Available Now {10-12-09} Of Gods & Monsters

James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:55 pm

Bighara,

I'm very surprised by your planar remark. As I read through the material for C&C I'm not seeing any type of indepth work with the planes. I've seen them defined, but I don't see a lot of planer creatures on the world. I don't see the gods working much with the planes except for the Void. That's why I didn't hit that area.

Why would you think a Gods style book would work much with the planes?

James M. Ward

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:57 pm

Maybe Bighara was thinking G&M would be combo'd up with a Manual of the Planes style book as well. *shrugs*

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bighara · Post by **bighara** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:19 pm

Omote wrote:
Maybe Bighara was thinking G&M would be combo'd up with a Manual of the Planes style book as well. *shrugs*

-O

Yeah, basically.

I think a DDG style Gods book is a good thing, but I just don't have much use for it. I run in the Known World so I use Mystaran Immortals. I have no use for stats etc. because the Immortals are fairly remote. Some rules/ideas about planar travel, etc. could be handy for higher level play, IMO. When I heard of this book in the works, I was hoping that might be part of it. That's all.

gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:37 pm

James M. Ward wrote:
Bighara,

I'm very surprised by your planar remark. As I read through the material for C&C I'm not seeing any type of indepth work with the planes. I've seen them defined, but I don't see a lot of planer creatures on the world. I don't see the gods working much with the planes except for the Void. That's why I didn't hit that area.

Why would you think a Gods style book would work much with the planes?

James M. Ward

Ya know, Jim, that might not be a bad idea to include something like that. Putting in a bit of planar information in relation to each pantheon couldn't hurt.
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James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:47 pm

I will take every serious suggestion under consideration. At the moment with my current format I have no idea where I would put that material. I think I would have to get rid of an entire section. As it is the Aihrde section is huge and already busting out of its ten page outline.

James M. Ward

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:10 pm

-OR- this book makes the jump to 192 pages...
-O
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:19 pm

I am surprised to see no mention of things such as Sumerian or Babylonian, which gave us quite a lot of the named demons associated with AD&D -- if the book is to include Monsters, I would certainly assume, and hope, such entities would be included.

Oh, and Jim, you might consider this for inclusion:

Rakshasas (Raksasas): Dog-, tiger-, or yak- headed Demon offspring of the anger of Brahma, consisting of 29 male beings, named thusly

Arujas, Asaniprabha, Asira, Asrapa, Atikaya, Baka, Balaka, Bhauma, Bhimaksa, Bhrasakarna, Bhutihan, Brhaddhvaja, Cakramauli, Carvaka, Citrasvana, Dansa, Dasagriva, Devantaka, Dhumraketu, Dhumraksa, Dhumrasikha, Dhurandhara, Divakara, Durga, Dusana, Ghatodara, Hanusa, Harijata, Hastikarna

Rakshasi (Raksasi, Yakshi): Female rakshasas demons, named as follows

Ayomuhki, Bidalaksa, Chayagrahi, Dirghajihva, Dundha, Ekajata, Grhadevi

I don't claim it is a complete list, as sometimes the names change in the telling...
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bighara · Post by **bighara** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:45 pm

James M. Ward wrote:
Bighara,

I'm very surprised by your planar remark. As I read through the material for C&C I'm not seeing any type of indepth work with the planes. I've seen them defined, but I don't see a lot of planer creatures on the world. I don't see the gods working much with the planes except for the Void. That's why I didn't hit that area.

Why would you think a Gods style book would work much with the planes?

James M. Ward

There is plenty of stuff in the PHB and MnT ("Extraplanar" creature type, "Contact Other Plane" & "Ethereal Jaunt" spells et al, magic items like Amulet of the Planes, Cloak of Etherealness, etc.) that touches on the idea of other planes. It's hardly the end of the world if it isn't in G&M. Most of it is simple enough to improvise or extrapolate, especially if you've played nearly any version of D&D. I just thought some details self-contained within the C&C system -not reliant on other rules systems - might be cool. Since G&M is dealing with beings that are usually somewhere other than the "normal" world (i.e. other planes) I thought it was a reasonable fit.

Not trying to derail your project.

Pat Payne · Post by **Pat Payne** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:03 pm

James M. Ward wrote:
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

So far, I'm really liking the lineup. And I echo another poster on saying thanks for separating the Roman and Greek pantheons. Too often the general public likes to think that Roman and Greek religion were a 1:1 match, when in reality, Rome's religion was a amalgam of too many religions to count.

One thing about the Roman religion -- will there be overlap with the Greek segment (i.e. will there be separate entries for Zeus and Jupiter in their respective chapters) or will the Roman segment focus solely on the uniquely Roman deities and practices (such as Vesta, Quirinius, Janus, the Pontifex Maximus, Augurs, Haruspexes etc.)? And how far will it go up to -- classical Rome, Republic only, the Imperial Cults or all the way up to Mithras and Sol Invictus?

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:39 pm

I can't say I'd be on board for much in the planar catagory. I never was much interested in stuff beyond the prime and also have my own definition of the planes and really don't want to see another 'great wheel'.

