Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[gamermaster42]

A quick search brings up bits and pieces of what I'm about to suggest. I apologize if everything here has already been covered.

Anyways, I was going through some of my legends and a thought struck me, Gods and Goddesses don't have any real description of what they look like beyond the species they resemble.  I think it would be interesting if it actually describes what they looked like (hair color/length, head shape, body size, etc.)  Also, some of the gods could be listed as often being depicted with a particular object that serves as their symbol and what types of clothes they are depicted wearing (if they wear any at all).

[NW_Kohaku]

I'm fairly sure that Toady intends to address this at some point.  In fact, I'd be stunned if he wasn't, since going into extreme detail about minor side issues is sort of his thing.  Gods just don't do much right now, so he hasn't focused much on them, but they will be doing more and more as time goes on, and I'm sure they'll get this sort of treatment, eventually.

[gamermaster42]

I'm also pretty sure that he is going to cover it.  It's just that, it was my first post and I was under the impression that it's practically a rule that everyones first suggestion must be either something that Toady has on his to do list or something that someone else has already suggested.

[Neonivek]

I'm also pretty sure that he is going to cover it.  It's just that, it was my first post and I was under the impression that it's practically a rule that everyones first suggestion must be either something that Toady has on his to do list or something that someone else has already suggested.

Rule of thumb: If it is something Toady is already going to do... Expand.

There is never a rule in the suggestion forum that Toady cannot use ideas for his suggestions.

[NW_Kohaku]

If we're talking about rules of thumb, though, keep in mind that the basic stuff are the things Toady will probably come up with on his own. 

When talking about magic systems, Toady once said something to the effect that he's going to put in a magic system that's going to try to make everything possible, and so the more ideas on how "magic works", the better, especially the more exotic and strange that they are.  Specific details (like "let me cast fireball") are not as helpful, and specific mechanics of how players want to talk about how specific systems would work generally will run into problems in implementation, but broad concepts, especially when they are very outlandish concepts, or reflect a knowledge base or research into some sort of obscure aspect of history, culture, or science, will be the most useful to Toady when it comes time for him to add something.

So, if you want to put this back into the original suggestion - what are some things that go beyond the basics of having appearances that match what regular dwarves have that could be included?  Is there some way in which these appearances could matter to the actual game, if only in limited ways? (Like symbols from these descriptions affecting how temples are built, especially in floorplan?)  Are there some other aspects of a deity that could be put into these descriptions?  (Like persolity traits or major tenants of their religion?) Or are there some new ways in which players could interact with this information, other than looking it up in legends mode? (Like the Bible of Urist that tells you all the procedurally generated information you didn't want to know about such-and-such a religion.)


Some links to look at that have previous "gods" stuff:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=24069.msg267784#msg267784
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=64733.msg1516318#msg1516318
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=38738.msg651652#msg651652
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89507.msg2467639#msg2467639
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=84489.msg2264887#msg2264887
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=5942.msg74573#msg74573
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6077.msg75765#msg75765

[Neonivek]

Well what I mean is. If it is already in teh devs you can always try to get specifics

How should gods look? Should we have multiple appearances? How about false vs. their real appearances?

Should legends give their accepted appearance if you don't know their true appearance? Heck should you even know their appearance if you havn't personally found out about it in adventure mode? (my personal oppinion is that Legends mode should include everything that is common knowledge, once it is no longer kept on all the time)

[Robosaur]

I think it would be cool if they sometimes had "divine" features, like "Glowing hair" or "Pupiless eyes" or "4 arms" or "The head of an eagle" or "A glowing halo" etc...

[NW_Kohaku]

I think it would be cool if they sometimes had "divine" features, like "Glowing hair" or "Pupiless eyes" or "4 arms" or "The head of an eagle" or "A glowing halo" etc...

That sounds pretty similar to the "demonic" features, though... At least, the four arms and head of an eagle part.

