Soneillon. Part 1 (Updated 6/15)

[Arken]

Sep, I'm curious what books you might have read in order to better understand the entire angel / devil concept and history. Do you have any good sources which would be worth reading?

I'm sure that Sepulchrave will field this question brilliantly as soon as he sees it, but just in case it's a little while before he posts I could give you one or two sources that I have used on the subject.

The Book of Sacred Magic by Abra-melin the mage is good. (the nineteenth chapter of the 2nd book is good for a basic run down of demons and things, to understand the angle being taken on angels and demons altogether the entirety of the works can be helpful)
Paradise Lost by Milton and The Divine Comedy by Dante are excellent if you wish to structure heaven or hell. Milton especially for the history of the fall.
The Key of Solomon and Testament of Solomon, Are quite helpful.
The Pseudomonarchia Demonum is really much more 'user friendly' for the purposes of just a list of demons which is what it is. It's very similar to the Goetia which is a book of demons descriptions found in the 'Lesser Key of Solomon'.
In addition some of the angels etc. used are from the works of Blake which are very good for this sort of thing . Rintrah for example I can remember comes from 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'

I'm pretty sure that every single one of the texts mentioned can be found online. Now all that is left to happen is for Sepulchrave to come along and tell em I've got something wrong . I maybe should have listed the authors actually (there are numerous translations for some of the parts which might mean I've got some of the stuff to do with Solomon muddled ).

Anyway hope this was some help until the expert is here to answer your question.

P.S. A good reading of some of the Planescape material and planar adventures etc. for DnD might also be good.

P.P.S. Apologies if I put forward anything you've already read.

 

[Azure Trance]

Thanks!

I love Planescape, by the way, and have almost every supplement I was browsing through www.amazon.com last night and found a dozen books on the subject, which from as far as I can tell are pretty good (and not a shoddy work, going from the reviews)

• The Biography of Satan by Kersey Graves, Marshall J. Gauvin
• Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World by Jeffrey Burton Russell
• The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels
• The History of Hell by Alice K. Turner
• Encyclopedia of Hell by Miriam Van Scott, Miraim Van Scott
• Raising Hell: A Concise History of the Black Arts and Those Who Dared Practice Them by Robert Masello
• A Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons by Manfred Lurker
• Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary by Jeremy Black, et al
• Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible by Karel van der Toorn (Editor), et al
• The Complete Book of Devils and Demons by Leonard R. N. Ashley
• DICTIONARY OF ANGELS: INCLUDING THE FALLEN ANGELS by Gustav Davidson (Author)

Some of them are sources used by Chris Pramas in "Book of Fiends," such as Dictioniary of Angels: Fallen Angels, and others seemed interesting (Gods & Demons of Mesoptamia). I'm sure that a few of them are redundant, but I guess I'd have to read it to find out

 

[Tanager]

Azure Trance, as an addition to your list you might want to have a look at Satan by Jeffrey Burton Russell (if it's still in print). Not so much in terms of demonology or cosmology, but more a historical of the development of the idea of the devil.

Various aspects of the Wyre stories, particularly those dealing with the curia and the politics of heresy are reminiscent of this book.

 

[Azure Trance]

Curiously ...

Does anyone think that Testament is worth picking up, if only to see if it could help in running a Sepulchravesque game? Perhaps it would have good ideas on how to show a monotheistic God (similar to Oronthion) surrounded by a multitude of 'pagans' and 'heretics' in a game, who might get domains from other (non-Godly) powers?

 

[the Jester]

I'm actually quite intrigued by Testament, though I'm not a Christian myself. I think Biblical-era roleplaying is full of opportunities for great adventure. There's all kinds of war, miracles, etc. I've been considering picking it up, but since I haven't even seen it yet I'm a wee bit leery of it.

Anyone actually read it?

 

[Azure Trance]

There's a person in the D20 Forum who has it, but the Reviews section of Green Ronin doesn't even have it listed :-/ I need the Psion Review.

 

[Gidien]

Just finished the Old Testament, a bit daunted by the New. It's pretty interesting, a lot of laws, and it's amazing how well Sep captured the feel of it overall. It's his fault I'm doing this of course had a sudden urge to read it after burning through this SH. I guess I recommend it, if you can get through all the name lists and census lists.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Sep, I'm curious what books you might have read in order to better understand the entire angel / devil concept and history. Do you have any good sources which would be worth reading?

Everything that Arken said . If I think of anything else, I'll add it - but I think he covered pretty much everything.

Thanks for the support everyone. Maybe I'll get my act together and compile all of the Wyre info at some point, but, as always, time...time...time...

 

[porthos]

Story continued...

This story hour is now continued in a new thread:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55868

 

[sircaren]

Well, hello everyone. I am trying to recover from reading 7 threads of the best story I think I've ever been exposed to. I am both humbled and hopeful that campaigns can reach such heights, I can only hope that my players and I can attain this status.

Great Job Sepulchrave.