Mythic Concepts

In this section I hope to put forward a few ideas to prime players for the kinds of stories I want to tell, and the logic that the world operates on in the Godswood.

## Mythic Storytelling

Godswood is first and foremost, based around myths, fairytales and legends. The logic of the entire setting, revolves around the same ideas present in those stories before leaning on realistic expectations. There are many concepts at play in the setting that might be very odd without properly explaining them.

### Throne of Gods

The Godswood isn't just a piece of land that the gods treasure, it is the literal, physical seat of power that they lived in, the same way the gods of Olympus, were believed to *actually, physically* live atop the mountain. The gods of this setting are physical presences, that can meet in the world. All of the player characters for example, will have almost certainly met, and directly interacted with Vrijit on multiple occasions. The main exception to the idea of Gods being physical presences in the world, is the Cthonic Gods, who, while existing physically, take form that are wildly inhuman and variable in shape and size, such as "the earth beneath our feet" in the case of Ymir.

### Fate, Luck and Wyrd

This topic is deserving of it's own article entirely. However as a brief explanation, the mythology of the world allows for both fate AND luck / freewill simultaneously. All beings fates are predetermined, but luck, a trait of mythic beings, allows these beings to act outside of their predetermined fate, and alter the flow of it completely.

### Mythic Men

(I expect this next concept to be the most controversial, but hear me out.)

In myths and legends, as well as stories like those by Tolkien or in Dark Souls, there is the concept of mythic figures being more than human (or whatever their race may be) and these traits are often shown through physical traits such as size (Great Men stood nearly 7 feet tall, and King Vendrick grew like 10ft taller after his war against the giants, and for my cartoon watching friends we have characters like King Andrias in Amphibia, with no explanation or addressing of his height) It is important to keep in mind that these physical characteristics are more a form of magical realism or dream-logic, rather than an expression of genetics, or some universal law where 1 Unit of Power = 1cm.

As characters become more powerful and accomplish more great feats, the "rules" don't apply to them the same way, high level characters can outlive their respective races easily, and grow to great sizes, accomplish superhuman feats.

### Other World Weirdness

Other worlds will be far more common on Asphodel than in other fantasy stories, in universe this exists to illustrate the magic and wonder of the Godswood as a location, as well as to fit with the themes of Mythic stories and the kinds of "Weird Fantasy" that a DCC aims to create.

The following is a few excerpts directly from the DCC core rulebook on the subject of other planes of existence:

* *[...] the judge is encouraged to begin extraplanar encounters at low levels. [...] It could mean a cave that has more space within than without and corresponds to a planar junction; or a magical gate or doorway that leads to a dangerous, magical realm, which is only later discovered to be on a different plane. An extraplanar plane is simply a magical place, and let those magical places become part of the adventure early.*

* *Just as the geography of Earth was not truly understood for many centuries after the medieval era—with entire continents being misunderstood and misplaced on maps!—there is no reason to think that the geography of the planes is fully understood by mortals. Let there be confusing links between places, difficult transitions, and unclear passages. Understanding the structure of the planes should be a lifetime’s accomplishment for the characters.*

* *The planes can include time as a destination—both the past and future. Time travel is a strong theme in the books of Appendix N\*.*

* *The planes can include other dimensions as a destination. Bizarre four-dimensional places, weird conglomerations of angles, strange geographies—all these can be planes, as well as “places of shadow or fire.” Again, reference Appendix N\* for inspiration.*

* Finally, the solar system can be part of planar travel. To an unschooled peasant, travel to another region is extraordinary, much less travel to another planet. Let the moons, planets, asteroids, and suns be “extraplanar” in your world. Travel to other planets can even be magical in nature, just as travel to the plane of fire—the concept of “space travel” need not exist.

\*The scifi and fantasy stories that initially inspired the creation of DnD. Gygax included a list of suggested readings in the original game under the name Appendix N. For more information on Appendix N, check out this article.

### Magic is Magical

Magic is not science. While we understand that on a theoretical level, in practice many games and stories give a lot of structure to magic that makes it very "of this world". DCC is a game where the same spell, cast under the same conditions, with the same roll of the dice, by two different mages, can manifest completely differently. Spells can be learned from scrolls or patrons yes, but you may also find the secrets of magic "*within the purest drop of water in the mourning dew\**" or inscribed inside the eyeball of a man born under a celestial alignment.

\*actually pulled directly from the core rulebook