Keeping Gods Mysterious Maintains Their Mystique in Your Game

It isn't easy being a Game Master, and even the best of us will make missteps along the way as we perfect our storytelling style. However, there is one little area that a lot of folks sitting in the big chair should consider when it comes to their games; the gods.

Often a forgotten or overlooked element, the challenge a good Game Master faces is making the gods feel real, tangible, and present, while also making them feel far-off, elemental, and mysterious. It isn't easy, but I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on pulling off this particular hat trick this week.

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Gods Don't Have Stats

Perhaps one of the smartest moves I think Paizo publishing made with their Golarion setting is that it is expressly clear that none of the gods in the game have stats. Unlike what we saw with Deities and Demigods back in Dungeons and Dragons 3.0, which assigned levels, feats, skills, and powers to entire pantheons, Golarion's gods are well and truly apart from mortal ken.

This is a small but concrete example of how you can keep your gods less defined in meaningful ways. Because even if the character doesn't know this god has 20 levels of barbarian and 20 levels of cleric with 1,000 hit points, if the player knows that they can't help but compare and quantify things in game terms. It puts limits on the divine in a way that can make them feel like just another mechanical element of the game world... and that is the last thing you want to do as a Game Master.

Maybe I can't take him... but if we work together, I think we've got a shot!

Another example of this is how gods are often portrayed by Game Masters. If the characters meet and interact with the gods (as so often happens in games) the god always ends up being exactly what's shown in the holy texts, the artwork, and described in their books. But more than just looking and acting exactly how you might expect them to look and act based off their myths, being able to talk one-on-one with the divine makes them seem... less special in a lot of ways. It strips away the glamour and the majesty, and it makes them feel like just another character on the board.

A powerful character, sure, but a god shouldn't feel like just a higher-level PC. They should feel like what they are... and like the monsters in horror movies, little glimpses often work way better than giving them lingering shots on-camera and a monologue to deliver.

I talked about this more over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, for those who prefer videos to text (also, consider subscribing while you're there)!

A Presence, Without Being Present

Gods are fundamental forces of the world. They can create storms just by being angry, flowers bloom in their footsteps, and those who hear their echoing battle cries are driven to homicidal furies they might never come out of. Gods are cosmic beings, whose very existence is beyond the ability of mortals to perceive except cloaked in metaphor and wrapped in illusion.

And while the Great Old Ones might not be present in every setting (and not all the gods should have the overtones of inhuman horror that comes with those beings) Game Masters can learn a lot about giving their gods serious gravitas from looking at how these creatures are portrayed in stories. The idea that just the dreams of gods can affect mortals, that those who witness them are driven to madness by understanding more of the cosmos than the mortal mind was meant to grasp, or that gods have concerns far greater than any insignificant mortal and their struggles, are all elements that can be brought to bear on a story.

There are things outside your perceptions in the Dark Woods, young one.

We can also draw on elements from world mythology for this. For example, gods are often feared as much as they are worshiped, and they tend to either work through intermediaries or to appear in disguise. A wandering old man giving gifts to warriors in dire straits is a common motif in many Norse myths, for instance, and this almost invariably turns out to be Odin putting his thumb on the scales in a way that isn't immediately recognizable to affect a particular outcome. Alternatively, there are myths like when Eros took a mortal lover, and he made her keep her eyes closed while making love to him in the darkness. When she disobeys and looks upon him in his full, divine glory, it unmakes her, reducing her to ash; not because he did anything, but merely because his existence is too much for her to bear.

Because they are so massive in terms of scale and power, gods often work through agents to bring word to those they wish to influence. Whether it's using signs and portents like certain creatures leading their followers out of danger, or giving prophecies to oracles, gods often deliver their will in cryptic ways. A selection of these can be found in 100 Random Oracular Pronouncements, for Game Masters who are looking for some inspiration. Not only that, but there are entire sections in my supplement Gods of Sundara (available for either Pathfinder or for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition) that discuss the signs individuals may find when a god is pleased with them, along with the signs of a god's displeasure.

Lastly, and this is something I've touched on in previous entries, don't be afraid to have the divine meddle from afar in the affairs of your mortals... but make sure it feels appropriate to the situation.

If the fighter is a faithful follower of the god of war, and they are facing down that god's enemies, consider granting them the ability to ignore dire wounds and fight on while in negative hit points if it's thematically appropriate. If the rogue is a devout believer in the goddess of the sun, using their talents to undermine cults of the undead, have their weapon burst into flames if they call out to her in the heat of battle. And so on, and so forth.

There are a few key things to remember with this strategy, though. Firstly, it should apply to the villains as well as to the heroes; especially since the villains always seem to be neck-deep in the worship of dark gods and ruinous powers. Secondly, this shouldn't be treated as something that happens all the time, or at-will; it doesn't come from the characters, their class features, or associated game mechanics. It's a blessing from the divine, and gods can be fickle. Sometimes they help, because they want to. Sometimes they don't. It's a handy way to adjust challenge, reward good roleplaying, add in unexpected elements, and to remind your players that the gods are listening and watching, even if they don't see them.

Lastly, if you're looking for more strategies to up your game, consider grabbing a copy of 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master!

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