TEXT: GURPS PantheonGURPS Pantheon  
   
   
   
    Index  
    Introduction  
    The World of Gods  
    Creating Character Gods  
    Worshippers  
    Godly Might  
    Example Pantheon  
    Bibliography  
  Introduction: 
  The world of Godhood has always been active with intrigue, action, adventure,  
  betrayal, and compassion, so why is the role of Gods and Goddesses always  
  restricted to the GM? Pantheon is a quick set of rules to allow a player to be a  
  god, looking down (or up?) from their kingdom to the follies of humankind, and  
  not really caring.  
  Why Deities Exist:  
  The reason deities exist are varied from culture to culture, but there are  
  common links. Mainly, deities exist to explain the unexplainable. Why does  
  lightning come down from the sky? Zeus throws the bolts, or maybe it is Thor's  
  hammer, or the scepter of an ancient sky god, or thrown by Lucifer  
  (light-bringer) at church towers, or even a phallic symbol of some unknown deity  
  impregnating the earth goddess. All of these examples are from true mythologies.  
   
  Another reason is need for protection. Hope is a great reason to worship the  
  unknown. There are literally thousands of deities for all forms of protection  
  from the unknown. There are deities to protect from storms, to protect unborn  
  children, to protect barns even.  
  Destructive forces were also worshipped. If a tornado were to hit a town, they  
  would probably begin worshipping a deity of tornadoes simply to pacify that  
  deity. That's one of the ways "evil" deities survived.  
   
   
   
  The World of Gods: 
  They way we envision deities as benevolent cosmic caregivers isn't exactly  
  accurate. In fact, often deities gained more worshippers by destroying a town  
  than by saving one. Once word got out that the deity is displeased, everyone  
  started worshipping out of fear of retribution if they didnÕt. The gods often  
  acted as extortionists.  
  This was not always the case, but it was common. The notion of a god that loved  
  each individual and cared for them was unknown at the time. The gods were busy  
  thinking of their own pleasures to care about each human. If a few died, more  
  would be born, and deaths were inconsequential. It doesnÕt matter to the god if  
  their worshippers are unhappy or not. They still keep the character points, as  
  long as they remain worshipped.  
  If a human does something that displeases the deity in some way, then the gods  
  seem to take notice. They will make that human's life miserable until they probe  
  themselves worthy of forgiveness, through prayer, worship, and proving virtue.  
  Sometimes deities will test their followers faith for no reason at all. Gods get  
  bored sometimes.  
   
   
   
  Creating Character Gods: 
  
  Godhood character point rules:  
  The main rule difference with Godhood is that the character points fluctuate  
  more. One adventure a deity can lose thirty or forty points, and then the next  
  can gain one hundred. This is because they work differently than for mortal  
  characters.  
  Deities have one character point for each basic worshipper they have. So, if a  
  deity has 200 worshippers, he will be a pretty pathetic god, really. But, if a  
  God has over 1000 worshippers, then he will be a force to be reckoned with. (See  
  Worshippers)  
  Thus, if a deity succeeds in her goal, possibly in a flashy way, she may gain up  
  to thirty or forty new worshippers, making her thirty or forty character points  
  stronger. Conversely, if a God's people are threatened by some force, and he  
  fails to stop that force, he may lose hundreds of worshippers, and hundreds of  
  character points.  
  The characters should be warned that this can happen at any time. They should be  
  aware that their characters will probably lose character points from time to  
  time.  
  This may make things difficult on the GM. Before every game, the GM should  
  decide how many new worshippers each character has, depending upon mortality  
  rate, birth rate, and conversion. In the summer months, most characters will  
  gain points, but in the winter, they may lose some points to the increased  
  mortality rate, even if they are converting people to their worship!  
  When creating the deity, the player should decide places where points can be  
  easily added or subtracted from. Very rarely would points be removed from skill  
  levels, except when very high levels are reached. Powers are probably the best  
  place to give and take points from. For instance: Keldmar the god of wind was  
  500 worshippers. He has placed 60 points in Wind Blast, giving him 10D6 wind  
  attack. He stops a tornado caused by his adversary just before it hits a large  
  township. Suddenly, he gains eighty new worshippers, so he buts 30 points into  
  his wind blast, increasing it to 15D6, and 50 points into body of air. Then, due  
  to his arrogance, he ignores the pleas of another town, and lets them be  
  destroyed by Lupo, goddess of the wolves. He loses 110 worshippers (It was a  
  major massacre!) and 110 character points. He sacrifices the body of air for  
  fifty points, forty points of wind blast, taking him down to 8D6, and twenty  
  points of strength. He thus learns a lesson about saving his own people.  
  Types of Gods 
  When deciding upon a God game, you must first decide upon what level of power  
  the god should have.  
    Mortal Deities: These gods are not immortal, and do not have to take the  
    immortality advantage, but do have to take at least three levels of extended  
    life span. If in a future game they become Lesser Deities, the points spent on  
    extended life span may be transferred into the immortality advantage. These  
    deities are more powerful than the normal human, but not much. They should  
    have around 150-400 worshippers. This allows them to be far more powerful than  
    the normal person, but still subject to mortal concerns and threats. They  
    would not want to wrong the more powerful gods, but still consider themselves  
    better than normal mortals. Mortal deities rarely live within the Pantheon,  
    but may visit it upon occasion. There may be hundreds of these types of  
    deities. A mortal deity may take up to 40 points in disadvantages, just like a  
    normal mortal.  
    Lesser Deities: These deities are immortal, and must take the immortality  
    advantage. They have anywhere from 400-700 worshippers. Most likely, they live  
    within their Pantheon, and freely associate with the greater deities. In a  
    normal Pantheon, there can be anywhere from 10-100 such deities. These  
    deities, or higher, are all allowed to take up to 100 points in disadvantages.  
   
