New Gods of Mankind: Need help!

[King of Casuals]

Hello, I'm DMing for an indie RPG called New Gods of Mankind. In this game, the players play as a group of minor dieties, with incredible, broad powers. As you might expect, this is incredibly hard to DM, as the players can do ANYTHING, and are really only limited by their small store of belief that serves as a mana pool for their miracles. I'm running out of ideas, and I need you guys to help me think of stuff. The DMing style that i've found works best for this game is to create a world and a situation, and let the players react to it however they want.
The current party lineup is:
•Pine, God of Nature, Wild Magic, and Vegeance
•Azlatier the Vizier, God of Secrets, Ambition, and Strategy
•Glatius, God of War, Glory, and Storms
•Modex the Hedonist, God of Partying, Wine, Brawling, and Sleep
What's happened so far:
The party, sharing control over a small tribe of 100 people, was summoned to deal with werewolves attacking from the North. They found that the werewolves were pushed out of their normal hunting grounds by a leviathan (basically an evil god) named Tallus. After some conflict, Tallus was dragged to hell by Fate (basically Zeus, Odin, Ao, ect). After about a year, the group gets an invitation to become citizens of a fledgeling Human city named Damarsun. Damarsun has barely fended off the constant attacks by Salamanders (militaristic slave trading lizard people from the northern deserts). The tribe joins the city, and they've already converted about 1/3 of the population.

[King of Casuals]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Damarsun's population is made up of about 650 Humans, 300 Undines (fish people that helped defend the city), and 50 wood Nymphs. It's led by a council of 5 people:
•Fang: Young and ambitious, currently a disciple of Azlatier
•Luellyn: A woman, wise and competent, she became a council member after her husband died fighting the salamanders
•General Lain: Strong military leader, Distrusts gods, believes in the power of human effort
•Saliman: Emissary from the Undines
•Raandu: Former wood nymph chieftian that the PCs saved from Tallus

[Keltest]

Um... Ok, wheres the question? It sounds like you know what youre doing already.

[King of Casuals]

Um... Ok, wheres the question? It sounds like you know what youre doing already.

Well my biggest problem is that I'm running out of ideas for stuff for them to do.

[Keltest]

Well my biggest problem is that I'm running out of ideas for stuff for them to do.

Perhaps you should ask your players what they want to do? Theyre gods, they should figure out a long-term goal for themselves. Campaigns made of nothing but side quests can be interesting, but after a while they do all start to become the same.

[goto124]

with incredible, broad powers. As you might expect, this is incredibly hard to DM, as the players can do ANYTHING, and are really only limited by their small store of belief

This sounds like the FFRP section of these forums

[Maglubiyet]

Hello, I'm DMing for an indie RPG called New Gods of Mankind. In this game, the players play as a group of minor dieties, with incredible, broad powers. As you might expect, this is incredibly hard to DM, as the players can do ANYTHING, and are really only limited by their small store of belief that serves as a mana pool for their miracles. I'm running out of ideas, and I need you guys to help me think of stuff. The DMing style that i've found works best for this game is to create a world and a situation, and let the players react to it however they want.
The current party lineup is:
•Pine, God of Nature, Wild Magic, and Vegeance
•Azlatier the Vizier, God of Secrets, Ambition, and Strategy
•Glatius, God of War, Glory, and Storms
•Modex the Hedonist, God of Partying, Wine, Brawling, and Sleep
What's happened so far:
The party, sharing control over a small tribe of 100 people, was summoned to deal with werewolves attacking from the North. They found that the werewolves were pushed out of their normal hunting grounds by a leviathan (basically an evil god) named Tallus. After some conflict, Tallus was dragged to hell by Fate (basically Zeus, Odin, Ao, ect). After about a year, the group gets an invitation to become citizens of a fledgeling Human city named Damarsun. Damarsun has barely fended off the constant attacks by Salamanders (militaristic slave trading lizard people from the northern deserts). The tribe joins the city, and they've already converted about 1/3 of the population.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Damarsun's population is made up of about 650 Humans, 300 Undines (fish people that helped defend the city), and 50 wood Nymphs. It's led by a council of 5 people:
•Fang: Young and ambitious, currently a disciple of Azlatier
•Luellyn: A woman, wise and competent, she became a council member after her husband died fighting the salamanders
•General Lain: Strong military leader, Distrusts gods, believes in the power of human effort
•Saliman: Emissary from the Undines
•Raandu: Former wood nymph chieftian that the PCs saved from Tallus

I'm confused, I thought the characters were gods -- who is the second group of people you mention (Fang, Luellyn, et al)?

