(Recruiting) Kiss of Darkness--Adventure in my Homebrew Setting

[Bront]

I've been pondering my own pantheon. I created a few interesting gods for LEW, but I've pondered an entire pantheon before.

If I get some free time, maybe I will. Heck, I'd let NLF use it too if he wanted too.

 

[Bront]

Well, that's only if you're roleplaying them as NPCs. I mean that the deities themselves are just rather...uninspiring. When I read any other set of gods I've seen, it always inspires me to great new character ideas that I want to play. When I read the Greyhawk gods, the only thing they inspire me to do is to find another set of gods as quickly as possible.

Now if a random D&D player, say my little brother who doesn't care one way or the other for mythologies said that, I wouldn't really find it unusual, but I find my opinion to be telling (to me, which is possibly biased ) because that I am a mythology enthusiast and I love learning about all sorts of random real-world mythologies (I don't really know anyone who knows more random mythology stuff). The only religion, real or fictional, that I have ever seen that bores me and doesn't make me want to study it is the Greyhawk pantheon

That is, of course, just me though

I believe it's somewhat bland by design though.

What do you think of the LEW mythos?

 

[Nonlethal Force]

That is, of course, just me though

Yepppers, I agree. That's just you.

...

...

No, I see what you mean. I think they could have more stuff about them. They are missing the real world elements of mythology. How did/do the gods interact? Who is allied with whom? Why do they have the names they do? [Okay, besides Corelion Larethian - and his name should be changed just because it's impossible to spell correctly wihtout looking!]

anyway, I see where you are going. I use 'em cause they're there and they work well enough for the PbP games. Why mess with a good thing?

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Oh - and up to 15 hopefuls posted. Not bad. I don't envy you and that decision....

 

[Rystil Arden]

I've been pondering my own pantheon. I created a few interesting gods for LEW, but I've pondered an entire pantheon before.

If I get some free time, maybe I will. Heck, I'd let NLF use it too if he wanted too.

I once created a small starting pantheon with its own mythos for a game where the gimmick was that everyone started by making 12th-level PCs who had just gained Divine Rank 0 from a strange meteorite shower. It was cool--I could probably give an option on a poll to run that one as a PbP game eventually too

Also, I created a bunch of the religion for Eyros, working collectively with others (though I didn't get to write the Religion section of the PDF, so if you don't like it, it wasn't me! ), which was pretty cool.

I've also sometimes used obscure or not-so-obscure real-world pantheons too.

In the end, I guess anything that works for each GM is what is best. I just cringe whenever I hear the words 'Pelor', 'Mayaheine', or 'Boccob' because they brings bad images to my mind That said, when I edited and helped run a highschool Quizbowl Tournament (it's like a quiz gameshow with teams) and one of the players guessed Obid-Hai as their answer for a question about the Celtic Dagda, it made me laugh a lot

 

[Rystil Arden]

I believe it's somewhat bland by design though.

What do you think of the LEW mythos?

And I think you're right about that, Bront. It was created bland and listless because that makes it much much easier to port into a generic world (I had to do work to port FR to my world, but I gladly did it because I love mythology).

LEW? I'll admit it's hit-and-miss to me, but I think that's to be expected from a pantheon that evolves by vote on random proposals, rather than having someone create a coherent pantheon from the start.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Well, at least you have an informed dislike for the pantheon. That I can respect.

Nothing worse than the ole "If it's not _____, it sucks." And then when you ask why they say "Well, just cause I always play _____."

 

[Rystil Arden]

No, I see what you mean. I think they could have more stuff about them. They are missing the real world elements of mythology. How did/do the gods interact? Who is allied with whom? Why do they have the names they do?

Yep, I definitely agree with you on those, and I also think that deities like Mhyriss should not be so hidden that you can barely know they exist. Know who she is? Unleashed did when I mentioned her before, but I didn't after years of playing D&D until about a year ago.

[Okay, besides Corelion Larethian - and his name should be changed just because it's impossible to spell correctly wihtout looking!]

Ah, you mean Corellon Larethian? He's a good deal easier than Aerdrie Faenya, and when Aerdrie Faenya, Hanali Celanil, and Sehanine Moonbow combined aspects of each other to form Angharradh, they also combined the unspellability of their names to create the most unspellable Seldarine goddess ever!

anyway, I see where you are going. I use 'em cause they're there and they work well enough for the PbP games. Why mess with a good thing?

Makes sense to me. The difference is that I have a really fun time messing with it and I tend to like the end result better

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I'll admit it's hit-and-miss to me, but I think that's to be expected from a pantheon that evolves by vote on random proposals, rather than having someone create a coherent pantheon from the start.

Interesting, though. Because that is how mythology came into being. Someone would need a story, so they invent some god. If it helped the crops grow, and the rain to fall, or the wife to get pregnant (or the whole heirem!) then you kept praying to that god until it stopped working. If it never stopped working, your kids and grandkids worshipped it too. Then, it was a legitimate god. And then someone else wants a different god. So they make up a new story. and then someone else has a different need, so they made up a new story.

Then, two braniacs would figure out they each had a god for the same thing but with different names. So they'd compromise that name or somethin.....

But mythology was very much a pice by piece construction.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well, at least you have an informed dislike for the pantheon. That I can respect.

Nothing worse than the ole "If it's not _____, it sucks." And then when you ask why they say "Well, just cause I always play _____."

Actually, there's an interesting, perhaps weird trait about me. If there's something I actively don't like, I strive to learn much more about it than I would have if I was neutral for it--I really dislike those kinds of blind haters too. Now, will I know more about those things than an expert? Definitely not--I couldn't stand to learn *that* much, but I try my best to make an informed dislike

That's why I know a pretty good deal about John Cage, the most worthless loser ever to claim to be a musical composer, and Piet Mondrian, who thinks he's an artist and once excommunicated a close friend from his circle of friends for using the colour green in a painting, which wasn't a primary colour

I will admit that I absolutely *love* it when I know more about the thing that I am opposing than its own supporters do (this happens every once in a while ).