D&D General Is there an increase in "godless" campaign settings?

[Flamestrike]

In Mystara, they're mostly former mortals, which raises the chicken and egg questions even more.

Yes but then you have the Ancients or the 'when you compete you immortal path, go back to being 1st level, rise to immortality again, and do this a total of three times, you become an ubergod beyond the rules, and you win'rule.

 

[Flamestrike]

I would totally define the Ainur (Valar and Maiar) as a deities, and I imagine others would as well.

Tolkien didnt, and according to him, neither did the enlighted of middle earth.

Do you consider Angels. Jinn and so forth to be Deities?

 

[Umbran]

I assume the primary reason people on Toril study magic is to eventually get the hell off of Toril.

Poor PCs, not realizing that there is no escape... Fine, go to another world. Every world is filled with such nonsense!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Poor PCs, not realizing that there is no escape... Fine, go to another world. Every world is filled with such nonsense!

I'll take the worlds without Realm Shaking Events the natives use instead of alarm clocks.

 

[Undrave]

I think it's more of a case that people don't want big overbearing deities dictating their story. So they keep them at a distance.

 

[hopeless]

There is a universal truth in the Feywild, if one day you find a blue 1950's telephone box on your front lawn offer the nice man some fresh milk to go with his tea as cow's are quite rare in the multiverse.
If its a woman check to see if its Fred, Clara, Jo or Jodie.
Remember to give Jo a hug, ask Fred about K9 and tell Clara and Jodie to buggar off!
Sorry even the Feywild believes Susan is the Timeless Child.

 

[Umbran]

I'll take the worlds without Realm Shaking Events the natives use instead of alarm clocks.

Because, as we all know, most worlds are peaceful places where no major events ever happen?

Before you say that momentous events are somehow unbelievable - do look at the past century on Earth (say, from WWI on), and the fact that we've had a global pandemic for a year...

 

[Thunder Brother]

Welp. I couldn't help myself.

I mean, that depends on what you think a "simple fisherman" is. Specifically, you presuppose that "simple fishermen" are ignorant of all those things, that they are "previously unknown".

One group I play with is going through Rime of the Frostmaiden - the action takes place in an area where the local food economy is largely based... on fish. There's a preternatural darkness over the entire area that they all know is caused by a deity. And every single town has some magical weirdness going on. While they may not be aware of some particular entity you speak of, they know gods and aberrations and fey exist.

The point I was trying to make (albeit poorly) and the point which I think the presented definition of a deity is getting into, is these interactions with otherworldly beings elevates consciousness beyond mundane concerns. The knowledge that something like an aboleth exists leads to the understanding that there is more to the world than mundane existence, and that's incredible/terrifying.

The existence of gods, spirits, fey, fiends, etc. reveals that their is more to the world than what is immediate obvious, therein expanding consciousness of said world. Knowledge of the Fey leads to knowledge of the Feywild, which could lead to knowledge of the Shadowfell, and then the Great Wheel, and then everything else.

Looking up at the stars you remember that each one is a celestial body similar to our own Sun, with planets like our own, and there's more of them than you can even comprehend. Consciousness is expanded. It's the same for knowing a god, a powerful being of some sort, is messing with your weather, and you need to sate its anger somehow.

Tolkien didnt, and according to him, neither did the enlighted of middle earth.

Do you consider Angels. Jinn and so forth to be Deities?

From what I understand, Tolkien waffled regarding whether the Ainur were gods, eventually settling on them as angelic beings, godlike but not worshipped.

I would consider Angels to be deities. Saints too since I'm feeling cheeky. They're polytheisms in an ostensibly monotheistic religion. But further discussion on this risks creating a theological debate that I'm in no way qualified to participate in (I'm not even qualified for this discussion).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Because, as we all know, most worlds are peaceful places where no major events ever happen?

Only one setting has so many that they have to abbreviate the whole category.

Most D&D settings have had something happen, either right before play begins (Eberron) or at some point in their post-publication existence (Greyhawk, Ravenloft).

Only one of them has them constantly.

Other than the poor bastards who end up on Athas, I'd say most D&D settings are better places to live than Toril.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would consider Angels to be deities. Saints too since I'm feeling cheeky. They're polytheisms in an ostensibly monotheistic religion. But further discussion on this risks creating a theological debate that I'm in no way qualified to participate in (I'm not even qualified for this discussion).

My campaign features saints and it's really hard, in D&D terms, for them not to categorize as deities. (See St. Cuthbert for the trope originator.) I'd agree that they serve a similar role in the real world, even without the official designation as deities.