(no subject)
Mar. 7th, 2010 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretI found a new D&D group about a month ago. They play at a local comic shop once a week. It took a couple of weeks to fall into the social rhythms of the group, and they still make references to other friends that I don't know, but it's been a lot of fun to play.
When Alai had the big conversation about designing his new campaign setting, we talked about the place of religion in these abstract fantasy worlds. D&D has a pantheon, but it doesn't really take it seriously- even though clerics have long been a key part of the game and in 4E the divine power source is an even more prominent part of the game. The Gods are present but they don't inspire much faith, unless you're a follower of a particular deity. The religion of the game is in the background of the setting in a way that I don't think is true to the way people experience religion. And in particular, monotheism is never considered a possibility.
So when I crafted my character, trying to break out of usual D&D ways of thinking about religion was part of my character concept. Kelin Rolfsson, a Dwarven Bard, is a member of a monotheistic splinter sect that believes that Moradin is the one true God.
The rest of the party is more or less normal D&D religious. We have a Paladin of Corellon who has no problem with there being other deities, a druid who communes with various natural spirits, various characters with minimal or perfunctory connection to different Gods... but the insertion of Kelin and my insistence that his heretical (and illogical) religion is a core part of who he is has totally altered the character of the game. When the party camps out in a tavern searching for information, we argue religion. When we're in battle and need to make a moral decision, we ask each other what our Gods expect of us- and whether that even matters.
I told our Storm Warden Goliath that the polytheistic pantheon is a human conspiracy and he responded, "But I'm not human." To which Kelin retorted "So why are you buying into their conspiracies?"
In general, our game isn't very intense. We have a mechanic called 'fanmail' that gives in-game benefits for sharp one-liners that flatten out the deadliness of the game. I can't imagine Alai would call our game 'old school'. But I love the dynamic that putting some time and thought into the religious makeup of the world has engendered.
When Alai had the big conversation about designing his new campaign setting, we talked about the place of religion in these abstract fantasy worlds. D&D has a pantheon, but it doesn't really take it seriously- even though clerics have long been a key part of the game and in 4E the divine power source is an even more prominent part of the game. The Gods are present but they don't inspire much faith, unless you're a follower of a particular deity. The religion of the game is in the background of the setting in a way that I don't think is true to the way people experience religion. And in particular, monotheism is never considered a possibility.
So when I crafted my character, trying to break out of usual D&D ways of thinking about religion was part of my character concept. Kelin Rolfsson, a Dwarven Bard, is a member of a monotheistic splinter sect that believes that Moradin is the one true God.
The rest of the party is more or less normal D&D religious. We have a Paladin of Corellon who has no problem with there being other deities, a druid who communes with various natural spirits, various characters with minimal or perfunctory connection to different Gods... but the insertion of Kelin and my insistence that his heretical (and illogical) religion is a core part of who he is has totally altered the character of the game. When the party camps out in a tavern searching for information, we argue religion. When we're in battle and need to make a moral decision, we ask each other what our Gods expect of us- and whether that even matters.
I told our Storm Warden Goliath that the polytheistic pantheon is a human conspiracy and he responded, "But I'm not human." To which Kelin retorted "So why are you buying into their conspiracies?"
In general, our game isn't very intense. We have a mechanic called 'fanmail' that gives in-game benefits for sharp one-liners that flatten out the deadliness of the game. I can't imagine Alai would call our game 'old school'. But I love the dynamic that putting some time and thought into the religious makeup of the world has engendered.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-07 10:50 pm (UTC)I'm wondering, though... You mention that it is illogical (and it's not the only religion with issues of logical inconsistency), but there's something special about the D&D world - there is actual physical proof of the gods' existence.
There are ways around that, logically. Cadderly, the agnostic cleric from R. A. Salvatore's books, points out that divine magic could simply be another form of arcane spellcasting which somehow got mixed up with religious overtones.
But you're talking about something different. A cleric of Moradin who doesn't believe in the other gods. So here's a very simple question which I know he has to have been asked by now...
How does he explain the fact that clerics of other gods can call upon those gods to cast the same spells (and some unique ones, as well) as a cleric of Moradin? Surely, if Moradin is the One True God, he wouldn't allow that to happen.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-07 11:22 pm (UTC)One way to resolve it is some sort of variation on the Hindu concept of aspects, or even some variation on the Christian concept of trinity.
It might also be possible that he believes that all magic, divine primal and arcane, is a coherent natural system. This would gibe reasonably well with the crunchy nature of D&D divine magic- healing works consistently every time, which isn't the mark of an intervening God but of a God who has set things in motion and left them in a certain way.
So all clerics, even orthodox clerics of Moradin, are invoking these false deities in vain when they cast spells. Moradin's intervention only comes in extreme circumstances... perhaps Moradin guides the action point system, to get a little meta about it.