Product Type: C&C Adventure Setting

Format/Price: 8.5 x 11 perfect bound, $24.99, 164 pages

Written By: James M. Ward

Ordering Info: TLG 8017, ISBN 978-1-929474-30-1
Of Gods & Monsters

James M. Ward!!!

James M. Ward returns to a subject he knows very well and delivering a plethora of information on hosts of gods, godlings, heroes and the magic that drives them. In Of Gods & Monsters Mr. Ward explores over 16 pantheons including Norse, Greek, Roman, American Indian, Aihrdian, Inzaen, demi-human pantheons and more. Beyond a simple recitation of deities, Of Gods & Monsters present playable incarnations of the gods in the guise of their own avatars. The deft and experienced hand of Mr. Ward explores spells, magic items, rituals and more.
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The High Lord, Coburg the Undying

He who sits on the elephants back

Castle and Crusade Society
troll@trolllord.com

I have a feeling I'm going to love this one...

I've got the AD&D Legends & Lore books for both editions ... sadly no Deities and Demigods which also includes that other mythos stuff that got 'cut'... YET.

Legends & Lore was one of my favorites 1st edition books... I quickly fell in love with the 2nd edition one with how the focus changed. I'm eager to see how this C&C book will surpass the old favorites. I'm also REALLY curious about how the art is going to look.

This is my number one must have after the CKG.

M
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

Yeah I need this book. This book sounds like it needs to have the OMOTE SEAL OF APPROVAL.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

I want this one as well.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

Yup, after the CKG, this is what I'm looking for most.
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Baron Greymoor
Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades Society

not keen on the real world pantheons, but that right there? That makes this a Must Have for me.

Me like and most importantly...me happy.

I'll be looking for this one too! Make sure you include C&C specifics, like favored weapon, etc.
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Deakin Thunderstruck, Lord of The White Heron
C&C Society

Suuuuurvey says... *ding*

But also going deeper into that with even more specifics for these deities like dress, rites/ceremonies, behavior, prayers, etc. would all do nicely in making this book stand out among the rest.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Unklar wears a frilly lavender dress covered in cute little bunnies with hearts for eyes.

Well Unklar sounds like something I would like to learn about. I would like to know more.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

If they added the HH pantheon to this, it would be 267% cool.

+267% more cooler.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

And: mo coola = mo betta

Looks like I need to start saving some money.

R-
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Rigon o' the Lakelands, Baron of The Castles & Crusades Society
The Book of the Mind

I agree this is the part that most interests me.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

I will also definately get this one for sure!

We needsss it we doesss.
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Lord Aladar

Warden of the Welk Wood

Baron of the Castles & Crusades Society

The Poster formerly known as Alwyn

Senior Gamer - Member of the Senior RPG Tour

"NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT - At least not in Yu Gi Oh"
http://www.cncsociety.org/

James M. Ward here,

Please feel free to add suggestions for me to think about. I've just finished the American Indian Pantheon with many of the things you suggested.

I made sure that the C&C campaign of gods is in the book and Steve sent me some great material to get started on that. After Steve and his group give it a good look we will put that in the Crusader magazine.

Expect to see lots of new monsters, new clerical spells, and lots of special god artifacts.

best,

James M. Ward

P.S. No pink or frilly dresses in my studies as yet.

I'm among those who loved Deities and Demigods (enough to track down a beat-up copy for $75 off of Amazon just so I could get the Lovecraft and Moorcock segments), but I always wished the book had gone into less detail on statting the gods themselves as combat challenges/uber-powerful monsters and instead lavished more detail and advice on how they would interact with their worshippers/clerics. For instance:

* What kinds of spells would (insert god here) actually and realistically grant to his or her worshippers?

* What kind of character would naturally gravitate to a given deity? What would be their clerical training/circumstances for becoming clerics of a given deity (monastery, seminary, election, is the chieftain)?

* Would (insert deity here) be willing to have his worshippers or (or even more importantly for a party) non-worshippers raised from the dead?

* And is there any chance of making at least one of the pantheons more tight, as to where one priest might serve an entire pantheon or portion of one?

Advice like that would be more useful in the long run than stat blocks for deities that PCs might never face in direct combat (and if they did, would end up trounced in relatively short order if the DM's worth his dice).

