D&D General Is there an increase in "godless" campaign settings?

[Mind of tempest]

If you want a polytheistic setting, check out Theros. See what you think.

I read it, it seems better but I want the gods to be less likely to be the products of the collective unconsciousness in-universe and maybe a bit more things between mortal and god.

 

[Jaeger]

Ed Greenwood outlines creating a pantheon (specifically the Forgotten Realms' pantheon—before the setting was published) and discusses how he pieced it together in Dragon Magazine, issue 54.
...

I was very interested in what he did, and luckily reading this was just an internet search away.

It did not disappoint. Garbage in = garbage out.

If anyone wants a great how-to guide on how not to design a believable religion for their RPG setting; look no further that Ed Greenwoods article in Dragon Magazine issue 54.

In his defense he took how religion was done in D&D before him at face value, and regurgitated that false paradigm.

D&D has done "pantheons" & Religion Wrong since the beginning. Unfortunately it is a traditional artifact of the game that will not change.

In D&D's defense, almost every RPG that followed has made the exact same mistakes.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I was very interested in what he did, and luckily reading this was just an internet search away.

It did not disappoint. Garbage in = garbage out.

If anyone wants a great how-to guide on how not to design a believable religion for their RPG setting; look no further that Ed Greenwoods article in Dragon Magazine issue 54.

In his defense he took how religion was done in D&D before him at face value, and regurgitated that false paradigm.

D&D has done "pantheons" & Religion Wrong since the beginning. Unfortunately it is a traditional artifact of the game that will not change.

In D&D's defense, almost every RPG that followed has made the exact same mistakes.

so how is it that dnd does pantheons and what are they supposed to look like?

 

[Yaarel]

I read it, it seems better but I want the gods to be less likely to be the products of the collective unconsciousness in-universe and maybe a bit more things between mortal and god.

I have some ideas, but go into more detail what you mean by "between mortal and god". I dont think you mean demigod, but do you?

 

[Yora]

I've come to really appreciate monster and demon gods.

Which I guess you could fully qualify as not being actual gods, but just monsters with worshipers, perhaps warlocks, and maybe even clerics.
Entities that are characters that exist in the world of the PCs, or a parallel spiritworld, an which can be fought and defeated by sufficiently powerful heroes. Though I guess that gets a bit strange when some of those heroes might be clerics of a similarly small god.

 

[Aldarc]

If we are talking about TTRPGs doing pantheons relatively well or better than most, then I certainly have my recommendations.

First, I would recommend Green Ronin's plug-n-play pantheon from Book of the Righteous. It does several things well. (1) It presents the gods as a family. (2) It presents myths and stories that mortals have about the gods. (3) It creates pockets of unexplainable mystery in this pantheon (e.g., where did the Triune goddesses and their wicked brothers come from? We don't know.)

I would also recommend Scarred Lands. It feels like the 4e Dawn War's 3Era precursor. It's classic titans versus gods as well as their respective creations and how their war literally scarred the lands.

RuneQuest must always be mentioned as well.

I also like Iron Kingdoms' various religions, including one that's kinda like Christian-Buddhism that's focused on divine ascension through moral virtue (or even moral wickedness) and the teaching of saints that have achieved this.

 

[Mirtek]

yeah they use our soul according to Planescape to more or less mine faith bitcoin it is honestly horrible and all the gods need to be beaten up, 4e primordials look goon in comparison as they at least do not more or less eat us.

Well, the planes of existance will eventually eat you to add to their power anyway. So if you are LG and are not a follower of the specific brand of LG that's Tyr, you'll end up on Celestia instead of ending up in Tyr's realm specifically.

If you end up with Tyr he'll eventually "eat" you to empower himself and be better able to promote his specific brand of LG.

If you end up somewhere on Celestia the plane will eventually "eat" you to empower itself and be better able to promote it's general LG'ness

That's the fate and purpose of souls

 

[Mind of tempest]

I have some ideas, but go into more detail what you mean by "between mortal and god". I dont think you mean demigod, but do you?

the thousand types of large spirit less than the gods but who clearly are of greater rank than most humans from those who bring sanctioned suffering to a messenger or kights of the gods.

Well, the planes of existance will eventually eat you to add to their power anyway. So if you are LG and are not a follower of the specific brand of LG that's Tyr, you'll end up on Celestia instead of ending up in Tyr's realm specifically.

If you end up with Tyr he'll eventually "eat" you to empower himself and be better able to promote his specific brand of LG.

If you end up somewhere on Celestia the plane will eventually "eat" you to empower itself and be better able to promote it's general LG'ness

That's the fate and purpose of souls

how do I unmake the planes? as that is an unacceptable situation.

 

[Yora]

When Forgotten Realms don't appeal, making a new setting is always a solid option.

Starting with "all the default D&D elements that I like, without the elements that I don't like" is a valid way to begin with.

My setting began basically as "The High Forest, but 4000 years ago when there were still dragons and giants, and powerful kingdoms of elves and dwarves".

 

[Ixal]

D&D "Religions" were done badly from the get go:



Others and even myself have gone on about it in other threads. But it all boils down to the fact that most RPG writers have no idea how to portray religions in their games in a meaningful fashion.

Religions in the majority of RPGs are so badly done that if actually taken at face value they would have the PC's act in an alien fashion to how actual people of faith would really act. So people instinctively bounce off of the inherent incongruence of D&D style "religions" as they are really just mostly setting flavor that give some PC's cool powers.




Yes, because largely they cannot write religions any better than the garbage that passes for D&D cosmology, take the path of least resistance, and just sideline the whole thing.

Which is probably the better solution for most.

Pretty much this. D&D (and most RPG) religion is a weird mix of polytheistic pantheons with monotheistic trappings that make no sense at all. Alone the requirement to have one patron god despite there being multiple deities which everyone knows and acknowledges is silly. As you said, polytheistic faiths operate on a bargain system. You turn to the god you currently need and not worship one god because he is your patron even though you do not need his help or protection.
A good read on polytheistic faiths based on ancient Romans (with a special mention of D&D and how it gets it wrong): Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part I: Knowledge