Monster Mythology
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| Author | Carl Sargent |
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| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Publisher | TSR |
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Publication date
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May 1992 |
Monster Mythology is a sourcebook for the second edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Released by TSR in 1992 and written by Carl Sargent, with interior illustrations by Terry Dykstra, John and Laura Lakey, and Keith Parkinson, Monster Mythology was released as a companion volume for Legends & Lore. This book contains detailed information on the societies, cultures, myths, and deities of several non-human pantheons, including those of the elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, goblins, dragons, giants, drow, and many other creatures.
The book begins with a 12-page introduction, on pages 4–15. It describes the fact that this book follows a similar format to 2nd edition Legends and Lore, except that while that book dealt with nine historical and two fictional human cultures, Monster Mythology deals with nonhuman pantheons. Unlike the culture-specific gods in Legends and Lore, the gods in this book are for any campaign setting. Approximately 26 of the deities found in Monster Mythology were previously found in the first edition Deities and Demigods book, while the majority did not.
The introduction has several sections after the lead. Running Divine Beings provides notes for the Dungeon Master on how and when deities interact with the world and their followers. Deities and the Campaign describes the place of deities within a campaign. Divine Abilities details the abilities that all deities have in common, as well as those of the four tiers of power: Greater God, Intermediate God, Lesser God, and Demigod. This section also describes how many avatars (manifestations of the deity upon the Prime Material Plane a god of a certain power level may have, and how many spells and special powers a god can grant followers based on power level. Nonhuman Deities as Archetypal Powers describes how the deities in the book are archetypal (as opposed to the ones in Legends and Lore which do not appear in every campaign), and do not vary greatly from world to world. Integrating Human and Nonhuman Pantheons suggests how human and nonhuman deities may coexist in the same game world. Avatars gives specific details on how avatar statistics work, based on those given for each deity in the book. Priests and Priesthoods explains how this section found in each deity entry is intended to function. Deities Included in This Book explains why the deities in this book were chosen to appear here. Explanatory Notes explains the mythos section introduction given before each pantheon is presented, and the personal entries of each god therein. Lastly, Abbreviations explains the abbreviations used in each deity entry.
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