Greek/Roman.  Norse is a close second.

I'd "re-skin" the major deities, though (give them new names, basically—they should be used to it).

QuoteFor a professional release use Islam vs Christianity, preferably in a setting where homosexuality is the norm. The publicity alone would make it worth while. If you could piss enough people off they would be buying copies of your book just to burn it in town squares from Mecca to Austin.

Now THAT'S an idea even those Indie games pussies wouldn't touch.

I'd go one step further and posit Judaism as the Dwarven religion, and give them a lesbian female priesthood. Then, I'd take Islam, and make it the cult of choice for humanoids - particularly orcs. Finally, somewhere in the middle of the two would be tricycle-riding Mormon halflings, Rastafarian elves (lembas=the healing of the nation), and finally Cao Daist humans. And no one wears a shirt in church - especially the lesbian priestesses.

(thunderous applause)

Holy shit - now THAT is gonzo. Pundit, take note.

Quote from: Soylent Green;350761I'd say Norse pantheon, because it is a well known fact that vikings have more fun.

Vikings had more fun?

Norse gods only had days named after them.
Tyr (Tuesday) - Odin/Wotan (Wednesday) - Tor (Thursday) - Frigg/Freya (Friday)

The Roman gods had months named after them [because they knew how to party!]
January - named after Janus, March - named after Mars, May - named after Maia, the goddess of growth of plants, June - from junius, Latin for the goddess Juno, July - named after Julius Caesar, August -  named after Augustus Caesar.

Quote from: Darran;351207Vikings had more fun?

Yup! Vikings have that whole rock'n'roll, counter-culture "last one in Valhalla is a sissy" thing going for them.

But contrast the Greco-Roman pantheon is way too educational to be any fun.

Actually I used to have a t-shirt I bought in Sweden which depicted a bunch of charging cartoon norsemen that said "Vikings had more fun" so that is where the phrase comes from.

Quote from: Soylent Green;351211Yup! Vikings have that whole rock'n'roll, counter-culture "last one in Valhalla is a sissy" thing going for them.

But contrast the Greco-Roman pantheon is way too educational to be any fun.

Actually I used to have a t-shirt I bought in Sweden which depicted a bunch of charging cartoon norsemen that said "Vikings had more fun" so that is where the phrase comes from.

The Romans had month long parties [good for the guests but probably really bad on the slaves] but I would agree that the pantheon is a little on the dry side.
So I will give you that "Vikings had more fun"

Quote from: Darran;351207Norse gods only had days named after them.
Tyr (Tuesday) - Odin/Wotan (Wednesday) - Tor (Thursday) - Frigg/Freya (Friday)

The Roman gods had months named after them [because they knew how to party!]
January - named after Janus, March - named after Mars, May - named after Maia, the goddess of growth of plants, June - from junius, Latin for the goddess Juno, July - named after Julius Caesar, August -  named after Augustus Caesar.

I didn't know about the origin of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I find it fascinating how those pagan roots survived christianization considering how Christian holidays have been a blatant attempt at obfuscating pagan ones.

In French (and other Latin derived languages) the days' etymology comes from Roman Gods' name (alternatively planet names).
Lundi, jour de la lune (Moon, coherent with Germanic names)
Mardi, jour de Mars (Mars... divergence here)
Mercredi, jour de Mercure (Mercury)
Jeudi, jour de Jupiter
Vendredi, jour de Venus
Samedi, as in Sambati dies, day of Shabbat, one from Hebrew! Curiously enough this is the one English day that comes from Latin (day of Saturn) while German Samstag derives from Shabbat...
Dimanche, as in dies Dominicus, day of the Lord. This one the missionaries managed to take over in Latin derived languages, but not so in Germanic ones (day of the Sun).
I just love etymology.

I don't know if Vikings had more fun. They sure knew how to sack a monastery or a town, I'll give you that.

Maybe the Norse gods weren't sissies and lived for the action. I don't find Greek/Roman gods boring or serious though. Take Jupiter/Zeus for instance: the guy was obsessed with adultery and his wife with cursing his lovers and their offspring. Comedy gold! I like that Greek/Roman gods are morally imperfect, that makes for characters I can get attached to. But I guess Norse gods had their temper too.

I think there's more than a little corellation between the fact that Greeks and Romans enjoyed theater and the fact that their pantheons are basically a celestial Soap Opera. Not sure which inspired which, however.

So, it only makes sense that a Viking pantheon would involve fighting and drinking and such.

Hmmm... interesting idea developing...

(starts another thread)

What, no love for the Persian pantheon? That's the go-to pantheon for all your epic good vs. evil needs. Hell, they pretty much wrote the book on "good vs. evil" what with Zoroastrianism and Manicheanism and whatnot.

As for standard issue, pulp-fantasy-informed gaming, I use the same mishmash approach Pundit advocated. I usually feed the PCs with an archetypal name, e.g. the Storm Lord, and it's up to them whether they worship Him in His guise as Thor, or Zeus, or Indra, or Shango, or Karakán.

And of course, no one needs be a devotee of any single god, any more than Catholics have to choose a favored saint to the exclusion of all others.

I've long wanted to use a proto-Indo-Aryan pantheon, à la Zecharia Sitchin's cosmic Sumerian/Brahman/Greek/Norse dozen.  In essence, the original deities that inspired the copy-cats in subsequent pantheons.  In this sense, Kellri's suggestions of combining Indian gods with Catholic saints might prove a pretty good fit.

!i!

Quote from: boulet;350803I have a hard time imagining what the hybrid would be like. What would you keep from Hinduism and Catholicism?

They both have a major god who is both one and three people.

Quote from: Ian Absentiacombining Indian gods with Catholic saints might prove a pretty good fit.

Yes, and the 'saints' themselves can be basically paragons of certain ideals or professions. These saints are really just roles that certain heroic or not-so-heroic mortals aspire to, are possessed by, or inherit, thereby becoming avatars - living demigods who walk amongst men. Avatars in turn attract followers by siphoning off some of their own 'divinity' (magic) to aid them. The process for becoming an avatar can be rigid or random, and in a fantasy game would be a major end-game goal for a PC.

Importantly for an old-school D&D game, avatars can be slain. Heck, you might become the avatar by killing one or at least enjoy a Highlander-style power surge. For some ideas, look no further than the 1e Deities & Demigods.

Additionally, you can explain a Catholic-style monotheism paired with a Hindu-style pantheon by drawing a distinction between GOD and the Avatars.  GOD, as the Prime Deity, exists beyond space/time and different aspects of GOD's essence were imparted to creation where they recycle endlessly - most notably through the Avatars. All of them have some unique aspect of divinity but they are not the GOD. The Church would recognize GOD, but in practice most worship would revolve around avatars, who offer some actual aid.

You could also explain outsider or evil gods as powerful avatars that rebelled against the natural order of things, magically stole a bit of GOD's mojo, or rival GODS with their own representative avatars (read Lovecraftian horrors).

Quote from: Kellri;351337You like literary people, you like people who write well, you like intellectuals, well why don't you go over there and join them! -Rush Limbaugh

What is the source of this quote? Googling it only brings up dozens of referrals to your signature.

It was a quote from one of his radio programs (I'm NOT a listener BTW) that I came across on a very cool blog Cajun Boy in the City.

I'm not sure exactly what Limbaugh was referring to in that quote, but I take it to be an endorsement for Canadian citizenship.