Deities & Demigods!

[Whisper72]

Hmm... yeah, the old 1st edition cover, with the two guys facing off on the staircase thingy somehow always reminds me of the scene in Ghostbusters where the 'busters face off the god dudette on the top of the building...

 

[Quasqueton]

Deities & Demigods is an indispensable part of the whole of [A]D&D. Do not fall into the error of regarding it as a supplement. It is integral to Dungeon Mastering a true [A]D&D campaign. Experienced players will immediately concur with this evaluation, for they already know how important alignment is, how necessary the deity is to the cleric, and how interaction of the various alignments depends upon the entities which lead them. Those readers not well-grounded in on-going campaigns must take my word for all this, although they will soon discover for themselves how crucial the deities of the campaign [milieu] are.

E. Gary Gygax
May 1980

From the preface of the AD&D1 Deities & Demigods.

I thought it interesting that he considered D&DG a core book, *not* a supplement.

Quasqueton

 

[The Shaman]

CROM!

 

[Henry]

From the preface of the AD&D1 Deities & Demigods.

Why do you think I said, "Damned Straight!"?

I thought it interesting that he considered D&DG a core book, *not* a supplement.

A "Core Book" and "Supplement" may not have had the same meaning to Gary and gamers then as opposed to now. For one thing, most cultures usually had one or more gods or godheads for their religions, and all classic western fantasy definitely did. Therefore, "true AD&D campaigns" as opposed to "Basic D&D" or "first-generation D&D" campaigns would likely have gods and goddesses as central to their religions and clerics. It's only later that we reach the place where deities are considered optional and having "generic clerics" is no longer considered "amateur."

Look at it this way: Even in forethought, 3E has gods in its Player's Handbook. Back then, these concepts were being fleshed out as the books were written. In one sense, all we're doing is re-inventing the wheel every time we have a new edition. Back then, they came up with what was "essential" at the time; now, with 2E, and with 3E, and with 4E I expect, we'll have:

"OK, we've released the core books. In November we'll release the first splatbook, then in March we'll release the Deities Book, and then we'll released the Psionics Book, and in September the next Splatbook, etc. etc."

Back then, it was probably:

"OK, we had pretty good sales of the DMG. What will be do next?"

Well, we've received lots of calls and letters about players who've been creating religions and adapting real-world religions for their games; maybe a book about gods and goddesses would sell?"

Sounds Good, James -- you work on it!"

What's core then is supplemental now.

 

[SidusLupus]

Don't hang me but I kinda like deities and demigods. I don't have any idea what the previous version books are like, but i wish they'd perhaps consider updating it to 3.5.

I recently designed my own pantheon and got a lot of use out of it. Without the book I don't know if it would have gone so well.

I don't care so much about the crunch of the deities, but the fluff that they collected about them is good and useful.

 

[Moulin Rogue]

Mostly regarding Henry's post: wasn't there an early column or two in Gygax's "Sorcerer's Scroll" for Dragon in which he outlined the books that were going to comprise what we now know as 1e? I seem to recall he wrote there would be FOUR books total, with D&DG being one of them, and that they were supposed to all come out around the same time (not staggered over four years as it turned out). Could anyone dip into the Dragon Archive and see if I remember this right?

 

[scourger]

I almost got rid of my new one a year or two ago. Then, I was inspired to do a Greek Heroes campaign. The book actually had a lot of good information and even a couple of monsters. Sure, I could have gotten the information form another source, but the book remains on my shelf today despite the Greek Heroes campaign never getting beyond the inspiration phase.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Deities & Demigods is an indispensable part of the whole of D&D. Do not fall into the error of regarding it as a supplement. It is integral to Dungeon Mastering a true D&D campaign. Experienced players will immediately concur with this evaluation, for they already know how important alignment is, how necessary the deity is to the cleric, and how interaction of the various alignments depends upon the entities which lead them. Those readers not well-grounded in on-going campaigns must take my word for all this, although they will soon discover for themselves how crucial the deities of the campaign are.

I've found it useful to scope out the "lesser" pantheons to pick a deity for my cleric. I did this when I went with the Nordic Pantheon to pick Thor as the deity for my last cleric. It does have it uses although it needs more "meat" and less stats. I'd like to have more than an itty-bitty paragraph about the deity's edicts and church. They should've done this along the lines of the FR book, "Faiths and Pantheons".

And ignore the smartasses who had to be stupid with their responses. It only show's juvenile, immature behavior.

 

[Ghostwind]

Hopefully, Lore of the Gods will fill the holes that people felt Deities & Demigods left...

(Assuming it ever comes out of layout.)

 

[danzig138]

3e D&DG = the crystal pepsi or new coke of D&D books: Ill conceived, poorly designed, left a rancid taste in your mouth that you kept desperately trying to get rid of. Wretched, wretched design, poor implimentation, and utterly and completely useless. A waste of paper and good artwork.

Man, think you can find a new comparison? How many times are you going to use the incorrect New Coke/Crystal pepsi idea? Personally, I like the Deities and Demigods book. I think it'll come in handy when I finish my Rifts conversion.
BTW, are you one of those "Gods shouldn't have stats" people?