[UPDATED] Green Ronin Finds Religion In D&D 5E's BOOK OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Back in the early days D&D 3rd Edition, Green Ronin released two books for the game which I adored and still have to this day. One was the Book of Fiends: Legions of Hell (a supplement which was followed up by Armies of the Abyss). The other was Aaron Loeb's Book of the Righteous, an enormous 300+ page tome crammed full of religions to use in your D&D game. It detailed the churches, the rituals, the beliefs, and more behind a detailed pantheon of over 20 churches.

Back in the early days D&D 3rd Edition, Green Ronin released two books for the game which I adored and still have to this day. One was the Book of Fiends: Legions of Hell (a supplement which was followed up by Armies of the Abyss). The other was Aaron Loeb's Book of the Righteous, an enormous 300+ page tome crammed full of religions to use in your D&D game. It detailed the churches, the rituals, the beliefs, and more behind a detailed pantheon of over 20 churches.


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UPDATE: This Kickstarter is now live.

So the book is coming to Kickstarter soon, and the new rules material will be written by Robert J. Schwalb, one of D&D 5E's designers (Schwalb produces his own current RPG, Shadow of the Demon Lord). Green Ronin, of course, is the company which brought you Out of the Abyss for D&D 5E. This book definitely won't be lacking in 5th Edition pedigree!

The original version contained these religions, each detailed with a half dozen pages on myths, workings, churches, orders, and more.

The Old Gods. The Eyes of Urian, The Foundations of Rontra, The Basins of Shalimyr, The Druids of Eliwyn, The Followers of the Nameless One.

The Gods of the Tree. The Healing Halls of Morwyn, The Temples of Terak, The Vineyards of Zheenkeef, The Scriptoriums of Tinel, The Sacristies of Mormelcar.

The Gods of the Womb. The Courts of Maal, The Houses of Darmon, The Lyceums of Aymara, The Guildhalls of Korak, The Hearths of Anwyn.

The Three Sisters. The Dark Sister, The Red Sister, The Golden Sister.

The Evil Gods. Asmodeus, Canarak, Hellos, Naran, plus some evil and heretical cults.

The original book also contained an overall cosmology, using religions in a campaign, and a bunch of rules including feats, spells, domains, magic items, artifacts, and creatures.

Below is a peek at the D&D 3rd Edition version, detailing one of the churches in the book. You can look at the whole 11-page church here (PDF); below is just a couple of excerpts. Obviously the 5E version will be redesigned for the current game and if Kickstarter does it's usual thing might have awesome stretch goals for new colour art and cool stuff like that (just conjecture on my part).

More as and when I hear it!


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Zaran

Adventurer
I just wonder if they will have the same permissions to improve on what we have for 5e. It seems like the 5e OGL is more restrictive.
 

delericho

Legend
Cool. The original was one of best-regarded d20/OGL books, and one I was sorry to miss first time around. An update is certainly something I'd be interested in.
 

Though I usually either fully homebrew gods or use the setting-appropriate pantheons, this book might be a very nice addition for those times I want to run something quick and don't feel like making a whole new set of deities. And as a source for stea... inspiring stuff.

None of the books I've got from Green Ronin have disappointed, so I'll be certainly backing the KS.

As usual, thanks for the heads up, Morrus!
 

TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
That's fantastic. I don't claim to have a giant collection of books, but Book of the Righteous certainly has pride of place within it. It's on my short list of all time favorite RPG products.
 

BMaC

Adventurer
Given that publications by Wizards are quite limited it is great to see other companies stepping in to fill this gap.
 


TerraDave

5ever, or until 2024
Agree that this is great news.

Small, small caveat: if you have the original, do you really need this? How valuable is the new crunch over the old fluff. Hmm.

Actually, I am hoping to see many more 3E era titles get this treatment, and to have this dilemma over and over.
 

I just wonder if they will have the same permissions to improve on what we have for 5e. It seems like the 5e OGL is more restrictive.
There is no "5e OGL". It uses the exact same licence as 3e.
The SRD is more limited in content, but just as open for adding new content as 3e.
 

Sounds pretty cool.
With the cleric being an assumed class, all campaign need some element of religion and gods. But it's often ignored or sidelined in worldbuilding: gods are named and pantheons described but their church, rituals, and rites left rather vague.

I don't know if I'll get a hard copy of this, but I might at least back at the PDF level.
 

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