Athiests in Fantasy Settings ( Was: some help please (druid))

"Will in New Haven" <bill.reich@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:1170774102.523172.43460@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Jan 30, 7:53 am, "Davo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <Davo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> thats a nice start actually, thanks!
>>
>> some of her characterization;
>>
>> -arrogance
>> -superiority complexe
>> -apathetic with regards to fighting
>> -dislikes adventureing for the sake of others.
>> -dislikes people who carry large mean looking blades.
>> -burning interest in games or strategy.
>> -dislikes mention of 'chance' or fate.
>> -atheist
>
> How can one be an atheist in a fantasy setting when gods are doing
> miracles everywhere one looks? Of course your setting may differ and
> the question may not mean anything vis a vis this particular character
> but I have seen people simply ignore all the deities in a D&D campaign
> and I wonder how they think their character can do it. I'm an athiest
> myself but my characters in fantasy games have the reality of the gods
> shoved in their faces and I have no problem playing deists.


I've done it quite effectively.

Here are the assumptions:

Magic is magic. All spellcasters are some form of mage.

Gods are just people who have achieved lots of power and immortality, not 
some kind of supernatural being.

The priesthood is a cabal of mages that propagate a lie to the populace 
in 
order to both increase their influence over the people too gullible to see

the truth and also to keep certain magical skills protected in their
group, 
most commonly healing magics. There is also some type of psychic vampirism

involved that gives these mages more power by tapping into the energy of 
their followers.

When I played the character with these beliefs, it really got the priests 
wound up in the game. (I was doing a chat based online game with about a 
hundred players) My character took this to mean that they were hostile 
because their secret was discovered.

It was a lot of fun to play. I'm not an Atheist myself by any stretch of
the 
imagination, but I am an Iconoclast, so it was a good way to keep people
on 
their toes.