Gods and Immortals in games

Ok, so first, thanks for all the help on the poisons/venoms question I had for my homebrewed game. I now know how to work it.

But here's another issue, as the title suggests; how to handle them in-game.

I don't intend to come up with a full pantheon or anything as I won't use most of them anyway, but I do have one that would feature, mostly in some subtle way. But here's the tricky part. Though I have some ideas, hhow do you feature an NPC that cannot be killed or harmed in a game without unbalancing it completely? Having him give out a quest/mission seems like a plan, but are there any other ways?

To give you a better idea of what I mean, the character in question is Ankou, the spirit of death, much like the grim reaper of western European mythology. Ankou differs in various ways and that myth is fascinating to me, enough that I want to use him in some capacity.

If it's not obvious by now, I haven't run a game before and could use advice on how not to trip myself up for when I eventually introduce him. It should go without saying that he will not be a villain or enemy in any capacity.

As stated, I do have an idea on using him as a quest giver, maybe to help him as he's been somehow bound, maybe something along those lines. But what (other than making him a villain or ally) should I avoid doing?

There is nothing wrong with using deities, immortals or otherwise extremely powerful
beings as villains and antagonists or in any other roles in a fantasy campaign, it is ac-
tually quite common in Sword & Sorcery stories. In my view such beings work best
when kept in the background, without direct interaction with the player characters.
They can influence the events through their worshippers or other helpers, they can
send messages or threats, and so on, but they should only very rarely (if at all) ap-
pear in person, they should only very rarely (if at all) fight the characters personal-
ly, and they should never (really, never) hop into a situation to solve the characters'
problems in a deus ex machina style. Otherwise, as long as they stay remote and
preferably at least somewhat mysterious, they are just fine.

Oh, no worries there, I won't be pulling any kind of deus ex machina at all. I know they can be used in fantasy settings, which is fine, but I'm going for a mix of fantasy and modern day. Background seems like a good idea, especially with his role in that world. And once the players learn of his existence and how to tell if he's nearby (a sudden cold breeze and the creaking of an old cart), I can scare them when I want to be a bastard.
Thanks for the input and opinions man, helps me get a perspective on things ahead of time.

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Originally Posted by Rob

Oh, no worries there, I won't be pulling any kind of deus ex machina at all. I know they can be used in fantasy settings, which is fine, but I'm going for a mix of fantasy and modern day. Background seems like a good idea, especially with his role in that world. And once the players learn of his existence and how to tell if he's nearby (a sudden cold breeze and the creaking of an old cart), I can scare them when I want to be a bastard.
Thanks for the input and opinions man, helps me get a perspective on things ahead of time.

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You should let mythology be your guide here.

For instance in legends of ambrosia and amrita - those that drunk it could never die, but they cannot re-grow anything that is removed from the body, e.g. when Typhon ripped the tendons from Zeus' body; or when the demon Rahu drank amrita, Visnhu threw his discuss severing his head from his body. Though his body died his head continued to live and was said to be the cause of eclipses.

Ther most obvious answer there is and I missed it. Excellent idea on just going with the mythology. I should just do that! I think Occam's razor wins this one.

So, does anyone else use any powerful mythological entities in their games? All I have *for now, at least) is Ankou.

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Originally Posted by Rob

Ther most obvious answer there is and I missed it. Excellent idea on just going with the mythology. I should just do that! I think Occam's razor wins this one.

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There is also the Apples of Idunn and Peaches of Immortality which only grant longevity as long as they are eaten. Chinese mythology also has internal immortals, or Hsien, and there are different types of levels of those. Maybe even naturally occurring immortals too, a la Flint from ST: TOS and Man from Earth.

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Originally Posted by Rob

So, does anyone else use any powerful mythological entities in their games? All I have *for now, at least) is Ankou.

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Just working on a backdrop using all of the above actually. Will be set during Atlantis.

