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I apologize for the delay too. I set up notifications on itch to get emails letting me know someone has interacted with my creations, and it never came through. I'll look into that so I don't miss anything else. I appreciate your being here!

Hello! Thank you for all the energy you put into your exploration and summary. I genuinely didn't expect anyone to go through all that. I'm immensely grateful for your reflection.

I think the perspective that would capture and address a lot of the dissonance you've expressed is the idea that We Are Gods wasn't designed with the same philosophy and style as other games typically are. The direction doesn't result in a specific style of story; it's more a way to go anywhere, to do anything. The examples I included were definitely shaped by my own experiences with TTRPGs, but they are atomic in a cosmic scale of potential. The setting can be anything you can imagine, your characters anyone, your goal whatever feels right. I'll share with you why I created this.

In my D&D campaign, the players ultimately do a lot then end up transcending their multiverse. I asked, what happens next? And I found that the best way to continue is to have familiar gameplay but to shed the smaller details like classes and spell lists and actions and abilities, to open our game to the potential of our creativity. We Are Gods is designed to help the players and the Curator explore beyond the confines of an established setting or aesthetic, to begin to ask those questions like "what do we do with unprecedented power?" The stakes move away from conventional fear of death and into more conceptual realms. An example I'm including in a follow up book is similar to what you outlined; if the Gods don't have mechanical incentive to care for themselves, what will move them? What will inspire them to action? What will your story be?

In my experience, this game is profoundly different in practice than in theory. Having a passionate Curator who can use the system to navigate the worlds that inspire them brings everything into focus. We Are Gods isn't based on the paradigm of limitation, scarcity, and dread; it's a way to give players an opportunity to pursue their creativity, to put down the barriers we're taught to internalize, and to see what is possible. We Are Gods accommodates everything so that players can be themselves in a space of creation. I believe my presentation inspired a few elements of your reflection because I attempted to quickly summarize infinity through the biased lens of my perspective.

It was a long process of trimming the mechanics down to what I actually enjoy about TTRPGs while extrapolating it to any scenario. There was actually a spell list and a pool of mana points near the beginning. But those were too limiting, too specific. I've run this game a few times now, and I deeply prefer We Are Gods over other TTRPGs. Its flexibility both for the Curator and the Gods is refreshing during gameplay. So, by explicitly denying a specific aesthetic or world or mechanical application, that sense of focus you mention is diluted by unlimited potential.

My advice would be to ask those questions and to invent answers. If you can't die, what motivates you? If you can do anything, why do anything at all? What compels you to imagine and to create? Then, when you see what you've invented, share it. And, I've seen my players get so incredibly excited about the opportunity to make up whatever. They have so much fun with that potential. Combat doesn't turn into a crucible of efficiency; it becomes an improvised dance of curiosity. The question is no longer "how can we safely survive?" It becomes "how can I have fun addressing this scenario?"

Plus, I wanted to play it with my parents, and they've never played a TTRPG before. I was able to explain how We Are Gods works in about 20 minutes before they finally understood how this kind of thing works. So, overall, balancing simplicity with infinite potential required removing the confines of conventional game design. I hope that makes sense and is what you were looking for! Thanks again for the message.

Thank you for the comment and for playing the game! It's definitely a wild ride.