TVTropes builds a campaign setting!

They would still need to magically force themselves to develop libidos, a decision which probably wouldn't be made lightly. And then, they'd have to intentionally make an avatar with sperm or eggs.

I wouldn't do it.

edited 19th Dec '11 5:29:33 PM by Exelixi

Why? why can't they just keep the libido as gods?

Why would they keep the libido as gods?

Let's do some deductive logic.

A sex drive is mostly physical.

A god does not have a physical body.

Therefore, a god's sex drive would be severely impaired if not outright nonexistent.

And even if they did go through the trouble of making a mortal avatar to chase mortal tail, what reason would they have to make that avatar have the ability to procreate? It would be a conscious decision. The deity in question would actually have to willingly decide to create a child. More deduction:

The desire for sex in humans is not directly linked to conscious desire to raise a child.

Therefore, a desire for sex does not necessitate a desire for children.

edited 19th Dec '11 5:34:07 PM by Exelixi

Let say for philosophical argument there is an emotional/spiritual aspect to love, lust, and nurture. As is common in multiple philosophical and religious out-looks in both fantasy and real life belief.

Love, lust, and nurture aren't explicitly related. I've seen people in love who don't have any desire for sex, and I've had intercourse with people I did not honestly care about.

and the idea of nurture being involved with sex is just creepy as hell.

Being in love when you undergo apotheosis I can see. But a mortal lifespan lasts less than a century.

edited 19th Dec '11 5:57:34 PM by Exelixi

I never said the concepts were entwine I just said lets say gods have them, they are emotions. I'd much rather not make all gods cold, alien and logical just to justify no demi-gods.

By your logic, not having offspring means you're cold and logical.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:00:20 PM by Exelixi

No I'm implying not wanting to have love or lust makes you cold and logical.

Also I doubt all gods wouldn't want children or may be apathetic and not care if they spill there seed everywhere*: Most gods in mythology like to create something, especially the ones that were once mortal or the personifications that might cover those areas.

Side note: I think the god/goddess of over all love should be a yellow and red bird.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:06:00 PM by Vyctorian

So, you just insulted every asexual and aromantic person on the planet.

Congratulations.

Mm, you've got half a point there. Gods in certain mythologies had loads of kids. Not so much in others. As far as creating something, you can build a lot more than midgets. Look at Vulcan. And Ogma. And Athena. And Brighid. Need I go on?

edited 19th Dec '11 7:12:17 PM by Exelixi

If they get offended that's not my fault.*

Life without (romantic) love is cold to me, I'm a romanticist in this aspect. I think life without lust is logical, neither of these are all that insulting I'm not saying the entire person is cold and logical just those aspects of the person.

I'm not saying all gods need to have kids, but most of them having a kid or two would make more sense.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:34:48 PM by Vyctorian

Note: I've added The skyswallower entry to the proposal list, for easy of reference.

About godspawn, I was under the impression we had established that Terrestrial Gods have physical forms, just immortal ones. Thus they should feel love and lust and be able to reproduce normally. Now, they COULD assume ethereal forms, if they pleased, but I think few would. The Celestials, on the other hand, being entirely different creatures from the terrestrial ones (only sharing the title because mortals insist on using it) would rarely have children unless it furthered some plan of theirs.

As to what powers each type of godspawn would possess: typically Terrestrial demigods would inherit a part of their parent's powers, but a Celestial creation would have exactly as much as its parent decides.

(BTW, we shouldn't care about the game balance issues here, since we are trying to not be system specific; that's an issue for whomever decides to use our ideas in his or her campaign. Though overall, demigods (and gods for that matter) should only be player characters in VERY high level campaigns.)

edited 19th Dec '11 8:15:01 PM by Sijo

I didn't mean that demigods were bad for balance, I meant that demigods were bad for roleplaying. Unless that's, you know, the point of the game. Give six players an option that is inherently superior in some fashion to all others, and five of them will take it.

Like I said by that logic we shouldn't have gods either, because if a DM/GM is going to give the option to play demi-gods why not gods either.

Also a load of players play these games for power fantasy and we shouldn't necessarily discourage that if we actually want a setting that is played by more than us.

edited 19th Dec '11 8:38:53 PM by Vyctorian

Also: "The shopkeeper/random innocent/whatever is a demigod, she kills you."

Also, logically, demigods would be capable of breeding. This means that, over time, almost everyone would have god-blood.

