This last post in the Bring It series of reader requests comes from Twitter (my handle = @creepingdoom). [update: I got a request in the comments yesterday, so this is penultimate. I will take a short break from reader requests to get some ideas out of my system then we’ll get back to reader requests.]
All right, Daniel (may I call you Daniel?). I hope this is useful to you.
Random God Generator for Fantasy Campaigns
(also makes saints, bodhisattvas & demigods)
Nature of Being
First, if you haven’t decided what this being is, roll for nature
Roll 1d8 | Nature of Being |
1 | Saint |
2 | Avatar |
3 | Demigod |
4 | Reincarnated Emanation/Bodhisattva |
5 | Local Diety/Spirit |
6 | Titan/Being/Alien |
7 | Omnipotent/Omniscient |
8 | Personified Concept (no strictness or jealousy) |
Domain
Then, you can either skip ahead to roll the Deity’s purview or you can roll here for a domain.
Roll 1d10 | Deity’s Domain |
1 | Household |
2 | Household + roll again |
3 | Human Endeavors |
4 | Human Endeavers + roll again |
5 | Nature |
6 | Nature + roll again |
7 | Personal |
8 | Personal + roll again |
9 | Spirit |
10 | Spirit + roll again |
Deities in the personal domain are or were living beings who either were gods/demigods/avatars or they became them after death, coronation, etc. They might not have a particular purview or they might develop one after generations of worship.
Purview
Roll d100 for a totally random purview in any domain or if you already have a domain chosen, roll 1d20 and consult columns 2 and 3. Note that some purviews are opposite sides of a coin. You can choose, flip a coin or make the same god responsible for both sides of the coin (one might pray to the goddess of slavery for freedom, for example).
Roll d100 | Domain | Roll 1d5 for Domain then 1d20 for Purview | Purview |
1 | Household | 1 | Play |
2 | Household | 2 | Fertility/Harvest/Babies |
3 | Household | 3 | Health/Disease |
4 | Household | 4 | Hunt |
5 | Household | 5 | Hearth |
6 | Household | 6 | Doors/Household Safety |
7 | Household | 7 | Baking |
8 | Household | 8 | Wine/Beer |
9 | Household | 9 | Sewing/Weaving |
10 | Household | 10 | Wealth |
11 | Household | 11 | Household Item |
12 | Household | 12 | Food (particular) |
13 | Household | 13 | Important Commodity |
14 | Household | 14 | Male Virility |
15 | Household | 15 | Bridges/Gates/Crossing/Crossroads |
16 | Household | 16 | Fidelity/Adultery |
17 | Household | 17 | Animal Husbandry |
18 | Household | 18 | Gossip/Reputation |
19 | Household | 19 | Books/Scrolls |
20 | Household | 20 | Important Domestic Animal/Insect |
21 | Human Endeavors | 1 | Invention |
22 | Human Endeavors | 2 | War |
23 | Human Endeavors | 3 | Indulgence |
24 | Human Endeavors | 4 | Theft/Kidnapping |
25 | Human Endeavors | 5 | Travel/Hospitality to Strangers |
26 | Human Endeavors | 6 | Sailing |
27 | Human Endeavors | 7 | Building |
28 | Human Endeavors | 8 | Exploration/Adventure |
29 | Human Endeavors | 9 | Cannibalism |
30 | Human Endeavors | 10 | Honor/Justice/Vengeance |
31 | Human Endeavors | 11 | Trade/Commerce/Unexpected Windfalls |
32 | Human Endeavors | 12 | Slavery/Freedom |
33 | Human Endeavors | 13 | Learning/Ignorance |
34 | Human Endeavors | 14 | Hiding |
35 | Human Endeavors | 15 | Art/Poetry |
36 | Human Endeavors | 16 | Healing |
37 | Human Endeavors | 17 | Protector of Our People |
38 | Human Endeavors | 18 | Mining |
39 | Human Endeavors | 19 | Sport |
40 | Human Endeavors | 20 | Gambling |
41 | Nature | 1 | Animal |
42 | Nature | 2 | Mountains |
43 | Nature | 3 | Night |
44 | Nature | 4 | Oceans |
45 | Nature | 5 | Season (1d4: Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter) |
46 | Nature | 6 | Plants/Woods |
47 | Nature | 7 | Predominant Local Climate/Weather Type |
48 | Nature | 8 | Fresh Waters |
49 | Nature | 9 | Natural Disasters |
50 | Nature | 10 | Thunder / Storms /Monsoon Season |
51 | Nature | 11 | Death/Destruction |
52 | Nature | 12 | Sun |
53 | Nature | 13 | Moon |
54 | Nature | 14 | Planet/Stars |
55 | Nature | 15 | Air |
56 | Nature | 16 | Fire |
57 | Nature | 17 | Earth |
58 | Nature | 18 | Water (all) |
59 | Nature | 19 | Natural Beauty |
60 | Nature | 20 | Decay (and rebirth) |
61 | Personal | 1 | King/Pharoah/Emperor |
62 | Personal | 2 | Queen/Empress |
63 | Personal | 3 | Consort |
64 | Personal | 4 | Parent of (roll again) |
65 | Personal | 5 | Child |
66 | Personal | 6 | Aescetic/Hermit |
67 | Personal | 7 | Bastard |
68 | Personal | 8 | Hero |
69 | Personal | 9 | Villain |
70 | Personal | 10 | Monster |
71 | Personal | 11 | Traitorous Advisor |
72 | Personal | 12 | Criminal |
73 | Personal | 13 | Folk Hero |
74 | Personal | 14 | Wise man/Wizard |
75 | Personal | 15 | Brother/Sister |
76 | Personal | 16 | Twins |
77 | Personal | 17 | General |
78 | Personal | 18 | Physician |
79 | Personal | 19 | Martyr |
80 | Personal | 20 | Roll Twice |
81 | Spirit | 1 | Wisdom |
82 | Spirit | 2 | Compassion |
83 | Spirit | 3 | Tricks |
84 | Spirit | 4 | Protection from Spirits |
85 | Spirit | 5 | Miracles |
86 | Spirit | 6 | Afterlife |
87 | Spirit | 7 | Pre-life |
88 | Spirit | 8 | Karma |
89 | Spirit | 9 | Undead |
90 | Spirit | 10 | Laughter |
91 | Spirit | 11 | Song |
92 | Spirit | 12 | Love/Sex |
93 | Spirit | 13 | Destiny/Fate |
94 | Spirit | 14 | Dreams |
95 | Spirit | 15 | Fear/Bravery |
96 | Spirit | 16 | Greed/Generosity |
97 | Spirit | 17 | Jealousy/Equanimity |
98 | Spirit | 18 | Hate/Love (non-romantic) |
99 | Spirit | 19 | Abstinance/Indulgence |
100 | Spirit | 20 | Bardo (Trial grounds between lifetimes) |
Form
Roll 1d8 for appearance (if applicable). If you roll twice, combine the two (animal headed human, panther made of swords, whatever).
