A Game of Gods

By 1976, Dungeons & Dragons was still in its primordial era. Players were hacking through dungeons, battling monsters, and looting treasure, but one thing was missing—something grander, more mythic. Enter Dungeons & Dragons: Supplement IV – Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes, a book that asked the important question: “What if your players decide they want to pick a fight with Thor?”

This supplement, co written by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, was an attempt to provide mythological figures with D&D stats. It wasn’t quite a proper pantheon rulebook yet, that would come later with Deities & Demigods (1980)—but it was an early attempt to bring the mythic into table top RPGs. So, let’s crack this legendary tome open and see just what kind of divine madness was unleashed upon unsuspecting dungeon masters.

The Purpose: Gods as More Than Story Fluff

Before this supplement, gods in D&D were more or less distant beings referenced for flavor. Sure, you could worship Odin, but what did that mean in mechanical terms? Could he show up and smite your foes? Could you become a god? Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes attempted to put some hard numbers behind these divine beings, providing stat blocks for figures from real-world mythology and literature.

However, this wasn’t just a book for Dungeon Masters to use as a reference. It also served as a warning to power-hungry players. It was a reminder that while your fighter might be able to handle a red dragon, trying to tangle with Zeus was a very different matter.

Of course, whether players actually took that warning to heart was another matter entirely.

The Mythologies: A Divine Grab Bag

The book is split into sections based on different mythological and literary sources. Some of these choices make perfect sense, while others feel a bit… adventurous. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Greek Mythology – The classic lineup. Zeus, Ares, Athena, and all the usual Olympian suspects. Given their prominence in pop culture, this was an easy inclusion.
• Norse Mythology – You know things are serious when Thor and Odin show up. Loki, true to form, is around to cause problems.
• Egyptian Mythology – The pantheon of Ra, Osiris, and Anubis gets statted out for adventurers who want to test their mettle against deities who command the forces of the afterlife.
• Arthurian Legends – King Arthur, Merlin, and company get their moment in the sun, though seeing them lumped in with actual gods raises a few eyebrows.
• Robert E. Howard’s Hyboria (Conan’s World) – Yes, Crom made it into D&D. Whether or not he cares is another matter.
• H.P. Lovecraft’s Mythos – Before Call of Cthulhu was a thing, D&D got its hands on Nyarlathotep and friends.
• Other Literary Figures – John Carter of Mars? The Grey Mouser? At this point, you can see the book throwing anything remotely legendary into the mix.

This eclectic mix gives the book a somewhat scattershot feel. You might be reading about the all-powerful Vishnu on one page and then flipping over to see the stats for Elric of Melniboné on the next.

The Stat Blocks: A Whole New Level of Ridiculous

If there’s one thing Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes is famous for, it’s the absurd stat blocks. Many of the deities and heroes presented in this book have ability scores that break the normal limits of D&D characters. This was before the game had any real balance when it came to high-level play, so the numbers here are just plain wild.

For example:

• Thor – A strength score of 25 and a hammer that can crush mountains. If your players ever tried to fight him, he could probably turn them into paste before initiative was even rolled.
• Zeus – Has the ability to call down lightning bolts at will. As you’d expect from the king of the gods, he is hilariously overpowered.
• Cthulhu – If you somehow manage to kill him (good luck), he just reforms a few rounds later. Because of course he does.

These stats weren’t necessarily meant to be fair. They existed more as benchmarks to show just how powerful these figures were compared to player characters. They were meant to be plot devices rather than balanced encounters, but, as you can imagine, that didn’t stop players from trying to fight them anyway.

The Legacy: A Rough Draft of Things to Come

Looking back, Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes was less of a refined supplement and more of a chaotic experiment. It was a book written in the wild west era of D&D, where power levels were nebulous, and the idea of game balance was a loose suggestion rather than a rule.

That said, it was an important step in the evolution of D&D. Later editions would refine the concept of divine beings, first with Deities & Demigods (1980) and later with books like Faiths & Avatars (1996) and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018). The idea that gods should have stats and mechanics became a staple of the game, even if later editions handled them in a more balanced way.

More importantly, this book reinforced the idea that mythology and D&D could go hand in hand. It encouraged Dungeon Masters to think of their worlds in grand, mythic terms. Sure, your players might start out fighting goblins in a cave, but maybe, just maybe, one day they’d be standing toe-to-toe with Odin himself.

Conclusion: A Beautiful Mess of a Supplement

Dungeons & Dragons: Supplement IV – Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes is a fascinating relic of D&D’s early days. It’s part monster manual, part history lesson, and part power-gamer’s dream. It was wildly unbalanced, a little ridiculous, and yet undeniably fun.

Whether you see it as an essential piece of D&D history or just a chaotic footnote, it remains an entertaining look at how the game’s designers were still figuring things out. So next time you hear a player say, “I want to fight Zeus,” just remember—this book got there first.

Now, roll initiative.