Input wanted: What made the gods mad?

[Psychotic Jim]

There are some really great ideas in this thread. It would be sad if some other force destroyed the world but the gods got blamed, and thus they were abandoned


On another note, what if you went with Diaglo's idea (but without the d20 hatred ), but the people became falsely pious? The church or center of the faith became entrenched in the dogma and the high-ups in the religion intentionally used it as a method to achieve power. The people did bad things in the name of the gods they worshipped, slowly but incrementally drifting away from the gods' teachings. The worshippers or church began doing unsavory activities in the gods' names that the gods despised, twisting their messages into something else.
One variant of this, if you are using the "worship = divine power" model of god-worshipper relations, might be that the worshippers with their new ideas and philosophies changed part of the essence of the god they worshipped to an altered reflection of the god, from say an evil to a good god, or a good god to an evil god. There was an extreme conflict between the good and evil halves, or the lawful and chaotic halves, of the essence of the god, and that is what destroyed the world.

 

[Arkham]

The gods, while already mad, were hungry.
And ate it.
But now they slumber until they should again awaken and hunger.

 

[cybertalus]

Why do people climb mountains? Because they're there.

Why do gods destroy continents? Because they can.

Or to be more specific, perhaps a relatively new deity was trying out their newfound powers and had an "oops" moment.

For another suggestion, maybe the inhabitants were studying the one black art which was prophesied to one day destroy both magic and divinity: science.

 

[Blue Prism]

The gods gave the noblest of elves the gift of inspiration,
The gods gave the greatest king of dwarves the gift of strength,
The gods gave the holiest priest of humans the gift of time.

Each then turned the gifts of the gods upon one another;
For their hearts were filled with fear and greed.
In this way, the power of the gods did destroy the world.

 

[babomb]

Ok, so a [url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080801/]Coke bottle falls out of a plane[/url] and is discovered by a tribe. They think it's a gift from the gods, and they fight over it--

Oh, you meant angry mad.

• The gods destroyed it because it was the only way to stop an ancient evil or prevent Ragnarok.
• The emperor was trying to ascend to godhood.
• The empire chiefly worshiped one evil god, and the opposing good god(s) destroy the continent to stop his followers from taking over the world.
• As previous, but reversing good and evil.
• You said not just "ignoring" the gods, but what about turning their back on or defying the gods (a la Numenor in Middle Earth)?
• For a more Greek flavor, the goddesses asked someone from the empire to choose the fairest among them. Each goddess bribed and/or threatened the judge in her own way. (The goddess of love might offer to make a woman fall in love with him if he picks her or threaten to make sure none do if he fails to pick her, for example.) One or more of the snubbed goddesses engineers the ruin of the empire. (Or the judge's reward ironically sets off a huge war that ruins the empire, if you want to copy it even more directly.)
• Rather than destroy the continent, the gods plane shifted it to seal it off from the rest of the world. And a certain group of adventurers accidentally activates the relic that unseals it. Oops.

 

[rbingham2000]

The people of the continent twisted the words and wisdom of the gods to suit their own wants and committed all manner of acts abhorrent to the gods -- in their name, no less -- until the gods got fed up with it.

 

[Kilroy]

The god who held up the world was seduced, and set it down for a bit, thinking noone would notice. Oops.

-or-

An ancient alien colony ship arrived in orbit and triggered the long forgotten planetary defense systems.

-or-

The people didn't forget the gods, the gods forgot the people, because they were distracted by their new creations. The Drought of Miracles destroyed civilization.

-or-

It was, in fact, a giant turtle, and the god of mischief tickled it until it woke up and flipped over.

-or-

A star was torn from the heavens and used to shatter the seal imprisoning world devouring worms of pure darkness from before the dawn of time.

Oops, wait, that one's not mine...

