The Pamphlet of Pantheons
A downloadable book
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Fantasy Gods Made Easy
The gods, spirits and religions of a fantasy world should be a vital and exciting part of its culture. But how do you create a pantheon that feels rich and real without having to do a lot of time-consuming prep work?
The Pamphlet of Pantheons is the lazy GM's solution to this problem: a workbook zine that helps you create a pantheon for your fantasy RPGs, focusing on the bits of the iceberg above the water -- the bits that your players are going to interact with.
The Pamphlet contains 16 major Divine Archetypes for you to choose from, each with customisation tables to give the gods more character, plus tables and lists to generate gods with multiple divine roles, minor deities, temple features, rituals, and more. Go through the simple step-by-step creation process or just use the book to inspire your own creations. The goal of the Pamphlet is to make creating fantasy religions simple and enjoyable.
Purchase
In order to download this book you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.25 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community digital copies
Support this book at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community copy
If you're in need and would like a digital copy of the pamphlet but can't afford it, please take a community copy. I will start these off with a pool of a few dozen to see how it goes. I'll add a new copy to the community pool every time I sell a digital copy (and honestly if I run out too quickly I'll just throw some more in).
Comments
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Hello, I got a question about the order of operations on page 1. The 'complications' and 'aesthetic' tables - which of the tables are they? Let's say I pick the Arrayer of Armies - is the table right beneath his title the first table of complications? Is the aesthetics table on page 12? Where is the second table of complications?
If you would ever make an update to the pdf, may I ask you to put page references next to the key points, like: "aesthetic table (page .....)?
Yes, this is very confusing and I would do it differently if I did it today. You're right that the first complications table is the one right under the archetype itself. Aesthetics is "Look and Feel" on p. 12. Secondary attributes refers to Bestow the Crown on p. 13.
In essence, I wrote the intro, then changed the names of half the tables and never rewrote the intro!
That's definitely something to take into consideration when I do a revised and expanded version of the zine -- which is something I've been discussing with collaborators, maybe as a 2025 project. We shall see.
Thank you!
this was a great purchase, so far I’ve created3 gods of 12 this has been useful for creating I highly suggest you to purchase this you won’t regret
Thank you for the kind words; I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Thank you so much for the community copy. I've been interested in making a proper pantheon for my campaign coming up but didn't really know how to start. This is such a big help <3
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
thank you for the community copy :3
I hope you enjoy it!
I am so sorry but can you please restock the community copies? im sorry if this is annoying since i see that you often get comments like these but im a broke-ass high schooler id love to support you if i could
No problem -- they've been overdue for a restock, but I let it slip my mind while I was on vacation. And don't worry about it -- that's what they're for, after all! I hope you find it useful. And if you enjoy it and feel like supporting me, you could always leave a rating or review.
Hey, could you restock the Community copies? Thanks so much
Absolutely! I'll try to do it Monday, when I make some other updates I need to make.
Thanks a lot!
Now restocked!
Hola! Queria dejar un mensaje diciendo que recibí una copia de la comunidad!! :D como estudiante en argentina se me hace dificil enviar dinero al extranjero o usar dolares debido a la economia del pais, pero empecé a jugar dnd con mi hermano menor y este material traerá alegria a la mesa. Muchas gracias! Abrazos
Gracias por sus palabras amables! Proveo las copias de la comunidad exactamente para situaciones como la suya. A mí me encantan los juegos, y es frustrante que no están igualmente disponible para todos. Espero que lo disfrute!
(Disculpe mi español terible. Estoy principiante.)
Hello! I just wanted to say how grateful i am for being able to have a copy thanx to the Community copies. I am an aspiring DM who's going to college soon and as much as i hate not being able to at least tip you for your work, i cant right now. I do hope to be able to support you in the future! Thank you so much!!
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
In fact, thanks to your message, I was reminded to check whether the community copies had run out again and, seeing that they had, I have restocked them.
