the desperate and the simple (and "touched") and training them for elite skills that serve the organization for outside hiring.  These bus drivers are controlled through a powerful narcotic called "soma" and when not on duty live in a cultivated secret garden of earthly pleasures called "Not-In-Service".  Driver assassins who fail there task are threatened with not being allowed to return to Not-In-Service.


Ecclesial Charities


Ecclesial Charities is a widely recognized church based support that receives some public money - something that creates some awkward situations.  One of the key functions they perform is helping international refugees from all over the world to resettle in the city and find education, work, and safe neighborhoods to live.  However, one such specialized ministry, the Lichtensteinian Refugee Ministry, is really a cover for their outreach to the Touched who are struggling to find their place.  However, these clients are often recruited to serve the higher mission of the organization, which is to deal with the the various manifestations of evil that seem to have there source beyond ordinary science and nature.  These recruits become trained exorcists for the organization.


COSMIC FACTIONS


Organizations are based in the city and interact primarily with the Touched.  However, behind them either consciously or unconsciously to them, are darker deeper forces trying to manipulate events through them.  It is not necessarily true that even these more powerful sources have the complete picture but they certainly may be expected to have a deeper understanding even if they are not sharing much of it.  It helps to think of the overall picture as being like layers of an onion, with the core being Earth and the City being the very center of that. Then around that center is the realm of the arcane circles of power and weird science, as well as the hidden realms that exist on the planet.  Next is the Galaxy around the Earth and solar system.  Next the various alternate dimensions where intelligent powerful creatures dwell. Then, is the realm that contains all of these, the Dark Realm where the Ancient Ones are imprisoned and long to be freed to return to their former reign over the cosmos.  And finally . . .


GENERAL FEATURES OF A COSMIC FACTION


Cosmic Factions have these features:  They are governed by one or another species or federation of other worldly intelligences either from the hidden realms of earth, space, other dimensions, or anything else off planet.  The usually specialize in one or another type of power or energy such as psionic, arcane, weird technology, etc.  They have their own (yet partial) interpretation of the cosmic system and its history and future.  If they are active in the affairs in the city it is usually through the intermediary of one or another of the Organizations in the city (a fact that the organization may not want to reveal).  The faction often provides powers and devices or information or missions to the organization.  Finally each Cosmic Faction has its own vested interest that brings it into conflict with other such factions.  Some Cosmic Factions may yet not be aware of the existence of any of the others.


The Intergalactic Empire of the Pirating Clans


Among the intelligent races of the largest occupied area of know space is the Imperium.  The Royal Family of the Emperor came to power through victory in the warfare for dominance between diverse space faring races hundreds of thousands of Earth years ago.  There remain other space faring governments outside the boundaries of the Empire that trade with or resist the Imperium.  However, when the Imperium took notice of Earth, it placed on the status of a natural reservation and instituted a non-interference policy with the hope that in the course of time the human race would evolve to contribute to the Empire.  However, this unusual display of benevolence and tolerance is not without self-interest.  The Imperium recognizes that the Earth and the city are to play a central role in the future of the galaxy and its reservation policy is meant to keep out rival powers within and outside of the empire.  It is rumored that there are members of the Royal Family in line to the imperial throne living incognito in the city.  The Imperium does have connections both with Future Co. and the MIB for purposes of trade and secure management of the security of the city.


The Ancient Ones


Beyond the edge of space, time, and sanity are the Old Ones, the Lords of Madness and Chaos, who once entered into the existing order and twisted it to their own reign.  By seems or another they were expelled from the Cosmos and locked away behind the Great Wall (or membrane) of empirical reality.  They for ages sought to recover there former place and make an end of all sense and purpose and to taste the withering of the minds of all sentient races.  But now they cannot operate directly and can only work through indirect influence on those who blindly adore them and worship them or on those who because of their own interests allow themselves to be their tools.  The Old Ones believe that the key to their release is at the heart of the city.  They also believe that somewhere and somehow, the city contains the only thing that can stop them.


