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

cbwjm

Seb-wejem
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.
 

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MarkB

Legend
The stories about the Greek gods portray them as highly capricious, and often seeing mortals as little more than playthings, but I've never really seen as much of that about their Roman counterparts. If you did keep them as being the same pantheon with them taking on different aspects when going between their Greek and Roman identities, maybe include some explanation for their change in demeanour.

It almost feels like there could be a bit of a Fey Courts vibe to them, with their aspects and attitudes changing with the seasons.
 

Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
While there’s a great deal of conceptual overlap between the Ancient Greek and Roman religions, they are very much distinct belief systems, and there are significant differences among their pantheons. I would definitely not treat them as one and the same.
 

Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
I have a few different ideas for how to approach this.

I'm showing my age, but in the Percy Jackson universe the Greek gods and their Roman equivalents are the same entities, but have split personalities based on how they were worshipped by different peoples. Mars is much more disciplined, intelligent, and important than the savage, stupid Ares. Some gods don't have an equivalent in the other pantheon (Iris is only Greek, Bellona is only Roman). The different versions of the gods causes conflicts between the Greek and Roman demigods and incapacitating headaches for the gods whose Greek and Roman forms are wildly divergent.

You could do something similar to this, having the gods be the same entities but worshipped in different ways depending on the culture. If you use the "worship is power" rule, this would be because different cultures worship the same gods in different ways, causing them to develop different portfolios and roles in the pantheon. Or you could just say that each god contains multitudes and have incredibly vast portfolios, which different cultures choosing different aspects of the gods that they think are more important.

Or just pick a pantheon from a more different religion to be in conflict with the Greek/Roman gods. Maybe the Aesir from Norse mythology. Or the Greek Gods go to war with the Jotunns in a second Gigantomachy.
While there’s a great deal of conceptual overlap between the Ancient Greek and Roman religions, they are very much distinct belief systems, and there are significant differences among their pantheons. I would definitely not treat them as one and the same.
This is a complicated topic. There are some Greek and Roman gods that absolutely have the same source in the much earlier Proto-Indo-European religion. The main example is Jupiter/Jove and Zeus, which both come from the PIE *Dyḗus ph₂tḗr (meaning "sky father"). The Romans also controlled the Hellenic world for centuries before Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire, so gods were often conflated/merged (like is common in polytheistic religions). Many Roman gods came from the Greek pantheon (Apollo, Hercules/Heracles) or the Roman gods were heavily influenced by the Greek equivalent (Venus/Aphrodite, Minerva/Athena). This was in part for political reasons, because it's useful to convince the people you conquered that you're more similar than different and actually worship the same gods just under different names. But also Greek art was incredibly influential on Roman art, so the Romans just borrowed many aspects of the Greek pantheon. Hell, Zeus and Jupiter were originally the same Proto-Indo-European god, but diverged from each other for hundreds of years as the Greeks and Romans created their own cultural identities, and then merged again into the same god under the Roman empire. Polytheistic religions are complicated.

There's a reason why Greek and Roman gods are more often conflated with each other than they are with gods from other related pantheons (Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, Iranic, Hindu). It would be wrong to treat the Roman and Greek pantheons as identical, but it would also be wrong to ignore the roots shared by both religions and the intermingling of the religions during the classical Roman Empire.
 

overgeeked

B/X Known World
Outside of a few players who might be super deep into either pantheon (or both), most players will likely not be able to distinguish one from the other. For ease of use it would probably be better to merge them while making a few choices of which versions to go with while eliminating the other.

You could easily put them on a historical continuum, similar to real-world history. The Greek versions and culture are the earlier version and the Roman version and culture are the later version. Merge them but call one the evolution of the other.
 

Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
This is a complicated topic. There are some Greek and Roman gods that absolutely have the same source in the much earlier Proto-Indo-European religion. The main example is Jupiter/Jove and Zeus, which both come from the PIE *Dyḗus ph₂tḗr (meaning "sky father"). The Romans also controlled the Hellenic world for centuries before Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire, so gods were often conflated/merged (like is common in polytheistic religions). Many Roman gods came from the Greek pantheon (Apollo, Hercules/Heracles) or the Roman gods were heavily influenced by the Greek equivalent (Venus/Aphrodite, Minerva/Athena). This was in part for political reasons, because it's useful to convince the people you conquered that you're more similar than different and actually worship the same gods just under different names. But also Greek art was incredibly influential on Roman art, so the Romans just borrowed many aspects of the Greek pantheon. Hell, Zeus and Jupiter were originally the same Proto-Indo-European god, but diverged from each other for hundreds of years as the Greeks and Romans created their own cultural identities, and then merged again into the same god under the Roman empire. Polytheistic religions are complicated.

There's a reason why Greek and Roman gods are more often conflated with each other than they are with gods from other related pantheons (Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, Iranic, Hindu). It would be wrong to treat the Roman and Greek pantheons as identical, but it would also be wrong to ignore the roots shared by both religions and the intermingling of the religions during the classical Roman Empire.
Sure, but ultimately all Indo-European religions can trace their origins back to the Proto-Indo-European religion. The Greek and Roman versions are probably the two most similar of the many PIE descendants, but they’re not uniquely more connected than the others. Personally, I think if one wants to emphasize the commonalities over the differences, why not make a new pantheon that hews very close to the PIE pantheon? Have a sky father, earth mother, horse twins, sun goddess, moon god, striker, hearth goddess, horned god, etc.
 

Another similar, but distinct pantheon is that of the Etruscans -

 

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
Id go with the original Roman animism (represented by Nymphs, Genius Loci, unique spirits etc) facing invasion both militant and hegemonic by Greek dieties.
It will take more research but its a possibility
 
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For me it would depend on how significant the Titans would be. I remember reading a bit about the Titans from a Greek perspective, but never really from a Roman one (save Saturn). If there was going to be interactions with the Nordics, Celts, and Egyptians, I would probably go with Roman as well.

But... If we're looking earlier a bit, I might go for Greek if we are working with the Babylonians, Hittites, Mittani, &c. The Anakim could come into play, which could be a Titanic offshoot.
 

Zardnaar

Legend
Well I'm running a Greek game 432 BC. Latiums full of barbarians who will never amount to anything.

Similar concept for me is the Mycenae gods and titan. They've met the gods in dream sequences but they're Atlanteans. The titans also appear to be Atlanteans.

They're not 100% sure the current gods are the Atlanteans or how things work with the Titans. The myths and legends are the same as ours IRL. The mystery is part of the gane to figure out.

So it depends on the DM if the Roman gods are distinct from the Greek gods. Masks of the Greek gods or if belief powers reality. Or just an alias.

Syncretism is also a thing including Egyptian and other near Eastern gods.

My game the Roman gods also share their names with Atlanteans. They also grant different abilities than the Greek ones. Some of them will be involved in the plot others not so much.

How distinct they are hasn't been decided yet. At least in 432 BC I'm not 100% sure what the Roman pantheon is at that date.
 

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