    Greater Deities: These deities are definitely immortal. They have 700-1000  
  
    worshippers, and sometimes reaching over 1000. They are the group of main  
    deities, of which most Pantheons will probably have 3-15 of.  
    Head Deity: Some religions will have one main deity, or possibly two or three.  
    These deities will have 1000+ worshippers, and, most likely, have given birth  
    to a great number of Greater, Lesser, and Mortal deities. These are the  
    mothers and fathers of the gods, and to be highly respected by the other  
    deities.  
  Choosing a realm for godhood is also an important choice for the characters.  
  Depending on the level of godhood the character is at, the specific nature of  
  the deity changes. A mortal my be the God of the Beggars, or Goddess of Wells. A  
  lesser deity will also be very specific, like the Goddess who protects women  
  during childbirth, or God of Fungus. Lesser deities may also be more powerful,  
  like a Goddess of Typhoons, or God of Darkness. Greater deities have a broader  
  range of control, like a Goddess of Magic, God of the Oceans, Goddess of the  
  Moon, or God of the Harvest. The head deity or deities will probably have very  
  broad range, like Mother or Father of the Gods, God of Light, Earth Goddess, and  
  so on.  
  The powers chosen should be taken from GURPS Supers and Compendium I. They  
  should all be within the realm of control for the deity. A god of rain may have  
  weather control, possibly extinguish fire, but would probably not have body of  
  metal or telekinesis, and would definitely not have flame jet. The head deity  
  may have any or all powers they want, but for anything lower than the head  
  deity, they have to stick to their specific realm.  
  For attributes, you can go as high as you want with them. Strength is usually  
  extremely high, even for Mortal deities. Health, Dexterity, and IQ are also  
  usually high, and if the god uses a lot of magic, extra fatigue is also common,  
  with no level restrictions. Having no level restrictions on fatigue allows a  
  deity to cast spells with incredibly large areas of effect, allowing him or her  
  to bless a huge area of fields, ignite and entire forest, or cause a storm over  
  an entire country.  
  Worshippers 
  The deity will have different types of worshippers, ranging from mildly  
  interested in the deity, to pledging their entire lives towards them. They will  
  be set up into four categories:  
  Low Worshippers: These are worshippers that worship other gods as well as the PC  
  god. These worshippers are only worth 1/10th of a character point, but on the  
  positive side, they may worship many different gods, so twenty or thirty gods  
  may take power from these worshippers, making them worth 2 or 3 character  
  points.  
  Basic Worshippers: These worshippers worship the PC deity above all other  
  deities. They will act according to some of the rules of that deity, as long as  
  they aren't too extreme or time consuming. They will spend up to three hours a  
  week in worship/prayer, and may sacrifice up to 5% of their total income to that  
  deity. They are worth 1 character point to the deity each.  
  Devout Worshippers: These worshippers worship the deity and none other. They  
  will act according to most of the rules of their deity, and will feel guilty for  
  breaking any of them. They will spend up to 1 hour a day in worship/prayer, and  
  may sacrifice up to 15% or their total income to that deity. To retain a devout  
  worshipper, the deity must send visions to that person at least twice within  
  their lifetimes. They are worth 2 character points for the deity.  
  Priests/Priestesses: These people have devoted their entire lives to the worship  
  of their deity. They will follow all of their deity's beliefs and rules as close  
  as they possibly can. They may spend up to 5 hours a day in worship/prayer, and  
  may sacrifice all of their income to that deity. To retain a Priest or  
  Priestess, the deity must send visions yearly, and appear to that person once  
  within their lifetime. A deity may only have one Priest/Priestess for every 100  
  other worshippers they have. They are worth 5 character points for the deity.  
  