Roll 1d8 | Form |
1 | Human |
2 | Humanoid /Demihuman / Unusual Human |
3 | Animal |
4 | Object from Nature |
5 | Natural Process (wind, fire, etc.) |
6 | Man-made Object |
7 | Monster |
8 | Roll Twice |
Symbol
Roll 1d8 for a symbol. If you roll twice, there are more than one (cross and fish, tree and wheel, fire and winged man, etc.). Or combine those as well.
Roll 1d8 | Symbol |
1 | Weapon |
2 | Tool/Household Object |
3 | Animal |
4 | Manmade Symbol/Letter |
5 | Natural Object |
6 | Monster |
7 | Body Part |
8 | Roll Twice |
Colors
Every team needs a color or two. Roll 1d10.
Roll 1d10 | Color(s) |
1 | Red |
2 | Orange |
3 | Yellow |
4 | Green |
5 | Blue |
6 | Indigo |
7 | Violet |
8 | Black |
9 | White |
10 | Roll Twice: Mix or Pattern |
Offerings
This is what you have to bring to appease/propitiate the deity. Obviously roll again if the result doesn’t fit your campaign.
Roll 1d10 | Offerings |
1 | Animal Sacrifice |
2 | Plants |
3 | Humans |
4 | Money |
5 | Work |
6 | Art |
7 | Goods/Commodities |
8 | Food/Water/Drink |
9 | Fasting/Deprivation |
10 | Help Others |
Other Aspects
Roll 1d10 to determine other aspects of that deity on a scale of 1 to 10.
Strictness | 1 = Forgiving 10 = Unforgiving |
Jealousy | 1 = No Proselytizing 10 = Convert the World |
Opacity | 1 = No Revelations 10 = Many Scriptures |
Posse | 1 = Random Lone believers 10 = Ecclesiatical Hierarchy |
There you have it. As always, these tables are meant to inspire and you should feel free to pick and choose, ignore rolls or entire tables if you already have some ideas where you care going with this.
Any ideas for additions? Post them below.
I didn’t include an alignment table. That was by design. You should definitely decide that yourself. Me, I make all gods and devils lawful, period. Even ‘gods of chaos’. So if I have no plan, I can flip a coin between good and evil and I’m done.
I’m going to try to get this made into a nice PDF.
You have outdone yourself. Since casually telling my players they live in a land of 10’000 gods it’s been a game of How Many Gods Can The GM Make Before He Snaps. Thanks for the save.
Note: change #31 on the purviews table to commerce/unexpected windfalls.
@daniel, some cultures use large numbers to mean “more than worth counting”
That was generally how it’s been implied so far. I’ve always disliked the standard fantasy RPG’s adherence to sombre Judeo-Christian monotheistic religious systems, it’s just unrealistic and dull. We need more gods of kidnapping and cake!
I love these tables you’ve been coming up with.
Would it be too much to ask if we could get a table of tables so that it’s easier to look through all of the tables rather than have to scroll through your entire blog?
Hey,
I will try to put together some sort of index. In the meantime, you can click the TABLES link in the menu above to see all articles tagged TABLES.
-mgt
Thanks! I’m writing a book, and each race has a pantheon or two.
6 races, 8 pantheons! Should be 5-12 gods in each, so 40-96 gods unless shared gods in pantheons!
Yikes
Not to nitpick, but under the ‘Gods’ bit, in the purview section, you forgot ‘naughtiness’ in the human endeavors. I’ve always thought there’d ought to be a God of Naughtiness.
Perhaps. I think we have many kinds of naughtiness covered by Beer/Wine, Male Virility, Fidelity/Adultery and Indulgence, Tricks, Laughter, Love/Sex and Gambling. In general, I tried to avoid adjectives in favor of nouns and verbs, since things are activities can be interpreted many ways. If I did it over again, I’d work the fool/jester and the lothario into the personal domains.
I’m working on a book of comparative mythology with an eye toward use for worldbuilding, and I was wondering if you would mind if I included the tables here in an appendix because, well, RPGs: do we /need/ an excuse to include random tables?
Thank you for having this out there — it’s probably the most interesting table or generator for something of this sort I’ve seen, and while I mainly use it to create deities to play for forum games, it helps me come up with stuff that goes beyond your typical cliche’d pantheon.