Other Factions

Other possible sources for cosmic factions may include: The realms of Fey: Dark Elves, Black Leprechauns, the Dryads who lived before the foundation of the city, etc. Other dimensions: the Kingdom of the Giant Crabs, the Alternate Roman Empire, etc. Other alien species: The Space Navigator Guilds, the League of Golems, etc.etc.

SETTINGS AND LOCATIONS:

There are two settings that are typically relevant in a SSOS! adventure. One of the ethnic neighborhoods that have their own distinctive flavor, culture, and traditional values that have existed side by side with each other in the city's history.  (Ex.  In the real Syracuse, there is Tipperary Hill, one of the oldest Irish neighborhoods in America, and Little Italy, an Italian business district.  There are also Polish, German, Ukrainian, and Indochinese neighborhoods, native American and refugee neighborhoods, and urban neighborhoods.)  Each character is a native child of one or another of these neighborhoods, chosen at character creation.

The other are the adventure locations that are set in or around the city's landmarks and buildings - except always in there "shadow places" that are unknown to the public (Examples; the hidden third basement at the University Research Facilities, the floors "in between" the floors at the City Hotel, the gateway to the Dark elf realm at the base of the Central Statue, the long unused extension built at major shopping mall, and of course the subway that Future Co. built without the city's notice).  There are often underground locations or hidden dimensional gateways or cloaked spaceships where much of the real action and adventure lie for the Touched.

Shadow Squad of Syracuse: Powers and Weaknesses

POWERS:

At Character Creation, a player chooses two powers and assigns a d10 to one and d6 to the other, for their character (called a player character or PC to distinguish from non-player characters or NPCs).

List of Powers:

Psionics:
(a) Telepathy - a PC can either read one character's mind or push a suggestion in a character's mind three times a day of game time for 6 times the die roll minutes. (ATN vs. half victim's ATN die)
(b) Telekinesis - PC may levitate and control an object no bigger than a bread box three times a game day for 6 times the die roll minutes of game time. If using the object as a weapon, use ATN vs half victim's TUF die and assign a device die to object to score damage. Six minutes is equal to one round of combat but the the attacker cannot move the object and attack with it or anything else in the same round. If the character is interrupted by say having to parry another characters attack, the object drops. If the character uses it again that counts as another attempt for that game day. 
(c) Power blast - fires a blast of mental energy confusing and crippling a sentient target (ATN vs. half victim's ATN die) for 3 times the die roll in damage, once per game day. PC must be able to see the victim.

Special Ops: Special training allows you to master a weapon. Player chooses a weapon (melee or ranged). D applies to the weapon but PC adds one to his die rank (TUF or STW) when using that weapon.

Tech whiz - can intuitively work with new or found technology and receives a special device. The die is assigned to the device but the PC raises his die rank (ATN) whenever they use it or any similar source technology (say from the same planet of origin).

Shaman - Uses PC's ATN to perform magic. Shaman powers usually indicate that the PC is associated with one of the Native American nations near Syracuse, who more than any other group are aware of how deep the mystery goes in the city.
(a) Prophetic Insight - may discern a secret truth or anticipate something about the immediate future. The content and reliability of the insight are determined by the die roll once per game day.
(b) Healing - May restore one die roll of HP to any one character once per game day.
(c) Blessing/Cursing - Add your die to another character's die or against it and add or take away your roll from theirs.

Cybernetic - you add your die to any activity that uses a specified body part (eye, ear, arm, leg) three times a game day.

Changling - Your PC is a hybrid of humanity and some specified other creature (alien, fey, animal). You may call upon the special abilities of that other creature for six times the die roll game minutes three times a game day.

Mutation - You can alter your body in some specified way for six times the die roll minutes of game time twice a game day (Animal, Mineral, size alteration, elasticity).

