D&D General Greek, Roman, or Greco-Roman Gods

[AnotherGuy]

There are many ways to go, but if you're looking for a little inspiration on the workings of the gods I cannot recommend a better book than Madeline Miller's Circe.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I have to admit, that's part of the charm of the Greek pantheon for me. The deities were seen as people but moreso in every way - including pettiness, jealousy, and all those aspects. They were people writ large, and that made them extra meddlesome.

I think the best read of the Greek gods is that they are, in practice, a comment on the habits of Greek nobility.

 

[nevin]

Running greco roman gods either version, EGO, EGO,EGO, and anything that questions power or position will get big reactions.

Also dont forget to look deeper. the primal forces of the Universe are things that even Zues is afraid of. the gods and Godesses related to Nyct (night, or darkness) on multiple occasions ran to mommy or grandma to save them from Zues.

decrees from fate are inviolable, Gaia the mother of the earth can be reasoned with bt even Zues cant force his will on her, she nearly destroyed the world over Persephone.

Oceanus encircles the world and is more powerful than Neptune even though he rarely acts
there are many players in the Greek or Roman Pantheons that are more powerful than Zues at least in thier own Domain. Its game of thrones meets Jersey House wives if you are going all in on the myths.

 

[Zardnaar]

Running greco roman gods either version, EGO, EGO,EGO, and anything that questions power or position will get big reactions.

Also dont forget to look deeper. the primal forces of the Universe are things that even Zues is afraid of. the gods and Godesses related to Nyct (night, or darkness) on multiple occasions ran to mommy or grandma to save them from Zues.

decrees from fate are inviolable, Gaia the mother of the earth can be reasoned with bt even Zues cant force his will on her, she nearly destroyed the world over Persephone.

Oceanus encircles the world and is more powerful than Neptune even though he rarely acts
there are many players in the Greek or Roman Pantheons that are more powerful than Zues at least in thier own Domain. Its game of thrones meets Jersey House wives if you are going all in on the myths.

What i did commin knowledge in game is the same as our myths IRL.

Way the campaign is going they're finding out the myths may or may not be true.

Atlantis existed but was only 1 city. Zeus rules in Olympus. They've met Poseiden who rules Atlantis.

They're vaguely aware that civilization also has the names of other non Greek deities. They're dealing with followers of Aries, Cronus and Oceanus.

They each get a boon from the gods the Poseiden follower grovels when he met him but Poseiden said he wasn't a god which confused him.

So meeting the gods (whatever they are) is more common than a normal campaign. Level 6 or 8 you're a great hero.

Fate of the titans is also ambiguous. Is Chronus really imprisoned?

There's also some vague rules for divine intervention. Eg using a fireball on a hoplite formation might provoke Aries. I also did the "who do you think the fairest is" while in Atlantis dream sequence.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

This might be a strange question, but if you were creating a mythic earth setting, how would you use the Greek and Roman gods?

I'm just looking for ideas as I'm trying to decide if I want them to be two distinct rival pantheons (but potentially related, two distinct families descended from the titans) with two rival cultures or just the one pantheon. If one pantheon I'd probably use the Greek names for ease and bring in the unique Roman gods as needed. I'd also have to consider if I'd want both Greek and Roman cultures or just run with a single Greco-Roman culture if I kept a single pantheon.

If I were to do something like this, I'd probably do a "based on" rather than straight up 1:1 correspondence. It's really not that hard to set up something very similar to that of Greek Myth and insert Roman aspects.

1) The Primordials Begin the Universe.
2) Titans Rule (usually a Golden Age)
3) The Deities Take Over

Now, there can be a Titanomachy or you could opt to have it where the deities evolve over time. Ouranos/Caelus becomes Chronos/Saturn who, in turn, becomes Zeus/Jupiter. This process might not be straight-forward, with some aspects becoming different and separate deities (and, possibly, the source of strife for the Titanomachy). Jupiter/expy!Jupiter comes from the more Orderly aspects of Chronos and Saturn as he evolves while Zeus/expy!Zeus has the more Chaotic elements. Thus Jupiter and Juno really are happily married and have a divine family of fairly reasonable deities while expy!Zeus never married and had kids who tended to be problematic.

This could lead to the other pantheons you mentioned as well. Primordials could split in different ways to create the different pantheons. It's also entirely possible that the influence of Overlapping Planes caused unusual fluctuations: the Feywild, for instance, could have caused some parts of a Primordial to take on aspects of the Fey and thus created the Celtic and Vanir Deities.