January 2019 RPG Blog Carnival: In My Campaign: Divine World Building

I am again intrigued by the RPG Blog Carnival.

January topic: Divine World Building

   This topic speaks to me. This is usually where I start building new worlds. It should be noted that at any given time I have 3 operationally active worlds going in my head. No, I won't go into all of them, just the just the nuts and bolts of how to get there. Most people I know start with a map, I prefer to start with the pantheon. This will inform my placement decisions for population, ancient threats, etc...

   What I am going to discuss, is how the gods you create can do most of the heavy lifting for you in your world building. I ask questions and then answer them. This process helps me to get the ball rolling and ideas flowing.

   Ask yourself: How many gods are there for your world? Answering this can tell you how many lands and races are on your world.
   Will there be one god your pantheon springs from, someone they answer to? Are they all equal in power? Do they fight? Think about the ancient Greeks.  Multiple kingdoms each worshipping a different god. Some were allies some were enemies. If they fight, are they separated by natural obstacle or great distance? If obstacle, then what kind? Several kingdoms separated by mountains would make for an interesting map.
   If you're having trouble coming up with gods for your campaign, try looking at the creation myths from the ancient cultures of Earth. Again I would refer you to the ancient greeks. If you find you don't have the time or inclination to read about them, there is a show streaming called "The Great Greek Myths"  excellent resource. Ancient Greek myths tell us that first there was Gaia the Mother Earth. She and Uranus the Sky had four sets of children. The Titans, the Hekatonkheires, the Cyclops, and the Giants. Most of us know what happened next, the Titan Kronos ruled over the earth only to be imprisoned by his son Zeus. But what happened to Gaia's other children?
   Determining what creatures and cultures came before the gods in your campaign can tell you what remains of their civilizations, creating some of the dungeons and ruins your PCs can explore. There is another resource out there that can help with that too. Look for How to Host a Dungeon. It's a solo game to help GMs create dungeons for adventuring. By changing what civilizations are available and expanding it from the dungeon level to a world, you can determine where ancient ruins are on your world.
   Figuring out how involved the gods are in your world can also assist you in world building. Are your gods engaged with the populations on your world or are they aloof and uncaring? Do they walk among the inhabitants? Do they use the races of your world as pawns in a larger scheme? If they're benign and helpful, did they provide active assistance or merely guidance? Answering these questions can give you artifacts and magic items for your world. In one of my worlds, the goddess Rane gave her followers a sheaf of silver plough blade that brings bountiful crops. Her sister goddess Rale helped her followers by gifting them a silver scythe that tells them when it's best to harvest and helps preserve the harvest.
    Battles between deities can give interesting geographical features or areas of special interest. Magic dead zones, permanent storms, recurring natural disasters. Say the father of your pantheon kills a legendary dragon in the distant past. The dragons body get covered by a forest, all the trees in the forest no longer have leaves, but instead have dragon scales. The Elf kingdom living in the forest harvests the scale leaves and makes armor out of it...  OK, so I was watching Black Panther while I wrote this. So sue me. :-)
   Dead or forgotten gods can provide you with ready made campaigns. I'm currently designing a campaign around the Greyhawk deity Tharizdun. Tharizdun was imprisoned by the other gods because he wanted to destroy everything and take the universe into chaos. Move forward to present day, and Zuggtmoy has co-opted all of Tharizdun's abandoned temples. With the help of the infamous Iggwilv, the evil queen of fungus now hopes to unleash a spore storm upon the world. The PCs have to find each of the temples and destroy them before Zuggtmoy can complete the ritual.

   These are just scratching the surface of how creating a pantheon can help you build your world. I could go on, but I need to go work on some stuff for my campaigns. So I leave you with these few ideas, in the hopes it will inspire you and spark ideas of your own. I'll be back next month with February's topic. Making Magic Wondrous.

Happy Gaming!