Pantheon: The Third Age - Rules and Comments Thread

[Madadeva]

BTW, XAR ... you haven't stated what YOUR desire is!

Are YOU tired of P3 and anxious to get to P4? Or do you want to do P3 longer?

And of course, you need to decide, consistent with the P3 lore - how the AllFather will react to the press of Gods. Some pleading (the twig ) - and some belligerent (you know who!)

Whichever decision you make, I still think the results should be fun! After all, we did do something UNEXPECTED. And we do have a plan B!

[variol son]

So, the thing I read from between the lines of Xar's comments in this thread recently is that the world is not guaranteed to end. And honestly, that's enough for me. I like The Numen. There's way more that I can grow Them, and I'd love the chance to do so.

I don't mind if fixing the world is going to be hard. As long as I know OOC that it's even possible in the first place, then I'll keep trying.

Already several times before, in other occasions (and other Pantheon iterations as well), there were players who believed there were no solutions to existing problems, despite the fact that I had not only given them clues to the contrary, but had flat-out stated that disaster was not unavoidable. Personally I may understand if a player doesn't think of connecting the dots, but I do want to state for the record that the dots are there and that they do form a meaningful picture... however, I'm not going to take up the pencil and connect them for you.

Well I hope I wasn't one of those, as I don't think the problems facing Anaya are insurmountable. My plan was to make Anaya go crazy with rage (as some of my posts started to suggest), the culmination of which would have seen her sacrifice the Children of Fate to save the world. The Mox went all crazy, and I didn't want to steal his thunder.

I would hope that after P3 is finished that you can maybe show me a little more clearly what you were trying to say. However, I certainly don't expect that during the game - it would take away the fun.

[Fist and Faith]

And we do have a plan B!

[Madadeva]

My plan was to make Anaya go crazy ....

Ohhhh ... perhaps she would be more susceptible to Madadeva's charms then!! He LIKES virgin goddesses!

[Avatar]

...the culmination of which would have seen her sacrifice the Children of Fate to save the world...

I think I would have been quite upset if my child of fate was sacrificed...

--A

[variol son]

Of course you would have...that was part of the point.

[Xar]

BTW, XAR ... you haven't stated what YOUR desire is!

Are YOU tired of P3 and anxious to get to P4? Or do you want to do P3 longer?

And of course, you need to decide, consistent with the P3 lore - how the AllFather will react to the press of Gods. Some pleading (the twig ) - and some belligerent (you know who!)

Whichever decision you make, I still think the results should be fun! After all, we did do something UNEXPECTED. And we do have a plan B!

Well, I'm ok with continuing P3 (although I'd really like to see how P4 is received). However, to be blunt... to remain consistent with the lore, the gods seeking the AllFather would not be able to find him - or, if they were able to find him, they would likely receive no help - at most, a cryptic explanation of why he has allowed this to happen, if asked in the right way (I haven't checked all submissions yet, so I don't know if someone did). This is not only consistent with the public lore, but also with private conversations held by the Allfather. The most help he could be willing to give - if asked in the right way - would be to deal with the Bleeds at the cost of the sacrifice of some of the gods - perhaps all who entered the Mists, since he had hinted several times that he did not want to be disturbed further.

Also to put it bluntly, I get the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" feeling... if the AllFather doesn't do anything, there's room for players to feel that I am actively trying to end the world; if the AllFather agrees to do something about the Bleeds at the cost of the lives of some gods, those players are effectively out of the game for as long as P3 continues, which could be a while if the remaining gods manage to slow down or stop the other catastrophes (something which would be less likely to occur, of course, since there would be fewer gods, therefore less available power, and there'd still be divine threats to neutralize, apparently, such as Bel). Then P3 would become a game for something like 6-7 players (haven't heard from Dagon, at any rate), while many players who were really invested in the game (and, ironically, want it to continue - such as Fist and Menolly) would be out of the game. If all catastrophes were to be averted, they could of course start new characters - but the characters they had built for so long would be unavailable, which would be a game-breaker for several of them, I suspect. And of course, if I decide that it would be better to wrap up P3 at this time, perhaps giving players the chance to contribute to the wrapping-up in various ways, it would leave most players unsatisfied.