It seems like the goal of this game is to attract more followers who believe in them, right? I assume the gods can't just manifest themselves over the city and command the inhabitants to worship them, otherwise this would be easy.

Have a rival god's temple appear in town. This new religion is led by a champion of the god who promises to lead the city against the salamanders in victory. The PC's worshipers start converting to the new faith.

[TheCountAlucard]

This is eerily reminiscent to me of Nobilis - here's a campaign journal of a Nobilis troupe's game.

[King of Casuals]

I'm confused, I thought the characters were gods -- who is the second group of people you mention (Fang, Luellyn, et al)?

It seems like the goal of this game is to attract more followers who believe in them, right? I assume the gods can't just manifest themselves over the city and command the inhabitants to worship them, otherwise this would be easy.

Have a rival god's temple appear in town. This new religion is led by a champion of the god who promises to lead the city against the salamanders in victory. The PC's worshipers start converting to the new faith.

Fang and the rest of the second group are council members that the PCs have to win over.
Also thanks for the idea ill try to use it

[Gritmonger]

Is it true that anything that threatens their followers threatens their existence? Do they have high priests? Do they grant abilities to others, or to avatars, with a portion of their power? Do they listen to or answer prayers directly? Do they require offerings or ceremonies? Do they perform miracles with the express purpose of impressing followers? How much does one spend in upkeep versus in addressing actual threats?

Do they have sacred sites or temples or shrines? Do they consecrate ground to make it easier to protect followers or perform miracles?

Any of these could provide plot hooks. Show what happens to a deity with no or few living followers. Allow them to query a dying or dead deity. Show them an indirect threat to some of their followers (say, a bad yeast has caused most of the alcoholic beverage to go sour, preventing ceremonies and libations from being performed).


Maybe a schism has developed in one of their group of followers. Maybe there is an argument about where each god sits in the pantheon (who is the lead god - priests and sects aren't above playing politics).

[King of Casuals]

Is it true that anything that threatens their followers threatens their existence? Do they have high priests? Do they grant abilities to others, or to avatars, with a portion of their power? Do they listen to or answer prayers directly? Do they require offerings or ceremonies? Do they perform miracles with the express purpose of impressing followers? How much does one spend in upkeep versus in addressing actual threats?

Do they have sacred sites or temples or shrines? Do they consecrate ground to make it easier to protect followers or perform miracles?

Any of these could provide plot hooks. Show what happens to a deity with no or few living followers. Allow them to query a dying or dead deity. Show them an indirect threat to some of their followers (say, a bad yeast has caused most of the alcoholic beverage to go sour, preventing ceremonies and libations from being performed).

Maybe a schism has developed in one of their group of followers. Maybe there is an argument about where each god sits in the pantheon (who is the lead god - priests and sects aren't above playing politics).

Thanks, ill try that out

[Geostationary]

This is eerily reminiscent to me of Nobilis - here's a campaign journal of a Nobilis troupe's game.

That was my first thought too. And if Nobilis is anything to go by, then inter-personal/pantheon politics and personal goals can get you a long way, seasoned with fabulous antagonists to taste. Circumventing divine laws/gentleman's agreements to pursue said goals is also ripe for exploitation.

[aspekt]

What are the needs of the people, both conscious and unconscious?

That's where you'll find their gods.

[King of Casuals]

That was my first thought too. And if Nobilis is anything to go by, then inter-personal/pantheon politics and personal goals can get you a long way, seasoned with fabulous antagonists to taste. Circumventing divine laws/gentleman's agreements to pursue said goals is also ripe for exploitation.

What is Nobilis anyways?

[TheCountAlucard]

What is Nobilis anyways?

Nobilis is a roleplaying game in which players play the spiritual personifications of abstract concepts or things. In the log I linked you to previously, one of the player characters is playing the goddess of Halloween, while another is the power of chocolate, and a third was the living incarnation of "the bad side of town."

That said, gods work differently in different sources; people expect different things out of them, and knowing what rules and tropes we're playing with when it comes to your game would be helpful.

[King of Casuals]

Cool. The PCs in New gods get a certain amount of belief at the end of each year equal to their number of followers/5. So as you might guess they are trying to get and keep as many followers as possible.