Telepath RPG: Servants of God

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Telepath RPG: Servants of God is the third chapter in the Telepath RPG series from Sinister Design. The story is not a direct sequel to the previous chapters, though it is set in the same world.

Nelis, the shadowling queen, has been defeated, and without her, the Shadowling Empire has crumbled. However, a new menace has arisen in the world of Cera Bella. Known as the "Servants of God", this cult believes that there is only one true god, and he alone has the right to peer into the hearts and minds of mortals. This makes those with "the Gift" -- psychics -- anathema to them. They are persecuted by this cult as "dark ones" who manipulate the minds of others. As a radical fringe group, their beliefs are easy to dismiss -- until they stage a coup and take over the desert city of Ravinale.

Your main character is the son of two senators, Alder and Catherine Duvalier. Your character was thrown in prison shortly after the coup took place. Fortunately, his friend Griffin, along with the People's Resistance of Ravinale, breaks him out. He now has to work together with a ragtag group of resistance fighters to topple the Cult's theocracy and reinstate the old democratic government.

The game tackles a number of theological and philosophical questions about the nature of God and the role of religion in society -- the god the Cult worships being called "Yahwah" is no coincidence. The writing has been critically acclaimed by a number of video game critics, and it sports a fun tactical RPG experience as well. A demo can be downloaded on its home site, Sinister Design, and the full version can be purchased for 25 US dollars.

Tropes used in Telepath RPG: Servants of God include:
  • Actual Pacifist: Set. He doesn't have any attack skills, because he can't bear to hurt anyone.

Set: I do fight! But I fight to save lives, not take them.

  • Amplifier Artifact: The orbs, as in the previous game.
  • Back from the Dead: Luca has this ability, though it's explained that there are number of limitations. Firstly, she apparently can't do it without Duvalier[1], justifying We Cannot Go on Without You. She also needs an intact body and a "soul charge" (whatever those are).
  • Bald of Awesome: Griffin.
  • Bonus Boss: D'Kah, to an extent. Though he is fought as part of the main storyline, he is incredibly tough and will almost certainly curb stomp your forces. You're encouraged to just run away from him.
    • Arguably Hellion as well, who is significantly tougher than other sidequest bosses.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Greater Ghosts. They are completely immune to physical attacks, have a boatload of health, and they use devastating area effect attacks.
    • Loyalist Captains and Avengers are also quite tough. The Captains can deal tremendous damage to large portions of your team, and the Avengers can return the damage you deal to them with Feedback, requiring you to press to offensive to have any hope of defeating them.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Despite Rajav's claims that he is a legendary lover, his attempts to woo Luca are absolutely terrible. It is possible, however, that the time spent in the labyrinth simply caused his skills to become rusty. Very rusty.

Rahel: [Rajav] couldn't seduce a cat out of a bucket of water.

Griffin: First time you've ever killed someone, huh? [...] It gets...easier. But it's never easy. And it never should be.

