Deities & Demigods
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- For the article on gods see deity
Deities & Demigods is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, containing descriptions and game statistics of gods and legendary creatures from myth and fiction. The book allows game masters to incorporate various religions as part of their fictional storytelling.
Deities & Demigods was originally printed in 1980 by TSR, Inc., but is now printed by Wizards of the Coast which purchased the Dungeons & Dragons brand. It has been through several printings and multiple editions; the current edition bears little resemblance to the earliest printings.
Although a good reference for Dungeons & Dragons games, the various editions of the sourcebook are frequently inconsistent with the myths and legends from which they draw inspiration and should not be considered a general reference work.
Contents |
[edit] Pantheons
The original edition of the book contained 17 pantheons of gods:
- American Indian Mythos
- Arthurian Heroes
- Babylonian Mythos
- Celtic Mythos
- Central American Mythos (i.e. Aztec and Maya)
- Chinese Mythos
- Cthulhu Mythos (from H. P. Lovecraft and related fiction)
- Egyptian Mythos
- Melnibonéan Mythos (from Michael Moorcock's Elric novels)
- Finnish Mythos
- Greek Mythos and Heroes
- Indian Mythos
- Japanese Mythos
- Nehwon Mythos (from Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar novels)
- Nonhuman's Deities (original TSR creations)
- Norse Mythos
- Sumerian Mythos
The current edition contains only four pantheons:
- Greyhawk pantheon ("D&D Pantheon")
- Greek Mythos and Heroes ("Olympian Pantheon"), among them: Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hades, Nike, Pan, Poseidon and Tyche
- Egyptian Mythos ("Pharaonic Pantheon"), among them: Re-Horakthy (Amun-Ra), Anubis, Apep, Bast, Hathor, Isis, Set and Ptah
- Norse Mythos ("Asgardian Pantheon"), among them: Odin, Balder (Baldr), Frey, Freya, Frig (Frigga), Odur, Sif, Skade, Thor, Thrym and Uller
The current edition of Deities & Demigods discusses in detail how one would go about the creation of their own pantheon, as well as individual gods, for use in Dungeons & Dragons.
[edit] Printings
TSR, Inc. obtained permission from Michael Moorcock for inclusion of the Melnibonéan material (from his Elric series of books). The Cthulhu Mythos was believed to be in the public domain, so TSR assumed they could legally use it without any special permission. However, Arkham House, who had the copyright on most Cthulhu books had already licensed the Cthulhu property to the game company Chaosium to create a Mythos-based game. Furthermore, Chaosium had also licensed the Melnibonéan copyright from Moorcock. Chaosium became upset that TSR was apparently violating its license. The first printing was halted and the two companies agreed on a compromise: TSR could use the Cthulhu material, but needed to include a special "thank you" note to Chaosium for both the Cthulhu mythos and Melnibonéan information. TSR added the special thank you note and the printing continued.
When the time came for a third printing of the book, TSR felt its material should not contain such an overt reference to one of its competitors in the "Special Thank You" note. So they removed the Cthulhu and Melnibonéan pantheons, thus negating the need for the "Thank you" note. For this reason, the first and second editions were (and are, among collectors) in greater demand than later printings. (Paradoxically, the "Thank you" note was still included in the first printing to contain the shortened list of pantheons — though this oversight was remedied in subsequent printings.)
Except for some color shifting of the cover artwork and different TSR logos on the cover, subsequent printings through the fifth remained largely unchanged.
For the sixth printing in 1985, the name was changed to Legends & Lore to avoid potential conflicts with fundamentalist Christian groups such as Patricia Pulling's BADD. Despite the name change and new cover artwork (by Jeff Easley), the interior material was nearly identical to the fifth printing.
When the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game was released, a new Legends & Lore was written for it. This edition had pared-down content in comparison to the original; the sections on Babylonian, Finnish, Sumerian and nonhumanoid deities were wholly excised. However, a separate sourcebook, Monster Mythology, later covered the non-human deities in much greater detail than any previous source, introducing several new deities in the process. Furthermore the late 2e Planescape book, 'On Hallowed Ground', gave a virtually comprehensive look at the various pantheons present in the D&D shared universe up to that point, and a level of detail not since exceeded.
