Fortuna's Favored

A Game of Luck and Worship

Fortuna's Favored, also known as Luck's Game or Goddess's Game is a game of luck that makes up a major, popular rite of worship for the Goddess of Luck and Travel, Fortuna. It can only be done by groups of two or more people, and can be rather time consuming, but it grants a blessing to those that are willing to play it and stick through the game to its end.

Around the Tapletop

Fortuna by Jarhed

Fortuna's Favored is played most often around a tabletop, and while it is not necessary, it has caused many to consider it a "tabletop game." At other points, it can be played around a fire outside, on the floor of a home, or anywhere that dice can be brought or found.
In it, players sit around and play at going on an adventure, pretending to travel far and wide on a grand journey or quest.
As they do, they roll for their actions, and each roll is a prayer to Fortuna, for her luck and guidance. Only when a game session reaches its end does the prayer end, and this is determined partially by the players, but moreso by the other figure in the game.
Presiding over each session of Fortuna's Favored is a singular figure, known as the Travel Guide, or TG, who talks the adventurers through their journey and helps tell the story of their journey. Games can be done without the Travel Guide, but it is not suggested.
Some versions of the game include other ways to play, such as different types of characters people can play as, the species they can pick for their characters, and different spells and magic types they can use. Others do without these extra steps and have people simply play as a version of themself. It is up to the players, as many adventurers like to play as themselves while civilians play as grand heroes they created in their imagination.

Origins

Fortuna did not invent the game herself, though it is said she had spoken of something similar to it once before it was made.
Instead, it came about from her followers traveling on the road for long, uneventful days and growing bored. With no way of entertainment and no clue how they could please their Goddess, they began to tell false stories of an adventure they did not go on, acting as if they were on the adventure.

Fortuna's D20 by Max A Milion

Twenty-Sided Dice

The most important thing involved in playing the game and worshiping Fortuna is a simple tool that can be carved by anyone with the skill.
A twenty-sided die.
Almost every action a player takes requires a roll of the twenty-sided die, and it is for this reason that the twenty-sided die is a major symbol of Fortuna and her faith.
If one rolls a one on the die, they fail the action. If one rolls a twenty, the succeed.
However, this does not mean that rolling better means being better at worship or pleasing Fortuna more. She likes failure and success equally, as both are results of ones luck. All she asks for is the entertainment of the rolls and the fun of travel in narrative.
Other dice can be useful, in particular the common six-sided die, but are not necessary for the game. They only increase the experience.

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Their dice, which Fortuna had given them to roll when they wished to see how luck was favoring them, were then used to see if they succeeded when they tried things like mounting a horse or attacking a monster.
This greatly pleased Fortuna, who heard their tales of travel and wished to help with her favor. Thus, the players of the game (a group of four Halflings named Jarmin, Ardal, Marfer, and Lorazin) found their rolls to be blessed with the power of Fortuna, allowing the randomness of the roles to support the narrative rather than disrupt it. At moments when the tension was highest, they would roll poorly to increase the stakes until the critical role, where they were all biting their nails, when someone rolled to find a twenty facing them on their dice.
Fortuna herself felt power come to her from this as well. The act of rolling the dice combined with simulating a journey turned out to be the perfect ritual to worship her, and so she asked her church to spread this game to her followers.
Soon, official rulebooks for Fortuna's Favored were being released all over the world, and as people played it, knowingly or unknowingly giving worship to Fortuna, her power grew immensely, as did the luck of many people around the world. The popularity of the game, which is at an all time high, helps to make Fortuna one of the most powerful Goddesses despite having an overall small base of worshipers compared to many other Gods, and rarely being considered a Major Goddess by theologians.