God Games -- Who, What, Where, When????

[Asrogoth]

I wasn't sure where to put this post, but I believe this is the correct place.

For those of you who have read my submission to the Son of Iron Chef Game design challenge, you know that I created a "God Game".  I have only read of a couple in the past and have only heard about a few more.

I don't remember the title of any of them (unless you count D&D's Immortal's rules), so I was hoping to get some idea as to what is available out there.

I think I've got a pretty good game out there (which could use a lot of tweaking, of course.)  I came up with an idea for another "God Game" as well, but I'd like to see how much of this kind of thing has already been "covered" in other games, and what I can do to make my games exciting and desirable, if not unique.

After the competition is judged, I plan to seek criticism and advice from the community regarding it, but as for now, I'm really interested in what other games are out there.


BTW -- I will be out of town for a couple of days as my father-in-law is on his death bed and is not expected to live more than a few, so I may not get back to the thread until Sunday.

Thanks in advance.

[Paul Czege]

Hey,

Here are a few:

http://www.thalcos.com/deusex.html">Deus Ex, by J.C. Connors
http://www.mesastate.edu/~jfrazer/godz.pdf">Godz, by John Frazer
http://www.septemberquestion.org/lumpley/flood.html">Before the Flood, Vincent Baker
http://www.harlekin-maus.com/games/slurps/slurps.html">SLURPS, by Zak Arntson
And http://www.indie-rpgs.com/hosted/TOGiT-Digest.pdf">The Only Game in Town, by Aaron Houx (but it looks like the link is broken)[/list:u]Paul

[anonymouse]

For comparison, the term "god game" is used in computer games to denote Civilization- and SimCity-like games.

I guess that's not the definition you were using? Maybe food for thought on the subject anyway.

[greyorm]

There is "Immortal: The Invisible War" and "Immortal 2nd Edition" by Precedence Publishing. Neither is currently in print; the original author is planning on putting out a 3rd Edition of the game at some near point in the future, however.

The basic gist of the game is that you are a creature which mankind worshipped as a god before you went to sleep a long time ago, only to reawaken recently for reasons unknown -- the end of time is coming, the ultimate universe-devouring evil is your enemy, etc.

Despite some cliches, there's a lot of very cool ideas supporting all of it, hinging around alot of Cambellian archetypes in myth. Some of that cool stuff is right up front, some of it is (unfortunately) metaplot that has never been revealed because it was to be expanded upon "at a later time" that never arrived.

In terms of style, it isn't that different from, say, the line of White Wolf games, though I feel it has superior/deeper Color and Setting to the WW setting -- one of the main reasons it is a favorite of mine. If the mechanics only supported all that cool stuff instead of the same old "party of superheroes discovers clues and kicks evil butt while increasing their powerz," I'd be able to really gush.

[pete_darby]

hmmm... how do you mean, god game?

Nobilis - PC's control aspects of reality

Pantheon - pretty much the literal god game

Amber? - certainly, the PC's are as gods to many inhabitants of shadow...

But looking at Nobilis/Amber.... at some point this dsicussion shades from "Gods" to "k3wl Pwrz Xtr3m3" when looking at game systems (which itself shifts down to SuperHero / K3wl Pwrz), so before we go with the lists, we need to know what you mean by god game....

[Simon W]

There's also Matt's Lost Gods - it's probably in the resource library somewhere.

[Jere]

I think the term God Game is one where we are best off using Compute Game lingo. So in this case the closest RPG I can think of would be Aria, and that was a failed experiment on many levels.

If you just deal with Gods as immensely powerful beings you have the shading difficulty with superheroes. And to be honest most of these games aren't distinctive because of their power level, they all just boil down to either soap operas or adventure stories (or both).

Jere

[Marhault]

Entry Level Dieties (currently in development here on The Forge) comes immediately to mind.

[M. J. Young]

Most of those I'd have named have appeared; what of In Nomine? I've not seen it, but it seems to be about the supernatural battle between good and evil in high places, between  the sort of beings some would call gods.

--M. J. Young

[contracycle]

In Nomine has the player characters being wither angels or demons in a world in which god is a sort of absentee landlord.

I would suggest that Mage: The Ascension is a god game depending on how you look at it.  I certainly did not find it hard to duplicate a bunch of biblical miracles within the system.

But again, this depends on exactly what we mean by a god game.  arguably Amber would be one.

[Asrogoth]

Well, I'm back.  Father-in-law is expected to pass within two months.  But, that's not why I'm posting.

To answer the questions as to what I'm looking for in "God" Games, I was seeking games that focus on giving the characters god-like, uber-powers which they can use (even indiscriminately) to do whatever is required within the game (premise, goal, etc).

I always understood the computer games where you sought to create towns or manage the affairs of people/groups were called "Sim" games....  I suppose that was due to SimCity et al.

The links and games mentioned so far have been great help.  While I was away I had some great thoughts on a specific "god" game that I thought would be incredible, but I'll have to work on it some more before I'm comfortable sharing it.

Thanks for your input guys.  Please feel free to add any other games that you feel might meet the "criteria".