They Must Be Fought

Jeff Rients posted about a D&D world where the only gods were the Evil Boss-Monsters from the Fiend Folio.

Lolth - Spider Queen of Demons

Cryonax - Prince of Freezing Blood and Shattering Ice

Imix - Prince of All-Consuming Flame

Ogrémoch -Prince of Crushing Stone

Olhydra - Princess of the Drowning Waters

Yan-C-Bin - Invisible Prince of Thunder and Lightning

Ssendam - Lord of Insanity

Ygorl - Lord of Entropy

For some reason I started thinking about this Quote from Dr Who -

'Some corners of the Universe have bred the most terrible things, things that stand against everything we believe in. They must be fought.'

Then I thought about dark heroes in a world ruled by evil gods. Roguish bastards putting cold steel between the people and the gods that would destroy them. And about sanity points and stuff like that. Then I thought about the horror of trying to be honourable in a world where the only gods are bad. It sounds fucking awesome.

Then I thought about saving throws and how little sense they make.

Saving Throws

Breath

Poison or Death

Petrify or Paralyse

Wands or Device

Magic or Spells

They stand between the PC and death, but what do they represent? They are totally disconnected from the stats, chilling out there on the side of the character sheet, so it can't be that. So I came up with this.

Breath – the favour of Olhydra

Poison or Death – the boon of Yan-C-Bin

Petrify or Paralyse – the eye of Ygorl

Wands or Device - the favour of Lolth

Magic or Spells – the word of Ssendam

Will you serve the gods and gain their favour?

OR DEFY THEM LIKE THE BASTARDS THEY ARE?

I will call it 'Swords Against Madness' or 'They Must Be Fought'