Hello Reddit! I'm a fairly new DM planning out stuff for my second campaign and I'm looking for some sage wisdom from fellow DM's. A common trope in fantasy worlds is the idea that once in the distant past, Gods walked and warred among men before sealing themselves away for one of any number of reasons, leading to a current general rule of either total non-interference, or minimal interference, generally through chosen followers and champions.

I just got to thinking, why should great cosmos shaping events, Gods walking among men and wars of cosmic proportions and dueling ideologies of the Gods be relegated to things of the past in my DnD game? I don't know about you but something like that sounds like a really interesting setting to have my party be adventuring in.

But, If my party is going to be interacting with deities on a not all that uncommon basis, how do I still make them feel like Gods and not just another NPC? I often feel that my NPC's can tend to be a little same-y and often uninteresting. I think that having Gods be distant figures who never appear "on camera" is a large part of what instills the appropriate mystique in the minds of players. Obviously I wont have that going for me this time.

How do I instill a sense of awe and reverence for the Gods in my players? (players in general being, as we all know, famously irreverent creatures). I'm looking for any tips anybody has for setups to the encounter/surrounding events, role-playing advice, world building details that people have seen work effectively, etc.

TL;DR My players are going to be interacting with deities fairly regularly in an upcoming campaign. How do I make them cool and awe-inspiring?