WEAKNESSES:

A player must choose a weakness at character creation from the following list, specifying the object of the weakness:

Altered appearance
Photo-sensitive
Allergy to Substance
Phobia or Compulsion
Berserker mode
Addiction
Vulnerable to a power
Wanted by the law or an organization
Personality disorder

Losing or Gaining Powers and Weaknesses:

At the GM's discretion, a PC may lose a power or a weakness as a result of significant game events. A person my also try to lose or mitigate a weakness or gain a power or device through training or research. The GM must decide if such a task is worthwhile (not necessarily telling the player before they have used their resources) and if the player has the enough of the right resources to do it. If so, the GM tells the player when such training or research has been fruitful and then adds the result to their character.

Shadow Squad of Syracuse: Mechanics, Combat, Will Points

MECHANICS:

The mechanics are taken directly from Dungeon Squad! (see link in original post.) In general, only roll when there is something interesting at stake and not every single time. In many cases, it is clear that the PC can succeed without uncertainty.

When there is some doubt about an outcome that is important to the character, the GM determines which attribute is required to succeed at a task and how difficult the task is. (Ex. Lifting a heavy gate would be a TUF roll while trying to sneak past a guard would be a STW roll. ) Then the GM assigns the task a difficulty rating: 2 if easy, 4 if average, and 6 if hard. Tasks may be harder than that. If the PC is competing with another character, the difficulty rating is half the die assigned to the relevant attribute or half the monster die. (Ex. If Pauli is trying to to sneak past a guard, he must roll STW against half the guard's ATN die value to see if he succeeds.)

A task is successful if the attribute roll is equal to or larger than the difficulty rating. (Ex. The guard's ATN is d8. Pauli's STW is a d4. Pauli rolls a 4 and just squeaks by the guard. He's definitely not cut out for this sort of thing.)

COMBAT:

Sometimes a PC will face another character in a fight. Combat is handles as a series of tasks. These tasks take place in rounds of combat, which are assumed to take up 6 minutes of time in the game world each.

Step 1: Surprise

There may be a chance that not all would be combatants are aware of the other being around. For for each player character, roll ATN against the other character's ATN or monster die, to see if they either succeed in surprising or avoid being surprised. All surprised characters player and otherwise do not get to attack on the first round of combat.

Step 2: Initiative

A combat round starts when each character rolls "initiative" to see what order characters attack. Each character rolls their STW die or monster die and records their number. The highest goes first, the next goes next, and so on until the list gets down to "1". A person may attack on the number of their turn and every fifth numbered turn after that. (Ex. Pauli rolls his d12 for ATN and gets 8. He may attack on turn 8 and also on turn 3.) A player may decide to refrain from acting on his turn in order act later. But if their actions are not used by turn 1, they are lost.

Step 3: Attack

On his turn, a player who wants to attack must pick a target in range of his attack and roll TUF if a close combat attack or a STW if an attack with a ranged weapon against the target's TUF or STW respectively, taking the difficulty rating as half the attribute die. If he equals or beats the difficulty rating, he hits the target and may do damage. (Ex. Pauli wants to cold cock a corporate ninja whose TUF is d8 - difficulty rating 4. He rolls a 5 and hits.) A character may move anywhere within the immediate theatre of combat before attacking to get into position.

Step 4: Parry (optional rule)

An attacked character can try to parry a blow as many times as they may attack in that combat round and without costing an attack action or waiting until its their turn. If an attack is successful, the defender may parry by rolling the relevant die to match or beat the attackers roll. If this happens, the hit applies to the defenders parrying device and that alone takes damage (sword, shield, arm).

Step 5: Damage

In the case of a successful hit, the attacker rolls the die for his weapon or power and takes that number off the HP of the defender. If the defender, has armor or parries with a weapon or shield, the device die is rolled and the number is taken off the total number of hits. If the defender is wearing armor, roll the device die for the armor and reduce the number of hits taken from the attackers damage. The rest of the damage is taken off the defenders HP.

Step 6: Start again

After all characters have had their turns, the round is over. Assess damage and see if anyone is dead, unconscious, or unable to fight. If not, start again at step 2 (or step 3, to save time).

