History TabletopGame / Godbound

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' using a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-based engine. It's also a spiritual successor to ''Scarlet Heroes'', another game by the same developer where the "heroic" modification to the D&D combat engine was first used.

Some saw despair, some a divine judgment, and some saw... [[{{Pride}} opportunity]]. Some of the Former Empires crafted the Made Gods to claim Heaven and the Throne. This did even more damage - none who even touched the Throne survived, the Made Gods ended up dying in droves, and things just generally went to Yeah That Place as reality began to decay without its governing systems, which would be why the Former Empires are not called the Current Empires.

In play, Godbound characters possess multiple Words, which are basically power lists for various divine elements. If you can justify using those Words thematically, you can buy lesser powers from out of your Words and not need to bind them with your oh-too-limited supply of Gift points (for example, your Earth Godbound who doesn't have Endurance might take Defy the Iron to represent their superhuman resilience, while a dragon might have Firestorm just to represent fire breath). You do still need to spend Gift points for the power, just not buy the full Word - although if you intend to take a lot of them it'll probably be cheaper just to bind it.

* SummonBiggerFish: One way to battle the Uncreated Courts of Ancalia is to find Letion Si, Prince of the Dawn, and persuade him to awaken TheWildHunt. They're a SealedArmyInACan from ancient Kham and will make an awesome weapon against the Uncreated - but they aren't modern Arcemites, they think differently, and the Prince's goals are an enigma. It's hard to imagine how they could be ''worse'' than the Uncreated and the Plague, but they're still another potential threat to Ancalia's beleaguered survivors.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: This can be true and false. The adventures, like ''Storms of Yizhao'' and ''Ten Buried Blades'', make it clear that a number of leaders are weaklings who the Godbound can kill with a casual backhand. That said, in a world like Arcem you don't get to be a powerful leader in a world of Parasite Gods, Eldritch, Made Gods, evil Angels, and divine trolls without some way of handling danger. Most notably, the Church of the One doesn't grant any powers in its own right, but you can expect a Patriarch to be among the most powerful Eldritch in Arcem.

''Godbound'' is a tabletop role-playing game from Kevin Crawford's Sine Nomine Publishing, also the publisher of ''TabletopGame/StarsWithoutNumber'', and with a similar debt to the old-school-rules movement. This time, early ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' rules is paired with high power heroics such as appear in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''.

The premise: once, humanity had achieved incredible power through mastery of theurgy. Hunger, sickness, pain... all had been eradicated. However, because humans are still kinda dicks, the Former Empires struggled perpetually over ideology, until some bright spark had the idea of using the power of theurgy to go right to the Source's mouth and ask God exactly who was right. The resultant invasion did massive damage to Heaven, but eventually humanity saw the Throne of God...

Some saw despair, some a divine judgment, and some... [[{{Pride}} opportunity]]. Some of the Former Empires crafted the Made Gods to claim Heaven and the Throne. This did even more damage, none who even touched the Throne survived, the Made Gods died in droves, and things just kind of went to Yeah That Place as reality began to decay without its governing systems, which would be why the Former Empires are not called the Current Empires.

Now, the world is a fallen, broken place, where people scratch and claw to survive in the ruins of what came before. However, one last glimpse of hope has appeared: ordinary men, women, robots, etc., have become touched by fragments of divine energy, possibly leftover from the destroyed Made Gods. These people, the Godbound, might be the world's last chance to be healed...

In play, Godbound bind multiple Words, which are basically power lists for various divine elements. If you can justify it thematically, you can buy lesser powers from out of your Words and not need to bind them with your oh-too-limited supply of Gift points (for example, your Earth Godbound who doesn't have Endurance might take Defy the Iron to represent their superhuman resilience, while a dragon might have Firestorm just to represent fire breath). You do still need to spend Gift points for the power, just not buy the full Word - although if you intend to take a lot of them it'll probably be cheaper just to bind it.

* WorldsStrongestMan: A Godbound of Might breaks the Attribute cap, sitting on a beefy Strength of 19.

* ColorblindCasting: Arcem is home to three races, the Din, the Ren and the Akeh, which from their descriptions roughly translate into white, Asian and black. At one point the different nations were dominated by specific races, but by the time the game is set everyone has moved around so much that there is no longer any connection between race and culture. Which means that there are black [[HornyVikings Ulstang raiders,]] Asian-looking [[AncientRome Patrian centurions,]] white [[ImperialChina Dulimbai bureaucrats,]] and so on.

* ColorblindCasting: Arcem is home to three races, the Din, the Ren and the Akeh, which from their descriptions roughly translate into white, Asian and black. At one point the different nations were dominated by specific races, but by the time the game is set everyone has moved around so much that there is no longer any connection between race and culture. Which means that there are black [[HornyVikings Ulstang raiders,]] Asian-looking [[AncientRome Patrian centurions,]] white [[ImperialChinaDulimbai bureaucrats,]] and so on.

* CorruptHick: Big Feet Zu from "Ten Buried Blades" is the medieval Chinese version of this. He's a rich merchant and slaver who's hired bandits to enforce his will and collect "incense money" from everyone who does business in town, and has the town's official magistrate on his payroll

** Arcem is in a dark age after the collapse of the Former Empires, though all things considered, the people have adapted reasonably well and the Bright Republic still maintains a functioning technological civilization... for now.

* WastelandWarlord: Rogue knights, former nobles of transhuman bloodlines, and punks with swords have taken control of their own little pockets of hell in Ancalia and rule them with an iron fist. Some are only out for their own benefit, while others are genuinely striving to protect their people from the threats of [[ZombieApocalypse husks, infection]] the DisasterScavengers who prey on the corpse of Ancalia and starving refugees who threaten their food supplies. [[BlackAndGrayMorality From an outsider's perspective, it's hard to tell the difference.]]