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

[cbwjm]

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.

I'm actually going to be smushing a number of different eras together. Greek/Roman gods, Egyptian gods, savage elves worshipping the Celtic gods, Sumerian and Babylonian gods vying for control, Norse gods in the north next to the gods of the Rus.

How I define the Greek/Roman gods will help me define what I want to do with the two cultures that follow them.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm actually going to be smushing a number of different eras together. Greek/Roman gods, Egyptian gods, savage elves worshipping the Celtic gods, Sumerian and Babylonian gods vying for control, Norse gods in the north next to the gods of the Rus.

How I define the Greek/Roman gods will help me define what I want to do with the two cultures that follow them.

Its up to you. My world they're quasi separate. At least they get different granted powers.

It's unclear to mortals if they're truly separate and I haven't thought that hard about it tbh. They've only heard of some of the Roman names in Atlantis and some of the Egyptian gods as well.

What are you leaning towards?

 

[Voadam]

I do a sort of Eberron setup where the truth of gods is not known so overlap pantheons happen for cultural reasons and all clerics get spells. I use the Roman Greek overlap and divergences as a specific model for some syncretisms.

I am more familiar with Greek mythology so I would focus more on that.

The exception being the Roman name Hercules being more familiar than Greek Heracles.

In my Freeport campaigns I used Greek gods as the local ones instead of the generic placeholder ones in the material.

 

[cbwjm]

Its up to you. My world they're quasi separate. At least they get different granted powers.

It's unclear to mortals if they're truly separate and I haven't thought that hard about it tbh. They've only heard of some of the Roman names in Atlantis and some of the Egyptian gods as well.

What are you leaning towards?

I think I'm leaning towards having them separate but related families, perhaps both birthed by the Titans and keeping the two cultures separate. There's enough difference between the same gods (Mars/Ares) that they can be separate, butbI also like the idea that the different cultures argue over who worships the same gods the right way with the right names. I'm sort of going back and forth between seperate and the same.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think I'm leaning towards having them separate but related families, perhaps both birthed by the Titans and keeping the two cultures separate. There's enough difference between the same gods (Mars/Ares) that they can be separate, butbI also like the idea that the different cultures argue over who worships the same gods the right way with the right names. I'm sort of going back and forth between seperate and the same.

Titans are kinda elder gods. Building up towards Cronus being the big bad.

I'm keeping things somewhat vague in case I decide to go one way or another.

They've dealt with clerics of Cronus and Oceanus though in current timeline and met some "gods" in Atlantis.

The titans are are basically the ancient rulers of precursor empire. Their "children" Over threw them destroying Atlantis in the process.

The Roman ones are also Atlanteans.

I haven't tied them the the modern deities though. I'm still thinking it over if the Atlanteans ascended to become the Olympians.

I'm also not 100% sure on Roman deities in 432 BC it's 50 odd years before Brennus sacks Rome.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Like others have said, if I was going to use those as a basis, I'd look more at the Roman versions; the jerk-*** factor with them tends to be a little lower.

 

[cbwjm]

I do a sort of Eberron setup where the truth of gods is not known so overlap pantheons happen for cultural reasons and all clerics get spells. I use the Roman Greek overlap and divergences as a specific model for some syncretisms.

I am more familiar with Greek mythology so I would focus more on that.

The exception being the Roman name Hercules being more familiar than Greek Heracles.

In my Freeport campaigns I used Greek gods as the local ones instead of the generic placeholder ones in the material.

Actually, the Eberron approach might be the best way to run it. I'm going to (at least try to) include familiar mythical or folkloric elements in the adventures, quests from the gods which don't rrally need to be from the gods, could be an oracle or priest attached to a specific temple.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Greek Mechology - Part 5 - Magic and Mystery Cults

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breadthofpopsanity.blogspot.com

I kept it simple.

Shades are liars

They are most likely pretending to be the gods.

That doesn't change the fact that they are giving you magic and do you really want to take the chance?

This also allows for the existance of the sheer breadth of mystery cults, local gods, and hybrid gods that the ancient world was known for and perhaps it's the same shade pretending.

 

[jmartkdr2]

When comparing Greek and Roman gods, you're also often comparing two very different time periods centuries apart - we tend to learn older Greek myths that were written 500 years before the Roman versions were written down.

I'd probably lean in on the Roman's tendancy to loot gods form conquered provinces, myself. They're the same gods as the Greeks but conquered by the Roman barbarians, and the Greeks then taught the Romans to be civilized 9at least that's what the priests say). The gods are a little older now so they aren't quite teaching the same lessons or in the same way - but Zeus is Jove, just slightly more settled and focused on rulers rather than worrying about the rain. That's been delegated.

(And I would include a bunch of non-Greek gods the the Romans worshipped, like Isis and Epona and Mythras and possibly a couple Norse deities who sound fun like Thor.)

 

[Bohandas]

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.

Conversely, IRL there can be differences in a single corporation's operations in one country and its operations in another, ad I feel that large megacorporations are probably the closest real life analog to deities