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[knutor]

I'm for making them more like Discworld Gods, too. 

However if you look back to Pratchett's very first book when he was a little dorfling of 11 or so.  Strata  His gods were manifestations of beings called the Spindle Kings, Planet builders.  Like Gods, Demons were just abstract machines made to fit the roles they were required to perform not because of believers, or disbelievers, but simply to keep cupboards, from sinning or doing good work, I guess.  HA!  Gods were puppets on strings, operated by programmed machines. 

After all, Discworld and all the planets in that fantasy are designed, not created.  I do love the way he described high altitude dragon design.  Turning there necks, looking backwards and propelling themselves, with thrust via their enourmous jet engine, fire breathing mouths.  Thats the kind of idea only a genius would think up.  A whistling dragon, looking backwards, has gotta produce an enourmous amount of acceleration.  Think of all the sound barrier breaking, thunderclaps his Discworld dragons must have produced over the Bad Ass mountain range.  LOL!  How did Discworld dwarfs ever sleep?  Knutor

[GreatWyrmGold]

Perhaps some gods would be of the "One person angers me? RAZE THE TOWN!!" variety and others would be of the "Laser-Guided Vengeance" variety. While there are examples of big-time overdone vengeance, there are also examples of much more exact measures being taken. Even the biblical Flood--virtually the poster child for overkill vengeance--was actually carefully directed, as the things God wasn't angry at were saved.

[knutor]

I would happily carry that torch for you, GreatWyrmGold.  Good idea. 

Cataclysmic events on the gaming board at worldgen, would be fun.  Such that we could witness them, like trade routes being opened up as the history unfolds.  Worldgen needs that kind of eyecandy.  Craters, lopping off entire corners of the world, into ugly sharp obsidian edged disaster zones.  Volcanoes that ERUPT during worldgen.  Subregions that disappear into limbo, or another plane.  Gods that decide to take a walk, down memory lane, leaving a cleft or canyon in their wakes.  Knutor

[Geneoce]

Good curses such as the "midas touch" or even just plain old "Immortality" would be nice.

Could generate interesting reasons for war. "Urist McLonglife is king of the dwarfs. He is the very last of his kind. In the year 4360 McLonglife declared war on the humans in an attempt to end his loneliness"

[Xantalos]

It would probably be hard to make ironic punishments into the game, but it could happen, ie: You killed a goat in MY temple? A GOAT IS YOU! *poof* Adventurer is now goat, and maybe hostile to all followers of that god/dess, and has to find some way to break the curse.

[Helgoland]

Good curses such as the "midas touch" or even just plain old "Immortality" would be nice.

Do you know the legend of King Midas? That wasn't exactly a "good curse"...

[10ebbor10]

Good curses such as the "midas touch" or even just plain old "Immortality" would be nice.

Do you know the legend of King Midas? That wasn't exactly a "good curse"...

Which is what he means. He indicates something that seems good but is in fact, still a curse. Immortality would be similair, as eternity tends to wreak havoc with mortal minds.

[Helgoland]

Good curses such as the "midas touch" or even just plain old "Immortality" would be nice.

Do you know the legend of King Midas? That wasn't exactly a "good curse"...

Which is what he means. He indicates something that seems good but is in fact, still a curse. Immortality would be similair, as eternity tends to wreak havoc with mortal minds.

To prevent them from being isolated unimportant things, maybe the gift is passed on to whoever kills that particular creature.

I don't think he thinks that good curses are bad in a seemingly good way, but are more like (genuinely good) blessings.
I hate this kind of arguments though; couldn't we simply talk about both kinds of "good" curses?

[Courtesy Arloban]

Seems a bit harsh. "Someone desecrated my temple? The town will be BESIEGED BY LIVING CORPSES!" I'd imagine godly vengeance to be, at best, "You dare desecrate my temple? I will kill you outright!" and to be, at worst, "You dare desecrate my temple? I will curse you with a fate WORSE than death!" Aside from gods of vengeance or suffering, divine wrath should be localised. It's what classical deities did; even the Abrahamic god only showed his wrath to whole cities or nations when most everyone in them pissed Him off.

Dude, what about "That Queen claimed her daughter was more beautiful than me! SEA MONSTER TIME!"

Or, "That Trojan prince said Aphrodite was prettier than I am! I will end Troy."

The Greek Gods are full of spite, great examples for that kind of thing.

Can you come up with more examples?  I started modding some Arachne/Gorgon curses but ran out of steam when my internet searches only came up with irrelevent nonsense.

I should state that in actual mythology the curses the gods could bestow were often very flexible and usually linked more with the person in question then with the god who did it.

-Arachnia was cursed by the goddess of Wisdom (and a God of War) into becoming a spider...
-Apollo cursed Midas, I think it was him and apollo, with donkey ears for chosing Pan's music (pan is sometimes and sometimes not a god himself)
-Zues turned some weeping lades into trees, or statues I forget, and they actually didn't offend him... it was like a mercy killing
(Oddly enough "Mercy" curses are quite common in mythology. The sheer amount of creatures who came about because a god felt pity on someone and gave them a new ironic form is massive. The Australian tale on how Hedgehogs were created is an example of one)

Mind you not that they couldn't mess with you in their own ways. Psideon was known to make the oceans absolutely deadly if he didn't like you.

Norse mythology also had curses but it also sort of had a lot less godly... gods. They didn't have unquestionable lordship over their domains (Loki for example didn't have unfettered domain over ALL magic)

Though I guess I could go into Aztec Mythology where messing with a god wasn't so much that they would curse you but that they would just withhold their services... or just kill you.

These are good too!  Also a curse of being on fire is more appropriate for more smiting type gods!

[knutor]

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE(dorf)!

Something like Highlander.  Maybe a Lowlander, to avoid infringement?  Maybe an immortal champion for each region, have them be-legging each other throughout history generation.  But don't include any of that alien mumbojumbo, the sequels had.  Yuck, on that stuff.  Maybe influence their str and weakness by the gods they praise, as history evolved.  I like how some gods have spheres of influence, that could help influence their success ratio.  Knutor