Every game of Fantasy World includes four “truths” that deeply affect the stories that Players and World will shape together. While three obviously lay the foundation for wonder and adventure, one seems to leave a few readers confused and worried:

Gods are silent - Are they even there? Why don’t they intervene? Only true believers know how to see the signs and recognise the omens.

This rule can easily be applied to any kind of fantasy setting as long as it is understood that you are playing a game of Fantasy World and that, if anything needs to be somehow modified and changed, it is the setting that has to adapt to the game, not the other way around.

Most of the time this happens in a frictionless and intuitive way, with World and Players trusting the rule to do something useful and positive for their game experience without giving it much thought.

But at times it can be difficult to wrap one’s head around this perspective and how exactly to implement it in play, especially when World and Players are too used to how other games handle religion and deities. Hopefully this article will help readers to more easily grok Fantasy World’s mindset, supporting them in achieving the intended dramatic fantasy experience also in settings with rich and complex pantheons.

Historical vs Mythical

The “silence” rule shapes the game into, for lack of a better term, a historical perspective. Deities might very well exist, but the Protagonists (and everyone else) can’t ever know for sure or, if they somehow can know, they can never be sure about the deities will.

Thus a Fantasy World game set in ancient Greece will present a setting full of stories, myths and legends about the goddess Athena, but she will not be clearly and unequivocally a part of active play. Everyone in the setting believes in the lore, and understands how everyone’s daily lives are influenced by Athena and the other Olympian deities. But the Protagonists are not going to see or hear or know the gods. Only omens, signs, portents, symbols and intermediaries. Only the Olympian religion, only its system of lore and doctrine and beliefs.

Likewise a game set in Faerun (a famous D&D setting full of squabbling and meddling gods) can work in the same way: mortals live in a magical and wondrous world full of myths about Shar and Tyr and Selune, full of lore and wisdom about how this pantheon affects reality and most aspects of mortal life. But active play just won’t include a direct and unambiguous experience of these phenomena.

Obviously this approach won’t result in a 100% canonical version of the chosen setting, but it should still be close enough to be a satisfying revision of the original. On the other hand, this trade-off will go a long way in helping World and Players to experience the kind of dramatic fantasy stories promised by Fantasy World.

In the context of this article, the historical perspective is juxtaposed to something we could call the mythical perspective, where deities are an explicit part of active play: Protagonists do see the Lady of Pain darken the skies of Sigil, they clearly receive visions from Athena, they explicitly experience tangible and unequivocal divine intervention. They are, quite literally, living the myths.

The Real Problem

Why does Fantasy World natively hinder and discourage mythical play?

Allow me to gloss over the cultural, sociological and psychological mambo-jumbo at the root of this design choice and let’s just say that the in-game presence of divine entities which openly communicate with mortals can too easily translate into Protagonists/Players checking-out from moral choices and responsibilities.

Even when there are multiple deities in play, offering competing views about what is right and good. Even when gods are depicted as flawed in very human ways. Even when divine beings are shown to be somewhat limited (not omniscient, not omnipotent, not eternal).

If a divine entity has a way to communicate their likes and dislikes to mortals, that entity becomes a moral compass, an external thing that “solves morality” for characters (be they PCs or NPCs), silencing their doubts and quelling their conscience. This often ends up affecting Players too as, thanks to the in-game justifications of their Protagonist, they end up ignoring or side-stepping most of the moral questions the emergent story might otherwise present them.

In games meant to offer Players an escapist power fantasy this is often of little relevance. Some groups might like it, others dislike it, but as far as the game's systems are concerned this is all quite trivial, a matter that can be settled out-game if and when it ever arises.

But for a game that aims at offering a dramatic fantasy experience this attitude will wreak thematic havoc at the table, as the heart of Fantasy World focuses on the meaningful choices of the Protagonists and on how they personally deal with their consequences.

Solution #1 - Absence

Fantasy World offers a simple meta-narrative technique to avoid the aforementioned problem in a way that requires zero effort and no specialised knowledge: have the gods be silent. This is briefly expanded upon in the introduction to the Priest class, as it brings deities and religion at the forefront of play: if the World plays as if deities did not exist at all the in-game result for Players and Protagonists is a setting where gods might very well exist and be the root cause behind everything that happens, but mortals are not privy to this backstage action. Protagonists can believe, but can never know. They can have faith, but this faith is a choice they make moment by moment and, as such, doesn’t let them offload the responsibility for their actions on someone/something external.

