What do you think happens to gods/goddesses...

[Cheka Man]

when they lose their worshippers? And any ideas for taking that idea and making it into a submission?

[Drackler]

 I would think that the deity would not change much, except that they would be forgotten. If they have no worshipers, then they will eventually pass away into myth. However, I can hardly imagine one of the capricious, self-ingratiating gods allowing such a thing to happen.
 They might even go as far as to create or nominate a mortal 'chosen one' who would preach about the deity and bring them back into the forefront of everyone's minds.
 The sub could revolve around one of the PC's being this 'one', or the party finding the 'one'.

[Ancient Gamer]

The established cliche is that they fade away, not dying, but losing their powers. It is the logical extension of the "Divine power based on number of worshippers" theory.

In my fantasy setting creation happened while the gods were newly awakened and tested their powers. While some gods forgot about mankind, others keep vigil, for creation is also the prison of the "Dreamer" diety, the one true god from which everything sprouted. To avoid enslavement the Gods need creation, but not necessarily all the races. (The Dreamer has been enslaved within the dreams of the sentient)

So, in my setting, worshipping a God doesn't affect that god in any other way than by siphoning minute amounts of his power. His worshippers are also his servants in the world, and carry out any divine orders given by the diety.

So, to answer your question, in my setting losing worshippers would mean the God would have to intervene personally, or create dimensional rifts and send his creatures to do his bidding.

[manfred]

You could also go the middle road and let them lose their defining characteristics and most distinct powers - but not power as such.

Thus could a god, that has lost all his worshippers (or dumped by out of disgust, or one that wanted a 'career change') easily become a new god with a completely new portfolio.

If gods play games with the mortals, there is no reason to think they don't crossdress and change character once in a while.

[Cheka Man]

lol (imagines a crossdressing god.)

[Ancient Gamer]

What about this: worship for them is like feeding for us. Without worship they become ravaged by hunger, desperately seeking attention and possibly becoming very dangerous. Could be a plausible for the "worship by fear" syndrome.

[Cheka Man]

Good idea.

[Scrasamax]

Gods need sustainence, just like we do. But rather than twigs and berries, the divine feed on raw essence. Therefor gods can easily predate any sort of civilization, otherwise you get a chicken and the egg scenario, did the god create man or did man create the god in question.

But gods and other supernal beings can also feed on prayers and offerings (magnessence?) just as they can feed on primordial energy (ley lines, nodes, magic etc). While some gods, the old haory types will retain their holds on natural wellsprings of power, other gods can find that directed prayer provides them a constant direct flow of power to them.

A primordial god having no worshippers probably wont care, since its been around since before there were monkeys to worship it (Ma-O, Lovecraftian elder gods, etc). While a 'God of Man' such as the socially aspected Greek gods are going to have a major problem. Unless they can find another source of power to sustain them, they will fade away. This fading can range from a premanent death, to the god in question being banished to become a denizen of the underworld, to them becoming quaint relics and bit players whose time on the stage is ended.

[Ancient Gamer]

Ah, that made me think further on this issue.
Got another idea (which has probably been thought of by 1000 other GMs, but here goes):
Gods can feed on emotions, and those emotions taint them, arouse them, shape them.

One God could be a fearsome deity, delighting in the fear of her worshipers, reveling in ecstacy as unbelievers are sacrificed in her glory, reaching a spiritual climax as they cry for salvation. It is the emotions surrounding the rituals she feeds on, and which shape her into a being of pure malice.

Likewise for the good goddess, who savour all the love of her followers, who bask in their gratitude as she bestows a miracle upon them.

<bounces the brainstorming ball back to the talented Strolenites>

[Siren no Orakio]

Why should a god be confined to drawing his essence from a limited pool of specific worshipers? Your Good Goddess of Love can gains her power from every tiny spark of kindness inside the world, your Dark God of Fear gaining his from every child that is confronted with things that go bump in the night. To feel anger, to lash out in rage is to become one with the Lord of Hatred, to settle down, get married, and cook dinner at night is to 'worship' the Goddess of the Hearth. The Lord of Fire and Flame draws his power from every fire that exists, anywhere, including the sun and the stars.

The changing of our perception of them does not change the deep essence of a god, only our perception of how they fit into our world.

[manfred]

Some say gods come from mortals or spirits, that were revered by so many people, that they became literal gods...

...what if, once that worship is gone, they revert back to being spirits, ghosts, or even mortals? That would be be quite some interesting folk to meet.

[Ancient Gamer]

"I used to be a god you know!"

Yep, good one manfred!

[manfred]

Here's another: gods are powerful spirits, or "principles", if that makes any sense, that have effect in the world, but don't care that much about particular events or even those hardly discernible mortals.

It is the faith, that attracts them to the world and its affairs, like a magnet attracts metals. Perhaps this is unrealized or even unwanted by them, or they don't really care what they attend to in the end. If there is an unlimited number of things to do, you can do this or that, or just pick whatever grabs your attention - and those mortals are sooo demanding at all times.

If the faith starts to dry up, this particular breed of gods would simply return to whatever other job they used to have, losing interest in their worshippers. If more people were to worship them, they would be dragged back.

(Ironically, in this particular setup, if sufficiently important spirits were to forced into the role of gods, they could neglect their duties and create some serious difficulties in the world. Solve that one!)