  • Karma Meter: Defied by the creator, who says he wants to avoid moralizing the choices in the game.
  • Kick the Dog / Pet the Dog: Ah, dialogue options...
    • The Dog Bites Back: In the epilogue, if you gloated about how you like killing to Set, he will start a committee to get Duvalier removed from the judges' bench.
  • The Lancer: Rahel.
  • Last-Disc Magic: Double Strike, Trueshaft, and Mega Stab for Griffin, Rahel, and Arman, respectively. Arguably the elemental area attack for Duvalier as well.
  • Life Drain / Mana Drain: Luca's Soul Suck is kind of both. It drains the opponent's health, but converts it into PsP when Luca absorbs it. Iblis' Drain attack works in the opposite manner.
    • As in the previous games, the Feedback skill is functionally the former, though the flavor text shows that it works in kind of an opposite manner -- instead of draining life directly, the characters purge negativity and wounds from their bodies, then inflict that same negativity on the enemy.
  • Lost Forever: All of the Optional Party Members, if you piss them off, kill them, or flat-out refuse to let them join. Most notably, Qudssi calls it quits if you tell Luca to kill the innocent civilians at the end of mission four. He also becomes Lost Forever if you don't recruit him before that point, no matter what you do.
  • Magikarp Power: Duvalier. He has the worst stats in the game, with no intrinsic health or PsP bonuses, and only starts with a basic offensive and defensive skill. He is also likely to have low battle stats, since it's most advantageous to max out Personality and Aptitude at their expense. Once he gets a few orbs and starts learning elemental attacks, however, he easily becomes the strongest and most versatile member of your team. He's still a bit squishy, though.
    • Also, Malis. She starts with nothing but Mind Blast, but once she starts learning more skills, she becomes the most manoverable character in the game, and, unlike Arman, can actually keep herself alive with Feedback. She can't match Arman in terms of pure offensive output, however.
  • Malevolent Masked Man: Cygnus always wears a golden mask that looks like the face of an infant.
  • Multiple Endings:
    • One: Agree to surrender at the Al'Dukkan armoury, and join the ranks of the Cult. This one has a lot of What the Hell, Hero.
    • Two: Beat Cygnus to a bloody pulp and arrest him. This is the "standard" ending.
    • Three: Trump Cygnus in a theological debate and force him to surrender.
    • Four: Let Cygnus run away.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Duvalier can have one of these after mission four, if he took the violent route and discovers that Luca's personality has been irreversibly altered.
  • New Game+[context?]
  • Nice Guy: Set.
  • No Cure for Evil: Averted; there are numerous enemies with healing skills.
  • Optional Party Member: Qudssi, Malis, La'Man, Naj, and Rajav.
  • Personality Powers: The Nameless One also asks Duvalier about his personality before selecting an elemental affinity for him. Apparently, pyrokineticists believe in great passion, cryokineticists believe in rationality and detachment, photokineticists believe in analyzing future possibilities, and skiakineticists believe in analyzing past mistakes.
    • This also seems to hold true for the Climax Bosses -- Fernatus is a fiery, passionate executioner, while Malekahin is a scholarly preacher who is focused on correcting his past mistakes.
    • There seems to be a degree of this going on with Luca, as well. Specifically, if Duvalier convinces her that she really is an angel of wrath in mission four, she will learn Light Blast, an offensive skill. However, if Duvalier keeps her grounded during that scene and she retains her more passive personality, then she learns Transfer 2, a support skill.
  • Posthumous Character: Darime.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Rajav.
  • Psychic Powers: Explored to an even greater depth than in the prequels.
  • The Resistance / La Résistance[context?]
  • Relationship Values: Most characters have these. They can be affected by what you say when talking to them in your headquarters, among other factors.
  • Rousing Speech: Duvalier can make one of these later in the game to gain support for La Résistance. Its success depends on a number of factors.
  • Secret Character: Rajav, to an extent. He can only be recruited by completing the fourth crypt.
  • Sidequest: All over the place. The latter half of the game is largely made up of these.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: You can do this to the Final Boss. Albeit not literally, and you do need a very high Personality score.
  • Video Game Caring Potential / Video Game Cruelty Potential: All over the place.
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: If you tell Luca to murder a bunch of innocent civilians in mission four, Qudssi will desert if you recruited him.
  • Videogame Set Piece: Both Iblis and Cygnus use weird attacks that aren't what one might normally expect. Iblis cannot move, but can drain PsP for health, and has an attack that can hit anyone, anywhere (there are no range restrictions). Cygnus can create clones of himself, switch places with those clones, create electrified solid state shields out of thin air, and attack every character on the field at once.
  • Weapon of Choice:
  • We Cannot Go on Without You: Justified this time. Luca is purely loyal to Duvalier; if he dies, she just fades away (or something) and can't revive him.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Happens repeatedly throughout the game if you have Duvalier do things the other characters consider immoral.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist[context?]
  1. ↑ This is because Duvalier is the only one who can "mold" the soul charge to actually "fit" the recipient; Luca can provide the energy, but she can't revive a mind she doesn't know
  2. ↑ Though it is possible for him to become a Knife Nut if he joins the Order of the Black Rose.
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