This is a jedi mind trick with two effects:

• It saves the World from the contradictory meta-narrative fatigue of thinking about deities as characters in play that at the same time need to stay hidden and appear silent.
• It prevents World and Players from falling into the pitfall of playing “divine charades” where gods are not silent, just non-verbal.

This can work in any setting by understanding it as a way to focus active play on “the mortal point of view”. Does Athena exist? Sure, why not? But is this thunderstorm a message from her? And is it a good or ill omen? Is it threatening to sink us, or is it a way to lead us where we are meant to go? Did we do something to offend her, or is this an answer to our prayers and rituals? Is this some sort of message we are currently unable to grasp?

Whatever the answers might be, the point is that there is an impenetrable curtain separating the mortal experience from whatever lies beyond it.

Solution #2 - Incommunicability

Some people are not content to play in a setting full of myths, but want their play experience to be itself mythical.

They want the gods to exist for sure.

They want the gods to act and communicate overtly.

They want the gods to be an important part of active play.

To achieve this in full, to play deities just like in D&D and other similar games, one could simply hack Fantasy World by removing the “gods are silent” rule. Depending on how relevant deities and religion end up being at your table, this will drastically hamper the dramatic fantasy quality of the game experience. It might also spell some problems when playing the Priest class. Still, maybe that’s what certain groups really want.

Alternatively it is possible to preserve the integrity of the Fantasy World experience while also enjoying a more mythical setting thanks to a single minor (but very impactful) tweak. Gods are not silent. Instead, gods are alien.

In game terms Athena exists for sure. Mortal characters might even see and interact with her. The catch is, she is never understandable:

• When Athena does something, mortals can’t know for sure why.
• When Athena communicates something, mortals can’t know for sure what she means.

Are your actions what Athena wanted? Are your mystical powers an expression of Athena’s favour, or “just magic” that would happen anyway because you performed the correct rituals? Is your current (mis)fortune a sign of her (dis)approval?

To achieve this, the basic technique is slightly altered: the World plays as if deities were NOT characters. They exist, but they have no goals nor plans, and there really is no hidden message. They are just narrative props used to style the fiction with mythical colors, to help the World make deities feel present in the setting.

This is hard and confusing to do if the World thinks of Athena as a character. If the World imagines that Athena wants something, and that she tries to communicate this want through a message, but then the World has to translate the message into obscure visions and confusing symbols, at which point the Players will play the already mentioned “divine charades” only to finally decide what to do about the result. Not only is this difficult and draining for the World, but returns Athena to the position of being a moral compass, making the whole effort pointless.

The correct procedure is to NOT play Athena as a character. To NOT imagine a message from her at all. To use implicit or explicit divine presence as just a splash of colour to make the game narration feel mythical.

What the World normally does anyway is to play a Reaction by describing stuff in a way that, among other things, makes sense to both themselves and the Players. Well, in a mythical setting “overt divine action” is a thing that can reasonably happen. That’s all.

For example, let’s say that the Protagonists are on a boat travelling towards an island, because reasons. Something grants the World a Reaction, and they choose to “offer an opportunity” by revealing an unexpected mysterious island on the boat’s path, a potential detour. As the Protagonists are doing something kind of time sensitive this presents an interesting choice. The World could perform this Reaction by:

• describing a sailor noticing a strange island on the horizon, not their intended destination, not on any maps they have. What do you do?
• describing an owl (a classic symbol of Athena) being spotted flying around the ship and then, after being noticed, clearly flying back towards a strange island on the horizon, not their intended destination, not on any maps they have. What do you do?
• describing a manifestation of the goddess Athena, blinding everyone on the ship for a moment and then, the vision gone, everyone sees a strange island on the horizon, not their intended destination, not on any maps they have. What do you do?

Will the Protagonist remember that the owl is a symbol of Athena? Will they decide that it is an omen from the goddess rather than a random bird? Is Athena suggesting they go to the island, or that they steer clear of it? And if they go, what are they supposed to do there?

Narratively it looks like Athena meant to communicate something.

Mechanically the World has no message in mind. They decided to perform a Reaction by presenting a mysterious island, and chose to slap some “Athena Vibes” on the performance. That’s all. No plan. No goal. No message.

Another example might see a character (PC or NPC) interrogate Athena through ritual and prayer. Let’s define the question too: they ask something like “who should we trust between the Thief and the Governor?”. Well, what should Athena’s answer be?

