RolePlay onLine RPoL Logo

, welcome to Game Proposals, Input, and Advice

09:33, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

Posted by Norwood
Norwood
member, 323 posts
Mon 27 Jun 2022
at 18:55
  • msg #1

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

I've had an itch to play Godbound recently, but I've never quite connected with its default setting. It's certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It's quite clever in the way it subverts many fantasy stereotypes while playing others straight and providing a diverse kitchen-sink setting to play in. I've just never latched onto any particular corner of it the way I have with something like Exalted (the game that got me into Godbound back in the day). Recently, though, I've been toying with some ideas that I think might come together well to make for an interesting adventure.

For those unfamiliar, one of the popular settings for Dungeons & Dragons is the forgotten realms, and during one historical event known as The Time of Troubles, the overgod  AO cast all the gods into the material plane, stripping them of their divinity and forcing them to walk amongst the mortal followers they had grown so detached from. Basically, their scheming and power-hungry machinations as well as their general disregard for the wellbeing of their faithful earned them a stern talking to. I thought this general setting, at least in broad strokes, would actually make a fantastic setup for a game of Godbound!

I wouldn't be sticking strictly to canon, but rather following it in broad strokes so that we could use the familiar backdrop of Faerun and major locales like Baldur's Gate or Waterdeep (with some room for players to tweak/rewrite their little corners of it). Player characters could be mortals who, for one reason or another, earned a bit of divine spark in contention as the gods fell, or even actual divinities now brought down to mortal and trying to earn their way back into divine grace. What would follow would be high powered adventures in the typical Godbound sense as the players accumulated power, influence, and followers, all while trying to avoid (or defeat) other power-hungry proto-divinities.

The following questions arise for me:
  1. Is there any interest in a game like this? People can be particular about their RPGs, and Godbound isn't one of the larger ones, so I need to know there are people interested in playing it away from its default setting.

  2. Is a canon setting like Faerun the best choice, or would it be better to make it a "generic d&d fantasy world"? Faerun with the serials numbers filed off with room for expies and inspiration from materials like Overlord and other similar series and books?

  3. What other things should I keep in mind? I've played a bit of Godbound at my own table, but not here on RPol. Is there anything I should watch out for?

Ramidel
member, 1397 posts
Err on the side
of awesome.
Tue 28 Jun 2022
at 01:58
  • msg #2

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

1) You can make a game of Godbound that's all about watching paint dry, and you'll get more applications than you can use. :)
2) I'd personally prefer a more generic setting. Faerun has decades of continuity attached and can feel a little overwhelming if you're not a guru (which I'm not).
3) The main thing I'd suggest about your game is that the Godbound magic system draws more on Exalted than on Jack Vance. It's hard to be a standard-issue D&D wizard in Godbound, so you'll have to decide how you want to address that.
Knight_Vassal
member, 602 posts
Tue 28 Jun 2022
at 02:12
  • msg #3

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

  I mean there are options to fix those issues. And the Time of Troubles is a very detailed very clear point in time. If the focus was there I see less issues there. And from what I have seen of Godbound yes Exalted is more similar than D&D.

 Interested: Beyond. Absolutely love the "Classic" Aber-Toril.

 More questions than I can think of answers. Since it is the Time of Troubles would we be our own characters who usurp Portfolios of current gods or the gods of Toril themselves? Really my biggest question.
Norwood
member, 324 posts
Tue 28 Jun 2022
at 02:19
  • msg #4

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

In reply to Ramidel (msg # 2):

Good points;
  1. That's good to hear! Makes me feel like this idea isn't just a pie in the sky wasted endeavor

  2. I was starting to lean that way as well. While I like the general feel of something like Faerun, I'm not a setting guru, either. I think I'm going to lean on making it a knockoff fantasy world and invite people to define aspects of it through collaborative character creation. If people want Waterdeep, that can be imported.

  3. Theurgy definitely works more like Exalted sorcery, true. The low paths are semi-vancian, though, and that's going to be the bulk of wizardsTM in the setting. Only the mightiest Elminster/Manshoon/Archlich like characters will qualify for Theurgy (and thus be represented by something like an Eldritch). The rest will be mortal archmages ready to be trod underfoot.


In reply to Knight_Vassal (msg # 3):

Since I'm now thinking of using the time of troubles and official Faerun as more of a jumping off point than as an actual map, the idea would be to allow a bit of both. Players might be mortal heroes/villains/etc who inherit divine power one way or another (from a god who dies early or being blessed by the Over God for being somehow "worthy"), or they might play as one of the original divinities, now stripped of much of their power and told to earn their place in the heavens once more a la Thor (of Marvel).

I think my goal is using Toril/Faerun as a guide to the kind of feel I want from the game rather than a literal roadmap. Hopefully this gives us room to enjoy that classic feel of stomping around in a familiar sandbox with godly powers without requiring anyone to have a history degree in a fictional setting.
Primuson
member, 22 posts
Tue 28 Jun 2022
at 02:27
  • msg #5

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

If you are looking for a way to explain how mortals are working as quasi-deities - then perhaps it is simply that forcing a Greater Deity - particularly those with very large portfolios - into a mortal avatar doesn't work and there is spillover and the deities lose some of their power. So, Bane spawns three or four mortals with slivers of his power - each focused on a particular aspect of his greater portfolio. Bane then moves to either control or kill those mortals. This might happen to every Greater or Intermediate God.
Knight_Vassal
member, 603 posts
Tue 28 Jun 2022
at 02:31
  • msg #6

The Time of Troubles (A Godbound Game of Rising Divinities)

In reply to Norwood (msg # 4):

Well I mean I made a Timeline of Toril before TSR did. So yeah kinda setting Guru which is where the question about if it was going to be OC gods or the literal gods. And going for that "feel" needs history and lots of it. That was where the "feel" comes from. But I get where you are coming from.

   Heck a part of me goes ok import Keltomir. Freaking love Keltomir. But it brings a unique set of issues that no one is going to want to deal with.


And the Bane example is very literally what he did except I think it was 18 of them. Made them fight it out Highlander Style. But Corelleon Larethian had but one "Host".
Sign In