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I'm working on a 0e fantasy freebie about cults to supplement some of the already awesome Swords & Wizardry fan-made freebies that I've downloaded elsewhere. I've already drawn up rough ideas for 10 unusual cults, including politcial cult, relgious cults, and personality cults. I just need a few more ideas to get the creative juices flowing again, so to speak? (If I use your idea you are, of course, credited). ENWorld, what do you have for me?
You'll need better names for these...I just named them based upon a focus, not givng them any particular clever name.
Cult of the Rain- Rain worshippers. They start at induction thinking that it is a group who sacrifices goats to keep the rain gods happy to keep their crops watered. The truth is much worse, rituals are conducted to "wash away the sin" and flood towns. Lots of room for water adventures in lakes, rivers, streams, and pools in their temples...but not an ocean cult (so good for low level without the waterbreathing spell).
Cult of the Ape- They want to "get back to their roots". Somehow, they got the "crazy" idea that man is descended from apes. They are a bunch of "Jane Goodall" druids who live with apes and dire apes. Their goal is the de-evoloution of mankind to the simpler hunter gatherer (and savage society) of the apes. They have a ritual that is essentially the opposite of the "awaken" spell, that they use on humanoids to help them return to their apelike state. It also tends to make them more feral/savage/strong, etc.
The Dillitante Cult- Not actually a cult per se. Think "Eyes Wide Shut"...a bunch of rich people who get together for anonymous sexual pleasures (I'll not go further than that, lest Grandma become upset). They also indulge in "sacrifices" and other cultish "wickedness" which is all illusion/fake to make them feel more "culty". Thing is, they've been infiltrated by at least one other cult (maybe several) and the other cults are attempting to redirect this group toward more "noble" purposes (or at minimum, steal away their members).
The gnomish/dwarvish cult of echoes- "When the world speaks back to you, it's best to listen."--Their mantra. This is a Charlie Manson style cult--a single deranged charismatic leader "speaks to the earth" (maybe has some way to commune with nature underground, maybe not). Ultimately, he has convinced the group that he receives answers (the equivalent of visions) that leads them to capture specific targets who they then bury alive or press to death with heavy stone.
The Secret Takers- A cult of bards, use detect thoughts and modify memory very regularly. All their members must learn these spells. They appear to be elite performers, but they also are scanning the crowd for their secrets, which they then "rewrite" or make them forget as it suits them.
Cult of thirteen- An assassin cult. There are only 13 members of this cult founded by a demon. Each is a trained killer from the shadows (not necessarily the assassin class). This is an experiment by the demon in natural selection. To join the cult, you must declare interest and then accept 12 assassination assignments. Your thirteenth assignment is to kill the cult member you wish to replace. The cult is well aware of your required action, but may not kill you until you've completed your twelveth assignment. It is forbidden for cult members to harm one another once inducted.
I'm working on a 0e fantasy freebie about cults to supplement some of the already awesome Swords & Wizardry fan-made freebies that I've downloaded elsewhere. I've already drawn up rough ideas for 10 unusual cults, including politcial cult, relgious cults, and personality cults. I just need a few more ideas to get the creative juices flowing again, so to speak? (If I use your idea you are, of course, credited). ENWorld, what do you have for me?
LOL!! The cult of personality!! Work is very busy right now. I should have something useful perhaps by Sunday to post.
A secret cult, known to only a few; known as the Knights of the Raven, they each bear a piece of raven jewellery. Small, so as not to interfere with their surcoat of arms, but there.
The Knights of the Raven follow the path of the Book of Ashes, a book that was rejected from the main body of literature of the church due to its extremist nature. It is a book of prophecy, portraying the eventual demise of the Church and the destruction of all that is good, until '..Ravens, were to pick the dead things from the living body of the church, until it will heal again..' While not embraced by the church, it was witnessed that the prophet performed several miracles and was possessed and in the company of Angels at many times.
The knights of the raven are a political/religious cult, but one that is based around the writings of a prophet that while loosely respected isn't one of the major parts of the church. They routinely follow the religious rites as dictated by the prophet, which could be innocent or evil, and seek in the often incoherent ramblings of their Book of Ashes. Mainly concerned with dealing with corruption in the church and in towns they are near, the group uses its groups of seers and prophets to get their next strike. Using their knowledge of the dark future, they seek to prevent it by dealing with those who threaten the world.
They are completely sworn to ending evil wherever it may lie, and as their religious group gained converts have become more than just a chapter of Knights with an extremist view on how to combat evil. Now, the knights use military precision, different skills of individuals, as well as their original brute force to crush any possible problems that are facing the church. The 'Brother' knights are still the political center of the cult, but 'laymen' with skills such as sneaking around, picking locks, or any other profession will be used.
