Voodoo Pantheon

[Drakor]

hi, i just wanted to check before i start, if i were to write an article on the voodoo pantheon of gods, with maybe a couple of prestige classes and each gods neccessary information, what would be the chance that it would be published? do people like the idea?

[Calidore_Chase]

As long as it's well written, I'm sure I could apply it to some portion of my campaign.

[Drakor]

i'll do my best. i'll also try to stay away from the hollywood version and keep to the actual facts about the mythology.

[Absinth]

Voodoo sounds really cool.
But i'd prefer an article about voodoo-stuff in D&D campaigns in general with gods just as a side-aspect.
I'd be more interested in all these cruel and frightening rituals, cults, items and stuff.
Sure, this would all be related to the divine aspects of voodoo, but i don't really like a big focus on gods.
For example, i think that the article on mesopotamian myths was well written, but i found it a little boring, 'cause it just had the gods and very little on the worshippers, their practices and things like that.
I hope that this opinion helps you out...

[Drakor]

thanks fpor the feedback. i see you're point, absinth, and i think i will limit it to a short description of each god, ala PHB and then focus on the crunchy stuff (a couple of new feats and prestige classes and a few spells. maybe a monster as well)

i am also thinking of doing an article on finno-ugric and slavonic monsters and houshold divinities, but we'll see.

[Hal Maclean]

Great minds, great minds... :)

I was going to make my own pitch for a voodoo article once I got on top of some of the stuff that I've already got firm deadlines attached.

A couple of suggestions if you're interested.

(1) Voodoo cleric domains

(2) Zombie template (they're still alive right, just kind of "brain wrecked", sort of like the yellow musk creeper zombie in MM 2)

(3) Possession Feats (not exactly the right name but can't think of a better one right now) Voodoo rituals often involve making a person a vessel for one of the gods, endowing them with superhuman abilities themed on that god's portfolio, so why not offer up some feats for people who've gone through the ritual and kept some tiny portion of that divine energy?

(4) Character Tweaks-A quick sidebar where you offer up a bit of flavor for each of the core eleven classes (new names for class and/or abilities, maybe mention some ways to make them more suited to a voodoo campaign)

(5) A voodoo campaign (an obvious one I know): something for the DM, notes on how to create a campaign that uses voodoo elements.

I snooze, I lose... :)

Good luck!

[Drakor]

hey, nice ideas, i was thinking of calling the feats Loa-Ridden, make them a sort of feat tree, starting of low, like +1 bonuses, and building up to larger bonuses and resistances.
if you want, we could work on it together.i have been kind of stuck on where to start, so it might help. my e-mail is [e-mail], if you feel like it, let me know.

[JamalloKreen]

Drakor wrote:

i'll do my best. i'll also try to stay away from the hollywood version and keep to the actual facts about the mythology.

You're talking about a living religion practiced by millions of people of one sect or another, including Voodoo, Macumba, "Hoodoo" in the American South, Santeria (sort of), and several names in Africa. Its divided in the West Indies according to the regions of Africa from which the slaves originated (e.g. Congo, Igbo) or the name of the principal spirit of the rite (e.g. Petro) as well as Rado and other rites. Believers in Xristian mythology tend to name their cults after the founders of their sects: Lutherans, Calvinists, Jansenists, etc.

Unless you feel comfortable with DMs role-playing Jesus and Mary (or Mohammad or Buddha or Indra or Mani, for that matter), it is usually advisable to steer clear of REAL religions. If one of your players wants to slay Maître Carrefour or Ezili Je-Rouge, I want the chance to have my characters slay the Virgin Mary or Francis of Assissi! If the gods of Voodoo are mythical, than so are the gods of Xristianity. TSR decided long ago that the religious beliefs of a billion and a half Asians and Native Americans were to take second-place to game dynamics, so you would be in good company. Just don't complain when someone plays fast and loose with figures from whatever mythology you believe in.

[Erik Mona]

First things first, if there's one thing that gamers ought to be able to agree on it's that the world is more interesting when it's full of myths and gods of all descriptions. That world history doubles as a sort of "in a pinch" Deities & Demigods is a boon to our creativity and an inspiration to our campaigns.

The more gods the better.

That said, I am interested in the idea of a pantheon based loosely upon Voodoo beliefs, but I'm sensitive to the delicacies of decorum when it comes to quantifying in game terms something that a lot of people believe is real.

The better approach, I think, would be to use the real world as inspiration for a completely new culture and pantheon based loosely on Voodoo trappings in the same way St. Cuthbert is based on European Christianity in the "D&D Era" and is in fact named after an actual saint.

A certain amount of cultural riffing has got to be allowable, right?

In any event, that's how I'd build the culture and religion. If people want to research the actual real world religion for inspiration or just for the hell of it, they might do so via a bibliography in a sidebar or something.

Now, as to whether or not that's enough to hang an article on. . . I think I need a little more convincing.

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon