D&D General Gods: What role do they play in your campaigns?

[Lanefan]

Are the gods aloof and mysterious, do they intervene frequently in the world's affairs or are they narcissistic beings who love to torture their creations just for the fun of it? Maybe the don't even exist?

Oh they exist; and "yes" to all three of those questions, depending on the particular deity.

 

[cbwjm]

A bit more about the gods in my world, they weren't always gods, I've sort of based it on marvel's asgard. The first gods are from a race of immortals, celestial beings from the upper planes who are essentially at the top of the celestial hierarchy. It was during their adventures through the planes that they became gods, the first being the god of the sun and his sister the god of the moon. Others soon followed, claiming their own portfolios and ascending to a higher power.

Some of the immortals chafed under the rule of the new gods and left, these became the titans and began the various races of giant kind. The power of the titans was based on the power of the elements and their might was near that of the gods. Now they're imprisoned, separated from their followers and the prime plane but the location of their prison and their own elemental power has allowed them to begin syphoning off divine power, if they free themselves, then there will be a mighty battle in the realm of the gods as gods and titans vie for control of the foundations of reality.

It's the sort of thing which is background and might never come to pass in playing so I'm glad we have forums like this one where we can mention all of our ideas with others who enjoy the hobby.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Are the gods aloof and mysterious, do they intervene frequently in the world's affairs or are they narcissistic beings who love to torture their creations just for the fun of it? Maybe the don't even exist?

IMO they have to be aloof. I don't want a lawful good god of magic or anything like that. Making them aloof means that personalities and politics can play a role. If the god's rule is absolute, then how can you bribe a corrupt cleric? How is a crisis of faith possible?

Unlike real medieval western Europe, most D&D campaigns are polytheistic, so I've had to steal ideas from Ancient Rome, China, and Japan (the first having a large pantheon and the other two having semi-competing religions and philosophies). Japan had religious conflict, cooperation, non-violent competition, and syncretism, plus many of the religions were distributed in a way the Catholic church was not, so it's all there.

Marriages and coronations are religious affairs, and smaller religions sponsor guilds and the like. (That blacksmith guild could literally pay homage to the god of craftsmen. So now you know why there might be two blacksmith guilds... they worship different gods!)

Marriages could be a really big deal. What if the king (who worships Paladine) marries a queen (who worships Takhisis) for political reasons? Who is raising the kid? If the heir ends up worshipping Takhisis, can they even get crowned? Probably not, unless they do away with the local clergy of Paladine. (This is an obviously over-the-top ridiculous example. No worshipper of Paladine would marry a worshipper of Takhisis. And even if that somehow happened, the two priesthoods couldn't cooperate on a wedding.)

 

[Hriston]

In my current campaign there's a rakshasa named Yundur who, while not a god, I would consider a godling, a lesser being of the same order. He and other members of his divine "race" have taken on physical bodies as a means of dominating and subjugating the sentient peoples of the Material Plane to their will. Currently, he is posing as a philanthropist who is starting a home for the city's street urchins. His true purpose is to secure the children as a food source to feed the members of his family who are soon to join him.

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

I love having deities in fantasy (probably why I am drawn to settings like Forgotten Realms, and avoid settings like Dark Sun), so they're an important part of the world to me. I like to have them involved, but also strike a balance of them remaining somewhat mysterious. This will also vary by deity, as some are going to be more active than others. But deities and how the afterlife works are some of the first things I establish during world building.

 

[Yora]

I've found that gods are generally pretty irrelevant in fantasy.
What actually gets a presence in games that are played and stories are religions and monsters that are worshipped by cultists. Those can both be great parts of a campaign.
A weird thing about D&D in particular is that it has plenty of gods, but virtually bo religions. There are lots of priests, but faith, rituals, and doctrine seems to be nonexisting.