Also, as funds were needed by the knights for their evil-hunting expeditions, payments from certain smaller evils such as brothels and taverns selling darker forms of drugs began to be more appealing, and so on.
I'm working on a 0e fantasy freebie about cults to supplement some of the already awesome Swords & Wizardry fan-made freebies that I've downloaded elsewhere. I've already drawn up rough ideas for 10 unusual cults, including politcial cult, relgious cults, and personality cults. I just need a few more ideas to get the creative juices flowing again, so to speak? (If I use your idea you are, of course, credited). ENWorld, what do you have for me?
Can you post a few links to these freebies? I've had a difficult time turning up much for S&W for some reason.
And, on topic, I've got a few cults in my campaign. Aside from your normal beast cults (Cult of the Rat Mother, etc), I've got the Blackgate Brotherhood, which is somewhere between an assassin's guild and a cult, and led by a monstrously old artifact (the Black Gates); and the Fellowship of the Unholy Hand, which "worships" the severed hand of the god of death, and believes that posession of the hand allows them to dictate the fate after death of anyone they kill.
On the good side, the Knights of the Blazing Glory worship the former/dead god of the sun and oppose his successor, an evil god of fire and wrath.
Oh! Good idea! I have something kind of like this in a politicial cult composed of military advisors, generals, bodyguards, etc who use their connections, influence, and access to attempt striking a worldwide balance between Law and Chaos. It's kind of like 24 meets D&D. Just a good, old-fashioned, fraternal, knightly lodge though? I had totally overlooked that. D'oh!
Can you post a few links to these freebies? I've had a difficult time turning up much for S&W for some reason.
There really aren't many, past what is available on the S&W site. I was trying to sound enthusiastic Part of why I'm working on this (and a planned follow-up that details magical artifacts) is because there aren't a lot of S&W freebies yet.
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And, on topic, I've got a few cults in my campaign. Aside from your normal beast cults (Cult of the Rat Mother, etc)
Again with the animal worshippers! Man, I really can't believe I overlooked them completely.
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I've got the Blackgate Brotherhood, which is somewhere between an assassin's guild and a cult, and led by a monstrously old artifact (the Black Gates); and the Fellowship of the Unholy Hand, which "worships" the severed hand of the god of death, and believes that posession of the hand allows them to dictate the fate after death of anyone they kill.
I hadn't done much with object worshippers, either, actually. Dang! Thanks for the great ideas, folks.
You can have this one, from our 4e homebrew setting.
The Cult of That-Which-Is-Not worships, unsurprisingly, That-Which-Is-Not, a Sphere of Annihilation which they keep in open view in their modest temple. It's also known by the names the No-Thing, the Magna Lacuna, and It's Glorious Absence.
Their faith is sometimes called Voiditarian Annihilism.
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That new cover for the new Basic Fantasy is pretty sweet! I still prefer the LL cover for pure "old school" feel though.
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In RPGs, I always see cults to Elder Evil Entities, cults to [Insert some female paragon that hates God for some reason], cults to nature, cults to Totem Spirits.
Things I haven't seen much of:
- Cults based on familial spirits and ancestral heroes. Essentially, this would be a bloodline or lineage that speaks to (or believes they speak to) a ghostly relative or "ascended" immortal hero.
- Cults paying homage to a religious idea rather than a specific deity. Not sure how to state it well, but if you can look up the Factions from Planescape, that's where I'm going. They are partly about a specific belief of existence as a whole, partly religious, and partly secret society. Like one believes everything is already dead and entropy has already set in, while another believes that there are no gods, only beings that are very powerful (and if there was a god, that god has since died/left/stopped caring/etc.)
- Cults that are really just a clever ruse for someone who understands people really well. Basically, a guy who doesn't believe in much of anything, but knows how to manipulate other people. Think L. Ron Hubbard, or the Mentalist for the head of such a cult.
- Cults based on one very specific practice. A cult based around Dionysian revelry: they don't really care about anything but drinking, drugs and sex. Maybe the cultish aspect of it is really just a very weak way for them to pretend they serve a higher power, but really it's just an excuse for their actions (sounds like most cults, actually...)
A really good idea if you like moral grey areas is a cult dedicated to something that is ultimately good and benevolent, but the members are the people who can never attain that goodness because they do the dirty work of that good thing. For example, knights of the church that will assassinate people, torture captives, and even make deals with demons in order to do "what must be done" for the church. They believe the ends justify the means, so they do all sorts of nasty, brutish things. And do the ends really justify the means...? These folks may never know for sure...
