D&D General The Greyhawk Pantheon: How Greyhawk Approaches Deities (& Demigods)

[Parmandur]

I definitely feel that there's going to be a new ToEE 5e update, re-write, or at least homage coming up in the near future. Even though PotA already exists as a spiritual homage, they could definitely go back to the original, or something close to it.

I mean, even though it is still in print and readily available, Princes of tge Apocalypse is turning 10 years old in a few months time. Even though it is a thematic homage to ToEE, it is very different and over a decade (since we know it isn't on the docket for '25) seems like a fairly justifiable time period for revisiting a theme.

A re-do of T1-4 along the lines of QftIS would have aa much 8n common thematically as Tyranny of Dragons and the forthcoming Dragon Anthology, to be honest, and I doubt many will call rgat "too soon"!

Also, I read that as "White Puke Mountain", which was quite funny. Statements like "The volcano vomited forth its lava" suddenly become much more interesting and hilarious...

Lol

 

[Baron Opal II]

Any sense of how this compares to WotC’s pre-MtG series, The Primal Order? They’re the gold standard in my mind for pantheon and RPG religion design: DriveThruRPG

Allan.

They are complementary volumes.

The Primal Order talks about the mechanics of divinity; what makes divinity, relationships between power levels, changes in state, what it costs a divinity to provide miracles, artifacts, and demi-planes, &c.

Book of the Righteous talks about myths, relationships, spheres of influence, &c. Only the first chapter is very "how to", the rest of the book being a pantheon built out of those concepts. An aspect of BotR that I appreciate is how the deities are presented individually. Starting* with a myth about the deity, the description of the deity's temple, symbol, relationship with other powers, what the priests wear, &c. I forget the exact amount of 3e rules present. There was some, but fairly minor. The concept was more "here are the concepts for a pantheon(s), and this is my example" more than a RuneQuest-ian "here's how you make a cult." That said, when I read the book I had a strong feeling that the author(s) were at the very least familiar with RuneQuest and Glorantha.

*While I have both books on the shelf, can't flip through them right at the moment. The order isn't exact.

 

[grodog]

Thanks, that’s helpful. I’ll rummage about in the attic to see if I still have a copy of BotR.

Allan.

 

[haakon1]

the gods of Oerth are active and engaged in the world, and we’ve had more than a few instances of Divine Intervention at the table thus far:

Also 3 instances (in 42 years) for me:
- In D2 Descent into the Earth, near TPK. My cleric of Heimdall (Suel have Norse deities in our Greyhawk) was the last survivor of an ambush by illithids. He prayed. Rolled 00. DM had everyone go back to status prior to the ambush, with knowledge they were there. We won the second try.

- Oriental Adventures homebrew adventure. PC’s found an altar to Orcus and someone peed on it. I was DM’d and ruled Orcus was summoned. Nirm’s samurai archer got initiative and rolled natch 20 to hit. My rule at the time was roll another d20 for crit effects, with natch 20 on that Threat Check meaning double damage + roll again on my table. Nirm rolled 20, 20, 20, 20, not 20. So 8x damage. His arrow did 72 hp. On his init, Orcus gated out.

- PC’s visited Rel Astra. I used City State of the Invincible Overlord, 3e. They went into a wine shop whose proprietor is Balder, on a dare living as a human. They knew something was up, but didn’t figure it out.

 

[haakon1]

If folks didn’t know, Original Adventures Reincarnated did TOEE for 5e, in their usual way with the original version in AD&D, research and stories about it, and a 5e conversion.

The 5e version also completed the Nodes, and added additional nearby content.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

coked up cats

Is this a beatnik thing?

Anyway, I think the Greyhawk deities are great. I appreciate that:

1) There was a real effort to tie different groups of deities to different human ethnic groups, rather than have some kind of "universal pantheon."
2) They are - largely - original, and Gygax didn't try to cram RW deities into the published setting
3) Many of them have an enduring appeal, even after so long

I also like the name "Wee Jas."

 

[SkidAce]

Also 3 instances (in 42 years) for me:
- In D2 Descent into the Earth, near TPK. My cleric of Heimdall (Suel have Norse deities in our Greyhawk) was the last survivor of an ambush by illithids. He prayed. Rolled 00. DM had everyone go back to status prior to the ambush, with knowledge they were there. We won the second try.

- Oriental Adventures homebrew adventure. PC’s found an altar to Orcus and someone peed on it. I was DM’d and ruled Orcus was summoned. Nirm’s samurai archer got initiative and rolled natch 20 to hit. My rule at the time was roll another d20 for crit effects, with natch 20 on that Threat Check meaning double damage + roll again on my table. Nirm rolled 20, 20, 20, 20, not 20. So 8x damage. His arrow did 72 hp. On his init, Orcus gated out.

- PC’s visited Rel Astra. I used City State of the Invincible Overlord, 3e. They went into a wine shop whose proprietor is Balder, on a dare living as a human. They knew something was up, but didn’t figure it out.

My Norse style deities are reduced in power after bringing barbarians and dwarves to the realm after escaping an apocalypse on another world ages ago.

Aegir lives as an old man in the same fishing village that has a statue to him facing the sea. Players caught on after seeing statues in other places that resembled him.

Other Norse hang around area and visit him on occasion. He mostly fishes.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Is this a beatnik thing?

No.

It's the unfortunate issue that happens when you accidentally give your cats the coke, and you snort the catnip.

Only users lose drugs.
-Abraham Lincoln

 

[Parmandur]

In terms of "why did they put together this table, with these gods?" Jame Wyatt in his recent interview of the Cosmology chapter pointed out that the Greyhawk Gazateer follows the advice from the DMs Toolkit chapter, and uses the Great Wheel as a chestsheet: go around the Great Wheel, and assign a deity to each of the Planes. That's why they don't give them alignments, but do give them home Planes: that's how they recommend people homebrew a pantheon.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Nice catch!