I’ve been using the Greek and/or Norse gods in my own campaign settings, but I want to start making my own deities and pantheons going forward, if you have any advice, I’d love to hear it please. Same for anything you’re willing to say about your own gods and goddesses, or any art of gods or related entities like angels.
I like how shin megami tensei uses the old gods
>>96537281One way to make gods and pantheons feel organic and natural is giving them more than one domain, even if they may clash.To name a real life example: Ishtar is the goddess of war, and sex/love. Does this make sense? Maybe, maybe not. But it made sense to the people that worshiped her. Or they saw how much violence and lust are intertwined, and this formed their idea of this goddess.The characteristics and domains of a god should also always tell you something about the people that worship them.
>>9653728177 Thrones for Within the Ring of Fire is always great for inspiration.
>>96537281>been using the Greek and/or Norse godsI’ve done the same, my players don’t care enough about the gods for it to be worth it to me.
>>96537281Have any of you given your Gods elemental domains? My plan for my setting is that there are for sub-pantheons (or just one God for each element, still debating on that), each with a focus on one of the four elements of Flame, Wind, Earth, and Water, the Gods in each pantheon having a secondary domain or two that has a connection, be it thematic or symbolic, etc., with their respective element. Some of the domains I’m considering for each pantheon are obvious, like the Oceans and Sailors for Water, War and maybe Love for Flame, Trickery for Wind, and Stability for Earth, etc., but what would you suggest? Much appreciated in advance, a bit stuck on this.
>>96537281If you're going from settings, don't start from the gods. Most of the time, it's better to start at the day to day worshipping and beliefs.And diss everything DND does with religion.
>>96542492>Most of the time, it's better to start at the day to day worshipping and beliefs.Why is that, and why only MOST of the time? Also, as someone who tries to avoid DND with a five foot pole, what precisely do they mess up with religion specifically?
>>96542556I think you might end up with decent top-down gods, but my impression is that the average worldbuilder can't really grok religion enough to suggest that approach. He's not Robert Graves.>what precisely do they mess up with religion specifically?I can hardly think of something they do decently, to be frank.This is quite clear from the "realistic" aspects of religion in a pre-industrial setting to what I can only see as the absolute pedestrian "non-mystical" (non-mysterious) feel of its deities.
>>96542471silence bumpfag
>>96542662I swear, people here use that term like a boogeyman and use it to decry posts they don’t like. If he really exists, don’t react to their posts, especially if you might lump multiple anons in one thread together in the process. Just to stay on topic, and because I liked the concept, how about Water gets the unknown due to the hidden ocean depths? There’s a reason Lovecraft has so many tentacles in his books.
>>96537281why are you asking for advice when you haven't even written anything yethow do you expect people to give you reasonable advice apropos nothing? The only real advice you can get at this points is to just write and that the first version you come up with is never the best.
>>96542471Sky Father / Earth Mother is probably the most common divine pairing out there.You gonna copy that or ignore it?
>>96542635>He's not Robert Graves.Never heard of him, what makes his stuff so great?Also, I’d love to hear more about your feelings on this.
>>96537281Something to nail down is how powerful a god actually is. If a mortal or mortal+ can best them in -thing- of if they're untouchable.
If you're an atheist IRL, it won't work because you don't understand religious people.If you're a Christian, best you can do is follow JRRT and just not introduce an explicit religion to your games.If you're neither, you are probably not White, and should go to /v/ instead.
>>96537281What systems (not D&D, as >>96542492 has already stated) handle gods best mechanically? Particularly if you can actually play as gods, especially if creating a world is involved.
>>96546858Good question anon. I know Exalted has rules for playing spirits, but that’s all I can name off the top of my head. Hopefully someone else has something.
>>96546858>>96548364Scion 2e
>>96537281What are some settings that do gods well, especially if the gods actually exist, versus ones that botch things completely? Also, >>96542492 mentions that DND typically does a bad job, but is the approach to the divine in Eberron any better?
>>96546858>>96549125>>96548364There's Nobilis, Tiny Gods, Part-Time Gods, and New Gods of Mankind, if I missed any not already listed please let me know!
