I'm doing prelim work for a saga. The idea is that an Old One (what the Greeks meant by Titans*) was called up by (REDACTED) into the world in the fall of 1220, around the town of Lubeck in Germany. This had the effect of wiping out the area for dozens of miles around and replacing it with virgin forest and associated biomes. (The Oculus covenant slipped into Winter and quietly died decades ago after it became clear that Odin really wasn't going to reincarnate any time soon - yes, the Order had a hand in the latest Ragnarok, and yes, they made sure to take Odin's stuff.)
The PCs are the sacrificial lambs / newbies recruited to re-establish the Oculus while the concerned elements of the Order figure out how to best exploit this nice new magic forest.
I need ideas for an Old One that never made it into the enduring legends (probably because it didn't get killed by a wandering hero or god). I'm thinking Magic Might of around 90, sleeps most of the time in a magic 9 regio (but has some dream-divination crap going), and can spawn or create critters. I'd like to get the magi peeing their pants when they first figure out exactly what is at the heart of the forest.
*Adam through Noah happened elsewhere - Atlantis was the edge of the area hit by the Flood - and when Noah landed there was already quite a bit going on with Old Ones, gods, and people.
First idea is to not worry about it, and let the players define it for you.
This is tabletop, right? So, listen to the players as the clues are revealed. They'll go through their fears, their best guesses, their "what if" scenarios - these are your clues as to what they want to see. Even if (or especially if!) they express fear of a possibility, those are the ones that make the best stories.
If it seems you're telegraphing, and they have guessed exactly what it is too early, then change it up. Nothing in the saga is written in stone until it's confirmed in play - anything behind the curtain can have a last-second costume and script change, and voila - it is was it is.
A SG's job and goal is to tell a good story, not guess months in advance what will work best. (Altho' that talent is helpful too!)
One demoness I had on another game was a power of Viridity and Insanity. Her minions used addictive drugs who would fill the minds of people with cosmic understanding and lost in ecstasy. Her realm was a place of surreal natural beauty that would literally drive anyone who visited it insane with reverence and owe of the sheer beauty and grandeur of nature he was in. Of course, the human mind is too small to contain such mysteries, and as soon as the drugs wear off or the person is out of her realm only vague memories of the feeling and comprehension remained, leaving the people weeping in anguish for the loss (and eager for another drug dose!).
Another idea I'm currently playing with is the World Tree. Let the green be a manifestation of the very concept of the World Tree, a living yet abstract entity connecting the Three Worlds and all places within them. In ArM terms, it is the Platonic (yet, intelligent!) daimon of Herbam,in which all things of plant partake. It connects the forests of heaven and the twisted trees of hell, and all other trees and plants of all kinds - or rather, all are but fragments of it. Thrown into deep slumber by the ancient pagan powers/gods, it was recently be stirred (hopefully by the PCs! If not, perhaps something to do with the Hercylean forest), and as he awakens his Form manifests more strongly in the world. Since it is impossible to change the eternal Forms, only the powers of the False - faeries or demons - have a real possibility of arresting his awakening. Which will the PCs choose? Will they align with the demons, or faerie powers - or perhaps with the Tree?
That's my 2 cents. Good luck with that saga, it sounds great.
A vampire god. Vampire because he needs human blood to survive, sacrificial blood by worshippers. What if those worshippers where Diedne?
A Titan that lives in the dream of the people. Parasitic, recurrent dreams, until they can´t dream anymore and start going mad... even animals. He devours the mind, little by little.
Any of them could be intelligent and able to form a pact to tempt the characters, for example. But they are decidedly antagonists
Suggestion - not "vampire" so much as "vampiric" - the diff being that your god has no relation to the monsters, except by accident of diet. Unless you want V's as a theme in your saga. Otherwise, they're a bit overdone as written.
Yeah, it would be "vampiric" . He would be like a forgotten blood god, able to regain Might, for example, by people spilling life-blood in his name, or dying in his forest by his hand...
