Chapter Two
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Integrating the Event When gods die, they always die many sorts of death. —Friedrich Nietsche
y now you have decided on the god that shall die and the nature of his demise. Next you must determine all the various ways to incorporate the event into your game, as well as the ramifications of doing so. These challenging issues are at the heart of this book.
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Staging the Death Essentially, you must determine how the PCs, and perhaps the rest of the world, learn of the god’s death. There are many options for this revelation, but three of the best ways are: revealing the secret through an adventure, announcing it officially, and allowing the truth to come to the fore in the unraveling of a mystery.
An Adventure First you might decide to create an adventure involving the death of the god. This is most appropriate for high-level characters, but with a little work you can design one for characters of any level. Here are some ideas for such a scenario.
‘We Interrupt This Adventure…’ The PCs find the dead god unexpectedly, as a part of a different adventure. Somewhere dangerous and remote, and preferably unexpected, the PCs come upon the corpus dei. They might not know exactly what they have discovered until they investigate closely. Perhaps all they find is a colossal petrified hand, reaching up through the ground, for the actual corpse lies underground. Or they walk atop a strange hill, only to discover that it is, in fact, in the rough shape of a gigantic humanoid figure. Before they see the body, the PCs might first come upon some relic belonging to the god: a fallen scepter, a broken crown, or something similar. Or they might first find the corpses of the god’s servants, such as the giant bulls that pulled a war god’s chariot, or the 20 mariliths who attended a god of chaos and evil. In a completely different approach, a cleric character who worships the doomed god might hear, while in the midst of casting a spell like commune, the god calling out one last gasp. This shock comes in the middle of some other concern and alters the course of the current adventure entirely. Of course, the PC cleric would have noticed the lack of all spell power soon after anyway, but this way is much more dramatic.
Pure Happenstance The PCs happen to be on the scene when the god dies. While traveling the planes, wandering the wilderness, or exploring a dangerous area—or if they just happen to be in the wrong temple at the wrong time—they come upon a battle, a murder, a suicide, or the “deathbed” of dying god. There might be others about (including the deity’s killers, if any) or they might find themselves alone with him. Perhaps the god has some dying wish, command, or quest to give to the PCs, which could become the start of some grand adventure. The deity might want to be avenged, raised, or simply have some last task completed. He might want his followers cared for, a message delivered, his citadel safeguarded, or some item of importance retrieved and given as a last legacy to those who followed him. Another variation on this idea is to have the god summon the PCs (assuming they have some relationship with him, such as being devout worshippers or champions of a similar cause) to give them his last request to fulfill. This scenario makes the death all the more dramatic, but it also runs the risk of seeming a bit forced.
Help or Hinder The PCs have a hand in aiding or attacking the god. This option could involve truly powerful (20+ level) characters, with divine aid and lots of artifacts, taking on a longstanding foe of divine stature. Or, conversely, those same characters could be summoned before their patron to help defend him or her against an overwhelming horde of godsbloodthirsty foes. Although it is probably best, characters do not have to be artifact-laden heroes of epic proportions to help fight a god. If the DM wishes, the characters could be some extremely minor players, more witnesses than participants, in a cosmic battle that shakes the very foundations of the world. Perhaps huge armies of mortals are actually involved, with the battle fought on two levels—one among the armies and one among the warring divine patrons of those armies.
The First to Hear The PCs learn about the death of the god before anyone else. They encounter a being who was there when the god died, or one who saw the corpse. This is sure to be a power-
