last night’s session where my PCs are in Tal’Dorei, something interesting happened. Hypothetical question: If the barrier keeping the the gods from the material plane was to fall, how bad would it be? I mean… the Divine Gate is what keeps all gods, good and bad, from stepping into the material plane, preventing another Calamity…soooo…
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 12, 2018
On this note…if one of the betrayer gods managed to cross back to the material plane…would constitute a threat grave enough for the Prime Deities to take down the wall? That depends on the DM! They would probably mobilize all followers and powers available to them without breaking the gate, using that only as a very last resort.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 12, 2018
Did you decide to have the Divine gate to avoid actual Deus ex machina and to about players fighting the gods? Or was it to make clerics struggle to make contact with their god?
— Rith King Will (@Rithkingwill) August 12, 2018
A bit of both. Hard to consolidate non-believers in a world where the Gods can walk. It also limits the Deus ex Machina or narrative issue of “Hey, God. I know you want my help but If it’s so dangerous, why don’t you just walk over and smite it yourself?” https://t.co/uB0IOnpSWs
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 12, 2018
Mind you, you can still visit/fight them through planar magic, and their influence is still found throughout the material plane. It was a fun tool for me to develop a sense of “mortal creations must largely fend for themselves”.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 12, 2018
Oh, certainly! I just want to seed the idea that some societies/places believe the history of creation is false, and the worship of gods is useless. Could help brew interesting tension. 😉
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 12, 2018
I always liked the idea of “Power draws power” in Erickson’s Malazan books. The idea that the gods/Ascendants often don’t act directly to solve problems because it just has a natural tendency to spiral out of control, and involve more and more of the ascendant powers Aye, that’s precisely why the Divine Gate was developed. After ages of existing on Exandria, the conflicts of men and gods led to a Calamity that wiped out most of civilization. It was their way of preventing a recurrence.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 12, 2018
Did it bother you to have to abandon certain lore about deities, such as the Platinum Dragon’s habit of walking the Material as an old man with 7 golden canaries? Always loved that visual myself. XD It was sad in some cases, but overall worth the device.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) August 13, 2018