>>96551624I am a fan of the way Eberron handles religion. The Eberron method is more "realistic," for lack of a better term: different competing models of the divine, some of which are compatible with one another, some of which boil down to faith in gods whose existence can never be truly verified.A religion is more akin to a real-world religion in that it presents its own "rules of the divine," which may or may not be compatible with other religions. There is no one universal pantheon in Eberron that all gods get filed into.Do you like it when a fantasy setting uses this method for distinguishing its religions?
>>96541942Same for me, but I use the Hindu gods to better fit the culture in my setting.
>>96559594Myself, I tend to prefer it when the gods concretely and definitively exist, but the way Eberron handles things does sound like an interesting change of pace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-K2rUP86M
>>96579958The heck am I looking at?
>>96537281Gods grow and wither in power depending on how many worshippers they have in each unique Material Plane. Some element of any god is probably bumping around some ruin or forest but the most powerful in that realm are the ones worshipped the most. In my shitbrew, the Roman gods are the state religion but no one actually worships them except perfunctorally during official state events. This leads to problems like Jupiter being drunk in a salaryman bar.
>>96537281Given that TES has already been mentioned by >>96579958… technically, let’s talk more about what settings you personally look to when handling gods and religions in your own, or just like in general.
>>96583146>In my shitbrewCan you share more about it please?
>>96585150Sure, no problem.This particular Prime has really porous borders with neighboring primes and other planes. The Earth equivalent world was purged of most life by demonic forces until reconquered by elves and their human slave-soldiers. There is a small, fractured population of Native American peoples scattered in the arid (safer) parts of the world, with their very active gods already. In this new world, they find aspects of the old gods of their homeworld to worship. The homeworld is a low-magic, early imperial Rome so they bring Jupiter, Neptune, Hera and Hercules to the new world. Other humans migrate in over the millenia, bring Norse and Japanese beliefs that affect the composition of gods worshipped. So, gods and spirit beliefs derive from the power of these beliefs.In the century after the human revolt against their elven masters, the first new religion arises, that is the belief in One. One is not a god, One is. With the discovery of elemental magic, the Elemental Church also started. Neptune worship is rapidly supplanted into Njord worship. One nation has a goddess of their home islands that they created out of thin air, she appears as a shimmering light that heals and sometimes grants favors. Other spirit practices exist, such as summoning enormous animal spirits, again through the power of belief. This is also the root of clerical or divine magic. So, in this context (apologies for the length), the old world's gods are still officially worshipped by the major empire on the world. This is only done by state bureaucrats and the imperial family during festivals. It's just enough mana to keep the old gods visible as humanoid entities, except Njord who is worshipped by many merchants and sailors. This is how you end up finding Jupiter angry-drunk at a bar.
>>96537281Can we get some more good art of deities please? What about angels? Also, what more can you say about angels in your settings? Mine essentially have a hive mind that allows them to act as one, at least for angels serving the same god.
Never been a fan of how often gods are just basic humanoids most of the time.
>>96537281Gods are often used to explain certain questions that the monkey brains we have struggle to think of. For example where do we go when we die? Seeing as you said you used Greek Gods alot you are aware of Hades the ruler of the underworld who cares for the dead in the after life, you probably also know Thanatos the actual god of death. There's also the various psychopomps like Hermes who guide souls to Hades.Keeping on with the Greeks theres Gods like Nyx, goddess of Night and Erebus Primordial God of Darkness. Used to explain two things that are essential to the world but further delving into the concepts of their domains makes the brain hurt.Whilst the pantheon can be as you want you have to remember not everybody will worship a God. Your average pleb isnt committed to Hephestus for example because they arent a smith of any kind, famously Sparta worshipped Ares alot because of their war centric culture whilst other places rarely worshipped the guy mostly cause Ares was the unfun parts of War to many cultures.My pantheon is broken down mostly into stuff that explains why a piece of nature is there and stuff that comes about from mortals, example I have a God of Life called Life, he is the flow of life itself his followers depict him as an eternal wanderer as even when someone stands still life still walks on, an example of a God that comes from mortals is Morok the God of Philosophy and Enlightenment a very mortal centric God seeing as Philosophy and the search for Enlightenment are things we as people invented for various reasons and each have a want for in our own way.
>>96588982>With the discovery of elemental magic, the Elemental Church also started.I would love to hear more about the Elemental Church please.