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I hadn't done much with object worshippers, either, actually. Dang! Thanks for the great ideas, folks.
In my campaign, the "divine" powers are broken into several categories, of which cults are the least. A cult, while receiving some kind of divine power, worships something that isn't really a god. The Typhos, aka titans, also front alot of cults in my game.
I never thought of the Blackgate Brotherhood as object worshippers, though I suppse technically they are. It just happens to be an insanely ancient, rather evil, and smarter than you object.
There really aren't many, past what is available on the S&W site. I was trying to sound enthusiastic Part of why I'm working on this (and a planned follow-up that details magical artifacts) is because there aren't a lot of S&W freebies yet.
I can understand that! I'm kind of working on the same premise, except I've got to get through 2-3 more weeks of homework first! After that, though, I'm going to work on a S&W campaign setting as a free "thingum".
On a somewhat Douglas Adams slant, how about the Church of the Return of Fnargh Moorh?
Based around the idea that one day (maybe soon, maybe tomorrow!), Fnargh Moorh will return, and involves furious debates on what time that will be, exactly what it is that will happen when he does, and how everyone should prepare for that day.
There is also some debate on exactly who or what Fnargh Moorh is, and perhaps why anyone should care if he does return, but this just serves to further enliven cult meetings, and hurried preparations for the Return.
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I can understand that! I'm kind of working on the same premise, except I've got to get through 2-3 more weeks of homework first! After that, though, I'm going to work on a S&W campaign setting as a free "thingum".
Order of the Stair - A group of post-humanismists. Basically, they seek to find the next "step" for humanity. Be it the next step in human form ("Let us put our minds into golems! It lets us shed the frailty of flesh!") to seeking the next step of an Enlightened society.
Do they need to be CULTS, or do Secret Societies count?
Evil Buddhists. A group of monks/avengers/paladins/priests/what-have-you have deduced that life is suffering. Rather than try and correct this or remedy it with enlightenment, they've decided that the best solution is to end all life in the universe. Every plant, animal and person must die, but their primary targets are sentient beings, since they equate thought and desire with the greatest of suffering.
The creepiness factor is what appeals to me here. You get a priest passing out poisonous potions and telling people, "Drink and be free of all suffering, friends!" You get liches who accepted the 'noble sacrifice' of eternal (un)life to further the cult's goals. You get crazed zealots hacking at you with swords while shouting, "Don't run! Don't run! I'm here to save you!"
Plus, and I can't stress this point enough: Evil Buddhists.
Last edited by Kinneus; 20th April 2009 at 08:52 PM..
How about some low-magic alternative cults of normal folk?
The Sons of the Carnahk
This loose affiliation is comprised of "normal" folk from all walks of live; freefarmers, smallfolk, merchants of lower caliber, serfs, the destitute, whores, the lame and the poor. They're a self-named group of cultists, self-named as they fancy themselves as supplicants to old, forgotten gods of the river, long-regarded as heretical by the orthodox faith of the world.
They are lead by a man called "the Arngrim", a man who reputedly rose from the muck and mud of the River Carnahk with a driftwood cudgel in his hand to lead his people. He has charged himself to bring his pilgrims en masse across the known world to the mythical First Shore, where they believe mankind rose from the tides of the sea. They believe that the Last Cataclysm (the end days) is approaching and thus reach the First Shore before ancient, forgotten gods smites the world for its transgression against nature.
How does this work for standard 4E D&D you say? Think evil druids, intermingled amongst their minion flocks. Only a handful of druids (less "naturey" and more Biblical in proportion) understand the Higher Mysteries of the divine, thus can command the elements. Their "Chosen" are ardent protectors of the faith, operating as Avengers or Paladins.
On a somewhat Douglas Adams slant, how about the Church of the Return of Fnargh Moorh?
Based around the idea that one day (maybe soon, maybe tomorrow!), Fnargh Moorh will return, and involves furious debates on what time that will be, exactly what it is that will happen when he does, and how everyone should prepare for that day.
There is also some debate on exactly who or what Fnargh Moorh is, and perhaps why anyone should care if he does return, but this just serves to further enliven cult meetings, and hurried preparations for the Return.
This kind of reminds me of all the veiled references to "Fezenclop" in the various d30 books by The Armory (and later publications by the same author).
Thank you for the plug, Mythmere. I have other topics planned besides spells, monsters, magic items and deities that might help, including what I would call "drag and drop" locales, which are just a room or a small building, fully plotted out, that can be added to a homebrew or commercial adventure to throw in a twist.
Work is very busy right now. I should have something useful perhaps by Sunday to post.
Just a good, old-fashioned, fraternal, knightly lodge though? I had totally overlooked that. D'oh! 
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