Hi James!
Will Guide to Grunts be available on itch once you’ve finished working on it?
Definitely!
And it's pretty close to being done; the prerelease PDF goes out to backers today. It's going to be a little late, which is frustrating to me, but not too late.
That’s great to hear. Excited for when the final version goes on itch 👀. Thanks!
I'm happy to say that The Guide to Grunts is now available on Itch!
https://james-holloway.itch.io/the-guide-to-grunts
I saw! I got it the first day. Thanks for putting it on itch!
I would like to take a while to say thank you for stocking the community copies! They have been massively helpful, hope it's not too much of a bother!
Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Hey, could you restock the Community Copies? I saw a little sneak peak from Map Crow's video but I don't have the funds to purchase it.
Didn't realise they were out! I will restock as soon as I get a chance.
OK, that's done now!
Thank you!
I'd like to thank you and the community that made it possible to get this community copy. It has brought so much life to our sessions!
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
I can't get the community copy for some reason. The popup says I have to pay at least $4.25 even though it's the community copy I go to "buy".
Edit: Ah never mind lol, figured it out. Didn't see the "take me to downloads", where it says to just claim one. Thank you so much for the free option! $4.25 would have been hefty on my budget.
I'm glad you were able to download in the end! And no worries; that's the community copies are there for!
Thanks so much for making community copies available! Normally resources like this would be completely out of the question, but this has really improved my campaign and even inspired me to do more worldbuilding, which my players love!
Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful.
What's a community copy?
A community copy is a free copy of the book (digitally) for people who would like to read it but don't have the money to spare.
Clear. I probably should have been able to figure that out, but it was early in the morning. Bought it today, heard about it on Cerebrevore. I've got it printed out and spine binded. Looks like it's going to be really helpful.
Hi! Could you again restock the community copies? I wish I could support you, but I am a student in a country with a really bad currency. And it would be nice if I could access this, as it looks really nice!
Thanks for the reminder! I will do it as soon as I get a chance. Check back again tomorrow!
Would the community copies ever be available again?
I just keep not noticing when they run out. I will restock today.
OK, they should now be available! Let me know if you can't see them.
Are community copies going to be available again?
Oh, good idea! I forgot to restock them, but I definitely will.
Thanks!
Should be up now! Let me know if you can't see them.
Very cool. Time to flesh out my (completely NSFW) game.
What strikes me as a bit odd is the lack of a "female" goddess (love, fertility, beauty etc) like Aphrodite, Freya and more.
very fun panphlet. the pantheon I'm rolling right now is almost exclusively of gods that should be outsiders.
Sorry to bother you, but upon re-reading the initial page (the "How to" section), you say "Bestow secondary attributes. Using the secondary attributes table"...maybe I'm blind, but where is the secondary attributes table? :S
Oh, sorry! Yeah, that's unclear. It's referring to the Bestow the Crown section on p. 13.
This is amazing! I too find this through MapCrow, and I'm loving it! I have a question: How so there's no Archetype relating to "crafting/building" (from art to architecture, from smithing to engineering)? Just curiosity :3
I definitely considered it; there were early lists that were much longer, before I figured out the page count, how long each archetype would be, and so on. In the end I think that archetype basically got rolled into Fire Bringer, who is more of a Prometheus than a Hephaestus, but was the closest thing.
Incredible! I found this via MapCrow on youtube, and this pamphlet is seriously inspiring some fun writing :) thanks so much!
I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm a big fan of his work as well.
terrific! thank you for this!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Pretty good! All the traits and such were very flavorful.
Just finished up using it for the first time! What a real joy to use!
Looks awesome :3
Would a single-page pdf be possible in the future?
I also prefer a one-page-per-page PDF format. This looks like a great resource, and I'm looking forward to putting it into action!
I think I can do that! I will try to get one up over the weekend.
Thank you kindly! :3
And it's done! I also added a separate pantheon sheet.
Thank you!