Candles In The Dark: A Godgame with a twist.
"It is better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness."
Here we have a shard of divine essence, spiralling through the void. Pretty standard stuff. Here we have a star, orbited by some planets. Nothing unusual so far. Now the divine shard enters the orbit of the star, and the solar energy causes it to stir after eons of hibernation. As one does. The shard gives birth to a number of gods, multifarious in nature, who set their eyes upon a certain planet, where warm seas teem with primitive life. So it goes. The gods crack their metaphorical (or literal) knuckles, and prepare to mould the world to their liking, eyeing each other up and forming alliances and rivalries, some eagerly anticipating sending their legions of mortal followers to war in their name, others hoping to create a peaceful utopia. Same old, same old.
But hark, what is this? Something strange is afoot, and even the gods shudder. Swimming through the void, following on the trail of the divine shard, comes a darkness; an all-consuming eldritch entity of absolute hatred, that makes the most sinister, blood-stained, fiery-eyed of gods seem like choirboys. Now this
is unusual. Though only recently born, the gods feel that this should not be. Their playground should be for them alone, yet here comes something that seeks not only to kick over their sandcastles, but devour the entire playground and everything in it.
Fortunately, the darkness is not yet upon them, and indeed the light of the star seems to be keeping it at bay... but already tendrils reach out, and upon the virgin world are spawned indescribable beings, that begin to ravage the land and seas. For a brief moment, the gods set aside their scheming, and each sets forth to smite the eldritch intruders. 'tis but the work of moments for them, and the world is saved.
For now.
Yes hello. This was an idea that came to me after discussing what elements make forum games enjoyable in
this thread- specifically, the addition of a threat. Not, to be clear, an unstoppable, hope-destroying threat. This is not grimderp. This is a threat that can be held at bay. It is not my intention that this is a purely PvE game wherein all your efforts are directed towards fighting the Eldritch Threat, but rather to add a challenge to an otherwise sandbox scenario.
I am not much of a fan of incredibly lengthy rulesets. This shall be a fairly freeform affair. That said, here are the basic rules:
Trivial actions are free, and one can perform however many one wishes in a turn. This includes manifesting in dreams or visions, talking to priests, talking to other gods, etc. Basically, talking is a free action.
Simple actions are likewise free, but one can only perform a limited number in a turn, equal to your strength (more on that later). This includes manifesting in reality for a brief period in a mortal vessel (an hour or two, during which time you can do whatever), physically interacting with the world in small ways (pushing a rock off a cliff, tripping up a horse- basically, if you could do it whilst manifested as a mortal you can do it this way without manifesting), other simple things, or drawing on a source of power (more on that later).
Everything beyond that costs Divine Energy. Costs are not strictly linear; spending 1 DE will have very weak effects (creating an artefact with no/very limited powers, smiting (instantly killing) a single humanoid being), whilst spending 2 will be more than twice as effective (creating an artefact with substantial magical power, smiting half a dozen humanoid beings or the equivalent thereof). 3 will let you create living beings (of an existing species). 4 will let you create a new mundane non-sapient species (or several minor related ones), 5 a new sapient or magical species. If you want to know how much a given action would cost, ask me (I used the creation of living beings as examples, but obviously you can do almost anything).
Why, then, would you ever use smaller actions? Ah, well. The more energy you use at once, the more the fabric of reality is weakened, and the more visible you become to the Eldritch Threat. Spending 1 at a time will not register a blip; 2-3 will only be noticed by Eldritch Beings in the local area, 4-5 will begin to attract the attention of all Eldritch Beings (although they may choose not to act), 6-7 will draw the direct attention of the Eldritch Threat itself, and 8+ is an excellent way to cause the Eldritch Threat to come after you immediately (which may, in some cases, be desirable, if you believe you have the strength to face it, allowing you to weaken it).
Of note, the cost of an action need not necessarily correlate to the significance of the outcome. A whisper in the right mortal's dream might lead to them founding a continent-spanning empire, and whilst smiting things is a pretty surefire way of killing something, it may be less cost-effective than manifesting as a mortal and hitting them with a sword.
