One of the more perused and one of the least used of the many companion books to the Dungeons & Dragons game,
Deities & Demigods was definitely one of the most impractical. It gave physical stats to gods and demons that could be fought, but for all intents and purposes, could not be killed. Gods don't die. There's no defeating Zeus. Raise a fist to him and you will get your ass handed to you. So what was the point of this book? Well for one it provided a sort of shorthand encyclopedia to religion, and in most D&D worlds that was important to some extent. Whenever I played, religion took a back seat. Sure, when a character got injured you'd call in the cleric to work his healing magic after which he would give lip-service prayer to his god for future heals, but other than that religion was usually relegated to cults and unsavory devil worshippers that needed slaying. I can see now how, in the hands of an older, wiser dungeon master (aka the game referee) than the usual pimple-faced teen that ran these games,
Deities & Demigods could help flesh out a world full of societal depth. As a kid, I did little more with this book than flip through the pages occasionally learning a thing or two about mythology (though more often than not, receiving a miseducation) and popping the occasional boner over a bare-breasted goddess. I'm not proud...
