D&D 4E 4E and Exalted: Use the setting

[inkmonkeys]

I thought the treatment of the Games of Divinity as being simply an incredibly addictive pastime that was distracting the gods from running Creation robbed them of all gravitas. This is a pretty common complaint about the Games, actually.

(You need something to handwave why the gods don't fix all of Creation's problems themselves, but you can do better than having them play games all the time. Someone on the WW boards described a scenario where the gods are preoccupied with making sure the borders of reality can withstand the forces of chaos, for example. On that scale, things like exalt/human empires rising and falling, or millions of deaths to the great plague, are just minor blips.)

(Edit: post is here.)

It's true that you don't need to have gods addicted to the games, but one of Exalted's themes is "The people in charge are corrupt and won't make your life any better. Make things better yourself." The Games of Divinity as written drive that point home pretty well.

Not to say that you need to like that point. =)

 

[The Little Raven]

I thought the treatment of the Games of Divinity as being simply an incredibly addictive pastime that was distracting the gods from running Creation robbed them of all gravitas. This is a pretty common complaint about the Games, actually.

Yeah, that's actually the point of the Games. The all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving Gods are hooked on the Games because, deep down, they're just as fraked up and addicted to entertainment as the rest of us. The Gods despised the Primordials for creating them as slaves, then turning away from Creation to play the Game... so they overthrew them and did the exact same thing.

"The oppressed love the oppressors and cannot wait to follow their example."

 

[hong]

It's true that you don't need to have gods addicted to the games, but one of Exalted's themes is "The people in charge are corrupt and won't make your life any better. Make things better yourself." The Games of Divinity as written drive that point home pretty well.

Not to say that you need to like that point. =)

Oh, I'm not saying I don't like the underlying theme, that the higher-ups screwed up and you're the one to fix it. The idea of Chejop Kejak and the Bronze faction being the big bad is very compelling, for example; or the Realm, or the Deathlords, or whoever. You need powerful antagonists for powerful PCs. Incorporating transcendent figures like the Unconquered Sun et al into that theme is the sticking point.

On a purely metagame level, removing the gods from play can be achieved in many ways. Forgotten Realms does this by having them in a standoff situation, so that if any god tries to intervene in the affairs of mortals, the others will bust his ass. Eberron, and 4E, do it by having the gods be mysterious and not directly contactable -- essentially, they're outside the game. IIRC in Midnight the gods are dead, which is a pretty direct way of keeping them from interfering.