TSR The Making and Breaking of Deities & Demigods

[Radaceus]

It's in the MCU so it must be true.

To be fair, Pegasus, is a unique creature of the Greek mythos. I think Gary and crew are having a little fun here, embellishing on both their adaptation of Pegasus into a species, and the horse riding Valkyries ability to fly ( as per the poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana, in the Völsungakviða edda).

 

[Arial Black]

I can say its presentation of Scandinavian animisms is ... inaccurate.

You mean, they got Thor's hit points wrong?

Same goes for Native American animisms.

Vedic texts are sacred texts to modern Hindus.

Well, 'inaccuracy' may be an appropriate criticism of a scholarly work on the subject, but here:-

* the very idea that it's even possible to be 'accurate' regarding a system of belief which changed over 100s of years, that you could capture a moment in time and perfectly replicate those beliefs as 'accurate', is absurd. It would be rendered inaccurate when not talking about that specific time

* even different adherents active at the exact same time have different ideas about what is 'true' regarding their religion! Asking a gaming product to do the impossible shows that this objection cannot rationally apply

* Deities & Demigods is/was a gaming supplement. It was designed with certain goals in mind: to provide the DM with gods and pantheons of gods to use in his campaign world, to inspire further study....to be a game supplement, not an 'accurate' scholarly work!

So until D&D players become mature enough to talk about....Atheism and other traditions...

What now?

...Atheism and other traditions...

Atheism? Tradition? What are you on about? Atheism is a tradition in the same way as 'Not Collecting Stamps' is a hobby! The word 'atheist' tells you absolutely nothing regarding what an atheist believes, only that there is one thing that they do not believe, which is the literal existence of any gods.

What would the 'Atheist Tradition' section of Deities & Demigods look like? Twelve blank pages? The day of the week that is set aside for atheists to not attend any church? What they do with the 10% of their money that they aren't compelled to give away? How many hit points 'No God' has?

...with some sensitivity, we are probably not mature enough to talk about other reallife spiritual heritages either.

It's a mistake to conflate 'real life' and 'spiritual life'. They are mutually exclusive concepts.

Sure, you come across as knowing a lot about dead religions. Well done you. But your criticism of a D&D game supplement for 'inaccuracy' is misplaced. I will continue to enjoy the Marvel comics version of a blond, clean-shaven 'Thor' despite knowing the 'inaccuracies', because the goal of the comics is to entertain, not to be a dissertation on Scandinavian culture intended to get tenure from Harvard!

 

[dave2008]

So that is why I'm wondering, where are you getting these ideas from?

It's common knowledge

 

[Eubani]

The smile on your face when you look on your book shelf and know the copy of Deities and Demiclods is the original.

 

[Maxperson]

Atheism? Tradition? What are you on about? Atheism is a tradition in the same way as 'Not Collecting Stamps' is a hobby! The word 'atheist' tells you absolutely nothing regarding what an atheist believes, only that there is one thing that they do not believe, which is the literal existence of any gods.

What would the 'Atheist Tradition' section of Deities & Demigods look like? Twelve blank pages? The day of the week that is set aside for atheists to not attend any church? What they do with the 10% of their money that they aren't compelled to give away? How many hit points 'No God' has?

Pretty sure Atheism was in fact tackled by D&D, though. Planescape included the Athar which did not believe in gods. This is what the Athar believed.

"The "gods" are liars, every single one of them - liars and frauds. They aren't deities. They're mortals - extremely powerful mortals, to be sure, but nothing more. They are given to petty emotions, they require sustenance in the form of prayers and the belief of their followers, and, when denied that, they die. Think about it: If the deities really are the source of all creation, why is it that many clerics can cast divine magic without devoting themselves to any deity? There may indeed be an omnipotent entity (or collection of entities) responsible for making and tending reality, but if so, that power must be completely incomprehensible to the minds of mere mortals. Members of the organization known as the Athar refer to this theoretical true god as "the Great Unknown.""

2e also had clerics that could gain spells to 2nd level on belief in anything. It didn't need to be a god. That takes care of the "traditions" complaint. 3e went even further on this score and allowed full spell casting for clerics who don't have gods.

 

[jasper]

Im not sure what needs to be sourced. This is common knowledge.

Dellingr is dawn.

Sunlight is the alfar and by extension Freyr in the sense of good sunshower weather for fertile crops.

Sunlight (corona, rays, beams, gleams) is distinct from the sun disk, who is Sól.

Regarding Baldr. For example, Simek discusses the obscure (and perhaps complex) etymology, and concludes his name means ‘shining day’, which most archeologists accept. The Saxon cognate of Baldr is Baldag, where ‘dag’ means ‘day’.

Norse texts describe Baldr shining all light. His home is a place called ‘broad radiance’.

Note daylight is luminous in beauty, but daylight is also the ‘wisest’ being, luminous and perceptive of mind.

hhhaaaa Young Martian you don't grok. What is Common knowledge for you is a
400 Level College Course on Myth and Religion in Europe
000 Brand new knowledge I never heard of till I read your posts.
PS I find amusing the use of "GroK" which is made up word by an old white guy.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

To be fair, Pegasus, is a unique creature of the Greek mythos. I think Gary and crew are having a little fun here, embellishing on both their adaptation of Pegasus into a species, and the horse riding Valkyries ability to fly ( as per the poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana, in the Völsungakviða edda).

If you want to be sensible, myths continue to develop over time, and Valkyries have been depicted riding winged horses for a long time - in paintings, in productions of Wagner etc. In D&D a winged horse is called a pegasus, after the unique Greek winged horse, so it is perfectly valid to state that Valkyries ride pegasii (meaning winged horses).

 

[Yaarel]

You mean, they got Thor's hit points wrong?

Heh, Deitities & Demigods actually got that part right.

The Norse nature beings are mortals, rather than immortals, and Þórr and other æsir are potentially killable.

The æsir can die of old age for example, and keep themselves young by the use of magic.

 

[Schmoe]

I resent someone on a message board providing a narrow definition of "god", then telling me I should ascribe to that, and furthermore I should judge other works by this narrow definition.

I do not resent a fantasy book for providing a narrow definition of "god" that enables play of the game in a certain way. At the end of the day, any set of game rules is just one possible manifestation of things, and has no bearing on what I actually do or believe in my life. If it aids the gameplay, I can play by those rules when I choose to play the game.

 

[AriochQ]

PS I find amusing the use of "GroK" which is made up word by an old white guy.

/s As an old white guy, I am insulted that you have appropriated our word 'grok' and using it in a context for which it has not been intended /s

Am I doing this right?