All gods start with a strength of 3 and a stockpile of 9 energy. Each turn, you receive energy equal to your strength. Note that stockpiling energy to an excessive degree will have negative consequences- but below 10 is always safe.
The fraction of the Divine Shard within you is enough to sustain you at strength 3. Increasing your strength requires that most precious of things, Belief. Only sapient beings with free will can produce Belief. The more worshippers you have, and the more fervent they are, the more Belief you receive, and the stronger you get.
There is another way of obtaining Divine Energy, which is drawing on a source of power. At the start of the game, there is only one source of power you can draw upon... the Eldritch Threat. However, alternative sources of power may come into existence. Using a Simple Action to draw on a source will give you 1 DE... which may come at a cost, of course.
Gods are pretty hard to kill. However, they can be injured. Gods may attack one another directly, provided they have access to each other (creating sub-dimensions to hide in would be possible, for instance, requiring an attacker to first find a way in), in which case their relative combat skills will be considered, and damage dealt out accordingly. Manifested gods may also be 'killed', causing 1 point of damage. And, of course, the Eldritch Threat may attack a god, dealing damage if they cannot defend themselves adequately.
If a god takes more damage in a turn than they have strength, they will be injured, all stockpiled Divine Energy will be given to their attacker(s), and they will be unable to act the following turn (the Divine Energy they would've earned is also given to their attacker(s)).
If all the gods are injured at the same time, the Eldritch Threat will consume them (and the world).
The Eldritch Threat is an indescribable thing, that lurks outside the protective influence of the sun, but can send fractions of itself to your world to cause mayhem. These Eldritch Beings are things of pure chaos & hatred, and will generally not be negotiable with. They are not alive, so if you for some reason want to be a pacifist you need not feel guilty about smiting them.
The Eldritch Threat will grow stronger over time, but can be weakened as well. It could be enticed into attempting a large invasion, the defeat of which could leave it temporarily fazed, or one could even attack it directly (not recommended). Barriers and wardings may be set up to hold it and its extensions at bay. Most crucially, the mortal inhabitants of the world may be empowered to fight back against the Eldritch Beings themselves- it would be pretty tricky, not to mention tiresome, for the gods to take care of every little Eldritch Being that popped into existence.
At the start of the game, the Eldritch Threat is fairly weak, and even DE 6 or 7 actions can be undertaken relatively safely (in the sense that only a few beings of unspeakable horror will manifest and attempt to devour the world, rather than hundreds or thousands).
As mentioned above, the Eldritch Threat can be used as a source of power. The Eldritch Threat is not really a thinking being, but rather a collection of weird energy, so it will not (indeed, can not) object to some of its power being siphoned off by the gods (or anyone else). It will, however, notice, and may use the conduit that draws the power as a way of slipping Eldritch Beings into the world.
Initial signups will be limited to 7 players. Maybe, if things go smoothly, one or two more could be added.
Applications should contain the following:
Name:
Sphere:
Appearance:
Description:
Which should be fairly self-explanatory.
Note that signups will not be first come first served. Earlier applications will have priority, but may be passed over if they do not seem suitable. For example, if your god has a ludicrously narrow sphere- this is not the Discworld, the Goddess of Things Stuck In Drawers will not be a major player in the pantheon. Signups are closed, the gods have been chosen.
This is somewhat experimental, so if you have any feedback or suggestions, I'm certainly willing to consider changing things. I may tweak things even after the game has started, if necessary.
Also, if you have any questions, I will answer them (I've probably forgotten some obvious stuff, for instance).
PS: Apologies to those who have been patiently awaiting a BFA update. I'm not saying it'll never happen, but I'm not going to let it stop me from starting other games.
You can ask me questions or chat about the game in the #candles-in-the-dark channel on the
General Bay12 Forum Games Discord (Note that you're gonna want to mute 95% of the channels in that server). Of course you can also ask questions/discuss things in this thread, though Discord is somewhat faster.
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Topic: Candles In The Dark: A Godgame with a twist (OOC) (Read 2439 times)