All the myths are true

[Heliomance]

I'm working on a campaign setting which is something of a mashup of WoD, D&D 3.5, and d20 Modern. Essentially, it's going to be a modern day setting where All Myths Are True. Unfortunately, I don't know nearly as much mythology as I'd like, so I've come here for suggestions. Everyone knows the Greco-Roman myths, most people know at least some Norse and knowledge about the Egyptian mythos isn't uncommon, especially with Stargate. I'd like to know about some of the more obscure ones. Does anyone have any good (free) sources on Aborigine, Native American, Celtic (especially the proper faerie tales) mythology, the Abrahamic stuff that's not in the Bible, and anything else you guys think would be interesting? Also, ideas for monsters and such that fit into each. Thanks!

[Greenish]

The mythos! (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/)

[Megaduck]

Go grab the Nobleis source book? That gets the All myths are true down pretty well.

[kamikasei]

You might take a look at this (http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/American+Gods/in/183/) - a partial bibliography from Neil Gaiman, who's written a few of these kinds of settings - and see if any of them can be found in a library near you.

As far as omissions, East Asian material in general stands out to me as absent from your list. Eastern European might also be interesting.

[Beelzebub1111]

Isn't that the concept of Scion?

(My favorites are the American Mythos, Uncle Sam, Br'er Rabbit, Lady Liberty, etc.)

[KurtKatze]

I don't know if that helps but there is a CoC adventure based on the fairy Tales of the Grimm Brothers (Gebrüder Grimm) with some creativity form your side you can turn the fairytales in something that suits your campaign.

They are quite bloodthirsty as they are anyway so it shouldn't be too much work.

[Terraoblivion]

Play a Shin Megami Tensei game and research any demons in it that you find interesting. That should give you material for years and years of gaming. It allows you to have Jack Frost (heeho) team up with Susano-o in order to beat up Tezcatlipoca and who wouldn't find that awesome?

[Serpentine]

I do recommend looking into Australian aboriginal stories. Just the Dreaming in general could be a good start. Also Rainbow Serpent, Myndie Snake, Yowie, Bunyip and the like.

Here (http://www.crystalinks.com/dreamtime.html) are (http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_mythology/index1.htm) some (http://www.sacred-texts.com/aus/mla/index.htm) links (http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/oceania/aboriginal/).

[kamikasei]

It allows you to have Jack Frost (heeho) team up with Susano-o in order to beat up Tezcatlipoca and who wouldn't find that awesome?

At a guess, Tezcatlipoca.

OP: depending on how and why all myths are true, it could be interesting to include modern and meta-myths: the Silmarillion, urban legends, memetic badasses...

[Heliomance]

Isn't that the concept of Scion?

(My favorites are the American Mythos, Uncle Sam, Br'er Rabbit, Lady Liberty, etc.)



More or less, though they won't be playing children of gods

[Prime32]

Play a Shin Megami Tensei game and research any demons in it that you find interesting. That should give you material for years and years of gaming. It allows you to have Jack Frost (heeho) team up with Susano-o in order to beat up Tezcatlipoca and who wouldn't find that awesome?Isn't Susanoo usually overpowered whenever he shows up for some reason?

[Eldan]

Didn't Lucifer kill him in the comics? Or was that one of his brothers? Anyway, he showed up there.

[Terraoblivion]

Not really, Prime. He's good in Persona 3, but not one of the best personas around and in Persona 4 he is Yosuke's upgraded persona, which means he pretty much has to be roughly on par with the rest of the upgraded ones.

The ones who are overpowered are Lucifer, Satan (not the same being in this series), Metatron and Nyarlathotep, though the latter is only in the first two Persona games.

For specifically Japanese myths, Okami is a good place to look too. If any of the characters or events there interests you, then just research them further.

Otherwise, start out in wikipedia, find out the basics about the various mythological figures and then follow the references to something more elaborate. Wikipedia is surprisingly good for these things, actually.