  Godly Might 
  Gods above the level of Mortal deity will have special powers, that come with  
  the power of being a god. If a God buys any of these powers, and then drops  
  below the rank of Lesser deity, then the power doesn't work, but the deity still  
  has it, and if they return to a higher rank, it will instantly begin working  
  again.  
  Empower Worshippers, Permanent  
  Variable  
  This power gives various powers to Priests and Priestesses who are deemed worthy  
  by the deity. They are gifts by the deity, and may be given to as many or as few  
  of the Priests and Priestesses as the deity sees fit.  
  Magery is the main power given by the deity. The costs are more constant than  
  that for Minions, as the cost doesn't fluctuate with the amount of worshippers  
  you have.  
    To give all Priests or Priestesses Magery 1, the deity must pay 5 points.  
    To give all Priests or Priestesses Magery 2, the deity must pay 10 points.  
    To give all Priests or Priestesses Magery 3, the deity must pay 15 points.  
  (For single college only, subtract 33% from the cost, for two colleges only,  
  subtract 10%. These are the only limitations allowed on the deities part.)  
  Although the deity pays points to give Magery to their worshipper, the  
  worshipper also must pay the normal points to get it. A priest who gains Magery  
  3 still must pay their 45 points to get it, regardless of what their deity pays.  
   
  For any other powers given to a worshipper, the deity must pay for each  
  individual person, at 10% cost of the power. The way in which the deity empowers  
  their priests and priestesses must be within the realm of control of that deity.  
   
  For example: Aquatos, God of the ocean, wants to give all of his priests the  
  power to breathe underwater. This is the Gills advantage, worth 10 points. For  
  each Priest or Priestess he allows to breathe underwater, he must pay 1  
  character point. If he has 100 Priests and Priestesses, he would have to pay 100  
  character points.  
  If a deity chooses to revoke a worshippers power, the points are lost, which  
  will probably displease the deity even more. But, to re-empower the worshipper  
  the deity pays no points. They simply are withholding their favour.  
  Empower Worshipper, Temporary  
  Variable  
  Just as empowering worshippers permanently, a deity may decide to temporarily  
  empower an individual, but this extends to more than just priests and  
  priestesses of the deity, but cannot be given to anyone who isn't at least a low  
  worshipper.  
  The deity must pay full points to give a human powers. If a deity found it  
  necessary to give a worshipper flight, the deity would have to pay the full 40  
  points. These points may be taken from anywhere, and may be taken back at any  
  time. Therefore, the deity may give a human the power of flight just until they  
  cross a chasm to get away from enemy cultists, and then take away the power. The  
  deity would lose these 40 points while the human flew, but would gain them back  
  when they landed.  
  Enchantment  
  Varies  
  The deity may create talismans or amulets without having to take Magery. They  
  may do so at any time, for a one-time cost of 1 character point. They must have  
  the spells or powers themselves, and must be within their own realm of control.  
  For amulets, they may never gain these points back, even if the item is  
  destroyed. For talismans, as soon as the talisman is used, the deity gains the  
  point back.  
  For any other enchantments or magic items, the deity must take Magery and the  
  
  appropriate spells to enchant the item.  
  Godly Communication  
  10 points  
  This power allows a deity to communicate with his or her minions, or even any  
  human or god. The exact form of this communication is up to the player. For a  
  god of light, it might simply be an illuminating beam of light accompanied with  
  a form of telepathy. For a forest god, it may be an animal appearing and talking  
  to the person. There are thousands of ways of communication possible.  
  Godly Sight  
  50 points  
  This is the power to watch closely their own followers from wherever they are.  
  They can concentrate for one round, and see anything their followers see, as  
  well as being able to see what the follower is doing.  
  Powerful Minions  
  Variable  
  These are bought exactly as a normal Ally group, except that since you are a  
  god, they worship you and follow your every wish. They may be human, or not, it  
  is up to the player.  
    a small group of minions (2-5 beings) costs 20 points  
    a medium group of minions (6-20 beings) costs 40 points  
    a large group of minions (20-100 beings) cost 60 points  
  The normal rules allow all groups to be 75 point characters, adding 10 points to  
  the base cost for raising them all to 100 point characters.  
  Because you are a god, you can bend the rules. For an additional 50 points, they  
  may be raised to 150 point characters, and for another additional 50 points,  
  they may all be 200 point characters, equal to the Mortal Gods. If you wish to  
  have a minion stronger than 200 points, then you would have to purchase him or  
  her (or it) individually.  
  The minions may take Magery/Spells/Powers within the realm of their deity's  
  control, and will pay for those special abilities out of their own point totals.  
   