Breaking off from combat:

If someone wishes to escape from the theatre of combat, they may use their turn to do so. However, their opponent has a free attack at +1 that does not count against their attacks allowed for that round with no chance of parring. If the character survives the attack, they may escape.

DAMAGE AND HEALING

If a character's HP goes down to 0, they are unconscious and will perish if not given appropriate first aid in time. Normal first aid with a kit or training may stabilize a character at 0 HP. If the character applying the first aid makes a successful first aid roll (STW against a difficulty number that is 8 - half the patients TUF die), the patient is stable but not able to fight or do anything until some HP are restored. A full night's rest plus first aid will bring back 1 0r 2 HP each full wight hours of undisturbed game time. A healing power will also restore HP.

HP may also represent loss of sanity. If a character loses HP in a mental or certain magical attacks, 0 HP represents not unconsciousness but a complete mental breakdown. The victim will need to be restrained and receive special treatment before functioning properly. This can only be provided by a specialist but does not die (unless they attempt to fly off a building - without a flight power - GM's discretion).

Weapons are devices of either melee, ranged, or armor. All receive a device die or provide an attribute boost (to the next die up above the normal die for that attribute when the character uses that weapon). See Dungeon Squad for details about melee, ranged, and armor weapons.

WILL POINTS:

Will Points express the PC's will to power and their determination to see to it that life goes according their chosen values. The can be spent for various purposes or lost or acquired.

A person can spend a WP (a) to raise the die on one roll one rank before the die is rolled, (b) to re-roll one roll but must take whatever the re-roll is, (c) in exchange for cash to support training or research.

A person can acquire a WP (a) for as a reward for either great role playing or a great contribution to the game, (b) when either the player or the GM invokes a PC's weakness to the PC's own detriment in the game.

Rolling a 1 on two consecutive die rolls loses 1 WP. Rolling the max value on two consecutive die rolls with any dice gains 1 WP.

Shadow Squad of Syracuse!

"Shadow Squad of Syracuse!" is a Dark "Superhero" Role Playing Game that uses Jason Morningstar's game system "Dungeon Squad!" for it's mechanics. This is a well reviewed pick up role playing system that is billed for kids but works well for any age group. I have basically developed it for my "Shadows of Syracuse" Campaign setting that I have been working on for years to help get it out there. This is a work in progress so check back to this post for updates (whenever I can manage it).

Disclaimer: "Shadow Squad of Syracuse!" is a fictional setting and story that takes place in an alternate history of Syracuse, New York. All persons and entities in it are fictional. No assertions, similarities, or implications about any actual persons or entities are intended and none should be inferred.

For the rules to to Dungeon Squad!, click the title of this post.

SOCIAL CONTRACT:

SSoS! is a fantasy Role playing game for several players who assume the role of characters in the story/setting and one player (called Game Master or GM) who is responsible for providing the setting and storyline, fairly moderating the rules, and portraying what the players' characters experience in interacting with the each other, non-player characters and the setting.

SETTING:

Syracuse . . . a city of old ethnic communities and refugees relocated from all parts of the world, struggling with hard economic times, low jobs, and urban tensions. But unknown to most of the citizens, Syracuse is also in the center of five Elemental Circles of Power and at the crossroads of powerful ley lines. It is also under the protection of the intergalactic space pirate Imperium and seen as an imperial reserve. Finally it is at the basis of the Axis that connects the cosmos to the realm of the ancient ones who wait for the opportunity to return to power. The fate of the cosmos turns on what happens or will happen in the city.

The impact of these strange forces tends to go unnoticed, thanks to the effort of various secret organizations who wish to be the ones to determine how these influences will be used. Behind them are the machinations of more uncanny factions from eldritch realms, deep space, and other dimensions. But many ordinary citizens have in one way or another been "touched" be these forces. They have received special abilities but also have become hunted by these organizations. No one dares reveal there hidden nature. Finally all seek to understand the ultimate role the city will play in the final destiny of the universe and beyond.

