Entry: Daddy, Joey and the Ancient Gods of Death

[matthijs]

Glass, Ancient, Emotion. One session, two hours.

Intro

When you signed up for the day trip to Talquetzlachitalotacitequotlarp, famous for its molten glass statues, this wasn't what you had in mind. How were you to know that the comet shower and the dark solstice would awaken the gods slumbering within the statues? And how were you to know that those gods wanted to possess you and make you do their bidding?

And in such a short-sighted way, too.

The PC's, what happens to them and what they do

Players are tourists. On their day trip to an ancient site they will accidentally - or on purpose - touch molten glass statues. They will be possessed by single-minded spirits of blind emotion, directed towards someone they have strong connections to.

Perhaps Joey hates his kid sister, but the god Quipporay just needs someone to Admire - and Joey becomes its vessel, showering sis with gifts and attention. Perhaps Daddy is angry with his boss, but is possessed with Hunkahunka, god of Desire, and tries to give him the love that dare not speak its name. Perhaps Mummy thinks she loves Daddy, but the god Quetzalkilleverything disagrees.

The characters can try to fight their possessors - or give in.

Questions I need to answer

After the first person is possessed - why do they keep on touching new statues, getting possessed along the way? What's in it for the characters?

What role will the internal conflict (between person & possessor) play? Perhaps there's a mechanical payoff for staying possessed? Perhaps it lets you choose who the next person is possessed by?

How does the game end? There should be some sort of aftermath/final scene.

[Doug Ruff]

And once again, matthijs wins the 'Best Game Title' competition...

I like this a lot, it reminds me of Shab-al-Hiri Roach from last year, but more accessible. Great names for the gods, too.

To help answer your questions: the ancient gods of Talquetzlachitalotacitequotlarp may be wierd, but they've got charisma. If the characters have ther own goals, and being possessed helps them to achieve those goals as well as whatever the gods want, then I think you're on to a winner.

[matthijs]

Good one! Charisma, yes.

I haven't read the Shab-al-Hiri Roach (yet), but I've read about it, and realized after writing the above that the games might be similar. Oh well. There's lots of games about orc slaying, so let's hope this game about possession by ancient evil will be different from that one.

[Doug Ruff]

[Jason Petrasko]

[matthijs]

[adgboss]

[kleenestar]

[Kevin Allen]

[Joshua BishopRoby]

Daddy, Joey and the Ancient Gods of Death

First response: Fuck Yeah.
Second response: you need a comma after "Joey".

This sounds awesome, and full of crazy hijinx -- I very much like the ideas that characters can swap possessor-gods, and that the gods want to re-awaken other gods. Perhaps the entire pantheon was trapped in the statues once a long long time ago and now each of them is trying to awaken their allies within the pantheon (but not their rivals) so that they can create a new pantheon and rule over the mortals of the world again? That way you'd have a built-in 'win' condition -- once your possessor-god has all his allies awakened and none of his rivals, you win, and ascend to divinity!