 

[Campbell]

Existence is wholly dependent on the infallibility of the decrees of the gods who in ancient days made a solemn oath that their fallen protectors could not broach the confines of the prime for more than a fortnight. In an attempt to gain a further understanding of his diety, the elven prophet Soleniar called forth a powerful demon who through trickery, found a way to break the seals the gods placed on the prime. In order to save existence, and without time to safely remake their ancient seals the gods were forced to use the primal magic of their forebearers to remake the seals and banish all demons from the prime. The massive force of this magic almost broke the world in two. To this day, the efforts of the gods have failed to cure the prime of the overabundance of primal energies that the new planar seal has unleashed on the prime. Knowing that the primal energy they unleashed could be harnessed to destroy the gods or unmake existence, the gods have taken steps to ensure that this energy is never harnessed, including attempts to make sure the knowledge of these primal energies remains hidden.

 

[Nightfall]

They had Psion as DM and they never found the Mcguffin!

Sorry I couldn't resist.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

"Angered? Angered!" The great head sagged, eyes clearer than a morning sea lowered, and an angry sigh resonated through the hall. "Know this, mortals: angry now is thy god, thus defamed. In mine anger I could destroy thee, yet do not."
Anger faded from the god's cyclopean visage, replaced by a sadness so deep it hung in the air as mist.
The warriors shifted nervously in the marble vastness. They had not crossed time and space to face their creator because he'd been merciful. Vengeance was their task, fury their lifeblood. Yet before the subject of their wrath, they could feel no hate, only confusion.
The god spoke on, in a dull monotone that seemed directed as much to himself as to them. "Not in anger mine lands did I destroy. Not in the well-worn fury thou bringest to mine hall did I raise hand against worshipper and blasphemer alike.
"That land thou wouldst avenge held no race of men, no noble countenanced warrior-princes like ye my people; there lay darkness, there death, there the wellspring of evil. A wicked kingdom of wicked beings were they, beyond all redemption. Ye fight the rotten fruit of that fertile country as Yuan-ti; know thee, then: the serpent-men ye contend against were to their ancient ancestors as thou art to me.
"Destroy all that I hadst wrought in that most beauteous country, or loose its foul children upon the world? This did I ask of thy ancestors - heroes all, by their claims and thine. Cowards all! Bereft of manhood and might, they sent up bleating prayers for salvation. And all mine power was theirs, to smite to ruin all trace of snake-faced demon and serpent-god's fane. This was done.
"But in the doing, that paradise the dark ones claimed was also lost, the very prize thy ancestors so craved. And they called upon me once more, now strident, now angry, and asked why they did not receive their prize. 'Ye earned it not,' quoth I. 'Why think to possess it?'
"Railed against me in my justice, did your ancestors. Invoked black curses upon me for the undeserved boon I'd not deigned to grant! And blackest treachery of all, upon my name they heaped this ruin. Upon my honor, they lay the black stain of unchecked anger!
"Not at thy god shouldst thou direct thy anger, little mortals." The god rose from his throne, towering into the clouds above, yet at once eye-to-eye with each warrior. "But at thine ancestors, whose dark legacy that ruin is. But for their cowardice, the serpent-demons might from mine earth have been driven, and paradise reclaimed. But for their treachery, the men of latter days might of old have learned."
With a wave of one mighty hand, the god cast open a far-flung gate of his hall.
"Not by mine hand the world restored," boomed the divine voice. "Wouldst thou do what thine ancestors dared not? Beyond yon door, the past awaits. It falls to thee to unmake the treachery of thy race. But e'en I cannot say if in the doing, thou wilst unmake thyselves."
As one, the warriors blinked and shook their heads. The hall was but a hall; a marble hall of beautiful craft, but no larger than men might make. Of the god, they saw no sign. Absent his mighty presence, they stood in mortal grounds once more.
Two doors lay open. One, to primordial past, undreamt paradise and unspeakable danger. The other, to the fallen world they knew.

There's a reason for a god to destroy a continent... and a very interesting Epic direction for a campaign, I'd say...