Another mythos that I don’t know well enough to put high on my list of pantheons to work on is the Chinese pantheon of the Celestial Bureaucracy. I would want to try and incorporate the faith of Kara-Tur if possible, and the Path and the Way that originated there and is used in Spelljammer. I have also heard that some of these deities may have been invented/misunderstood, like Apshai and Druaga, but I don’t know which.
As with some others, I would need to get good sources before I worked on it.
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Posted by AuldDragon
Like the Native American mythos, this mythos merges Aztec and other Central American cultural mythologies into one in a way that should probably be separated; the 2nd Edition Legends & Lore book did just that, but I do not know enough about the various mythoi in question so I’m not as likely to pursue this set of deities as I am for some others. I would want to get some solid sources before I tackle these, so I’m interested if anyone has any recommendations. I will say one thing I do like about these deities is saying their names, though!
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Posted by AuldDragon
Of the real-world mythoi that are in the D&D game, Celtic is one of the ones I’m more likely to work on. How to handle it is an open question, because the D&D game primarily merges a variety of Celtic cultural mythoi into one; considering how much of what we know comes from euhemerized tales of the gods and simple interpretatio romana inscriptions. There are a small set of Irish figures that we can reliably see as pre-Christian deities, and the same can be said of the Welsh tales. Contitnental Celtic mythology is mostly known from inscriptions and artwork. So what would be the best way to approach these different groups? Merge them as one, and use the continental names to expand it into a large pantheon, or split them into smaller ones? I’m not sure what’s the best approach. I have two good sources for Celtic mythology: The Lore of Ireland: An Encyclopedia of Myth, Legend and Romance by Daithi O hOgain and Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture by Bernhard Maier. I would like to get a good analysis of Welsh folklore, though.
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Posted by AuldDragon
Another potential next phase of the project would be to start creating pantheons for races that should have them, or have a mention of a pantheon but with very little detail. Many of these races are from Spelljammer, of course.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by AuldDragon
Before I decide on my next Deity project, it’s helpful to do some brainstorming about the potential paths I might take. The first potential project is to expand some of the existing nonhuman pantheons that feel light on deities, starting with ideas from Monster Mythology.
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Posted by AuldDragon
What’s coming in the future for this blog and project, now that the main list of deities is complete? That’s a good question! Right now I need to get old posts here on the blog cleaned up and edit the deities that are finished (I’ve always considered them drafts) and compile them into “books” of related deities. That overall will likely be fairly lengthy, and I would like to commission cover art for them as well.
However, what *new* works will be coming in the future? That’s the question. Right now, there are three different things that I’m considering working on:
What would everyone like to see come next?
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Posted by AuldDragon
Hey folks, unfortunately I was unable to get a deity done this month. Strangely enough, it’s hard to write when all you can do is itch after breaking out in hives from new detergent! I’ll definitely have one ready to go next month, however. Apologies!
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Posted by AuldDragon
Hello everyone, I want to thank you all for the comments and views you’ve given the project over the years, and let you know that I have created a new Patreon account specifically for the project for those who wish to show their support for the project in that way. A long term goal for the project’s Patreon page is to start commissioning artwork similar to what was found in the Faiths and Avatars series of books as well, and that is listed on the Patreon page. The new Patreon page can be found here:
https://www.patreon.com/MonsterMythology
If you would rather support the project by donating to me on Ko-Fi, you can do so here:
https://ko-fi.com/aulddragon
Thanks for all the years of support everyone!
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Posted by AuldDragon
I’ve been rather busy this month and wasn’t able to complete a deity unfortunately, but for those looking for other AD&D things involving me, I appeared as a guest host on episode 141 of the THACO’s Hammer Podcast (I last appeared on episode 84). You can get the podcast on iTunes, or from their website here.
In addition, for those unaware (since I don’t advertise it much here), I am currently running a 2nd Edition Spelljammer game that is livestreamed on Twitch.tv every Saturday at Noon Eastern Time (GMT-4 during the summer). Past broadcasts are available on my Youtube Channel in the Playlist category Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play Sessions.
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Posted by AuldDragon
So I was doing some cleaning up, and I found my collection of Dragon Dice, a collectible/trading dice game TSR published back in the mid 90s. It was an attempt to get into the market dominated by Magic: The Gathering, but with something different (they were also trying with their own card games, such as Spellfire and Blood War). What makes Dragon Dice especially famous is that the head of TSR at the time tried to get a cheaper price from the manufacturer (as the first run of 35,000 sets sold out entirely at GenCon), and they would only do so with a large order…of one million sets (not dice, *sets,* which consisted of a good number of dice each, and it was the starter pack, not the expansion packs).
Needless to say they couldn’t actually sell that much, and it was a contributing factor to the downfall of TSR. I learned since I found my dice that they are still being sold; apparently another company is still selling the sets, which are apparently from that enormous run (they purchased the surplus when WotC was going to landfill them).
All of that is to segue into me trying to sell my collection, which you can see here:
Full list of the individual dice below the cut. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by AuldDragon