Gods and Pantheons

[Bardsandsages]

I believe it was Lovecraft who noted "The Gods are far away, and they are forgetful."

Their churches, on the other hand, are around the corner and all up in your business.

OK, I added that second part.

I always have a strong understanding of the pantheon in my games, but that is more for my benefit as a gamemaster and storyteller. The gods themselves rarely intervene. That is, after all, why they imbue mortals with divine powers (spells). Myths and legends abound, but they exist to add depth to the game and provide some backstory, not as biography for the gods.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I voted "other", mostly because different options relate to the two different philosophies I have about this kind of thing (represented in two different campaign settings).

For the first case, the campaign setting I ran in the past, gods were omnipresent. Players were certainly not going to become gods themselves, but they actually met a god (a minor one) in the third session. If I had a Paladin character, he would probably have met the patron god of paladins fairly frequently. Even the most powerful of gods all existed on the physical plane (there being no outer or elemental planes in this cosmology), so if the players wandered far enough and became strong enough they would probably be able to meet one in person. Also, religion and religious conflict was a dominant theme of the setting.

For the campaign I am designing for the next game I run, my focus is on a smaller area, and gods are not likely to appear themselves. There would probably be a larger focus on ghosts and local spirits than on powerful gods, and almost everyone in the setting will share the same belief in a monotheistic religion.

In both of these cases though, my main influence is mythology and folk tales, it is just that I am using slightly different mythology for the different games.

 

[Treebore]

I believe it was Lovecraft who noted "The Gods are far away, and they are forgetful."

Their churches, on the other hand, are around the corner and all up in your business.

OK, I added that second part.

I always have a strong understanding of the pantheon in my games, but that is more for my benefit as a gamemaster and storyteller. The gods themselves rarely intervene. That is, after all, why they imbue mortals with divine powers (spells). Myths and legends abound, but they exist to add depth to the game and provide some backstory, not as biography for the gods.

Yeah, even with my god call rules the deity only effects the PC making the god call and PC's who have been helpful to the clerics survival. I do not have deities interfere any further than saving the PC or PC's from death.

The grand scheme is definitely influenced by the pawns of the gods. IE their priests and worshippers. Not by deific actions.

 

[Monstrosity]

My players are strange little creatures. They regularly scoff at the idea of working for someone, refuse tasks given to them by kings and emperors, consider themselves too important to obey orders.... unless said order comes from the god they worship.


King of Good Generic Country: I will reward you greatly if you help us win this war against the evil men of Evil Generic Country! Without your help we are dooooooooomed.

Players: Nah, don't really feel like getting involved in this war. Plus we got loot to sell.

...That night, while the PCs sleep...

(In a dream)Red Knight: Hey, you guys need to be on the battlefield tomorrow.

Players: Sure no problem. In fact, why stop at being on the battlefield? Let's singlehandedly win this war.



For this reason, I use gods regularly.

 

[Treebore]

My players are strange little creatures. They regularly scoff at the idea of working for someone, refuse tasks given to them by kings and emperors, consider themselves too important to obey orders.... unless said order comes from the god they worship.


King of Good Generic Country: I will reward you greatly if you help us win this war against the evil men of Evil Generic Country! Without your help we are dooooooooomed.

Players: Nah, don't really feel like getting involved in this war. Plus we got loot to sell.

...That night, while the PCs sleep...

(In a dream)Red Knight: Hey, you guys need to be on the battlefield tomorrow.

Players: Sure no problem. In fact, why stop at being on the battlefield? Let's singlehandedly win this war.



For this reason, I use gods regularly.

(In a good way, I've had players like that)

 

[Ibram]

The gods themselves are very distant powers IMC, but their followers are very active in the mortal realms.

 

[CleverNickName]

We have an extremely detailed pantheon, including myths, counter-myths, demigods, "saints", holidays, etc. Every character has religious views.

But the gods do not get involved directly in our campaigns and we do not allow "planewalking" or godkilling.

So this doesn't exactly fit the options in your poll...

Actually, that is exactly what I was trying to find out. I wasn't too concerned about religion in the game, but how important the gods themselves were in the game. You should vote "not very."

 

[WhatGravitas]

Other - the gods? They're not really *active* in a "walk the earth"-style. But there are artifacts, attributed to certain gods, at least by the churches. And the churches are major players in the world's politics.

 

[ivocaliban]

In my last campaign (Greyhawk) the gods were only "Fairly" important, but in my upcoming campaign (Wilderlands) they'll be "Very" important.

 

[Herobizkit]

I voted "fairly"; most often, God/desses get a token nod in passing through villages/towns or whatever, but generally speaking Clerics take a back seat in my campagins.

To be fair, though, my most recent campaign God/desses were "very" important; the PC was an Aasimar whose mother was a Goddess of Light... kinda like Hercules meets Superman.