For the current editions of the book, the name has been changed back to Deities & Demigods and the cover artwork has been changed again to bring it more in line with other modern D&D manuals. The interior material bears little resemblance to the previous printings of the book (first through sixth). Additionally, this current edition presents the various historical pantheons in something of a vacuum, without any reference to or inclusion of their development in previous D&D sources, opting instead to detail them as one-off campaign options.
Another large difference between the old Legends & Lore and Deities and Demigods, is that the new edition book is presented with actual stats of deities, which were included in the original Deities & Demigods manual as well. This has created debate on Wizards own forum[citation needed], as many fans perceive deities to be beyond stats, while others believe they should have stats as well. Those who prefer the deities to be beyond stats, tend to use the stats presented in the book as Avatar stats instead of actual deity stats.
[edit] Artwork
The artwork for the first several printings of this "cyclopedia" was created by talented artists Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Eymoth, Darlene Pekul, Paul Jaquays, Jim Roslof, David S. LaForce, David C. Sutherland III, Jeff Lanners, and David A. Trampier. Each artist usually providing all the artwork for an entire pantheon. Erol Otus produced the cover artwork.
The current printings of the book contain illustrations from numerous artists and are more in line with the Wizards of the Coast modern treatment of Dungeons & Dragons. The current illustrations are in full color, as compared to the black and white art of the original.
[edit] External links
| Dungeons & Dragons Core Rule Books |
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| Player's Handbook | Dungeon Master's Guide | Monster Manual |
| 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons Supplemental Source Books |
| Book of Exalted Deeds | Cityscape | Complete Adventurer | Complete Arcane | Complete Divine | Complete Mage | Complete Psionic | Complete Warrior | Dragon Magic | Dungeon Master's Guide II | Expanded Psionics Handbook | Fiendish Codex I II | Frostburn | Heroes of Battle | Heroes of Horror | Libris Mortis | Lords of Madness | Magic of Incarnum | Monster Manual III IV | Planar Handbook | Player's Handbook II | Races of Destiny | Races of the Dragon | Races of Stone | Races of the Wild | Sandstorm | Spell Compendium | Stormwrack | Tome of Battle | Tome of Magic | Unearthed Arcana | Weapons of Legacy |
| 3.0 Dungeons & Dragons Supplemental Source Books |
| Arms and Equipment Guide | Book of Challenges | Book of Vile Darkness | Defenders of the Faith | Deities and Demigods | Draconomicon | Enemies and Allies | Epic Level Handbook | Fiend Folio | Hero Builders Guidebook | Manual of the Planes | Masters of the Wild | Miniatures Handbook | Monster Manual II | Psionics Handbook | Savage Species | Song and Silence | Stronghold Builders Guidebook | Sword and Fist | Tome and Blood |
| 3.0/3.5 Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Setting-Specific Source Books |
| Dragonlance: Dragonlance Campaign Setting • Eberron: Dragonmarked | Eberron Campaign Setting | Explorer's Handbook | Faiths of Eberron | Five Nations | Magic of Eberron | Player's Guide to Eberron | Races of Eberron | Secrets of Xen'drik | Sharn • Forgotten Realms: Champions of Ruin | Champions of Valor | City of Splendors | Dragons of Faerûn | Faiths and Pantheons | Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting | Lords of Darkness | Lost Empires of Faerûn | Magic of Faerûn |Mysteries of the Moonsea | Player's Guide to Faerûn | Power of Faerûn | Races of Faerûn | Serpent Kingdoms | Shining South | Silver Marches | Unapproachable East | Underdark • Ghostwalk: Ghostwalk • Greyhawk: D&D Gazetteer | Living Greyhawk Gazetteer • Oriental Adventures: Oriental Adventures |
| Other 3.0/3.5 Dungeons & Dragons Material |
| Dragon Compendium Vol. 1 | Dragon Magazine | Dungeon Magazine | 3E/3.5 adventure modules |