Also, and I'm not sure if this is possible to utilize the pantheon of gods from the East Mark setting? And if that is not possible, how about the real-life mythological counterpart to the god presented in East Mark (which is Norse if I'm not mistaken). And just like Aihrde, how about including the deities of the Haunted Highlands setting?

While it doesn't amtter to me whether the gods/avatars are statted out or not, I always do like to see that to get a basis for just how pwerful such being are when compared to high level (or any level) PCs/NPCs.

How about deity specific spells and items that only worshippers of that diety (or portfolio) have access to? If such ideas weren't already incorporated.

The new spells & magic items really make this book the cat's meow. More then just having stats and portfolio's it seems like Gods & Monsters will provide an important tool for the C&C game.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Just reread the post, and missed a crucial piece of info. Nothing to see here.

Please include some guidelines for summoning demonic entities, akin to what was printed for Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils Volume I. Also, some general purpose "rules" for artifact / relic creation / destruction.
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If it matters, leave a message at the beep.
Serl's Corner

Agreed. Also any chance of seeing rules on Dualistic or Monotheistic faiths? And if possible make the stats for avatars only, not the actual gods.
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The Lord of Ravens
My blog

People,

thank you for these great ideas. I have already handed over the American Indian Pantheon to Steve so that he can give his companies much needed input. You all will be happy to know that most of your suggestions are already in the format I'm using.

I got Steve to agree to not giving God Stats. We will be posting Avatar stats that are more normal character stats of deities waliing the earth as mortals.

again, I greatly appreciate all of your thoughts.

James M. Ward

You are the man, sir!

If there was anything my feeble voice could add to the suggestion list it would be pantheon creating rules, for those who would like those rules. If not a major section, at least some guidelines such as what portfolios would go good together, inter-diety relations and follower interactions, and the like. I think that may be invaluable to those who wish to have their own pantheons/worlds.

Gobsmackingly awesome.
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Sir Fiffergrund, Lord Marshal of the Castle and Crusade Society.

He Who Hides Behind The Elephant's Back

I'd like to see a C&C rendition of the Egyptian pantheon as well.

I'm not making any promises because Steve hasn't given his input yet, but this is the outline I'm using currently for the book:

Page 1. . . . . . . . . .Legal Page

Page 2. . . . . . . . . .Steve Chenault Forward

Page 3. . . . . . . . . .Table of Contents

Page 4. . . . . . . . . .James M. Wards Preface

Pages 5-6 . . . . . . . .Introduction

Pages 7-8-9. . . . . . .Castle Keeper and Deities

Pages 10-19. . . . . .Aihrde Pantheon

Pages 20-29. . . . . .American Indian Pantheon

Pages 30-39. . . . . .Aztec Pantheon

Pages 40-49. . . . . .Celtic Pantheon

Pages 50-59. . . . . .Dwarves Pantheon

Pages 60-69. . . . . .Egyptian Pantheon

Pages 70-79. . . . . .Elves Pantheon

Pages 80-89. . . . . .Gnome Pantheon

Pages 90-99. . . . . .Greek Pantheon

Pages 100-109. . . .Halfling Pantheon

Pages 110-119. . . .Humanoid Pantheon (Kobold, Goblin, Orc, Ogre)

Pages 120-129. . . .India Pantheon

Pages 130-139. . . .Japanese Pantheon

Pages 140-149. . . .Norse Pantheon

Pages 150-159. . . .Roman Pantheon

Page 160. . . . . . . . .Crusader Magazine Ad

James M. Ward

Very interesting... I'm a bit surprised and very curious at the distinction made between the Greek and Roman Pantheons in this sort of book. So many gaming supplements of this sort will just lump them together or forget the Roman pantheon all together to favor the Greek/Classical one. Though obvious correlations can be done between deities such as Aphrodite and Venus or Ares and Mars -- they certainly were not the same in terms of how the may have been portrayed by each and they they were worshiped and regarded.

It sounds like I will not only be happy as a gamer but also pleased as someone who has studied various world mythologies before.

Thanks for a preliminary peek at the proposed table of contents!

M
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

Thanks for the info!

Hmmm, no planar stuff huh? Oh well, I'll pass then. But it looks like a handy tome for some!