• In “historical” Fantasy World, where gods are silent, there is no answer, or maybe something happens that could maybe kind of perhaps be interpreted as a sign or omen; but it’s up to the Protagonists to decide what’s what.
• In “mythical” Fantasy World, where gods are alien, the World might do the same, or describe a more explicit divine sign, or even have the very Athena appear and directly speak up. The catch is, the answer contains no message, the World just throws in some random stuff for kicks, and sees what Protagonists (and Players) make of it.
  • Maybe Athena shows a vision of a burning tree. What does it have to do with anything? Who knows! Probably something the PCs have yet to uncover?
  • Maybe Athena says “The tree. The flame. A covenant of frogs!”.  What does it have to do with anything? Who knows! Probably something the PCs have yet to uncover?
  • Maybe Athena communicates something poignant, but extremely confusing, like a vision of the Thief being killed by guards, but also one of the Mayor being killed by a knife, but also a third possible future that looks just like swirling smoke. What is this? A vision of what will happen? Of what could happen? A choice between alternatives? But what is the third one? And how do we achieve/prevent any of these?

At this point it should go without saying that Athena will never just say “go there, do this”. That is clear communication with an obvious meaning. It means the World has thought of Athena as a character, wondered what she might want, and articulated a real message. Don’t do this. Ever. Deities are stage props. The World puts them in a scene because it looks cooler that way, because it feels right for their mythical setting, because it might help them stick to their Principles and perform their Reactions in appropriate situations.

Seed Some Chaos

Patterns are the enemy of the “gods are alien” technique. Be too random, and deities could stop mattering in your setting. Be too predictable, and deities could end up acquiring an emergent agenda. The World’s job in this regard is to keep an eye out for such patterns and then intentionally seed some chaos. 

If the Protagonists get in their head that Athena wants them to go on the mysterious island, maybe intentionally avoid using Athena-themed descriptions in reference to the island and whatever will happen on it. Let the Players wonder if their Protagonists are correct in doing whatever they are doing about the island.

If the Protagonists are convinced that the events that took place on the island should make Athena happy, maybe have her show up afterwards in a menacing/displeased way. Why? What’s wrong? Is it about the island or something else? Is it displeasure or a warning? Let them wonder.  

Or have the Protagonists be confronted by someone with their same beliefs but diverging or opposing goals and behaviours. Who is in the right? Who should concede? Why is Athena allowing this? Is it all part of a broader plan?

And from time to time, do the opposite:

• Confirm a bit of the Protagonists’ guesses and assumptions every once in a while.
• Reincorporate familiar elements to establish a vague but somewhat consistent vibe/personality for each deity.

These techniques can conjure a satisfactory mythical experience while still preserving the mystery shrouding the intentions and meanings of deities and, with those, the dramatic fantasy quality of the game.

But... Divine Power!

In games like D&D some characters can wield “divine power” and this is understood as a clear sign not only of the existence of a certain deity, but also of its favour: whatever the PC does must be “right/moral” (according to their deity) as long as they have access to the power.

This is simply not a thing in Fantasy World. 

A Protagonist might be built in such a way as to obviously wield raw divine power, but then there is nothing in the rules allowing the World to turn off that character’s moves. Plus deities are either silent or alien, so they can’t overtly reward or punish anyone.

But... God-like Entities!

The question of what exactly constitutes a “god” in terms of measuring diegetic metaphysical qualities is, simply put, the wrong question to ask.

What if some spirits are not really deities but someone worships them as such? What if a common person scams others into worshipping them as a god? What if a common person gets access to incredible power and builds a religion around them? These and many other edge cases could be seen as problematic situations to handle according to the Fantasy World rules... until you realise that this is all fiction whose only purpose is to serve the game and to help support the experience that the World and Players want to play.

To this end, if an entity can be seen by the Protagonists as a transcendent source of morality, then it has to be silent or alien. Period.

Everything else is “just” some creature, some spirit, some wizard, some charismatic leader, some charlatan, some ancient being, some misunderstood phenomenon.

If later on a Protagonist somehow chooses to “convert”, to worship, to believe in the entity as a moral compass, the World has a choice:

• Maybe it’s not too late to shift gears and start handling the entity as a deity, through the silent/alien treatment.
• Maybe it feels better to clearly establish the entity as mundane, not divine. This is a narrative choice that doesn’t necessarily have to end up in a Scooby Doo moment where “the false idol is unmasked”, but the assumption is to lean on this fictional thread, on the discrepancies between the religious expectation and the limits and quirks of the entity.

It's a normal Fantasy World play flow, really. A Protagonist’s beliefs have become more central to the story, so it is the World’s job to help the Player explore and challenge their Protagonist’s newfound faith. This is worthy of worship? This is your moral compass? What about now? What if this thing happens? And if you witness this limit/quality/feature of your deity? Etc. The usual drill :-)

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