One of the largest pantheons with detailed information and mythology about the members is the Greek pantheon, but not all of the minor personified concepts would truly be gods in AD&D; some of the minor ones would just be near-powers and not have cults of their own, but I would need to do some research to determine who should have a cult in the game and who wouldn’t. In addition, Roman mythology imported a wide variety of Greek myth and concepts into their own (mostly unrelated at the beginning) religion; some of the deities with significant differences (like Mars) deserve their own entries while others would just be aliases. In addition, the Etruscans had a great deal of Hellenization as well, and they might be worth being included too. Further, the Titans would warrant their own pantheon of sorts, and many would function as the enemies of the Olympians. While in reality, most Titans likely never had cults or received actual worship, they could and should in the D&D game. In addition, the Greek Mystery Cults were a major element of their religion in the late pre-Christian eras, and I would need to try and capture that as well.
One significant thing missing from the AD&D material on the Olympians is the Gigantomachy, the war against the gigantes/giants. This should be an ancient, pre-historic thing and I should have integrated it into the Giant Pantheon writeups (I plan to rectify this), and none of the named members should be gods (at least one source indicates all but one of the Giants were slain), and the elven war against the giants should be connected to this too. I would have most of the Greek-facing part of the war focused against offspring of Annam and Gaia, as well as near-divine offspring of Grolantor and Karontor.
Greek Deities:
—Aphrodite (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Apollo (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Ares (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Artemis (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Asclepius (HR6)
—Athena (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Chiron/Kheiron (my Monster Mythology Update Project)
—Demeter (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Dionysus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Furies (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Gaea (2e L&L)
—Hades (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hecate (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hephaestus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hera (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Heracles (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hermes (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hestia (Dragon 153)
—Nike (1e DD)
—Pan (1e DD)
—Poseidon (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Tyche (1e DD)
—Uranus (2e L&L)
—Zeus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
Other major gods/entities who probably should be included:
—Dioskuri (Castor and Pollux)
—Echidna
—Helios
—Moirai
—Muses
—Persephone
—Typhon
—The Winds
Titans (not all of whom are in Tartarus):
—Atlas (1e DD)
—Coeus (1e DD)
—Crius (1e DD)
—Cronus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Epimetheus (1e DD)
—Mnemosyne (Vortex of Madness)
—Oceanus (1e DD)
—Prometheus (1e DD)
—Rhea (2e L&L)
—Themis (Vortex of Madness)
Other Titans not in the published material:
—Hyperion
—Iapetus
—Phoebe
—Tethys
—Theia
Roman, some of which would be different enough to warrant separate entries:
—Bacchus (HR5)
—Ceres (HR5)
—Cybele (HR5, actually Anatolian/Phrygian)
—Eris (Dragon 133)
—Isis (HR5, actually Egyptian)
—Janus (Dragon 133)
—Mithras (HR5, actually Persian)
—Saturn (Dragon 133)
—Serapis (Dragon 133, actually Egyptian)
—Silvanus (1e DD, F&A); listed as a Celtic god in AD&D
—Vesta (Dragon 133)
Other Roman deities not in the published material:
—Mars, a much more prominent war god for the Romans than Ares was for the Greeks, and with an agricultural element.
—Quirinus, an early god, possibly representing the citizens of Rome as a collective group
—The Lares, minor protective deities who together might constitute a cult
Any reason not to include the Divis Imperator demigods (Dragon #133)?
Oh, talking about imperial cults wound be on the agenda, but I wouldn’t write up any of the historic emperors as gods. Any worlds with civilizations that follow the Roman pantheon would have their own set of them, I feel. But I also forgot. :D
Historical figures like Gilgamesh and Imhotep are a bit different because there isn’t a direct historical connection to the present day, unlike the Roman emperors, and I would treat them as having moved beyond their original ascended status and gaining wide acknowledgement beyond their worlds of origin, which would not be the case for Roman Emperors and Pharaohs.
Some of the great titans are mentioned in the 2e Monster Manual.
Algorn, Mane, Porphyl, Malephus, Syllia, and Girzon are all *lesser* titans, which is what the MC entry is for. The Greater Titan names none. None of the lesser names are actually Greek entities that I’ve come across.
There is erebus, nyx, Tartarus and nemesis. Nereus also
While completely ahistorical, the NPC titan living in Sigil and always looking out for the wrath of a deity she attempted to usurp the worship of is a good example of how to expand the concept of the titan can be found in the Planescape accessory, Uncaged: Faces of Sigil.
Zadara is a titan that decided it would be “fun” to simply show up on a prime and awe the mortals by posing as a deity incarnate. Which worked out, until the deity in question–one Skeartim–decided to stop the charade by chasing the titan to the one place where dieties sinply can’t, Sigil.
Yeah, there’s a lot that to mention with the lesser titans. There are other ahistorical titans in a Dungeon magazine, as well as all the ones in the Monstrous Compendium entry. And then there’s the Titans of Ostoria on Toril…