[God Lore] Cleaning Up and Shaking Out

[Asrogoth]

Okay, I promised I'd post something by tonight, so here you go.  This is the section I left out of the contest material by accident regarding the Gods and their "levels".  It needs some improvement, but it's a start, and if I don't get something posted soon, it'll end up being way too late.

Immortal Status

Immortals gain status through their acquisition of Influence Points because IP directly affect an Immortal's Life Force.  Life Force exists in both a "static" and a "current" form.  Immortals determine their effectiveness in each encounter and through each action by the amount of "current" Life Force (CLF) available.  The CLF reflect the available Influence Points available to be used by each Immortal at a given time.

Static Life Force refers to the overall amount of Influence Points available to the character when fully "charged" with Life Force.  The higher the character's SLF goes, the more power and greater status she has within the Immortal community.  Eventually an Immortal can gain such status as to be named among the greatest of the gods, being a patron of such things as the very elements they represent, or if wise and powerful enough, an Immortal may try to take over the rulership of the heavens from more established figures (i.e. Zeus, Odin, etc).

Immortal Status Matrix
SLF         Status
-------------------
13         Demigod
20         Eternal
27         Sovereign
34         Hierarch
41         Titan
48         Singular

When addressing an Immortal with 27-33 SLF, he would be addressed as Eternal "Name" by Immortals of higher status.  If addressing an Immortal of greater status, they would be addressed with the term Lord preceeding their status and name... Lord Titan "Name".

Demigod Patronage List
(For Random Result roll five six-sided die and add the results)

5   --   Roll Again
6   --   Apples
7   --   Bunyons
8   --   Caterpillars
9   --   Dust Motes
10   --   Ear Wax
11   --   Flatulation
12   --   Garbage
13   --   Hiccups
14   --   Impish Behavior
15   --   Jumping
16   --   Kale
17   --   Leeks
18   --   Minnows
19   --   Nails (Toe or Finger)
20   --   Oranges (for the scurvy scum that follow!)
21   --   Penguins (MUHAHAHAHAHA)
22   --   Quail
23   --   Roses
24   --   Snails
25   --   Torches
26   --   Ugliness
27   --   Vomiting
28   --   Worms
29   --   Yelling
30   --   Other (Choose or Make-Up Your Own!)[/list:u]

Eternal Patronage List
(use 4d6)

4 -- Ants
5 -- Beer
6 -- Carp
7 -- Doors
8 -- Eggs
9 -- Flirting
10 -- Gifts
11 -- Herpes
12 -- Idiocy
13 -- Jelly Fish
14 -- Kissing
15 -- Laughing
16 -- Mulled Wine
17 -- Nursery Rhymes
18 -- Ostriches
19 -- Pastry
20 -- Rainbows
21 -- Snow Balls
22 -- Tumbleweeds
23 -- Whispers
24 -- Choose Your Own (or Roll Again)
[/list:u]

Sovereign Patronage List
(use 3d6)

3 -- Asses (Donkeys!!!)
4 -- Bats (the flighty, winged kind)
5 -- Cats
6 -- Donkeys (Asses!!!)
7 -- Eagles
8 -- Feldspar (I've just always wanted to use that somewhere)
9 -- Grapes
10 -- Itching
11 -- Knives (preferably the "cook with me!"-kind)
12 -- Lunch
13 -- Mice
14 -- Needles
15 -- Organs (bodily -- take your pick!)
16 -- Porcupines
17 -- Rats
18 -- Choose Your Own (or Roll Again)
[/list:u]

Hierarch Patronage List
(use 2d6)

2 -- Asps
3 -- Bow (the weapon)
4 -- Charm (the trait)
5 -- Deer
6 -- Ears
7 -- Ferns
8 -- Giraffes
9 -- Harts
10 -- Knights
11 -- Laks (whatever those are)
12 -- Choose Your Own (or Roll Again)
[/list:u]

Titan Patronage List
Titans must prove themselves worthy of their rank by being Patron to a non-entity or Creation.  They must take on the cause of an emotion, a thought, an ideal, an ideal or an intangible.
(use 1d6)

1 -- Battle
2 -- Love
3 -- Rage
4 -- Wisdom
5 -- Silence
6 -- Choose Your Own (or Roll Again)
[/list:u]

Singular Patronage List
No Random Rolls Available.  The Singular Immortals are the cream of the crop and have proven their ability to handle the most difficult and powerful of Creation.
Examples are:

Sun
Stars
Water
Fire
Earth
Air
Lightning
[/list:u]


I will add some more info tomorrow night.  Please give whatever feedback you'd like.  Remember these lists were made for the IGC contest, so some things (like penguins and Laks) refer to other games in an attempt to be comic.