  A minion may also take 20 points in disadvantages, and five quirks.  
  Shapeshifting  
  5 points/form  
  Lesser, Greater, and Head deities may take shapeshifting at any time, into any  
  form they wish. Mythology is constantly referring to gods who turn themselves  
  into animals to give messages to their worshippers. A deity my take as many  
  animal forms they wish. They may also wish to shapeshift into another human  
  form, like Odin appearing as a withered old man. This too, costs only 5 points.  
  A mortal God may also take shapeshifting, but they are limited to only one other  
  form.  
  (If you think of one that I have missed, please E-Mail me at  
  mrbannedjellygas@hotmail.com)  
   
   
   
  Creating a Pantheon: 
  For the GM, work is harder. They must come up with a world for the gods to be  
  in, and one for them to rule over. You may wish to simple take a culture and add  
  some deities to their ranks. There are hundreds of Greek gods, for all sorts of  
  reasons and beliefs. The Norse were always incorporating new deities into their  
  beliefs, and it is still unknown how many Egyptian deities there really were.  
  If you want to create an entirely new Pantheon, first you have to choose a  
  culture. You may create an entirely new culture, creating new customs, their  
  beliefs, land size, main industries, main threats, and economic possibilities.  
  It may be a lot of work, so you might wish to start small, and create the world  
  along the way.  
  
  Creating the deities is more pertinent. There may be a head deity, or a few head  
  deities, or none at all. Often deities were related, but this is not mandatory.  
  Depending on the land types, main resources, and beliefs, there will be  
  different groups of deities. A very warlike race would have a lot of  
  battle-oriented deities, whereas a harvesting society would have more  
  plant-growing deities, and a fishing society would have ocean gods.  
  The relationships between the deities can be as simple or as complex as you  
  want. The more complex the civilization, usually, the more complex the belief  
  structure.  
  Beliefs  
  The GM should decide many certain beliefs that will be the backbone of the  
  entire mythology. The GM must decide exactly when the world began, how, and when  
  the character deities entered the world.  
  The structure of the world must also be decided. Is the world flat or round? Is  
  there a centerpoint to the world? What is underneath the world, and what are the  
  stars? DonÕt feel confined to modern logic, stating that the earth is round and  
  the Sun is a very close star. The sun can be a large gold disk, or the eye of a  
  giant eagle, or anything you can come up with. The Norse believed that the world  
  is the dead body of Ymir of the Hrimthursar, and in their Pantheon, it was.  
  Also, the afterlife also has to be decided. Where do the souls/spirits go, if  
  anywhere at all, and where did they come from? Can a PC be a god of death? Is  
  there an underworld? Where do the spirits of the gods come from?  
  All of these questions do not need to be answered, but most of them should have  
  some belief attached to them.  
  The Home of the Gods:  
  The GM should also decide different settings for the deities. There should be a  
  main home for the gods, whether it be atop a mountain, under the sea, a castle  
  in the clouds, or at the centre of the earth.  
  Along with this, other settings should be decided. If you choose to have "evil"  
  deities, they may wish to have a home of their own, and perhaps all the gods  
  have their own homes. The afterlife may be in a different spot from the gods, or  
  many possible afterlives, like the difference between Valhalla and Hel's  
  underworld.  
   