In SSOS!, players play native born citizens who have been "touched", known, if known, as the Touched. For them their new abilities are both a blessing and a curse, forcing them to live in the shadows and develop a secondary set of survival skills, forcing them to take unusual steps to find a way to live in the city. They join with others working odd jobs or anything that will help them live and hopefully understand what is happening to them.

CHARACTER CREATION:

Characters are native born citizens of the city from one of the ethnic neighborhoods in town such as Solvay, or Tippery Hill, or Grant Ave. But they also experienced something that imbued them with strange powers, something they ate or encountered or which happened to their parents and was inherited. Each player must provide and origin story that includes there original neighborhood, the event in which they have been imbued, and how the made it through their teens and survived until young adulthood without capture or death while living in Syracuse.

Characters have three attributes: Toughness (TUF), Attunement (ATN), and Streetwise (STW). The event that gave them there abilities also always affected them physically to some degree and direction or another which is measured by TUF. This is useful for strength, health, and close combat. The event also connected the character with the ultimate flow of destiny to a certain degree, wiring their thought and intuition to anticipate the way things will go which is measured by ATN. This is useful for magic and psionic power. Finally, the life of trying to preserve oneself from detection and harm has helped them cultivate a certain sensibility and skill set measured by STW. This is useful for picking locks, sneaking around without getting caught, and using diplomacy or intimidation to get information or cooperation. The player, consistent with his story assigns one each of a d4, a d8, and a d12 to each attribute. The larger the die the more likely the character will be successful in that area.

The character also picks two powers or devices from the list indicated. A device is a power that anyone can use or lose. These are the powers that came as a result of being "touched". Assign a d10 to one and a d6 to the other.

Each character must also choose a weakness from the list indicated. This is a downside of being "touched".

Powers and weaknesses may gained or lost (or not) because of damage, powers, encounters, or training but this is up to the GM. A player may wish to acquire a new power or device by training or researching but he must announce this and spend whatever resources he has to sufficiently work toward this. The GM then tells the player when the training or research is complete. He may require a saving through to see if it is successful.

A player then calculates both his hit points and will points. Hit points indicate how much damage the character can take before they are "written out of the saga" either through unconsciousness, death, or insanity. Will points reflect the player's will to power and determination to live life on their own terms. Will points may be spent before a turn to grade a dice roll +1 rank. or re roll the dice after a roll to get a different result, or to exchange for money or resources to train or research, or can be lost if a player rolls "1" twice in two consecutive rolls. Will points can be gained if either the player or the GM invokes a player character's weakness to damage his chances in the game in some way, or if the GM wants to reward the player for good roleplaying or contribution to the game, or if the player rolls the max number on a die two consecutive times.

The starting number of hit points for each new character is 10 + half the number of the die assigned to TUF. The starting number of Will Points of a character is 2 plus the sum of the numbers of the dice assigned to ATN and STW divided by 4. (HP = 10 + TUF/2, WP = 2 + (ATN+STW)/2)

Example: Pauli grew up in Solvay when the town was bathed in a meteorite shower that consisted of crystallized alien tissue which desolved and concentrated in some parts of the area and was assimilated into Pauli's body. The result for Pauli was that he developed psionic abilities. He reluctantly allowed himself to be recruited by the MIB (Men in Beige), the city's own security agency that seeks and utilizes the psi gifted, in order to survive.

Pauli:
TUF: d8
ATN: d12
STW: d4

Telekinesis: d14
Psion Blast: d6

Weakness: Photo-sensative, psionics are less effective and/or reliable in direct sunlight.

14 HP, 6 WP

More coming later.

Just Added to Gnu Favs: "Internalism Defended"

Dr. Conlee and Dr. Feldman define and defend the basic "internalist" thesis that beliefs are justified for a believer if there is sufficient evidence in the mind of the believer or in the believer's mental states. They thus hold that two people who are in the same mental states are justified in the same beliefs.

If S is the set of all the mental states a person has and if P has S and Q has S, the if b1 is a belief that is justified for P then b1 is also justified for Q and visa versa. And if b2 is a belief that is not justified for P then b2 is not justified for Q and visa versa.

