Gods and Goddesses

[Celebrim]

Some say what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Most of those people are probably not lawful minded.

 

[Greenfield]

The big thing to remember is that most people (other than priests and temple knights) worship the pantheon, rather than a single deity.

The Greek soldier will probably give prayer and sacrifice to Ares, god of war, but might also pray to Athena, goddess of wisdom and courage in battle. When heading home to his wife, or when courting he might pray to Aphrodite, goddess of love. When traveling he'll give a nod to Hermes, the traveler, and when gambling he'll pray to "Lady Luck" herself, Fortuna.

The shepherd may pray to Pan, guardian of flock and field, or to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, when someone is out tracking down the wolves that ravage his flock.

Faith is opportunistic in polytheistic settings, after all.

So keep that sort of thing in mind, not simply when designing the pantheon, but also when populating your world. Some might carry no holy symbol, others might carry several, depending on how religious they are, and how rich. (Those things cost money in the game world, after all.)

<Tangent>In our Grecco/Roman campaign our characters were once tasked with the job of spreading the word of the afterlife to the one country that didn't believe in it: China, or "Far Chin" as we knew it. It was to help settle a holy war.

When we had to explain our mission to some priests there, they asked in amazement, "Are your gods children, that they are so petty and jealous?"

One player, role playing, gave a look of total confusion as he answered: "Well, yes, sometimes. Aren't yours?"
</Tangent>

The reason for the side trip there was to remind you/us that there can be more to a deity than an aspect and some domains. You can set the underlying flavor of the entire campaign by giving some of the gods distinctive personality traits. You can even slant the entire pantheon in creative ways, as the Greek gods were, if that helps make good story. Remember, in the end, good story is what its all abaout.

That's what the players keep coming back for.

 

[Dioltach]

I like the system where every aspect of life has a number of gods, who you invoke as a group: the two gods of travel, the 99 gods of death, the infinite gods of the road, the seven gods of wealth, the twin gods of fortune, the four gods of the forge. It works best in an "old" world, to give it a sense of a deep past.

(This idea is based on Saladin Ahmed's short story "Iron Eyes and the Watered Down World", where he mentions the five gods of fury, the three gods of patience, the seven godsof death. For anyone who hasn't read it: it's an excellent Sword & Sorcery story by one of the better authors writing at the moment. His other stories and his novel are also definitely worth reading.)

 

[Thomas Bowman]

I think the extent to which polytheistic cults might evolve in the direction of the mediaeval church in a universe where monotheism never intervenes is a really interesting question. Particularly since I am brewing a setting with a Roman-like empire that declined and recovered. I will need to do more research on when pagan cults were like as organisations.

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The Roman Pantheon doesn't need a Roman Empire. There is no reason that the Roman Empire needs to survive in order to have the Roman Pantheon continue in a Medieval World. Actually I envision a Medieval fantasy world. that is split between a number of Pantheons:
The Greek and Roman Pantheons, these are the gods that are worshipped in Southern and Central Europe, in the Northern Part of Europe, the Viking and the Celtic Gods are worshipped, in the Eastern Part of Scandinavia the Finnish Gods are worshipped, across the ocean into the Americas, are the Native American gods and Central American deities, South of the Mediterranean are the Egyptian gods, in the Middle East, the gods of Babylon are worshipped. Here is a D&D Map of Europe:

You could have some fun with this map, the people in various regions of it worship the gods and goddesses I mentioned. This is a setting I called "Legendary Earth" There is no Monotheism in it, just a bunch of pantheons from the old Deities and Demigods books. Legendary Earth exists in a "Legendary Solar System" shown below.

In the Legendary Solar System, there are four main deities Earth goddess, Venus, Mars, and Apollo, they are the biggest and most important gods. Venus, Mars, and Earth are the planets themselves, they have Avatars through which they work their miracles but their actual bodies are those planets. Apollo is the Sun, he has an Avatar as well. Venus and Mars are separate worlds with living creatures on it. Mars is more into technology. Earth is stuck in a fantastic medieval ages. Venus has opened up a gate to our Universe and some travelers have passed through.
Here are some D20 Modern stats for the space ship used to bring visitors from our World to Legendary Earth, they have to pass through the gate Venus opened up at the center of the Venus Polar Vortex in order to get here.

 

[Thomas Bowman]

I just want to add a hex map of North America, since we do live on this continent. this is the area where the Native American deities are worshipped. North America hasn't been discovered yet by the Europeans of Legendary Earth, but the Travelers from our world are free to land their spaceship here:

This is basically pre-Columbian North America with all the Tribes as they existed before the discovery and colonization by Europeans. If the Travelers land their spaceship here, they find a natural world with Native American tribes, some are capable of magic, so better watch out! Some Avatars are various deities also roam around the landscape here, so the travelers should be doubly cautious, as this isn't their North America with cities and highways!

 

[delericho]

I am updating my world and working on the pantheon. Any suggestions would be appreciated, like how many god/desses I should have, etc. Thanks.

There's no hard rule, but 20ish is a nice solid number - enough to offer plenty of choice without becoming overwhelming.

One small recommendation: I've found that deliberately inserting 'gaps' in the pantheon can be quite interesting - it immediately implies the question of why there isn't a god of war, or whatever...

 

[Morrus]

You should have 7.

 

[RiBurns]

I agree with your quibble but I'm concerned regarding the details. Most such festivals relax the normal rules of social propriety, but they don't fully abridge them. For example, marriage vows are generally taken to still be in effect, and you can't get away with murder just because it's the festival of revelry. I think a lawful person's relationship to such a festival day would be characteristically complex.

This gives me some ideas for non secular festivals in the city. Thanks.

 

[Greenfield]

Things to consider regarding festivals.

Pretty much every culture in the northern hemisphere, regardless of religion or time period, has some kind of festival at or near mid-winter. Call it what you will, the longest night is a time of festivals.

The same can be said for the Spring/Vernal Equinox. And for mid-summer. And for the Autumnal Equinox.

In the Guilded Age comic they jokingly refer to the midwinter feast as Axemas, but you can name them what you like. They celebrate having made it through the worst of the winter, the beginning of spring (planting festival), the high summer and the harvest.

Basically, the cycle of the seasons.

Add in some specific lunar festivals and you have a solid and credible framework of feast days and seasonal events to base the rest on.

 

[Tinker]

Good point, though I think it is temperate and sub-arctic latitudes rather than Northern hemisphere. Plenty of the hemisphere is tropical and sub tropical and doesn't have much of a winter, nor I think the same kind of winter festival (in indigenous cultures). Southern hemisphere would presumably have developed similar things if there was much land at the same latitudes.

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