"Also the shop keeper is a god and kills you"

Works both ways.

edited 19th Dec '11 9:00:23 PM by Vyctorian

That only works if you're the worst GM ever.

So does your example with demi-gods. It's a moot point, whether god or demi-god both may lead to the same conclusion.

edited 19th Dec '11 9:17:54 PM by Vyctorian

Let's also no forget one of the main tenets of our setting, folks: The gods are losing their power. At least from their POV. They used to do Biblical feats, now they are more like Epic-level characters. Because 'magic is running out' (not so, but few understand that.) The race to the new land (to secure the new leynodes) is probably their orchestration. Or at least from those who care (mostly Terrestrial gods). Demigods would be the perfect tool for it.

Hey, I think things are starting to gell into a story now!

PS: Anyone who hasn't voted on the update and wants to do so, please do soon.

edited 20th Dec '11 5:27:17 AM by Sijo

Alright, if we're doing demigods, I vote we have some sort of thing on them to make it so they aren't "like everything else, but strictly better in every way".

For instance, demigods are gifted with power from their godly parent. . . which prevents any other magical phenomena. Wraith? No. Undead-dom of any sort? Newp. Contract with a (insert something powerful here)? Impossible. Magician? Hell no.

In further news, I have no idea what we can do with Fairies. The archetype of a fairy is returning back to its Celtic mythological roots. I personally don't want to deviate much from that, because that is truly one of the most awesome tropes, in my humble Irish opinion.

edited 20th Dec '11 5:51:13 AM by Exelixi

Limits on demigod power makes sense with (again) the theme of diminished magic.

Celtic lore is something that I've always wanted to explore better but never seem to have the time. What I know comes mostly from series like Gargoyles and such which is likely bowdlerised. We'll have to discuss it more thoroughly.

Speaking of which -and also because I think it's amazing- here's a link to the Faerie Queen song. Dig those violins folks! [1]

(the lyrics - for those of us who can hardly understand Irish English - are in the description section.)

edited 20th Dec '11 6:28:03 AM by Sijo

That song is awesome. It's like Irish folk tales saw "the devil went down to Georgia" and decided "fuck that shit, we can do better". The second solo almost makes me cry.

And because every Queen deserves a King, here's the spear counterpart.

And Irish mythology is something I certainly wouldn't mind explaining at length.

Nifty little tidbit: We had cyborgs. In the iron age.

Yeah.

edited 20th Dec '11 6:21:24 AM by Exelixi

My Celtic mythology is vague, just a handful of Irish myths brought over with my family. Likely heavily altered by re-tellings.

My understanding is that Ms Alexander did indeed base this number on "The Devil", but I like this one more.

I didn't know there was a male version, though. Sounds great too. Is there a version with lyrics?

It just says

I domhain anseo nach bhfuil anseo
I chnoic dreachta, I conai go saor
Dana alainn, Tuatha de Dannan
Is Ri na Sidhe.
An Ri, an Ri, an Ri na Sidhe. (Repeatedly)

Meaning:

Here but not here (very rough translation)
In a mystical mountain, living free
(Amoungst) The Fair Folk, the Children of Danu
There lives the King of the Fairies.
The King, the King, the King of the Fairies.

Not a genderflip of the same song, mind you, just a song about the Fairy King.

edited 20th Dec '11 9:46:47 PM by Exelixi

Whats this about cyborgs in the iron age?

Also

Bottled worlds

Back in the time before magic was fading, these were a common gift at least among mages. They were carefully crafted micro-ecosystems within bottles, some even had shrunken creatures or creations within them. They were often given to children and spouses as gifts. They were made of magically blown glass, which was remarkably strong, smashing the glass against the ground could not break it nor could any magic placed inside escape it.

While having an innocent purpose some mages would also use them to store magical energies, or even dark creatures would needed sealing. Though this was rare because, while strong the glass could break if hit hard enough or enough times.

The ecosystems inside also had a danger, due to the magical energies within the ecosystem if the container were ever to break the mirco-ecosystem would grow unfettered, at an accelerated rate. If an absent minded mage or child left one open or broken within a closet it could quickly create an ecosystem clash, especially if the smaller ecosystem was of a different ecosystem of the actually ecosystem.

This fell out of favor as these dangers became more and more common, but many mages still made them for themselves. In recent times these bottles have become power sources and things that are hoarded and converted due to their contained magical force.

The toy of children and lovers was now a powerful tool for spellcraft, and kings.

thoughts?