D&D 5E Two more Classic Settings to go

[Parmandur]

And, suddenly, the conversation of D&D settings turns into one of Chaoskampf.

I blame Gary Gygax and Jim Ward.

 

[Parmandur]

You know the Greeks believed that the god Apollo literally woke up every morning in his Sun Palace, got in his Sun Chariot, and piloted it all day, and that was just how the sun worked? Real-world cosmology was if anything way MORE silly than D&D cosmology.

Hell, they thought the Sahara was made because Apollo's sun once tried the chariot and got too close to the Earth there and scorched it to sand.

EDIT: Plus those gods killed each other a lot.

Fewer ancient Greeks believed that literally in a Modern sense than you might think: they didn't see a contradiction between different myths for the same phenomenon. It's difficult for 21st century people to get into that mindset, which is where all Fundamentalisms come from, but we veer wildly off topic.

 

[Demetrios1453]

You know the Greeks believed that the god Apollo literally woke up every morning in his Sun Palace, got in his Sun Chariot, and piloted it all day, and that was just how the sun worked? Real-world cosmology was if anything way MORE silly than D&D cosmology.

Hell, they thought the Sahara was made because Apollo's sun once tried the chariot and got too close to the Earth there and scorched it to sand.

EDIT: Plus those gods killed each other a lot.

You mean Helios, not Apollo. Apollo didn't become syncretized with Helios until nearly the Roman era (and even then they never fully syncretized)

And it was Helios' son Phaethon who supposedly caused the Sahara. He persuaded a reluctant dad to let him try to drive the sun-chariot, with predictably disastrous results....

 

[Urriak Uruk]

You mean Helios, not Apollo. Apollo didn't become syncretized with Helios until nearly the Roman era (and even then they never fully syncretized)

And it was Helios' son Phaethon who supposedly caused the Sahara. He persuaded a reluctant dad to let him try to drive the sun-chariot, with predictably disastrous results....

Different versions have Apollo as Phaeton's father, and that Apollo originally flew the sun chariot before handing the reins to Helios later. I read Stephen Fry's versions of MYTHOS and HEROES, where he collates several sources into one narrative; it is heavily sourced and has plenty of citations if you'd like to write him a letter with complaints.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Different versions have Apollo as Phaeton's father, and that Apollo originally flew the sun chariot before handing the reins to Helios later. I read Stephen Fry's versions of MYTHOS and HEROES, where he collates several sources into one narrative; it is heavily sourced and has plenty of citations if you'd like to write him a letter with complaints.

I'm assuming he just used sources with the later syncretization, since Homer and Hesiod have Helios as the definitive sun-god, and Apollo not associated with the sun at all. And when it comes to Greek texts, you can't get much earlier than Homer and Hesiod. Apollo doesn't start to get associated with the sun in our sources until the fourth century BC or so.

 

[Orius]

D&D doesn't use omnipotence for the Gods, but even in D&D they are also far, far more powerful then say Thor and Loki in Marvel Comics.

4e and 5e do an absolutely horrible job of depicting God stats, 2e was far better and even 3.5e was better.

And what of Immoral level rules?

(Yes, Mystara's Immortals are gods. Anything that says otherwise was just TSR pandering to Satanic Panic issues.)

 

[Aldarc]

I'll Dawn War -YOUR- World Axis!

... I love meaningless and pointless threats like that. Hubby and I do it all the time.

I'm perfectly fine with all of that.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

And what of Immoral level rules?

(Yes, Mystara's Immortals are gods. Anything that says otherwise was just TSR pandering to Satanic Panic issues.)

They function differently from other D&D Gods, so I'm not sure what to say.

 

[Sithlord]

You mean Helios, not Apollo. Apollo didn't become syncretized with Helios until nearly the Roman era (and even then they never fully syncretized)

And it was Helios' son Phaethon who supposedly caused the Sahara. He persuaded a reluctant dad to let him try to drive the sun-chariot, with predictably disastrous results....

We will always regret giving our teenager kids the keys to the chariot. I bet mom was having a caniption and dad was pissed.

 

[Sithlord]

They function differently from other D&D Gods, so I'm not sure what to say.

How. They both had worshippers, answered prayers and interfered with nature and man.