That said; I'd like to see something on creating your own pantheon and, as a repeat of something I said above, something more on monotheistic and/or dualistic faiths in a game world.
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Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:42 pm

As an addendum: While I think a C&C book that brings these pantheons together is a good thing; I do think the book needs to be somehow different from all the versions of Deities and Demigods or Legends and Lore that we have seen so far.
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James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:50 pm

I'm trying hard to make this work very different especially from the volumes I did in the long ago past.

The Roman and Greek will be very different. I know The Romans stole a lot from the Greek, that doesn't mean I need to. Each will have their own flavor. I will still have to have a leader in both groups and a war god and a love goddess.

Jim

JediOre · Post by **JediOre** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:16 pm

Will a future book attempt to tackle the various demons and other nasty other planer beings?

Troll Lord · Post by **Troll Lord** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:09 pm

JediOre wrote:
Will a future book attempt to tackle the various demons and other nasty other planer beings?

Jediore,

Yes, we have one of these in the works as well. Presently Mike Stewart has signed on to do this.

The addition of Jim Ward to the team has allowed us to really move forward on many projects, spread the wealth and getting better focused on the short and long term projects.

Look for much more from Jim and everyone else (yes including Robert, he's got a sweet book he and I working out the content for).

Steve
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:42 pm

Quote:
Look for much more from Jim and everyone else (yes including Robert, he's got a sweet book he and I working out the content for).

Did you get my email response? We still have to decide some other things, too... like, how much involvement I have with certain other projects, or if I am to work solely on the specific things you wanted. Like that demon book, for one.
Heh.

Ooops. Sorry, Jim.

Looking forward to this work, since I was unable to finish Gary's Lejendary Pantheons.
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danbuter · Post by **danbuter** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:48 pm

I'd be perfectly happy if none of the gods in the book had any stats other than Areas of Interest and Alignment. Gods should not be killable by PC's, which is all that stats allow.
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James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:57 pm

Dan,

I thought I already made that clear. There will be no stats on pure gods. A normal player character should not be battling a god. However, deities appear on the earth in humanoid form as avatars. The largest one I do is 20th level and many of them are 15th level. I think you will be pleased.

James M. Ward

Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:47 am

Sounds good James. Still wish we had creation guidelines, but I'll persevere.
Seriously, though, it looks fantastic, sir.

Rigon · Post by **Rigon** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:07 am

Jim, I really like that line-up. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

R-
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dachda · Post by **dachda** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:49 am

James,

I'm curious about your approach to Pages 20-29. . . . . .American Indian Pantheon. Are you planning on using Aztec, Mayan, Inca pantheons or US/Canadian indigenous beliefs? I'd rather see the former as the larger scale societies and cities of the Aztec/Mayan or Inca cultures seem to me to be a better match for a C&C type fantasy world, than the more animistic beliefs of the US/Canadian Indian cultures. Also the Aztec, etc . . . beliefs were more homogenous than the varied cultures in US/Canada.
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James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:41 pm

Steve and I are still talking about the different Mayan, Aztex, Inca cultures so I don't have a good answer for you yet. This is all a work in progress and I want to make sure Steve and his crew are satisfied first. There will be more on this later.

James M. Ward

Troll Lord · Post by **Troll Lord** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:33 pm

I'm happy to report that progress is being made on this project. Jim is turning over so really great stuff. Just had a chance to look at chapter 2, the Aihrde deities. Top notch stuff!

Its scheduled for an April release by the by.

Steve

11-20-08
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moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:34 am

There's actually a tentative date for this?

M
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Stuie · Post by **Stuie** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 1:49 pm

moriarty777 wrote:
There's actually a tentative date for this?

M

No - just a month. The year is not yet set.
Seriously - looking forward to adding this to my C&C collection.
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moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:04 pm

Stuie wrote:
No - just a month. The year is not yet set.
Seriously - looking forward to adding this to my C&C collection.

But even a month... that's almost unheard of for something a few months away!

Seriously though, I'll be anxiously awaiting this one. The art for this book is another thing I'll be very curious to see.

M
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Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 12:58 pm

Mor

I agree with you on this one! I didn't even think about how cool the art for it will be. Thanks, now I want it even more!
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James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:44 pm

People,

I'm happy to say I have the first five pantheons done and I'm working on the Egyptian Pantheon right now.

Steve requested that I put more role-playing elements in the work and I think you all will like the fact that now you can earn the artifacts of the gods if you are doing the right quests. You are also getting fun bonus' depending on the god you worship.

Every pantheon has a set of 9 new spells.

when Peter has some time to do some of the art we will put one of the pantheons in Crusader for you all to comment on.

Happy holidays!

James M. Ward

dachda · Post by **dachda** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:32 pm

James M. Ward wrote:
People,

I'm happy to say I have the first five pantheons done and I'm working on the Egyptian Pantheon right now.

Steve requested that I put more role-playing elements in the work and I think you all will like the fact that now you can earn the artifacts of the gods if you are doing the right quests. You are also getting fun bonus' depending on the god you worship.

Every pantheon has a set of 9 new spells.

when Peter has some time to do some of the art we will put one of the pantheons in Crusader for you all to comment on.

Happy holidays!

James M. Ward

Sounds great. Looking forward to the Crusader preview.
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:02 pm

This does sound great. Makes G&M a valuable tool for the C&C game.

-O
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Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:15 pm

If I may vote on what pantheon I'd like to see in the Crusader, I think I have to pick the Airdhe pantheon.
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