Which real-world religious structure or pantheon of deities would you use for a world in a fantasy RPG campaign (assuming you had to choose)?

Where the hell do you come up with these? If I found a real-world pantheon usable, i'd use it.

(OK, if waterboarded by Dick Cheney, I'd say indian or finnish, though early greek, with all the anima and household dieties would run a close third.  Maybe that's why my pantheon is a such a jumbled, viewed-through-the-imperfect-human eye type of disaster.)

I'd say Norse pantheon, because it is a well known fact that vikings have more fun.

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

Second this. Although even that pantheon is a jumbled mess like all the others; it's not even entirely clear who the head deity is.

Quote from: The Worid;350771Second this. Although even that pantheon is a jumbled mess like all the others; it's not even entirely clear who the head deity is.

Well, general consensus would be Odin (or whatever variation of his name you choose) with Thor a close second. I suppose a case could be made for Balder, but most would agree on Odin. Really though any ancient pantheon is going to be a mess. They've all been added to, and combined with, so many times with the interaction of cultures over the years, that they start to overlap quite a bit.

Hindu...maybe some kind of Dune-style melange (no pun intended) of Hindu polytheism and Roman Catholicism

Quote from: Kellri;350796Hindu...maybe some kind of Dune-style melange (no pun intended) of Hindu polytheism and Roman Catholicism

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

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

Multi-armed Saints in flying cars dropping nuclear bombs?

Norse or Celtic.

In seriousness, I'd go straight-up Greek or Roman - but I repeat myself. I particularly like the "household gods", gods of crossroads, and other such "small gods" concepts as well.

All of them. Each culture ought to have a pantheon if they are pantheistic. Of course direct action by the gods would be problematic, with so many of them running around, so I would solve it by saying gods don't intervene directly. The result would look a lot like... ummm... earth.

-clash

Added: And this totally proves that I don't understand Fantasy at all. Q.E.D.

Fuck "Pantheons". The whole idea of "pantheon" these days seems to do nothing but confuse modern gamers (at least those without religious-related advanced education) as to how religion actually worked back in pagan cultures.

For starters, in almost any culture with a variety of deities, you didn't have these clear-cut deities that were only about "one thing", or even about related multiple things in any way that made sense. A given deity could be the god of healing, music and the sun.  Another could be the god of storms, kings and taking oaths. A third could be goddess of warriors, knowledge, wisdom and legal documents.

You also had particular gods that were favoured by certain cities. And gods that belonged to a given tribe. And demigods that were just your family's. But you pretty much worshipped ALL the gods, whenever necessary.

So if I were to say how would I do pagan deities in a fantasy game, I'd say that I'd do it the way that Romans did: absolutely any fucking thing goes. There are thousands of gods, though many of them are pretty much considered to be different names for the same dude, and there are lots of regional variations. And you worshipped all these shitloads, at different times, even if there were some that you kept coming back to more often than others.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;350838Fuck "Pantheons". The whole idea of "pantheon" these days seems to do nothing but confuse modern gamers (at least those without religious-related advanced education) as to how religion actually worked back in pagan cultures.

For starters, in almost any culture with a variety of deities, you didn't have these clear-cut deities that were only about "one thing", or even about related multiple things in any way that made sense. A given deity could be the god of healing, music and the sun.  Another could be the god of storms, kings and taking oaths. A third could be goddess of warriors, knowledge, wisdom and legal documents.

You also had particular gods that were favoured by certain cities. And gods that belonged to a given tribe. And demigods that were just your family's. But you pretty much worshipped ALL the gods, whenever necessary.

So if I were to say how would I do pagan deities in a fantasy game, I'd say that I'd do it the way that Romans did: absolutely any fucking thing goes. There are thousands of gods, though many of them are pretty much considered to be different names for the same dude, and there are lots of regional variations. And you worshipped all these shitloads, at different times, even if there were some that you kept coming back to more often than others.

RPGPundit

Bingo. Earth.

-clash

Quote from: Hairfoot;350753Which real-world religious structure or pantheon of deities would you use for a world in a fantasy RPG campaign (assuming you had to choose)?

All of them. I'm very fond of the mesoamerican pantheons and the Mosopotamian pantheon for some reason. I like the more primal, dawn-of-time mythologies, myself.

If I were starting fresh, I'd probably go with something South Asian.

My current fantasy game has various godlings of mixed portfolios (some more themed than others), plus tutelary deities of cities, nations, and assorted 'small gods' -- all loosely aligned into several larger and smaller blocs (some having multiple memberships) which are on-again off-again rivals.

In other words, it's kinda like the UN, except with gods instead of nations, and appropriately-themed equivalents of NATO, the EU, the Soviet Bloc, the Unaligned Movement, and so forth.  All bound to one another via countless inexplicable treaties, of course.  Heaven is mostly paperwork.