They Could be Gods by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with Cepheus Engine. And such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 15 page Pay What You Want DPF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that the characters’ ship travels through an unusual ion storm and one member of the crew (possibly more, going by later details) is affected by sparks emitted inside the vessel. They start to develop strange powers.
The Crew Member(s) has a table to see if one or two people are affected, or alternatively rolling for each person individually, which may result in no-one being affected.
The Situation explains that those affected start becoming very powerful psionically.
The Dilemma is the problem that those unaffected must face.
Escalation of Gaining Power explains how the affected people gain psionic power.
Choices explains options that those unaffected may have,
The Power of Gods gives more details on the powers gained by those affected.
Attitudes of the Gods has those affected becoming dangerous jerks due to their power.
Tempers Flare has what happens if there are two people with such powers.
Complications has potential problems; the next few sections cover possible “solutions.”
Mission Completion Objectives are simple; stay alive.
The Unfairness of this Adventure is the author’s acknowledgement that as an adventure this is not fair. It is highly likely that characters will die or be otherwise lost, especially as there’s no way to stop the affected character increasing in power. A TPK is a possibility.
Origins of this Idea explains that the particular details came from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.
They Could be Gods in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text follows a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation could be better.
The main problem with this adventure is one that’s acknowledged within it; it will kill or otherwise cause the inevitable loss of at least one character if played, unless the characters can come up with something that hasn’t been considered. Such a railroading into death or loss is unsuited for almost all adventures, even horror ones, and if played as anything other than a one-shot, players are undoubtedly going to be angry. They Could be Gods is not recommended as a normal adventure, but it can be found by clicking here.
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