In fact I just got a shitload of ideas after purchasing Alpha Omega - it isn't a BRP or D100 product, but it works on the idea that angels and demons are aliens - only in this they are called Seraph and Ophanim have warred for millions of years, rising every 10,000 years to continue their war. In this there are also spiritual beings separate to the above; and it is pretty fucking epic. The core system is waaaay too complicated and thinking about maybe dropping a hack into BRP at some point. But it would require the resurrection of heroic abilities again in order to get the feel of the setting.

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Originally Posted by Rob

So, does anyone else use any powerful mythological entities in their games?

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Not often, but for example my Black Eyrie Clan campaign in Sartar in Runequest's world
Glorantha has lots of such entities which now and then - well, actually quite often - in-
fluence the events of the campaign as a result of their own ongoing conflicts. Most of
them do so indirectly through their cults' priestesses and priests, but occasionally one
of them uses her or his powers to take a more direct approach. Overall they stay in the
background, and it is difficult for the player characters to distinguish between strange
natural phenomena or purely incidental events and their handywork, especially since all
unusual events are attributed to the actions of mythological entities anyways- an earth-
quake which destroys a town is never "just an earthquake", it is always seen as some
kind of divine wrath or other powerful magic.

Can't help thinking it'd be better to leave the god out of it. Are there no priesthoods in your setting? A god directly dealing with piffling PC adventurers doesn't seem right. (Or the PCs starting as significant leaders/heroes would be odd, too). But if you must, how about an avatar? That could be killed if the PCs took a dislike to it (as they will) - and yet the god can manifest again later in another one...

Nice! Rogerd, it sounds like you'll be busy trying to take those over into BRP, but go for it. If you need heroic abilities to get that feel, throw some in. I'm sure you have plenty to pick from. I'm using magic in my game when it gets going, but BRP's list is very limited, but I have points of reference to base other ideas on. For you, it shouldn't be much work at all.

Rust, That sounds about right. I mean, back in those days, isn't that what people believed? If something bad happened, "Shit, the gods are pissed off again". Sounds like it adds a bit of authenticity (if I can say that about a fantasy game) to the proceedings. Good stuff.

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Originally Posted by frogspawner

Can't help thinking it'd be better to leave the god out of it. Are there no priesthoods in your setting? A god directly dealing with piffling PC adventurers doesn't seem right. (Or the PCs starting as significant leaders/heroes would be odd, too). But if you must, how about an avatar? That could be killed if the PCs took a dislike to it (as they will) - and yet the god can manifest again later in another one...

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It's not like any of the gods in that setting are all that powerful, are they?

I mean don't we have a god statted up in one of the Glorantha supplements, they're pretty bloody wimpy!

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Originally Posted by Rob

Nice! Rogerd, it sounds like you'll be busy trying to take those over into BRP, but go for it. If you need heroic abilities to get that feel, throw some in. I'm sure you have plenty to pick from.

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Yeah, I'm kinda looking at MRQ II for those to be honest, and then adding some of the techniques from Celestial Empire at say 5 CPP - does that sound about right?

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Originally Posted by Rob

I'm using magic in my game when it gets going, but BRP's list is very limited, but I have points of reference to base other ideas on. For you, it shouldn't be much work at all.

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Don't bet on it. lol
I'm re-hauling the magic system as the Alpha Omega works on areas of magic, and then intention, and I've always felt BRP / RQ magic needed to be more bespoke and easier to create spells for. In other words more of a toolbox approach that is seen in most RPG's nowadays.

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Originally Posted by Rob

Rust, That sounds about right. I mean, back in those days, isn't that what people believed? If something bad happened, "Shit, the gods are pissed off again". Sounds like it adds a bit of authenticity (if I can say that about a fantasy game) to the proceedings. Good stuff.

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Thing is immortals do need to operate behind closed doors, or through agents otherwise people will tend to either want their help, all of the time, or just find creative ways to kill them, or if all else fails provide a faux death, kind of like what Connor did to Angel in the series - lock him in a box and sink it in the ocean. When they do operate in the open hide their abilities or the fact that they heal....reaaal fast.