How to Use Mythology to Pull Readers & Players into Your Lore | Worldbuilding

[@essneyallen6777]

My own setting literally started with me looking at the meager page for deity options in the 3.5 dnd player handbook and saying "this is bullshit, there's not even a smith god or a harvest goddess! This will not stand". I started with gameplay considerations about fun domain pairs, and 43 deities later I had an entire ages-spanning mythology with multiple pantheons and multiple culture worshipping them in different ways. I am pretty proud of the result!

[@WorldAnvil]

That's amazing!

[@johannageisel5390]

Wow! I like the gods in the German RPG system "Das Schwarze Auge". They have a pantheon of twelve gods for the humans, some of which are also being worshiped by non-human people under slightly different names and with slightly different attributes attached to them. But also among the humans these gods are worshiped in different ways. For example there is one region that does not worship all twelve, but rather worship the "sun god" as the good guy and believe the "god of death" is the bad guy. Even though both of these deities are equally worshiped in other regions. The creators of the system have put a lot of work into detailing these belief systems and giving them a history as convoluted as religion is in reality.

[@SecondhandWorldAnvil]

The Legend of the Algy-Rhythm was born... We serve him...

[@WorldAnvil]

All hail the Algy-Rhythm 🙌

[@DanielNicolato-qs3wt]

His ways are mysterious, but those who don’t seek his favors are doomed to oblivion

[@Crazylittlehobbit]

In my story there's Chul Cúainn, an aquatic deity from the north, he's responsible of those who suffer from artic madness. He's portrayed as a giant Hermit Crab that as large as an island.

[@e.christopherclark7367]

I love that you included #4. That’s so important to establishing diversity and a wide swath of fully developed peoples.

[@WorldAnvil]

Thanks - it really adds dimension to the setting.

[@ChrisLontok]

I love that this word, which I've never heard before, describes one of my favorite things! I LOVE making my own mythopoeia!

[@WorldAnvil]

It's so good!

[@GreyTailZA]

This video has me thinking about how I can weave older myths into my current world, along with new ones, as it is currently undergoing an apocalypse/disaster. I already have a few stories and myths and such, but now I want to make a bunch more for my players to discover as lost knowledge as they venture deeper into the ruins of the previous civilizations.

[@WorldAnvil]

An apocalypse is a great opportunity to create new myths about what came before, too.

[@vicsminiatures7949]

Just getting started with my world building. I've combined Native American/Norse folklore and legends to create my gods.

[@WorldAnvil]

Interesting!

[@christopherbjones4586]

I've got a... warning song? not so much a legend or myth but a 'don't go here or the Slayer will kill you' for one of my alien races; they view it as more of a boogie man nowadays but the fear of the Slayer is still very strong in their culture and one of the characters has this... spook whenever another character (who resembles the Slayer and is secretly the same race as it) walks out of the corner of his eye. i'm also working on general myths for a race with a reoccurring character who was a great leader/united the people sort of thing: how he removed a tyrant; how he saved the village; how he overcame challenges in the search for a wife... that sort of thing

[@WorldAnvil]

We love a musical myth! 🎶

[@josephyoung2593]

My world is designed around the idea of people constructing magic as an academic discipline by trying to make sense of ancient stories of monsters and miracles, so mythopoeia is pretty central to the effort. At the moment I'm exploring sailor's superstitions about merfolk.

[@WorldAnvil]

A subject with a lot of depth!

[@RyanNerdyGamer]

I’ve lost track of how many worlds I’ve created (triple figures at this point, no exaggeration), so it’d take more than a single KZbin comment to cover even the gist of the various mythos in each. My current “main” project is unifying all these settings under one streamlined umbrella, which has actually been a lot easier than I thought it’d be when starting this endeavour over three years ago. So now, they all have a shared “creation story,” with each reality built from variations of the same cosmic “software,” and run and maintained on the same metaphysical “hardware” and “operating system”.

[@WorldAnvil]

Oh, wow. That's a very sci-fi approach to a creation myth!

[@kaleidechse]

I've dabbled with this before, but haven't really made something that's tied to a particular story. Still, I've been thinking about making several myths that matter to the characters of my current project - like the legend of their culture's fabled ancestor, or a fairy tale that one character loved as a little kid. Thanks for giving me some hints how I can start with this!

[@WorldAnvil]

Super happy it's helpful!

[@fmbray_]

The dwarves! They all got sucked into the vacuum cleaner! 🤣😂

[@WorldAnvil]

It's a viable theory! Maybe!

[@DanielNicolato-qs3wt]

Sweet! I got a couple of mythical tales, plus some conflicting scholar’s views on the nature of the world. I plan to never even decide which ones are “true” or “closer to the truth” and leave it as open mysteries. Any thoughts on that?

[@WorldAnvil]

Absolutely - leave some room for the unknown!

[@d1j16]

Thank you! Now i have a better name for what had been called "Miscellaneous Historica"!

[@WorldAnvil]

Excellent!

[@guidoocchipinti8668]

Mithos + P-O-I-E-O ( same from withch come poetry ) , not P-I-O ( sorry, I spent my youth studying ancient greek at school, totally useles except to be pedant 😅)

[@WorldAnvil]

Janet speaks Greek (her husband Dimitris is Greek!) Kat (our content specialist/video editor) ... not so much. 😆

[@Kyleck0975]

I am hear

[@WorldAnvil]

Good to hear 👂