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Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes


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Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes

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I am looking at a copy of Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes, 7th printing from 1979.

Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes is a supplementary rulebook for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was published by TSR, Inc. in 1976 for the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and bears the designation "Supplement IV", following the first three supplements, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, and Eldritch Wizardry.

The 72-page book provided the initial framework for the incorporation of godlike beings into D&D gameplay.[2] In later editions of the game, the Deities and Demigods sourcebook superseded this volume, building upon the gameplay structures first introduced in Gods, Demi-gods, and Heroes.

The work provides information on the pantheons and constructs of Egyptian mythology, the "Gods of India", Greek mythology, Celtic mythos, the Norse gods, Finnish gods and heroes, Robert E. Howard's Hyborea, Melnibonéan Mythos (from Michael Moorcock's Elric novels), and various "Eastern Mythos." The book was intended to adapt these various constructs for D&D gameplay, and is therefore not a general reference source regarding the underlying mythos.

I am looking at it because I have it sitting next to the 4th edition rules. Missing are the boxes of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 3.5 edition rules. Not really missing, they are sitting in the attic. I never know when I might need to look up some trap or item or monster or adventure. Hope springs eternal. I have a separate box, not so much a box as a storage container for clothes, completely filled with notes and old characters and campaigns started and enjoyed (or not) for weeks or years.

I think all those books could probably have been a car instead, if I had saved the money. And the time, endless days, literally endless days as night became morning became night again without ever seeing the sun … I probably could have … wound up where I am now with fewer pleasant memories. I don't regret the money or time at all.

I am saddened by the lack of time now. My friends, none of them are available at the same time. We can all get together once every couple of months, with wives and kids (for those who have them) in tow. Great get togethers but not roleplaying time. Except I play an elven rogue husband with the power to cloud minds and disappear. Not always successfully.

I have been playing roleplaying games since 1977. Not just D&D, not just on paper. I played Wizardry on the Apple II and The Bard's Tale on my Commodore 64. I jumped to console games and MMORPGs. I play D&D Online with my son. My wife plays them when we find a good co-op two-player for the Xbox. She is waiting for Fable III and Hunted: The Demon's Forge . But the electronic ones lack a certain soul. They can't react, yet, to the unexpected. Maybe they never will be able to.

Because I am looking at a copy of Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes, I go up to the attic. I start rummaging through the books. Then I grab the Oriental Adventures and dive in. I never know when everyone might find the time again. I could run a one off.

What RPG book makes you nostalgic, makes you want to start a game right now?

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Battletech.

I loved the old RPG game, and the tabletop even more. It was great that you could have the standard RPG and then it moved seamlessly into the old hex grid Classic game. I played off and on for years, most actively up in Missouri, but they fed my love of the game, and if someone wanted to start one up TT near me I'd take off work to play.

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Villains & Vigilantes, Top Secret, and Star Frontiers

Of the three, Star Frontiers probably was my favorite. They seem pretty primitive compared to RPGs today, but I devoured every word, and my friends and I would play them to death.

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Dark Tower by Judges Guild. It was a supplement for D&D way back around 1980 or so, but it was one of the best modules I've played for a store bought. For it's time it was very interesting and well done.

I always get nostalgic when I look at it.

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Yep, the original version is the one. It was probably the first big module I ever ran. For the time it was definitely one of the better ones out. It was large, a had decent story. It also wasn't just hack and slash, the players were trying to solve a bit of a mystery.

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The tweener in me still misses Robotech, Palladium Fantasy RPG and Rifts (I know, I know!), but that was my gateway drug into this hobby. In particular, I miss the diabolist class in Palladium FRPG. Required planning and forethought, but could be a lot of fun, especially from the ST point of view. I still have some old character sheets with background on them, and every once in a while I look at them: they remind me how geeky, earnest, and innocent I was.

In my university days, it was Trinity. I still love that game, even though I hardly got to play it. I ate up all the in-character colour sections, and while I don't 100% love the way the orders were written, I loved that the setting could encompass almost any kind of game and any kind of genre. (That flexibility might have been what kept it from being bigger than it was, but that's a topic for another post.) I also loved that it was filled with some sort of optimism about the future, when the oWoD, fine as it was, just seemed to focus on the negative, and D&D 2nd Ed. seemed to focus on combat; something that was more noticeable with each class book (poor warriors, getting the first class book), and then races.

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There was an OWoD Vampire game. It was with my two roommates and started because Jess started waxing on about having a Vampire game. Then Rodney started talking how much fun it'd be and they'd half-built their characters before I asked, "And uh... who's running this?" They got idenitical expressions of pity on their faces and said, "Please?" in unison. I had two Gangrels in a political game... and kept them entertained throughout.

I also loved a long term D&D 3rd game I ran. Lots of good players, great characters - two orcs, two halflings and a gnome. Fun, fun. laugh First time a game ever drove me to drink though. :P

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That reminds me. One of the most fun games I was in was an OWoD Vamp game in which the group played our real life selves as we would be if turned into vampires. Half the fun was sitting around the table justifying to the group why I deserved a 4 dex, (the highest stat in the group) at the time I could ride a unicycle and juggle at the same time. But talk about realistic starting characters... smile My 4 was the only 4 dot on any sheet in the game. It was a lot of geektastic fun.

Another fun game was the first Abby game I ever ran. The players all left it up to me what powers they would get. They enjoyed the christmas morning feeling when their eruptions happened and as they discovered their powers.

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Our MW/BT game was great.... My main line was generally "...and i walked away from it, in my Crusader." which was the lightest machine of those piloted by PC's. it wasn't the best mech but I took it into the worst situations and walked away every time, I was so proud made a second charcter to pilot something else, so I didn't have to give it up.

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I would have to say Hollow Earth...probably because it was my first D&D TT game, (I had long since been abusing the likes of Dungeon Master and the original FF)

It was just me and my best friend, who was DMing that mess. I ran that character for years and years and years. Eventually he ended up being around level 12 and a Paladin, though I never found nor defeated the lich, Xanthax that was the source of all evil in the game.

A side note, my DM got really bored one weekend, so my character hit some kind of magic spell trap that teleported me to the first level of Doom (as in the computer game that was very popular at he time) and I had to survive my way through the levels. I, of course, did not, and every time I died, he would send me back to the beginning of the level w/o any equipment. That was the beginning of me becoming a paladin. At that first death, (I tried turning the mobs) I lost my holy symbol, staff of striking, and pretty much anything that could be deemed useful.

On the plus side, I finally finished the 'mini-quest' after the first 3 maps. I took away a shaken sense of faith, a little bloodlust, a fully operational chainsaw, and a shotgun. Eventually I ran out of ammo for the shotgun, but as in Doom, the chainsaw never ran out of gas. If I remember right, it did something disgusting like 12d4 points of damage, but it gave me a terrible modifier to my own Thaco.

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If I remember right, I explained it to myself that I had been teleported to some plane of evil. Definitely the most memorable moment of that campaign. I ended up with quite the notoriety for having that chainsaw. Also, very difficult to stay clean, as the god I was following required white garments. I spent a lot of money at tailors.

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