The Desolation of Dragons, Etc.

[Scott]

I always liked the idea that powerful being could have an impact on the world around them. The presence of powerful elves keeps a forest enchanted, or Smaug keeping a mountain and the lands around a corrupt and desolate. I love the desolation, the steam and vapors, the dragon stench, etc.
EGG once sent me a chart he had that had domain rules for divine beings. There weee a number of rankings from quasi deity to greater gods, and based on their power it listed what the size of their domain would be, the area where they could influence the nature of the land. I don’t remember if this was from a published work, or if it was something he was still working on.
I like the idea of extending these rules to some powerful monsters as well. Beings with magical or supernatural natures. It’s kind of like a natural, customized Guards and Wards effect. I could imagine it being scalable from something as lowly as a eight, up to a Smaug like dragon. Power and length of time in the location would be factors. In the case of wights you can sometimes already see it in many cases, it’s oppressively dark, cold, etc. in the case of a wight it would be limited to the chamber the wight lairs in. On the other end you have the desolation of Smaug.

[GRWelsh]

I like this idea, and it ties in with the “evil areas” as described in the DMG where it is more difficult to turn undead depending on the strength of the evil present. It also may tie in with the ley lines or power points from the Gord books, and Stonehenge-like stone circles. In the past year I had a wight lair that had a charnel smell that could affect those who got near as well as -1 penalty to turn undead as a special area effect.

[geneweigel]

I thought that rang a bell. There was supposed to an be appendix for his "Lejendary Pantheons™ BOOK OF MYTHICAL KNOWLEDGE" that implies something like that (A & B):

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEITAL STATISTICS GUIDELINES
DEITIES MANIFESTING IN THE MATERIAL DIMENSIONS
Extraordinary Ability Order Related Manifestations
What a Deity Will Do
Deity vs. Deity
PROPITIATION AND VOTIVE SUMMONING MATERIALS OF THE ECCLESIASTIC ORDER
OTHER DIMENSIONAL MATRICES
MAJOR PANTHEONS & SYMBOLS
Danneen Family of Deities—A harp
Karnecian Family of Deities—A bull’s head
Khemitic Family of Deities—An ankh
Marazdian Family of Deities—A winged star of six points
Maztacian Family of Deities—A winged, feathered snake
Nopponic Family of Deities—A chrysanthemum
Olympian Family of Deities—A laurel wreath around a lightning bolt
Otamask Family of Deities—A eagle rising from flames
Payliconain Family of Deities—A rayed sun
Suakadian Family of Deities—A three-tiered ziggurat
Sungkinese Family of Deities—A dragon & phoenix
Tenoric Family of Deities—A raven with a thunderbolt in its claws
Urfinic Family of Deities—A kanteel (lyre)
Vedsudic Family of Deities—A fire wheel
LESSER PANTHEONS & SYMBOLS
Lyrdian Family of Deities—A scallop shell
Manitoian Family of Deities—A thunderbird
Neyanic Family of Deities—A jaguar’s head
Tengralic Family of Deities—A septacal (seven-pointed star in outline)
Vubenic Family of Deities—A palm leaf
Yattemic Family of Deities—A star fish
APPENDICES
A. The Environments of the Deities
B. The Environments of the Temples
C. Deity Classification
D. The Lunar Calendar

However, that was a hostile working environment. I always joke that I couldn't do "D&D Hawaii" but just too much drama (Its coming! ). And I didn't want to make things worse for Gary.

[geneweigel]

I only have the intro with warnings all over saying "proprietary".

[Scott]

I found the email from Gary and it was for Lejendary Pantheons. It’s an old Word file that I currently cannot open, but in the email Gary states:
“With tham might be a side note that the term deities includes deified heroes, quasi-deities, demi-gods and the supernatural demons, devils, fiends, monsters, and serpents dealt with in most mythologies.“
So i might already have a framework if I can get the file open.

[Scott]

Man, looking through some of those old emails can be depressing. Here’s an email about a Castle Zagyg expansion adventure Gary was working on:
“I am currently developing the Twelve Hours of Darkness, Egyptian Underworld premise and bible material for levels 12 and up. It is a 12-map adventure that will take a considerable amount of creative development to do justice to the premise of traveling through the realm of the dead just as Ra does each night.

Come on back:)

Cheers,
Gary“