Anyway, I've got to go to bed.

Night.

[Mike Holmes]

Hmm. For the patronage lists, is rolling optional? When going up a level, then do you select? I mean, should the patronages have anything to do with each other, or are there no links behind them at all? Does the new patronage have anything to do with what the character has done to get it? Is there any rhyme or reason?

When addressing an Immortal with 27-33 SLF, he would be addressed as Eternal "Name" by Immortals of higher status.

Wouldn't that be Sovereign?

Looking forward to more stuff.

Mike

[Asrogoth]

Hmm. For the patronage lists, is rolling optional? When going up a level, then do you select? I mean, should the patronages have anything to do with each other, or are there no links behind them at all? Does the new patronage have anything to do with what the character has done to get it? Is there any rhyme or reason?

Mike,

Thanks for your response to this first post about the additional game material.  Yes, list rolling is optional.  You may select/roll when you go up a level.  I think it might be more fun to roll and have fairly "random" patronages up until perhaps the Titan and most definitely the Singular levels.  Up until then the Immortals sort of "take" what they're given or attributed -- unless the Chronicler and Players decide otherwise.

I imagine the great variety of the "patronages" of the Greek gods where you find multiple patronages with little coherence attributed to each god.

As the Immortals become greater in power and reknown, then they would be able to influence their adoption of patronages more directly -- perhaps even challenging another immortal to a battle for control over their specific
patronage.

When addressing an Immortal with 27-33 SLF, he would be addressed as Eternal "Name" by Immortals of higher status.

Wouldn't that be Sovereign?

Looking forward to more stuff.

Mike

Ah... typo.   I was cutting and pasting.  Yes, that would be Sovereign.

Thanks for your encouragement.  I hope to post more tonight, but my wife has been quite ill lately, and I've had to take over household chores as well as normal work-related issues, etc.  Life is awfully hectic right now.

I'll be back soon.

Always,
"Asrogoth"

[Mike Holmes]

Let's get that optional selection discussion into the text. Also, when you select, you didn't make clear - do you select from the list, or are these then just good examples? Can you select things not on the list?

Sorry to hear about your wife. But we're closing in on deadlines to Dav, so I have to apply some pressure.

Mike

[Asrogoth]

Okay, now to address some of the concerns from Mike's post over in Actual Play...  I think that this may begin to answer more than the questions posed by Mike.  Remember this is just a beginning to the questions posed.  I will be posting more over the next few days.

Asrogoth wrote:
I am not sure what you are referring to as social penalties, excpet perhaps in relation to the Council of the Deities. I shall get to that over in the Indie Game Design -- as well as posting the other information.

The council, yes, but also there are vague comments here and there about things that the dieties don't like. Like abrogating things. Why don't they like that? I get the sense that the society of deities is benevolent to creation, but it's only through reading what they punish dieties for that I get this sense. What I'm looking for is a direct statement or two about what diety society is like (or is best like to promote the themes of the game).

The Political Life of the Immortals

The Immortals have organized themselves into a societal structure based on power and wisdom.  The wisest of the gods find themselves in a position to gain the most power and the most powerful have found wisdom to be their greatest ally.

The Immortals judge themselves by a code which is integrated in their very essence at their creation by the Ancient One.  These "rules" of conduct are spelled out in three specific, yet open-ended statements:

[*]Care for Creation/Patronages
Each Immortal is required to care for his specific area or dominion -- his patronage(s) -- within Creation whereby each Immortal is the primary source for that patron's sustenance and destiny aside from the movement of the Ancient One.

[*]Maintain Balance in Creation and Time
In caring for their charges, the Immortals have agreed to maintain a balance among the Creation, not allowing anything in the Creation to become so strong as to destroy the rest of Creation.  Neither are Immortals permitted to "mess" with the flow of time and change events from the temporal past.  While Immortals live outside of Time, they operate within the constraints of Time and engage Creation within its temporal flow.  Sometimes Immortals will be called on to seek out rogue Immortals, Demons and other powerful Creatures that have attempted to warp Creation and/or Time to their own desires.