   
   
  Godhood Campaigns: 
  There are as many different possible adventures as there are deities. There were  
  always arguments between them, infighting, betrayal, and deception. Sometimes  
  they dealt with a single human, or a single group, or an entire race.  
  There are also gods devoted to evil. The gods of death were sometimes evil, but  
  not always. There are gods of thieves, plagues, and all around evil. They were  
  worshipped just the same as gods of goodness, but for different reasons. These  
  gods often attempted to destroy the Pantheon, or kill other gods, or destroy  
  countries. There are many storylines with good gods fighting evil ones.  
  Since the Pantheon exists for a single culture, in makes sense that the gods  
  might have to fight gods from other cultures at times. That would give added  
  depth to the game, as in mythology gods from one culture would never fight gods  
  from another culture, to my knowledge. The gods would probably know all about  
  the gods from their on Pantheon, but would know about others, so the mystery  
  would be intriguing.  
  Gods had other forces to contend with as well. In Norse Mythology, the gods  
  tricked a giant into building Asgard for free, and started a war between the  
  giants and the gods. These giants were incredibly powerful, enough to be a  
  threat to the gods.  
   
   
  
   
  Example Pantheon 
  Beginning with a world design. The country is mainly plains, and the people are  
  mainly herders and farmers.  
  I'll start simply, with a single goddess. Her name is Terrina, the Goddess of  
  the Earth. She is an Earth Goddess, which is very common in actual mythology.  
  She has over 1500 worshippers, and is the goddess of the Earth, plants, love,  
  live, and is the mother of everything and everyone. She is the head goddess.  
  First she created her body, which became the earth. Then she created her lover,  
  but instead created two. The first lover is a Cyclops named Magmori, whose blue  
  skin is the sky, and whose single, blazing eye is the sun. He is the god of  
  light, of fire, heat, and vision.  
  At the moment he opened his eye for the first time, he cast his own shadow on  
  the cosmos, and his shadow soon took shape into his twin brother, Luoethcran,  
  whose dark skin is the night sky and whose single eye is the moon. It takes this  
  god a full month to blink once, and that is the waxing and waning of the moon.  
  Luoethcran is the god of darkness, of night, death, spirits, and the undead. He  
  is not the god of evil, rather, he is looked upon as the natural dark side to  
  all things.  
  Terrina loves both Luoethcran and Magmori equally. In her first year of  
  existence, she gave birth to 26 children, thirteen fathered by Magmori and  
  thirteen by Luoethcran. The children were born two weeks apart, so Terrina  
  divided up the year into twenty six months, each two weeks long, and then kept  
  but a single day for herself.  
  Eight of the children all became Greater gods, and the rest became Lesser gods.  
  Four of Magmori's and four of Luoethcran's children became the Greater gods.  
  Magmori's children are Balton, God of the forests, Endrine, Goddess of the  
  Ocean, Helmsar, God of Harvest, and Wilnomos, She who protects the spirits and  
  children in the womb. Luoethcran's children are Cragnor, God of Battle, Serpius,  
  Goddess of Death (along with Luoethcran), Darius, Genderless Deity of Illness,  
  and Decroth, Goddess of Sea Storms, who is in constant battle with Endrine for  
  control over the seas.  
  Branching out further, Decroth, Goddess of Sea Storms coupled with another of  
  Luoethcran's children, Monstros, God of creatures of the night, and gave birth  
  to the Creasianus, the thousand tentacled octopus with a human head, whose  
  whirling coils produce massive waves.  
  Monstros then couples with one of Magmori's children, Whispcallius, Goddess of  
  the winds, and she gives birth to the Bull-God Tartinus, who races a cosmic herd  
  of cattle through the skies, billowing up great clouds of dust and storm.  
  Tartinus becomes darker with anger, and his horns are bolts of lightning, which  
  strike the earth when he is displeased.  
  And where do the Gods live? Most live on the Plains of Terrina, a mysterious  
  field hidden by mystic forests which confuse mortal travelers. The gods live  
  peacefully for the most part. Magmori and Luoethcran chase each other around,  
  but their children are relatively peaceful. Some of Luoethcran's children were  
  abolished from the fields, and some of Magmori's left to their own homes.  
  Some of the children of Luoethcran who were abolished live in a great volcano to  
  the south, while others live deep in the ocean.  
  From this point, hundreds of deities can be conceived of, and for many different  
  reasons. Being as there are already forces of "good" and "evil" roaming around,  
  it gives plenty of opportunities for plots.  
   
   
   
  Bibliography: 
  Walker, Barbara G.  
  The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects.  
  
  Larousse  
  New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology  
   
   
   
  This article is a work in progress. If you wish to leave feedback, ideas, or  
  even let me know if you decide to play a game of GURPS Pantheon, please E-Mail  
  me at mrbannedjellygas@hotmail.com  
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/GURPS [multi]/3rd Party [Non-Steve Jackson Games]/GURPS - Pantheon .pdf