I also thought that one possibility would be to close the game around this time, but instead of just saying "that's the end", I'd give players the chance to write a story that they could use to wrap up their character's main storylines - akin to how a Revelation introduced the character and some later storylines. In this scenario I would give all players a rundown of what happens to the major storylines after the gods enter the Mists (i.e. the crack in the Maw, the World Breaker, Melirelle, etc), and players could use those informations to write their own god's ending (if necessary, coordinating with other players if they wish to have their ending interwoven with that of other gods).

In the end, I'd like to know what the players want to do - but I would also like to state that I wouldn't want to find myself in this situation again one, two or three months down the line, especially if players feel that I'm pushing for Eiran's end no matter what they do.

[Fist and Faith]

Like I said, do what the situation and our actions require or allow. We're stumped. We don't seem to be able to connect the dots. Rather than watch the world get eaten away beneath us as we keep failing, we figured we'd gamble. This might destroy us and/or the world. But that's happening now anyway, so we're no worse off. It'll just happen sooner.

OTOH, this might stop the Bleeds, which are the only threat we don't seem to be able to deal with. We seldom know what the Allfather is thinking or will do. The lore isn't clearly spelled out, and we've been surprised many times in the past. So we aren't remotely sure such a bold act of cooperation won't work.

Either way, we knew what we were risking. Don't worry about it. Just process the damned turn! If nothing else, this was supposed to make it easier. If I'd known all this yappin' would take place I wouldn't have done it!

[Madadeva]

I also thought that one possibility would be to close the game around this time, but instead of just saying "that's the end", I'd give players the chance to write a story that they could use to wrap up their character's main storylines - akin to how a Revelation introduced the character and some later storylines. In this scenario I would give all players a rundown of what happens to the major storylines after the gods enter the Mists (i.e. the crack in the Maw, the World Breaker, Melirelle, etc), and players could use those informations to write their own god's ending (if necessary, coordinating with other players if they wish to have their ending interwoven with that of other gods).

I like this approach. Seems like the way to end things in style! And on to P4!

Of course Zephyr did offer HIS life - so you could swat him to power everything!

[Fist and Faith]

Yeah, he did. No problem. Uber-gods usually require a sacrifice, eh? A Bhakti will usually offer his life to safeguard his people. Hey, being a god isn't all about me! Heh.

[Madadeva]

I got dibs on Zephy's cities!!!

Tho Madadeva did diss the AllFather ... wonder if he survives!

[Goatkiller666]

I got dibs on Madadeva's cities. (Including the ones that had previously been Zephyr's.)

[I'm Murrin]

How about stopping the Bleeds and cutting all those gods' DRP by half? That way you have something near the logical outcome without denying players the chance to continue, and half DRP isn't going to cripple them the way making a new character would.

[Madadeva]

... there'd still be divine threats to neutralize, apparently, such as Bel...

I would not be opposed to Murrin's suggestion. We'd still have enough aggregate power to take care of the pesky divine threat Xar mentions!

[Avatar]

Not a bad idea Murrin.

--A

[Madadeva]

It's been twenty days so ... BUMP ... just to have Fist haveta run and check out the Pantheon post!

[Fist and Faith]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...





It worked.

[Madadeva]

Pehaps the 10 of us took out the AllFather ; but now there is no one to process Turns!

[Goatkiller666]

He's taking the time to properly draft the full, individual stories of how you all died. Leaving The Numen, Bel, Argothoth, Dagon, Koel, and a bunch of forlorn mortals, looking for someone to worship.

It'll be really hard to get on without all of you. But we'll manage, somehow.

[Bel]

And though you die, take comfort in the fact that Eiran is a better place without you.