[jamroar]

I'm working on a campaign setting which is something of a mashup of WoD, D&D 3.5, and d20 Modern. Essentially, it's going to be a modern day setting where All Myths Are True. Unfortunately, I don't know nearly as much mythology as I'd like, so I've come here for suggestions. Everyone knows the Greco-Roman myths, most people know at least some Norse and knowledge about the Egyptian mythos isn't uncommon, especially with Stargate. I'd like to know about some of the more obscure ones. Does anyone have any good (free) sources on Aborigine, Native American, Celtic (especially the proper faerie tales) mythology, the Abrahamic stuff that's not in the Bible, and anything else you guys think would be interesting? Also, ideas for monsters and such that fit into each. Thanks!

This has a nice index of world mythology.
http://www.godchecker.com/

[kamikasei]

Didn't Lucifer kill him in the comics? Or was that one of his brothers? Anyway, he showed up there.

Sandman and Lucifer are good examples of this kind of setting, yeah.

On that specific question:
Lucifer kills Kagutsuchi and, indirectly, Tsuki-yomi, Susano-o's brothers. Suasno-o dies later when Mazikeen chucks him in to a volcano.

[Thinker]

I'm working on a campaign setting which is something of a mashup of WoD, D&D 3.5, and d20 Modern. Essentially, it's going to be a modern day setting where All Myths Are True. Unfortunately, I don't know nearly as much mythology as I'd like, so I've come here for suggestions. Everyone knows the Greco-Roman myths, most people know at least some Norse and knowledge about the Egyptian mythos isn't uncommon, especially with Stargate. I'd like to know about some of the more obscure ones. Does anyone have any good (free) sources on Aborigine, Native American, Celtic (especially the proper faerie tales) mythology, the Abrahamic stuff that's not in the Bible, and anything else you guys think would be interesting? Also, ideas for monsters and such that fit into each. Thanks!

Are you interested in only the gods being true or are you interested in the religions being true? How the divine act is different across cultures. Also, what areas of influence does each religion hold in the modern days?

Anyway, here are some resources:


Slavic (http://www.winterscapes.com/slavic.htm)
Vedic (http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.mahabcomm.htm)
Incan (http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ho-Iv/Inca-Mythology.html)
Finnish (http://molly.kalafut.org/mythology/Finnish/finnish.html)
Semtic (http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Sa-Sp/Semitic-Mythology.html)



I hope this helps.

[Prime32]

Not really, Prime. He's good in Persona 3, but not one of the best personas around and in Persona 4 he is Yosuke's upgraded persona, which means he pretty much has to be roughly on par with the rest of the upgraded ones.I was referring to his appearances in general. One of the most blatant is Digimon Frontier, where one protagonist's first form is Agni (Hindu god of fire), and the ridiculously powerful fusion of everyones' final forms is Susanoo.

Then there's Hakumen in BlazBlue (who, IIRC, only two characters were actually able to defeat, even when he was at 20% power) and the indestructible shield-skeleton-tengu-Raideen thing in Naruto.

[Heliomance]

Are you interested in only the gods being true or are you interested in the religions being true? How the divine act is different across cultures. Also, what areas of influence does each religion hold in the modern days?


Not quite sure what you mean by your first question. Despite the fact that all myths are true, the populace at large doesn't know this. Only people actively involved in the supernatural scene know it exists.

As for regions of influence, I'm going to go with if a god has a reason to show he, he shows up. So far I've run a one-shot which had Loki turning up in England and encouraging demon summoners because he was bored.

[Thinker]

Not quite sure what you mean by your first question. Despite the fact that all myths are true, the populace at large doesn't know this. Only people actively involved in the supernatural scene know it exists.

As for regions of influence, I'm going to go with if a god has a reason to show he, he shows up. So far I've run a one-shot which had Loki turning up in England and encouraging demon summoners because he was bored.

What I was really getting at, was whether or not the whole body of mythology was true. For example, do the Mesoamerican gods actively need nourishment of some form by mortals (even if not by way of actual human sacrifice)? Are you projecting modern ideals and personalities on the divine creatures? Are you really only interested in the gods and not other spirits, rituals, holidays, etc.?

[Heliomance]

TBH, I think I'll go with whatever's most useful to the plot on that front. But yes, I'll probably include quite a few things like that.

[Greenish]

If you use a part of a mythology, you have to use the whole mythology. That's RAW, rawr! If you have Loki, the world must be made of parts of dead giant!


