On Wed, 7 Feb 2007 18:55:25 +0000 (UTC),
mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Mary K. Kuhner) wrote:
>In article <12sjs9vc4k0gg3f@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>Arthur Boff <arthur.boff@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>There's no cast-iron evidence that gods exist in our world - certainly,
>>we don't have priests casting Cure Light Wounds by the bucketload - and
>>yet we have religions by the plenty. Religion fills an im****tant niche,
>>a niche which doesn't necessarily disappear if you say "gods don't exist
>>in this world".
>
>An interesting possibility which I don't think I've seen explored
>in an RPG: if the theistic (god-based) religions stop filling that
>niche, maybe something else will necessarily arise to do so. So you
>could have the theistic faiths, which have become mainly propritiation
>and power-wor****p, and something like Buddhism or Taoism growing up
>around them, quietly, outside their notice, to satisfy the human needs
>which religions tend to meet.
FWIW, when I converted my Etan game from AD&D to TFT (back when TFT
first came out - 1981, IIRC) I decided to fast-forward the world 1000
years, and also to kill off all the deities.
This left the obvious question for the gameworld's population: "The
gods are all dead. Now what?" The answers I worked out involved a
number of different "new religions." I tried to develop them as things
that would meet human needs, but I didn't put much effort into them.
"The ghosts of some gods still linger, and on some glorious future
day, the gods themselves will return. And those who remembered them
will be rewarded."
"Beyond the gods that were is the Hand of Fate. Submit to the fate
that the Hand places upon you and to the teachings of the Nameless
Prophet. Then you will be happier, both in this life and in the next."
"The great gods never had much time for ordinary mortals. The
*im****tant* immortals are the various tribal, totem, and clan spirits.
Their power will protect you, and their teachings will guide you."
"The Emperor is the true Heir of the Gods. Obey Him, His laws, and His
bureaucrat-priests."
"The world is a womb. Only when one dies, when one's spirit p*****
through the Gates of the Dead on the god-plane will one's real life
begin."
"Secular wizardry and scholar****p can provide the answers we formerly
asked the priests to give."
>The RPG theistic religions seldom seem to spend much effort meeting
>those needs, after all: a few holidays, maybe a burial or marriage
>ceremony, but not much more.
I'm pretty irreligious myself, so I no doubt underestimate the need
most people have for such things. After all, *I* get along just fine
with "a few holidays, maybe a burial or marriage ceremony, but not
much more," and thus I don't have much motive for my fictional &
game-world religions to provide much more than that.
--
Erol K. Bayburt
ErolB1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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