[Owlbread]

I think it would be cool if they sometimes had "divine" features, like "Glowing hair" or "Pupiless eyes" or "4 arms" or "The head of an eagle" or "A glowing halo" etc...

That sounds pretty similar to the "demonic" features, though... At least, the four arms and head of an eagle part.

How do you mean demonic, good sir? Vishnu has many arms and he is the supreme (and not demonic) god of Vaishnavite Hinduism. Ganesha also has the head of a heffalump and several arms and yet he's an extremely positive symbol.

[NW_Kohaku]

How do you mean demonic, good sir? Vishnu has many arms and he is the supreme (and not demonic) god of Vaishnavite Hinduism. Ganesha also has the head of a heffalump and several arms and yet he's an extremely positive symbol.

I mean demonic, as in, sounds exactly like the demons and forgotten beasts that the game already has.  You know, the three-legged ankylosaurus with the head of a giant mosquito things, beware their poisonous spit.

[Owlbread]

How do you mean demonic, good sir? Vishnu has many arms and he is the supreme (and not demonic) god of Vaishnavite Hinduism. Ganesha also has the head of a heffalump and several arms and yet he's an extremely positive symbol.

I mean demonic, as in, sounds exactly like the demons and forgotten beasts that the game already has.  You know, the three-legged ankylosaurus with the head of a giant mosquito things, beware their poisonous spit.

But that's not a problem, surely. We already have men with crab heads and pincers that are most certainly not demonic or evil, just savage. I don't see why the Gods can't have bizarre and mythical forms if the Demons and titans/forgotten beasts or savages can. Let's not forget that the dwarves, elves, humans and goblins are not the only races. Why can't animal men have gods?

[Iapetus]

A quick search brings up bits and pieces of what I'm about to suggest. I apologize if everything here has already been covered.

Anyways, I was going through some of my legends and a thought struck me, Gods and Goddesses don't have any real description of what they look like beyond the species they resemble.  I think it would be interesting if it actually describes what they looked like (hair color/length, head shape, body size, etc.)  Also, some of the gods could be listed as often being depicted with a particular object that serves as their symbol and what types of clothes they are depicted wearing (if they wear any at all).

I'm not sure about that.  Some of those would be good (general physical attributes, like "large", "fat", "muscular", "young", or symbols), but things like hair or eye colour, or head shape (if done as detailed as for the dwarves), clothes (unless there is something particularly special about them) etc seems too specific and mundane for a god.  Especially as - for real-world gods - those things tend to vary hugely over time and between cultures - if they form part of the standard depiction at all.

E.g.: "Hercules is a deity that occurs in the myths of the Greeks.  Hercules was most often depicted as a muscular man wearing a lion-skin and carrying a club" - OK.

"Hercules is a deity that occurs in the myths of the Greeks.  Hercules was most often depicted as a muscular man with close-set blue eyes, short brown hair, long ears, and a broad nose, and wearing a lion-skin cloak, a pig-tail fabric loincloth, and giant recluse spider silk shoes" - not so good.

I suppose some sorts of features could be inherently more common than others.  Eg:
Species and sex: all deities
Major physical characteristics (age, body-size, do they have a beardetc): 50% probability
A single tool, weapon, piece of armour (relevant to their spheres): 20% probability
Minor physical characterisitc (hair colour/style, facial shape, etc): 10% probability
Some other associated symbol or item ("riding a horse", "accompanied by cherubs", "surrounded by flies", etc): 10% probability
An extra one of the above: 5% probability

[UHaulDwarf]

Gods don't have fixed appearances. They can change every part of themselves to whatever they want. Well, everything but there eyes.

[Aachen]

Gods don't have fixed appearances. They can change every part of themselves to whatever they want. Well, everything but there eyes.

Presto ... BRAINGO ?

[Neonivek]

Gods don't have fixed appearances. They can change every part of themselves to whatever they want. Well, everything but there eyes.

Not all Dieties had that ability. So not all dieties would have multiforms.