:smallwink:

[Edit]:
Anyway, here are some resources:


Slavic (http://www.winterscapes.com/slavic.htm)
Vedic (http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.mahabcomm.htm)
Incan (http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ho-Iv/Inca-Mythology.html)
Finnish (http://molly.kalafut.org/mythology/Finnish/finnish.html)
Semtic (http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Sa-Sp/Semitic-Mythology.html)

Hehe, the one about Finnish mythology reminds me of the Monty Pyton song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN2ZJBh92SM). "Your mountains so lofty, your treetops so high…"

[Heliomance]

Ah, but if you're using all the mythologies, what do you do about the mutually contradictory parts?

[Caliphbubba]

I don't know how this will really help you, but

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemyst:_The_Secrets_of_the_Immortal_Nichola s_Flamel

that is a series of books that is in the same vein of "all the myths are true"


good luck with this! sounds very cool.

[Thinker]

Ah, but if you're using all the mythologies, what do you do about the mutually contradictory parts?

Weave a larger story that incorporates parts from all of them or interpret them differently.

[Fayd]

The only problem I see with this concept is that you'll have to outline particular events with only one true version... most notably Creation itself. Every mythos has some creation myth and a lot of them tend to be mutually exclusive. Now: I'm pretty sure you can do it. Just keep in mind that you'll have to keep on the lookout for these mutually exclusive cases (Hindu/Eastern and Judeo-Christianity worldview, for example: A world continually dying and being reborn vs. a world that is made once... and will end once.)

Once you work out the mutually exclusive cases though, it should be a very good setting! Good luck! ...Unfortunately, I really don't have a lot of resources for you to look at. Sorry!

EDIT: And slightly ninja'd. Oh well.

[The-Mage-King]

Ur (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IncrediblyLamePun)... I suggest using Assyro-Babylonian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_religion) mythology as part of this.

[Master_Rahl22]

The book Pyramid Scheme (http://www.webscription.net/chapters/067131839X/067131839X.htm?blurb) by David Freer and Eric Flint was very much like what you're talking about. People get transported to a dimension where myths are true. It's lots of fun and it's interesting to see the interactions of the various mythologies, although it's primarily concerned with Greek and Egyptian.

[Megaduck]

The book Pyramid Scheme (http://www.webscription.net/chapters/067131839X/067131839X.htm?blurb) by David Freer and Eric Flint was very much like what you're talking about. People get transported to a dimension where myths are true. It's lots of fun and it's interesting to see the interactions of the various mythologies, although it's primarily concerned with Greek and Egyptian.

Sample version is good full version (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/067131839X/067131839X.htm) is better. :)

It's part of the Baen Free Library.

[Fax Celestis]

Take a look at Grimm d20 (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9927.phtml), a great game that I believe Yuki_Akuma introduced me to.

[The Rose Dragon]

Take a look at Grimm d20 (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9927.phtml), a great game that I believe Yuki_Akuma introduced me to.

Or the non-d20 version, known only as Grimm (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=65325).

[Shademan]

as great as comics are, don't take any FACTS from them before you have double checked it. I dunno how many people are utterly convinced Loki was chaotic evil bastard and Thor's BROTHER because of marvel.
(hint: he was neither!)

[Heliomance]

Well, he was a chaotic evil bastard in the later myths, starting with the murder of Baldr. Before that, he was generally a (mostly) harmless prankster. Afterwards, he was pretty much as evil as they come.

[The Rose Dragon]

as great as comics are, don't take any FACTS from them before you have double checked it. I dunno how many people are utterly convinced Loki was chaotic evil bastard and Thor's BROTHER because of marvel.
(hint: he was neither!)

He was pretty chaotic evil, to be fair. He was more chaotic than evil, but he was largely in a pantheon that had no true "good" gods and was morally questionable even among them.

[Jorda75]

Someone above mentioned Neil Gaiman before and I highly reccomend all of his work as well, especially the dark and mesmerizing American Gods.

[Shademan]

he was mostly a prankster who went a little to far sometimes. but he mostly made up for it.
In the end, he was a Jotun (giant) and sided with them in Ragnarok because blood is thicker than water.
but ask yourself, how much of it is demonisation by the church do you think?

[Greenish]

Someone above mentioned Neil Gaiman before and I highly reccomend all of his work as well, especially the dark and mesmerizing American Gods.Or Ananzi boys for a look into trickster types.