Creating a pantheon for my campaign - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Creating a pantheon for my campaign

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
David
Jan 27, 2011 12:44:41 I came up with an idea for a campaign. Right now, I'd say my primary influences are the Legend of Zelda, Avatar, the Last Airbender and Dragonlance.

Now the story should be something like this: A single deity has ruled over the world for thousands of years. Legends speak of previous deities who have abandoned the world/died. Those legends are untrue, as those deities have been imprisoned by the one deity that now rules the world. The players have to figure out what's been going on, travel to the ruined temples of the lost deities and free them.

As for a general theme, I was thinking either the seasons. (Winter has imprisoned the other deities) or a day/night/twilight theme. Both would allow me to mark their victories (and losses) with change. (Winter changing to spring or night changing to twilight, changing to day) This seems like a bit of a cliche though. Are there any alternatives I'm missing, or is there any other way I can build on these mini-pantheons?

Also, what should a world of eternal winter look like? How do people survive, what kind of plants and animals are extinct?
#2
David
Jan 30, 2011 12:07:54 Bump and update:

I'm going with the seasons theme. The players start during the eternal winter and have to free the deities of spring, summer and autumn. after that they'll head to the winter temple to find that the goddess of winter was murdered. The players now have to kill the tyrant-god who killed the winter deity to restore the natural balance between the seasons.

I've added a deity of monsters and a deity of death, as well as a ''cleric-less'' deity of knowledge who needs no followers who only appears to observe important events. (Yeah, he's basically Uatu.)

As for how the world survived, many species are now extinct, supernatural selection kicked in. Population density is low.

The seasonal deities are also the creator deities. Humans were created last, by the goddess of winter. The autumn god created a goblin/gnome-like race. I'm still figuring out the other 2 races.
#3
Rhineglade_
Jan 31, 2011 12:02:05 That's a lot of questions. Let me see if I can offer some helpful bits:

1) Other myths can focus on the elements. Traditionally you have Air, Earth , Fire and Water. But the Chinese use Earth, Fire, Water, Metal and Wood. There are even some video games out there like "Secret of Mana" that use the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Light, Shadow and Moon. You can even do opposable portfolios like Love/Hate, War/Peace, Knowledge/Ignorance, Healing/Plague, Light/Shadow, Law/Chaos

2) A world of winte would be similar I would imagine to the world of Narnia from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" before the White Witch was defeated. Or you can take a simpler route and just take a look at the far north parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia. Plants and animals can survive in winter but would just have to adapt a lot. Obviously there would be no standard farming as we know BUT like the Inuit, people could raise elk, reindeer and caribou. The animals would be used for beasts of burden, meat, furs and hides. The horns, bones, etc would be used to make tools and weapons. Evergreens and other coniferous trees would be more common as would various shrubs and mosses that grow well in the cold.

3) The problem with all this deity-slaying brings up several issues. Just how powerful do the players have to be to "kill a god." What would happen to the everyday existance if suddenly a deity in charge of a specific aspect of creation were suddenly gone? If that deity had clerics and followers, how do THEY feel about the situation? Would they be for or against a party of players trying to interfere?
#4
angelofthenight
Jan 31, 2011 21:51:36 Well Dragonlance is a rather high magic setting but the theme of winter seems to promote a harsher and more brutal theme. I'd recommend jacking up the encounter difficulty and reflavoring weapons to be made of bone and easily attainable metals like copper, tin and bronze. Large mining operations require farms to feed the miners, who, after all, are producing no food, and therefore would be difficult to sustain in eternal winter. You might even consider reading some of the Dark Sun source material to find ideas, though admittedly my knowledge of that setting derives from 2E; I haven't read the 4E version.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 David Jan 27, 2011 12:44:41	I came up with an idea for a campaign. Right now, I'd say my primary influences are the Legend of Zelda, Avatar, the Last Airbender and Dragonlance. Now the story should be something like this: A single deity has ruled over the world for thousands of years. Legends speak of previous deities who have abandoned the world/died. Those legends are untrue, as those deities have been imprisoned by the one deity that now rules the world. The players have to figure out what's been going on, travel to the ruined temples of the lost deities and free them. As for a general theme, I was thinking either the seasons. (Winter has imprisoned the other deities) or a day/night/twilight theme. Both would allow me to mark their victories (and losses) with change. (Winter changing to spring or night changing to twilight, changing to day) This seems like a bit of a cliche though. Are there any alternatives I'm missing, or is there any other way I can build on these mini-pantheons? Also, what should a world of eternal winter look like? How do people survive, what kind of plants and animals are extinct?
#2 David Jan 30, 2011 12:07:54	Bump and update: I'm going with the seasons theme. The players start during the eternal winter and have to free the deities of spring, summer and autumn. after that they'll head to the winter temple to find that the goddess of winter was murdered. The players now have to kill the tyrant-god who killed the winter deity to restore the natural balance between the seasons. I've added a deity of monsters and a deity of death, as well as a ''cleric-less'' deity of knowledge who needs no followers who only appears to observe important events. (Yeah, he's basically Uatu.) As for how the world survived, many species are now extinct, supernatural selection kicked in. Population density is low. The seasonal deities are also the creator deities. Humans were created last, by the goddess of winter. The autumn god created a goblin/gnome-like race. I'm still figuring out the other 2 races.
#3 Rhineglade_ Jan 31, 2011 12:02:05	That's a lot of questions. Let me see if I can offer some helpful bits: 1) Other myths can focus on the elements. Traditionally you have Air, Earth , Fire and Water. But the Chinese use Earth, Fire, Water, Metal and Wood. There are even some video games out there like "Secret of Mana" that use the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Light, Shadow and Moon. You can even do opposable portfolios like Love/Hate, War/Peace, Knowledge/Ignorance, Healing/Plague, Light/Shadow, Law/Chaos 2) A world of winte would be similar I would imagine to the world of Narnia from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" before the White Witch was defeated. Or you can take a simpler route and just take a look at the far north parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia. Plants and animals can survive in winter but would just have to adapt a lot. Obviously there would be no standard farming as we know BUT like the Inuit, people could raise elk, reindeer and caribou. The animals would be used for beasts of burden, meat, furs and hides. The horns, bones, etc would be used to make tools and weapons. Evergreens and other coniferous trees would be more common as would various shrubs and mosses that grow well in the cold. 3) The problem with all this deity-slaying brings up several issues. Just how powerful do the players have to be to "kill a god." What would happen to the everyday existance if suddenly a deity in charge of a specific aspect of creation were suddenly gone? If that deity had clerics and followers, how do THEY feel about the situation? Would they be for or against a party of players trying to interfere?
#4 angelofthenight Jan 31, 2011 21:51:36	Well Dragonlance is a rather high magic setting but the theme of winter seems to promote a harsher and more brutal theme. I'd recommend jacking up the encounter difficulty and reflavoring weapons to be made of bone and easily attainable metals like copper, tin and bronze. Large mining operations require farms to feed the miners, who, after all, are producing no food, and therefore would be difficult to sustain in eternal winter. You might even consider reading some of the Dark Sun source material to find ideas, though admittedly my knowledge of that setting derives from 2E; I haven't read the 4E version.