Conlee and Feldman argue that many of the objections against internalism are based on perceiving that it implies epistemic obligations that are impossible to satisfy. The argue that this need not be the case. It is internalist enough to that if a person has sufficient evidence in mind, then they are justified in the belief thus evident. It is possible to agree with internalism but not with Clifford's ethics of belief.

This is an important claim towards an evidentialist apologetics.

"E-mail from a Philosopher" is now complete!

I have recovered the missing post in the "E-Mail from a philosopher", which is my response to Mrs. Smith's first letter, thanks to the recovery efforts of Mrs. Smith herself. She and her Husband are now both Doctors in philosophy and are still in faith in Christ. You can go to the Introduction to "E-mail" and read the complete exchange by clicking the title of this post. Thank you Dr. Smiths!

February 16, 2004

Dear_________,

First, I few things.

One, I deeply respect that you shared this with me and I will be very circumspect with this. I have a good track record with keeping confidences.

Second, in the following, I refer to God as "he" according to my tradition. I don't think that God is male or female. Its just a convenience. If it helps to think of God as She, go ahead.

Third, I agree with your analysis and I have agreed with similar analysis for years and a lot of my own philosophical reflections have been focused around trying to think of at least helpful things to say to intellectuals both inside of your (and still in many respects my) situation and outside of it. I have to admit that I have never found anything that has been able to satisfy me all the way down and maybe such a thing is impossible. Let me put together some thoughts, which if they work for you, that's good but if not just drop them.

One thing, and this is in part in appropriation of criticisms of internalism, I have a radical comment to make that helped me deal with some of this. Even though God is omnipotent, theologians have not taken that to mean that God can do what is logically impossible like make a world with round squares in it. And I suspect that this also applies to Russell-like demands for evidence for theism. It could be (and "could bes" are sufficient for my needs here) that humans instantiate a natural kind that simply cannot receive absolutely non-question begging evidence for anything. It is not logically possible for God to meet such evidential demands because to do so for creatures like us is contradictory. God is not guilty for not doing what he logically cannot do. Why make beings of such a kind in the first place? On the one hand, there may be good reasons that we cannot see but given the purported greatness of God's wisdom, our not being able to see is not a defeater. We are understandably not in a good epistemic position to see. But on the other hand, having the ability to have internally available non-question-begging evidence for anything, under closer examination, may turn out to be a divine attribute anyway -- if anyone has it, that one must be divinely perfect. There are plausible Leibnizian reasons for why God does not create other Gods like himself. So none of us are God II.

Given that God cannot provide for such a demand of evidence, and given that a good God may want his objects of care to be able to know him, it seems that we should expect this would be provided for by nature in an externalist way. This seems consistent with some features of our experience. Even Hume claims that "custom" continues to see the world around us as an artifact of divine design even while being aware of objections to the conclusiveness of design arguments and his experience seems to be at one with the great majority of members of our species. If there are no other conclusive objections to the coherence of the possibility of God existing and providing knowledge of himself this way (and to be honest, while I have never found a conclusive demonstration of this I have also not found a conclusive objection to it either in all my searching) then such a possibility might be and probably should be taken seriously.

This seems to at least point us in the direction of questing for God even if we cannot yet simply believe in him. But whether or not one chooses to do so seems to depend on whether or not a person has certain values. (Another Humean point in my would-be Christian apologia.) Some people value a certain self-sufficiency here rather than perhaps recognize humble dependence and frailty to humanity and such an attitude would stop such a search before it starts. Perhaps we may have residual attitudes of both kinds and the tension between them tracks with whether and how intensely we search for God. This is one place where the Christian concept of the Fall comes in, which is a picture of the moral dimension of this whole thing. An important contrast between believers and non-believers is whether they have one certain set of attitudes or the opposing set. But these passions, affections, emotions, whatever, are part of the externalist story too. God could provide the set which points in the right direction and this seems to be what grace in part means. "I would not have sought you unless you already had found me." This emotional difference plus externalism may not be relativism but the only possible cure for it.

