Jordan Peterson on Egyptian Gods

So, I'm not trying to ruffle feathers and I know that Jordan Peterson is called a heartless intellectual and worse. It might be true. I personally feel that people should be free to alter and express themselves however they wish, which will soon begin a constellation of profound genetic modification and eventually the need to reimagine ourselves as a collection of sentient species who shepherd worlds. Sorry, I'm getting off-topic. Maybe he is heartless, but I have learned from the heartless before. I learned lessons from the attempted mugging when I got punched in the face. Hopefully, this goes down easier for you.

It's a 15 minute video about the Egyptian Gods that I find highly engaging.

... I'll be watching this again later. I don't really know what to say about it. I just like to share the treasures that I find.

I'm pretty well convinced by now that proper storytelling is all about archetypes and engagement. DMing takes an even subtler touch due to the openended exploration aspects.

The Sun

Sky Magic Correspondences: The Sun

We begin with the sun for it is representative of the self, the will manifest as light bound in flesh, and the ego radiating it's influence outward to all. The sun is born each dawn, rising up to the height of it's noon power and then dropping into sunset. Crossing over the horizon, The Ring and into the unknown underworld of death and rebirth, only to rise again each dawn. So then, as each new day is the same sun; so too be we the same cosmos witnessing itself from within each skin.
We live and die and live again.


Center, self, source, strength, the solar-plexus chakra, yellow, gold, white (divine light), radiation of personality, projection of image and influence, the collection of objects pulled (and pulling) into your orbit by your personal power and gravitas, force of will, relentless discipline, consistency, honor, ethics, light. The enlightened self seeks to allow the divine to shine through; in word, deed, and especially thought. We are the imagination of ourselves. Death is the illusion, and life is the dream. Do as thou wilt, but prepare to get hurt, and then learn to want better things.

Willing toward itself through gravity, and simultaneously pushing away with an aura of solar wind.

Sense of self, identity, willpower, hero, goals, savior, expression, purpose, work, enthusiasm, the face

Mind that you do not let your light be subsumed by the designs of stiflers and the black-hole-hearted. Do not get yourself so lost within the anxiety of unfolding history (his-story), that your attention falters from following your true mystery (my-story). We must learn to love our fate, which is in fact our life.
We make our own luck.

Dark XP vs. Enlightened XP

New concept for my new game. This is the crux of the thing really, if I can find the proper words to capture it. Almost all the experience points earned will start as Dark XP. Once your character has enough Dark XP the gravitational mass of the experiences can collapse into themselves (data compression) and form a new class level AND a new Mental Twist (insanity/madness/quirk).

The Players can enlighten those experiences, by helping to drag the game into reality. We sculpt our lives as we fold our stories into material artifacts, art, books, whatever. So, there are daily exercises that allow you to enlighten 10XP each. No penalty for missing a task (!), but you do get 10xp enlightened for each task you check off the list. That max is then 490xp per week, 70 per flavor. Enlightened XP gets flavored into the Sky Magic Correspondences. All tasks are optional, though I suspect balance is best. Here is the list.

Str = Sun = Exercise (at least 3 things 5 times, like sit-ups/squats/pushups)
Wis = Moon = Meditation (at least 15minutes, 30 is better, for me; but I think hours are best, so...)
Dex = Comets = Good Deed (Try to right a wrong, tries count; you'll improve)
Int = Stars = Journal (Keep track of this list of tasks, and write some thoughts each day)
Con = Rainbows = Community (share, help, volunteer, improve environment, act locally)
Cha = Clouds = Passion (Do something you are passionate about, enjoy it fully, food/music/love)
Conviction = Ring = Discernment (clean, recycle, repurpose, reorganize, settle the homestead) 

AND, we can enlighten experiences by helping to craft our game into reality and thus marketability. This would be like ... monthly? 1000xp each? No. Per session, 500 each.

Str = Sun = Radiance (outreach, media presence, marketing, promotion, enthusifying)
Wis = Moon = Inspiration (think of a new way to improve the game, any idea to add to to-do list)
Dex = Comets = Knight Moves (Errands/tasks/quests done for the sake of the game, to-do list)
Int = Stars = Write/Code/Record (Help put the story in a format that gets us paid, to-do list)
Con = Rainbows = Set & Setting (Improve gaming space/experience, share with group, $*)
Cha = Clouds = Art (maps, sketches, scribbles, music, themed rave, anything emotive)
Conviction = Ring = Discern (Improve upon/streamline an existing part of the game)

*Yes, I'll give out rainbows in exchange for cash and/or gaming books (it's all the same to me).



I don't mean to be demanding at all, just encouraging. The idea being that we all try to push ourselves to improve a bit each week. Obviously, I hope that people explore these practices however deeply they wish, but I'm not going to evaluate performance or duration or anything really. I was imagining a simple checklist that gets tallied up. Now that I'm in the midst of it all, I see it's a bookkeeping nightmare. I MUST FIX.

Ugh. I just... I've been playing these games for years, and I feel that there is a missed opportunity here somewhere to gently incentivize my friends to improve our lives over time. It's stuff that we all know we should be doing, so why not offer in game rewards to help us along?

Oh, the Enlightened XP! Sorry. It can get used to alter things within the game. Serendipitous magical effects. Synchronicities which the DM would arbitrate into the game. For example, your character is trapped in a cage and the DM says that the only thing you can get to is a little rock outside the bars and you hate it, so you want to expedite your escape. You tell the DM "I spend 500 rainbows and reach through the bars to see if the key to the lock might be behind that little rock.", now the DM might not grant the full wish, but you did just burn 500xp so something should happen, like finding a twisted bit of metal to pick the lock with. Also, I was thinking of allowing Enlightened XP to mitigate or remove the Mental Twists that build up over time as the character continues to level. They might also be spent to give bonuses to die rolls, give advantage/disadvantage, or perhaps increase ability scores. Meta-game sort of stuff, where the universe of the game bends to the will of (the Star Magi who fulfills the request of) the player. Maybe you can think of it like this... The players spend the Enlightened XP so that their future self can sneak back in time and put bits in place for their current self to find right now in the present. No? We could also tie it to magical item creation. Allow warriors to pour their xp into their favorite weapon in order to level it up into new abilities? So much to sort out.

P.S. And let's not minimize the psychological benefits of simply going around the table and hearing about everyone's real life achievements. Even if it's boiled down to a number. Habits and self-doubt don't change themselves, but over time positive reinforcement will sink down into the subconscious and encourage new adaptation.