was looking at a list of RPG gods and thinking, this list is very like actual pagan gods. You have everything from deities that are next things to abstractions all the way to humans who've undergone apotheosis. So what was bugging me about it as a representation of paganism?
Maybe it was the myths. They were a bit thin (there's not that much scope in a rule book) and consistent, but after all it was a world where the gods could keep the stories straight. . . .
One big problem with clerics in D&D is their name. A cleric is a position in a church.
Now, it's possible that all adventuring clerics have a sinecure in the original sense -- "without cure." That is, a priest serving in a capacity that does not involve ministering to the faithful, with the sacraments. Obviously, this could be a very hard job, not the current sense. ( Read more... )
One of the advantages of keeping your metaphysics off stage is that it allows your characters to debate metaphysics without some of them looking like fools. But one of the disadvantages of that is that they need some metaphysics to argue. Which ought to harmonize with the religion as practiced.
The thing about superpowers is that it's hard to project them too far back in time unless you want to change the world. Alternate history is generally close enough to history that you can recognize it.
Ancient Mediterranean, mostly, medieval, and pop culture. But fascinating. Particularly the Practical Polytheism series, starting here, that starts with a gibe against D&D that I can only back up entirely.
Was pondering the history of the Gamelit priests of nature, whom a D&D world would play as druids, even if it did require substituting wild shape with other nature powers. (There's more of a continuum between them and the ordinary sorts of clerics than in the game.)
In both countries, it is well-known that it is forbidden to use divine magic when more mundane means suffice. You don't use create food when you can buy it from cook shops, or even farmers.