At any rate, if one has any sincere desires to seek and has no reason not to seek, it seems that someone is rational enough to pray the agnostic's prayer "Dear God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul". I see this as an intrinsic motivation, I desire for restored communion with the previously alienated God rather than seeking "fire insurance". The image of Hell could well be a mental picture for the intrinsic self-defeating suffering of abiding divine alienation. It is not necessarily a selfish motivation that per hypothesis would alienate God even more. But as we are often a mixed bag of motives full of conflicts and contradictions and have plenty in us to stand in the way of being reconciled to God, the important thing is not an absence of perfect rectitude but the presence of some genuine desire for communion. As long as we are dreaming and dreaming that God is good, let's dream that he is benevolent and gracious too.

But if one sincerely and seriously prays that prayer and maintains the seeking attitude of which the prayer is a paradigm exhibition, one spins a certain pragmatic context between themselves and God, if he exists. One perhaps should not expect the kind of knock down evidence that one craves as a way of being able to assure oneself of the truth. But God may act in such a way in response to that prayer which by all appearances seems to be God responding to the seekers prayer. In such a case it would be to wrong God and resist the good that God would do us to be overly suspicious of it or to suddenly impose impossible epistemic standards on the whole thing. The case is analogous with other minds. We may doubt they exist due to lack of a convincing argument but we still are appropriately offended when they don't keep their promises to us. If we request something of God and it looks like he has answered we have already committed ourselves in our request to respond appropriately, I think.

Of course, it may be that God has already provided the answers to such requests somewhere at sometime. And here is where I think Mark's advice comes in. The Scriptures are a putative account of God's dealings with humanity stemming from a particular point of entry into world history. There are other such accounts and we may have to look at them all or at least some of the main alternatives. But sticking with the Bible as an example of how we might approach this, on the one hand we see that it is first of all a kind of historical report with an essential positivistic dimension to it. There are some historical standards being observed even if they are not as precise or demanding as our modern critical views, but the intention is certainly to get things more or less right. But it is not history in any disinterested or neutral sense. But the presuppositions of the account are at least very similar to the set of presuppositions I have tried to sketch on independent grounds, namely the possibility that God exists and makes himself to disclosed to humankind not by offering assumption transcending evidence but by providing such "evidence" that would indicate some kind of personal assurance that he cares and has done something in humanities behalf, sort of like the handshake that seals the deal. The reader will have to be open to the possibility that God "interacts" with history and not assume automatically that such a thing is impossible in order to test the assumption that God might have heard and responded in an appropriate way. If one is willing to consider the possibility of God, one must be open to certain other possibilities

Here I think the standards of judgment are more like the standards of evidence one finds in a courtroom jury trial-- these are not philosophical standards but they are appropriate for the occasion. There might be some clear principles here but the basic idea is that you may already be able to judge for yourself whether what you taste is good. This sort of use of reason though may be applied to all the great religious traditions of the world and I think that there is a sort of thing we might call religious rationality by means of which religions are comparable in some sense.

When I first became a Christian, I was home alone listening to Billy Graham as a teenager. He gave a brief and plain presentation of the basic message of the New Testament Church. I was struck by several features. One, that the New Testament diagnosis of the human condition as "sinful", as severe as it truly is, had made better sense of my life than anything else; it was the only view that took my personal case with sufficient seriousness. Two, the provision of atonement for the guilt of sin had to be a divinely initiated provision of something divine like to satisfy the retribution due toward me in order to make possible the renewal of fellowship with God again. Three, the necessity of having to appropriate that gift by faith seemed logical with all the constraints involved especially that new life had to be all of God and none of me, the hand that merely receives is the only appropriate device to use to return to God. The whole story struck me as having a certain genius to it that would be hard for a set of humans to come up with merely on their own and not merely because of the intellectual hurdles but also the demands it makes on a person's character just to attend to such matters; this also encouraged me to think that God was at work in all of this. Finally, when I surrendered my life to God by praying with Graham on TV, I had a powerful experience of release and relief but was even more important about it was that along with that experience I underwent a powerful change of attitude -- "Lord, you have given so much to me, what can I do for you?". (Also, something freaky happened to the house cat right then but I don't make that a part of my case.)

