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

In article <12sjk47pikh772@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 Arthur Boff <arthur.boff@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> Nicole Massey wrote:
> > "Will in New Haven" <bill.reich@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message

> > news:1170774102.523172.43460@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> 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.
> 
> I like it! I've seen people do similar things before - I think it works 
> well in fantasy games because all too often, the gods just boil down to 
> Big Dudes with Loads of Magic and the priests are just spellcasters in 
> cassocks. It's rare to find a religious system devised for RPGs which 
> feels like an actual religion which could satisfy the spiritual and 
> emotional needs of its adherents - Glorantha being one of the few 
> exceptions.

A different mechanic could be used for divine power than for arcane 
magical power, to more clearly differentiate the two. Also, there's 
nothing particularly wrong with having divine beings in a game setting 
who are capable of granting "miracles" to their faithful 
followers/sup****ters. If you have a setting where no gods exist, there's 
no sense in having any religions/faiths in that setting, either.

- E