I’ve been toying with a game concept where players take on the roles of gods overseeing a small, early human tribe—think stone age times. The idea is that they have divine powers and domains that let them influence how their civilization develops, but also the tribe’s beliefs can affect the gods in return, changing their powers or even personalities. For example, a god of violent death could turn their people into fierce warriors, but if the tribe starts seeing them as a war god, that might shift the god’s essence. Or a knowledge god might accelerate technological progress but risk becoming regarded as a god of prophecy. I want mechanics that cover building the civilization, advancing technology, leading wars, and dealing with encounters like fighting giant monsters. Another key element is handling how gods can be defeated—not just through combat but by cutting off their worship or altering the narrative around them. I’ve considered systems like Fate or Open Legend, maybe even blending aspects from both, but I’m unsure how well they cover civilization-building alongside divine action. Does anyone know of RPG systems or have ideas on how to run this type of game? Any suggestions or starter advice would be awesome, even if it means homebrewing some bits.
4 Answers
I agree with the Fate and Open Legend ideas, but also honestly, you might get the best results with a hybrid approach. Use Open Legend for player powers since it has nice modular abilities and supernatural themes, then run a parallel civilization-building system inspired by board games like “Through the Ages” or “Sid Meier’s Civilization” to track tribe advancement and wars. Some GMs run dual systems where the roleplaying and powers happen in one system, and the grand strategy or civilization evolution happens in another. It’ll take some tweaking, but it lets you keep the godly roleplay spicy while not losing the big picture of advancing your tribe. Also, for killing gods permanently, I like your idea of tying that to narrative acceptance in worshippers—possibly by introducing mechanics where players need to change communities’ beliefs to weaken enemy gods, which could fit nicely as social conflicts or quest goals.
One system to throw out there is “Exalted.” It’s pretty much designed for god-like characters with epic powers shaping the world. It’s got combat against huge monsters and mechanics that fit divine-scale action. However, its default focus is more on personal heroics and less on detailed nation development. Still, you could homebrew ways for the players to influence their people and tech development indirectly, especially as they inspire or guide their followers. Though it requires some work to get the civilization stuff right, it gives a solid foundation for mythic powers and high stakes wars you described. If you’re cool with some homebrew, Exalted could be a strong baseline.
If you want that mix of divine influence and civilization growth plus warfare, you might look into “Ironsworn” with some hacks. It has strong narrative mechanics and quests that could represent godly interventions. By adding layers for civilization management outside the core mechanics, you could track tech levels and wars in a simple way. Alternatively, “Reign” is an RPG built around managing kingdoms and politics and might be a great fit if you adapt it for divine characters. It focuses on kingdom stats like Economy, Loyalty, and Military strength while the players handle intrigues and battles, which sounds a lot like what you want. Then your gods could be the rulers behind the scenes pushing the tribes forward and influencing outcomes with their divine domains.
Sounds like an awesome concept! While there isn’t a perfect out-of-the-box system for gods plus civilization building, a few options come to mind. Fate Core is really flexible and its aspect system could simulate those evolving god domains and temperaments pretty well. You could build mechanics around how the tribe’s beliefs shift those aspects. But Fate doesn’t natively handle grand strategy or tech progression, so you’d want to homebrew some downtime or civilization rules on top. Another pick could be “Godbound,” which is designed for playing powerful god-like beings but focuses more on adventuring and less on running civilizations. For the civilization angle, games like “Artifacts” or “Tribes” have some solid nation-building or community mechanics that might inspire you. Blending Fate’s narrative focus with a custom civ system might give you the best of both worlds—letting the players influence their tribe’s development while keeping the godly powers dynamic.