Obviously this is all very unsatisfying philosophically and evidentially, but it illustrates how I think that someone might be persuaded enough to make a decision. There is such a thing as a moral certainty to faith even if there cannot be a philosophical certainty, a sense of knowing that your doing the right thing. The possibility remains open that someone will come up with a decisive argument or evidence that defeats such a faith, showing it to be false or incoherent. If so, that will be the end and a responsible believer will give up his belief. In fact, it seems that the biblical account encourages such testing as an aspect of trusting God itself. But until such a falsification comes along, I am obliged not to give up the belief that I have willfully contracted myself to even in the case of apparent difficulties in believing -- such obstinacy under the conditions is a virtue -- we must be willing to trust God and not leave at the first sign (or perhaps the second or third sign) of smoke. But still, the believer can only be dogmatic in certain contexts, he cannot claim absolute certainty and must at some level continue to be open to criticism. But in practical matters, a person cannot suspend judgment until the investigation is resolved ("art is long, life is short"), and one of the most important tests can only be done by being existentially committed to a faith anyway.
But even though we can't be certain philosophically, I think that something like the above story shows we need not be the parochial fools that Socrates and Bertrand Russell are always chiding religious yokels for. Socrates knows nothing and neither do I (if knowledge is internal). As someone with at least some philosophical sensibilities, I regret having nothing more satisfying but it is clear to me that this is sufficient and that one of my exercises toward holiness is to at some level be content with that although I admit I have had a hard time doing it. Such is the simplicity and difficulty of believing. Faith is ultimately a choice.

Of course, I cannot say whether you have a chance, but to speak pastorally (and I am a failed pastor as well as a failed apologist) the way to go about this is to examine yourself along the following lines, by the light of the Ten Commandments and the example of the life of Jesus as you see him in the gospels. Do you notice in yourself a certain recalcitrance toward obedience and selfless love either toward others or God as the Sovereign Good? It is better to not face this question in the abstract but to think about concrete examples either in the parables or stories in the life of Jesus and also in your own case. Do you find a sense that what is called sin is also "sinful" to you such that it seems that you abhor what God abhors at any point even should you find that in yourself. Is there a certain sense in which you are even able to acquiesce in God's judgments even if they should apply on you?

Further, in examining Christ, do you find in him that excellence of character you long for in yourself? Does the account of the significance of the cross seem to you to be an adequate solution? Would you be willing to appropriate such a solution for yourself perhaps as even the necessary solution in your case? In the face of the possibility of such grace, would be willing and even find some delight in turning away at least in resolution if you cannot in immediately do so in action from those besetting behaviors that you see to be sinful and to turn to holy character of God as to a great pleasure? Would you thus be willing to accept Jesus as your Christ and King and be his disciple in the Kingdom that he came to establish by his death? These are the sort of questions to ask. If you you find that the answer to them is in accord with acceptance of Jesus as Lord, there is no choice but only the need to act on your desires. Turn from sin and trust in Him. Repent and receive the good news and you will have the life of God in you.

But if this is not true as yet and you still would wish to consider it, the answer is that you are better off putting yourself "in the way of grace" then not. Try reading the Bible and soliciting prayers. Pray the agnostic's prayer hopefully. Go to places where Christians meet and hear the exposition of Scripture. Don't give any money or take any sacraments until you are assured that you desire to believe, since these are both privileges of believers only and God is not indifferent about them. Go where the Spirit of God is visible through the obedience of the people of God and be expectant. I don't have any prescriptions about how long or other practical questions, either you will meet God or eventually feel the whole thing to be pointless. This assumes that you have or are concurrently investigating other alternatives. That's okay.

And if you want, I will pray that you find the truth your looking for. If what I say is so much bull, I of course understand and simply ask that you ignore this post. "