I figured all sapiant mortals have this... If they didn't I'd actually have to micromanage every last one of them so theyd get anything done...
Have you guys read discworld... Do you know how the gods play on a visionary chessboard, with figures they put in the ring. They can only use certain beings to interact with their toys, and they seem to play a game to gain power. We could do something similar. We create a wonder where gods can't hurt each other and enact in a game that goes over some ticks, the winners of the game shall be rewarded ith essence and other things.
Maybe the game board gives every god a mission, or one mission to every god, and based on the amount of essence that each god invested the board will create more complex scenarios but also greater rewards. A god should also be able to invest essence to buy cards, these cards should hold power based on the initially invested essences (based on the gods spheres who play), so you might draw a card with wild wolves, or a thunderstorm, maybe an abandoned chest with an armor piece. The god may place this card onto the game field to aid his hero or to obstruct the other gods heros.
What do you think? I think if we think this through we might have a wonderful thing to do. If it goes the way I Imagine it, we will play games that alter the fate of the world. A winner of such a game should truley be rewarded and perhaps change the reality a bit to his favor. (For instance, if I were to win the game with the help of my turtleottie hero (turtlekind barbarians
) I might get the opportunity to remove the curse of non-magical from all existing turtleottie, or maybe every sapiant on earth gets powerful dreams about Zurion for the entire tick.
The game should give each player a handful of heros. The gods are there to give the heros advice, guide them, and occassionally scold them...
The game should draw its objective from the current events of the world. So if we were to play one game now, the objective of the game could be to unite the wizards of wizard island. So each competing god, would get one wizard to play with on the island, and should try to gain power there. The game might decide to give the god of chaos the mission to disrupt their union even more, whilst another chaos god might get the mission to seize power to then conquer more lands. Depending on each game, there could be different stages. So if chaos god 2 managed to unite the wizard under his chosens banner, the game spawns mission to stop him, or to prepare the armies to join him...
Not every game should necesarily revolve about something so magnificient. Maybe one mission is about five children playing a game (a game about gods playing a game about kids who play a game). The result of the game should always lead to something truley reality shifting however.
Edit: The cards should have a drawback if they failed. If a hero managed to kill your card, or oppose it somehow, the hero should increase in power. The bonuses applied should be tied to the card, so a hero who dodges a meteorite might find astro gloves, and the dragon killer might gain the power of firebreath.
There should be different sets of cards that are always in the game: Monsters, Sages, Witches, Bandits, Helpful Wizards, Traps, Small Shrines with bonuses. Monsters could be leveled into classes: Animals, Magical Animals, Rare Monsters, Unique Monsters, Sapiant Freak.
Animals are just that, when you play the card you roll a dice and the number appears as enemies to the chosen hero.
Magical animals are like the above, only you half the dice roll in number
Unique Monsters: Created to live contained within the game, each unique, each dangerous with +2 Size, +2Strength, and else depending on the essence invested to create this fiend (Prior to a running game) Base Cost 0.02 Essence*Traitcosts
Sapiant Freak: Created to live contained within the game, these unique creatures are intelligent and highly dangerous. They have +2Intelligence, +2Combat and they can have traits applied to them. They cannot be killed, only destroyed for a game, and they should grow in power if they slay heros. Forget not that they only appear when played while a game is going. Though they can interact and affect the world while the gods are playing, they disappear once it is over. They can cause great havoc nonetheless. E.G.: Mirabellia is a demoness who looks like a turtleonie lady. She is extremely beautiful to all beings and emits an aura of trust. Once youre in her reach she will slit your throat. +2Int, +2Combat, +2Agility Innate Magic:Hypnotic-Charisma