08-24-2018, 07:19 AM | #31 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
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08-24-2018, 10:03 AM | #32 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
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Classical gods are better than all mortals at their specialties, but not at everything, in many many myths. Personally, I think this is a better model for gaming than the gods are always better at everything model, unless you specifically want them to just humble the PCs. A lot of traditional gaming and myth involves challenging the gods. |
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08-24-2018, 12:39 PM | #33 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
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Still, Thor in the myths isn't stupid, just direct. I'd give him IQ 12 + a Talent, actually, with Loki at 15-18. Come to think of it, I'd probably give most gods a Talent to cover their mythic portfolios rather than boosting their IQs to superhuman levels. The Mesopotamian, Aegean, Celtic, and Norse deities were all quite human in their personalities and reasoning capabilities; the Egyptian gods may be a higher IQ than most, and I haven't studied the Hindu, Chinese, Japanese, and Indochinese mythologies enough to comment. (What I've found of Inca and Mesoamerican mythologies I've read have been hit with a heavy 17th Century Christian bias that I really can't tell what the myths were.) Either way, Talents give the gods higher IQs in their schticks without making them all-knowing.
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08-24-2018, 12:47 PM | #34 |
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Southern Sweden, possibly on an Alternate Earth
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
I prefer to depict gods as human - that is, having human flaws, whims, deficiencies, fixations and weird ideas - but of course with more power than mere humans. And citing legend to determine characteristics of gods is difficult, since legend is not always very internally consistent.
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08-24-2018, 05:42 PM | #35 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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08-25-2018, 12:45 AM | #36 |
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Southern Sweden, possibly on an Alternate Earth
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
What I meant is: select the particular piece of legend that suits your god, and go from there. Myth and legend may contain almost contradictory information about the very same good - but when describing the deity, one needs to select what is truth in-game. Of course, if the god is only very seldomly interfering in the game world, it is of use the have contradictory in-game myths and legends so the players are kept on their toes!
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08-25-2018, 01:14 AM | #37 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
All could be true if different encounters involve different aspects of a larger god. Either it changes personalities, or literally exists in many forms simultaneously.
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08-25-2018, 01:18 AM | #38 |
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Southern Sweden, possibly on an Alternate Earth
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
Agreed! Even to the point of the god having completely different avatars with different agendas.
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08-25-2018, 09:15 AM | #39 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
Quote:
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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08-25-2018, 10:32 AM | #40 |
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart
If you make the assumption, for game purposes, that the Gods are real, then one should also presume that their stories are a watered-down version of those they represent. The challenges and morals of the tales were written by mortals, to make some point or teach some lesson to other mortals, in a way that can be understood by those mortals. If overcoming problems simply requires human-level intelligence, that makes for a useful lesson; if you need inhuman powers of perception and deduction, how can anyone hope to gain anything useful from the story? How humans perceive their Gods is intrinsically limited to the needs and vision of those who are telling the tales. For purposes of your game, they can have any stats you like, or simply be nigh-omnipotent off-camera entities who cannot be statted out at all. It's all a matter of personal preference and campaign needs.
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Tags |
demigods, dungeon fantasy, fantasy, gods |
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