Kevin's Watch

Well, here we go

A couple of hours ago, I realized that the Watch would be an ideal place for the testing of a game I made for a few friends of mine a while ago. In its original form, it was an email game, although it could easily be adapted for forums.

The premise was that each player takes on the role of a deity in a fictional, fantasy world. You have your own areas of influence, your own worshipers, your own dogma, and so on. Once you have established these parameters, the game is basically a simulation in which every turn is one season of the world. During each turn, your amount of worshipers changes (giving you more or less power), you have to deal with certain events that require your divine attention, and you may plan a strategy to hinder or help the other deities. Theoretically, the final target is to become the only deity in the world.

My players enjoyed it, and I always would have liked giving it another test drive; so I thought I'd poke around to see if any Watchers would feel like trying it. Anyone interested?

Edit: Of course, choice of areas of influence for the deities is on a first-come, first-serve basis: do not delay, unless you want to end up stuck with the deity of smelly cheese!

I am interested.

sounds good to me. black and white 2 sucked something awful so im looking for a good deity game.

Sounds good to me too.

--A

so when do we start? how do you play? can i be the deity of teeth? and fruit?

im impatient by nature.

We start soon, Tazz... I'd just like to have one or two more people join us, so we can have at least the beginning of a respectable pantheon

Since I actually was a deity - Odin - before I translated myself to the reality of the Land, it might be unfair for me to play. What with my thousands of years of experience, and all.

I might give this a try. What sort of areas of influence wold be available - anything? That would limit some and benefit others, I suppose - I mean, a god of Life would have more staying power than a god of olive oil*.

(*Heh, MBotF reference)

Mind if I lurk and observe? (sort of a non-interfering dieties' diety) I've never been part of this type of game, and I want to see how it's played before joining in.

Ok, looks like we're attracting people I just have time for a quick update before leaving for the night: Murrin, I have a list of adequate areas of influence I will post below. At the start of the game, the area of influence doesn't have any effect on how powerful you are: you are all newly ascended deities starting to coalesce into a pantheon. It will be your actions throughout the next turns that will define your power.

Now as for the list:

abundance
adventure
agriculture
air
animals
art
arts and crafts
beauty
birth
chaos
cold
commerce
conflict
conquest
courage
darkness
death
destruction
disease
earth
evil
exploration
fate
fire
forests
good
hate
healing
honor
hunting
illusion
justice
knowledge
law
life
love
luck
magic
moon
murder
music
nature
night
outcasts
protection
sea
sky
stone
sun
thieves
time
undead
vengeance
war
water
wealth
weather
wind
winter

You may choose up to two of these areas, but then you will have to come up with a dogma that combines both, so be careful with what you choose! Also, if you would like an area that is not listed here, let me know and I'll tell you if it's feasible. Once you've chosen the area(s), come up with a small dogma of your faith and maybe what your holy symbol would be. In the interest of fairness and a serene atmosphere, please try to avoid symbols or dogmas that are used in real-world religions as well (so let's avoid crosses, six-pointed stars and the like). Oh, and of course, come up with a name for your deity - and maybe, if you would like to, one or more titles you are also known as!

I've got my eye on death (okay, very obvious choice, but I think it'd be interesting)... not sure what would make the best pairing. Life or birth would work but isn't quite right; war, disease, murder, and suchlike are all cliches.
This'll take a lot of thought.

Well, although I'm extremely unclear about how this will work, I'm in. And I'll be the god of the most important thing in any reality: Love.

Ah, I've got it. How about Tragedy? It's not on the list, but...
Tragedy and (spiritual?) Healing... That would work brilliantly.

You want to be a tragic, healing god of death?

thieves and justice. thankyou.

can i be art and illusion?

I will play... I want to be god of Chaos, since you have no Malice.

Shweet. I'll be the God of Knowledge.

(There is "Evil" Quee...)

How about some guidelines for formulating a dogma?

--A

Ok, so thus far we have:

Fist and Faith - deity of Love
Murrin - deity of Tragedy and Healing
Tazzman - deity of Thieves and Justice
Sgtnull - deity of Art and Illusion
Verdego (Queeaqueg) - deity of Chaos and Malice
Avatar - deity of Knowledge

Ok, whenever more people join, I'll update the list. In the meantime:

1) Dogma. Making up the dogma isn't difficult, basically all you need to do is to decide how your deity commands his followers to pursue his goals. For example, Fist is the deity of Love: does he have a more romantic or a more passional, lustful spin on the concept? Or does he encompass both? Does he encourage his followers to "bring his word" to everyone they meet? Does he encourage permanent or temporary relationships? And so on. The dogma should be just two or three lines long, something like:

"The deity of love embodies both passional and spiritual love. He teaches that one cannot exist without the other, and only by attaining both can true love be experienced. He encourages his followers to form strong and meaningful bonds, disdaining temporary or shallow relationships. His followers are required to encourage the blossoming of love wherever they go."

2) Choose a name for the deity.

As an aside: should we move to Mallory or continue in this forum? perhaps use this thread to catch new players and then make up a new Mallory thread?

I'm easy either way...

Will be back with a dogma.

--A