Dungeons and Discworlds !?!

[Huw]

Right now, I can't think of a mythology where there are that many deities. The Realms have more than a hundred (and that's only for the main PC races)

Ancient Egyptian has about 400 named gods (which Pratchett satirises in Pyramids), but most of them have minor roles. Atum, Ra, Khepri, Anhur, Horus, Behdety, Harakhte, Harmakhis, Hathor, Amon, Aten, Nefertum - and they're just the sun gods (no, don't correct me about Hathor and Aten - I'm oversimplifying)! In addition, each pharaoh is a god, and a few commoners got elevated to godhood as well (Imhotep is the most famous of these).

As others have pointed out, animist religions like Hinduism and Shinto have millions of gods, but they're all local. Ancient Greek and Roman had thousands of gods - the nymphs, for example, are all deities of a particular stream or wood, and many of them are named.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

As others have pointed out, animist religions like Hinduism and Shinto have millions of gods, but they're all local. Ancient Greek and Roman had thousands of gods - the nymphs, for example, are all deities of a particular stream or wood, and many of them are named.

I'd call them "spirits" rather than gods. It's all a matter of definition, but pratchett sees it similarly: things like dryads or the entity of a building (which could be called deities) weren't counted among the gods. They were called spirits or suchlike, sometimes minds.

And none of them are dieties in D&D terms. Not one. They don't grant spells or do much to aid their worshippers.

Wouldn't make d20 unsuitable for the Discworld, though.

One of the main differences between D&D and the Disc is this. There is no distiction between arcane and divine magic.

Another thing that isn't part of the very core of d20.

I'm not saying that a D20 or OGL Discworld isn't a good idea, but Discworld as a D&D setting is terrible. Discworld is a parody of fantasy in general with a hint of D&D since D&D is part of general fantasy. Raw D&D is far far to specific for the Disc as a whole, but something very appropriate could be done with True20 or D20 modern.

Wouldn't have to be a D&D setting (though there are some settings who are quite different from vanilla D&D, and they're still fine). Using d20 rules would be enough. Something familiar to those playing the most popular RPG.

 

[Stone Dog]

Wouldn't make d20 unsuitable for the Discworld, though.

Another thing that isn't part of the very core of d20.

Wouldn't have to be a D&D setting (though there are some settings who are quite different from vanilla D&D, and they're still fine). Using d20 rules would be enough. Something familiar to those playing the most popular RPG.

Okay then. For the most part though you've been talking about D&D conversions, not D20. I'll agree with these statements here, because D20 is a fairly robust game system to build things around.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I don't know about hurt.

It would still mean learning a new system (and buying new core rules, unless GURPS is available for free, too), and getting the rest of the party to learn another set of rules.

GURPS lite is included in the discworld book, iirc.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Okay then. For the most part though you've been talking about D&D conversions, not D20. I'll agree with these statements here, because D20 is a fairly robust game system to build things around.

They're mostly the same to me.

Of course, the changes to core D&D would probably quite a lot, so going ahead and making it its own d20 RPG wouldn't be that much of a plunge. But still it could work.

 

[Stone Dog]

GURPS lite is included in the discworld book, iirc.

You are correct sir! Discworld RPG includes GURPS lite which is just about all you need unless you want to get more indepth with wizards and stuff.