Tim Kask, in his foreward, calls Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976) the last D&D supplement. That’s pretty wild. **gestures at all the stuff on this feed** I love things that are complete, but there is a weirdness to the idea of D&D ever being finished and finalized. In 2021, certainly, but especially in 1976.

Anyway, this is the first book of gods for an RPG, a clear predecessor of the iconic Deities & Demi-Gods (1980) for 1E. Like that book, this one includes ancient Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Aztec, Celtic, Finnish and “Eastern” pantheons, as well as characters from Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories. Unlike that book, there is no Cthulhu Mythos, but characters from Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories appear. And not just gods! There are plenty of monsters, priests and artifacts as well.

Another interesting thing: in addition to being guidance for introducing the mythic to D&D, Kask’s foreward says that they hope this will finally be the end of Monty Hall style players. The idea being that if your characters are statted out like gods, you’d be shamed into playing less bombastically, I guess? And isn’t it interesting that TSR cared? That they saw D&D as having a correct and incorrect way to play their make-believe game?

I like the (uncredited) cover art. I don’t like the fact that there is no other art to speak of inside. Booooo.