[*]Promote the Will of the Ancient One
These rules can be summed up within the statement that Immortals must promote the "Will of the Ancient One" who is the Great Creator.  In general, the Immortals assume that they have been given dominion over the Creation in order to manage its smooth working to its own end as the Creator has set it in motion;  although, each Immortal struggles to make sure his own impact is known within Creation -- that he has made "his" patronage(s) "better" in some way that does not compromise the overall purpose of Creation.

The Players may choose to determine what exactly the Will of the Ancient One is for Creation, with the Chronicler being the chief moderator.
[/list:u]

Internal Politics and the Council of the Deities

All in all the Immortals are seen as the Guardians and Shepherds of Creation and Time.  Their actions and their internal politics all revolve around how these "rules" are handled.

The Council of the Deities is the "last" resort for the Immortals when a fellow deity has trespassed against these rules.  Many times lower-level Immortals will find that they have actually mishandled their Patronages or have unbalanced Creation.  When this happens it is not long before they are called before the Council and judged.  When higher-level Immortals transgress the rules, they find the judgments harsher and stricter.

The Council is also the chief source of assigning the occasional "mission" to various gods in order to fulfill edicts pronounced by the courts, such as hunting for rogue Immortals or dealing with random occurances that require Immortal action.

[Mike Holmes]

A question still not answered is why the PCs are "together" on adventures. What I'm seeing is important NPCs giving the PCs missions. But why the PCs in question? What is it about the PCs that make gods select them as a "team" for a mission?

Mike

[Asrogoth]

A question still not answered is why the PCs are "together" on adventures. What I'm seeing is important NPCs giving the PCs missions. But why the PCs in question? What is it about the PCs that make gods select them as a "team" for a mission?

Mike

Hmm... well, I suppose that would be up to the individual Chronicler of each game as to why he might try to bring the characters together; however, I think you're really seeking for a raison d'etre for a "party" to exist.

I don't necessarily have a reason for them to be a "team".  It truly is sort of a "Paranoia"-like experience, or so it is my intention.  The deities are put together for reasons out of their personal knowledge (the gods must be crazy, neh?).  The Ancient One has made his decree and has called his minions to do their duty, and it just so happens that Okark, the god of dung beetles, eucalytpus trees and snot has been asked to join forces with Foegoe, the goddess of scat, koala bears and tissues.  Could this be some cruel joke?  Naw... the Ancient One desires the contentions and mutual dependence between each to forge an alliance (whether temporary or not) in order to accomplish its purposes.

So... why do the PCs meet up?  Because they're called together.  I don't see the need to create a plot device to call them all up from their jobs other than, "Hey, your turn for jury duty!"  Perhaps I'm mistaken.

Seeing as the characters are literally gods, they don't even have to "meet" face-to-face to deal with one another.  Hrm... I suppose I must add some sort of statement for the game....

BREAK IN THOUGHT PROCESS

Oh God, Where's a Telephone When You Need One?

Actually, in this game, you need no telephone because the gods can communicate with each other at will using their Commune action.  (More to come on that)....

NOW BACK TO OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION

Okay... so, I don't think I've actually answered you as you wish, but I hope I have.  Please respond.  It looks as though you're looking for a "kicker" or some-such, but I'm not "feelin'" it....

I'm working on more actions.... I'll be posting more later.

[Mike Holmes]

Actually that rationale is just fine. That is, if it's just some cosmic thing that causes them to be chosen, then that works for me. In fact it's kinda cool, as the players can try to figure out what it means to them (I think that the obvious randomness of it may work against this, but it's better than nothing). So just put that in the text. In fact, I'd suggest that at the start of play that they be informed that they've been assigned as a deistic troubleshooting team.

One thing, however. How do they know that they've been assigned to the team? Does some other god tell them? Or do they just suddenly know somehow? If another god tells them, then how did that god come to know to select these gods in particular?

Are all gods on troubleshooter teams? Or are the PCs special? I like the latter, because it makes the PCs stand out, and probably gives them some authority beyond their normal level.

Mike

P.S. Off to Origins, so I won't be able to respond for a while, likely.