In article <q0mns2h7p7rc7ss3o7kbp8dppihmfj72l1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Erol K. Bayburt <ErolB1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 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.
Makes sense that any source of power would attract a body of
wor****ppers, whether or not the wor****p is deserved.
> 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.
Did quite a bit of conversion in the same manner, myself :)
> 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."
This has good potential.
> "The Emperor is the true Heir of the Gods. Obey Him, His laws, and His
> bureaucrat-priests."
That's a very typical approach with an empire situation.
> "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."
I really like this one :)
> "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.
I'd say that the im****tance of relation****ps between deities and people,
in a game setting context, is not so much what maintaining the
relation****p can do for their spiritual and/or emotional well-being as
what access to divine power (read "cleric spells") the relation****p
provides. Otherwise, it's just a bit of sociocultural flavor.
- E
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