Saturday 18 July 2015

[new setting] The purpose of adventuring

Why do adventurer's adventure? What lures men and women out of their comfortable homes and lives to go and face dangers in the wilderness? Because adventure is the fastest path to godhood.

When we tell the stories of a god, they are mythic things; how the moon forced seduced the sea, how the gods found the secret of language and gave it to the people. But these myths, just like the gods who did them, began with something smaller.

When an adventurer or group of adventurers take up their path to heroism, their acts begin walking a path to power for them. When they go and take a job, they might emerge with a tale along the lines of "aldarac steals the secret gem of the sourcerer". This is not a path to godhood yet, but it lays steps in that direction. The universe notices aldarac as a notable thief. When, much later in his career he hopes to steal the knowledge of life and death from the keepers of the underworld, then he can rely on the fact that he has already stolen a magic from a dangerous keeper. If the people he is working for agree to give some of their magic to tell the tale ritually, it will give him even more strength.

In this manner, adventurers and would be gods get themselves strength to build toward their future. By doing notable acts and overcoming great dangers, they advance towards being able to face down the dangers of the cosmos and performing acts of the gods themselves.

In game terms, the players will collect a list of titles of the stories of their escapades and relationships. They can try to focus these to resonate with each other and allow them to perform a mythic story that moves them on the next station of their path towards godhood. Basically, getting heroic deeds sets you on the path of being able to legendary, divine deeds. They probably also act as an aspect of xp mechanic.

2 comments:

  1. So, basically your deeds are your aspects and that's why heroes (and villains) have more than supporting scrubs?

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  2. Basically, yeah. I am tempted to make them an aspect-like resource you can use in game.

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