The Bible--Wars, Culture, Faith, and Inspiration

Greetings!

The Bible is for Christians excellent for encouragement, prayer, devotions, instruction in wisdom and things practical, and all things spiritual, righteous, and holy.

As literature, though, it is also fine reading, dramatic, evocative, and interesting. In this form of general inspiration, there are many things of interest for use in one's campaign of D&D as well. Besides general character-studies of different personalities, there are also government forms, legal codes, tribes, ancient customs, religious strife, greed, murder, war, lust, loyalty, love, honor, and devotion throughout. There are details of wars, cultural struggles, and family dynamics--all of which can inspire many aspects of the campaign.

For example, I have a book--an Encyclopedia of Who's Who in the Bible--it is indexed and cross-referenced with the Bible--and details every person mentioned throughout the Bible. Let me tell you--that's a lot of names! From the Bible, besides names, I have also been inspired by some legal details, cultural customs, clothing, food, and treasures described within the Bible. Excellent stuff, I assure you.

Even if you are not inclined to read the Bible from Faith, you may enjoy doing so as interesting literature, which can be useful for the game.

For those of you who have been inspired thusly, what details have you used, and what elements have inspired you in the game?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Names, names, and more names. Started using it as a source for names as soon as I realized TSR was doing the same thing back in my junior high school days(Habbakkuk was the first of many tht I noticed.

I usee Proverbs quite a bit, and one or two scenes from Revelation have graced one of my darker campaigns.

SHARK said:

Greetings!

The Holy Bible, as the Word of God, is of course excellent for encouragement, prayer, devotions, instruction in wisdom and things practical, and all things spiritual, righteous, and holy.

As literature, though, it is also fine reading, dramatic, evocative, and interesting. In this form of general inspiration, there are many things of interest for use in one's campaign of D&D as well. Besides general character-studies of different personalities, there are also government forms, legal codes, tribes, ancient customs, religious strife, greed, murder, war, lust, loyalty, love, honor, and devotion throughout. There are details of wars, cultural struggles, and family dynamics--all of which can inspire many aspects of the campaign.

For example, I have a book--an Encyclopedia of Who's Who in the Bible--it is indexed and cross-referenced with the Bible--and details every person mentioned throughout the Bible. Let me tell you--that's a lot of names! From the Bible, besides names, I have also been inspired by some legal details, cultural customs, clothing, food, and treasures described within the Bible. Excellent stuff, I assure you.

Even if you are not inclined to read the Bible from Faith, you may enjoy doing so as interesting literature, which can be useful for the game.

For those of you who have been inspired thusly, what details have you used, and what elements have inspired you in the game?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

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Well, Ive never used any Biblical references in any of my games, but if you want a neat example of a Rogue sneak attack and a critical hit, check out Judges 3...verses 18-30 or so...not sure on the verse but it is Judges 3.

Long story short for those that dont have a Bible handy, this guy named Ehud is left-handed. He managed to get himself invited into a very fat evil king's inner chamber with a long knife hidden in his clothes on his right hip. In a jiffy he drew the sword (Quickdraw feat) and stabbed the king so deeply that the knife was completely embedded in the king's fat belly (Critical to-hit roll with a sneak attack). The fat closed over the wound, and Ehud made a hasy retreat past the guards outside (Move Silently and Hide).

There are LOTS of examples like this, expecially in the earlier books.

It's not that great. I mean, they obviously copied the Storm of Vengeance spell straight from the PHB.

Here is the chapter and verse I cited above:

3:12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

3:13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.

3:14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

3:15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

3:16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

3:17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

3:18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.

3:19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

3:20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee.

And he arose out of his seat.

3:21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:

3:22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.

3:23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

3:24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.

3:25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

3:26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.

I think the Bible is HUGE influence on me especially in the creation of the cult of the Red God of the West. . .

Read the Creation Myth of the Red God of the West to see what I mean.

Yeah, Jesus should get sued by WotC - He copied the Raise Dead and Resurrection spells straight from the PHB, and there's not even an OGL in the back of the book!

Seriously, names are a good resource, as well as the narrative style of the different authors (even though it's been translated so many times, there are still elements in each Book that reveal a narrative style - some writers preferred proof, some preferred prophecy, some were more 'nit-picky' in details than others, etc.)

It brings another question to mind for me - In real life, I know that the Bible is written in a style that is half narrative, half instructional (legal codes and codes of behavior take up half or more of the work). Are there other religious texts in the world that have the same style (almost like a novel)? Or are they more like a book of wrote catechisms, which explain the tenets of the faith with not much more? In other words, are most of the founding religious texts of the world "novelistic" or "catechistic"?

The worshippers of the Red God of the West in Aquerra have three holy texts.

The Sacred Journey of Men (By the Prophet Kali) is really the tale of a specific family that led a alternately growing and dwindling tribe of followers from the deep north to the southwest of the world.

The Teachings & Learnings of Sacred Dogma (By the Prophet Rado-Maji) is an intepretive text - using the first book and long held oral traditions to forge a codified set of rules and behavior for followers and priests and the organization of church and government. So is a book of catechisms, basically.

Prophetic Visions of the One (by the Prophet Crimson) is the most recent of the books - a long stream of consciousness of prophecies which are often debated in the temples of the Red God of the West - while accepted as divinely inspired - whole sections seem like gibberish or seem to contradict itself or even the earlier two books. It is very omnious in parts and of course talk about the end of the world

Henry said:

Yeah, Jesus should get sued by WotC - He copied the Raise Dead and Resurrection spells straight from the PHB, and there's not even an OGL in the back of the book!

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Jesus was clearly a powergaming munchkin. Not only was he a cleric, but he also had the ninja spy's water walking ability from OA. I mean, some genre consistency would be good, right?

It brings another question to mind for me - In real life, I know that the Bible is written in a style that is half narrative, half instructional (legal codes and codes of behavior take up half or more of the work). Are there other religious texts in the world that have the same style (almost like a novel)? Or are they more like a book of wrote catechisms, which explain the tenets of the faith with not much more? In other words, are most of the founding religious texts of the world "novelistic" or "catechistic"?

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Beats me. Would you consider the Bhagavad Gita (an epic in verse form, much like Beowulf) "novelistic" or "catechistic"?

Henry said:

It brings another question to mind for me - In real life, I know that the Bible is written in a style that is half narrative, half instructional (legal codes and codes of behavior take up half or more of the work). Are there other religious texts in the world that have the same style (almost like a novel)? Or are they more like a book of wrote catechisms, which explain the tenets of the faith with not much more? In other words, are most of the founding religious texts of the world "novelistic" or "catechistic"?

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There are no other religious books in the world like the Bible. In fact the Bible is unique in the fact that it is actually a series of books, which lends to your perception that it is half-narrative, half instructional. Each book was written for a different purpose and has a slightly different style. The book of Genesis for instance is all narrative. The book of exodus has codified laws in it, but is actually a narrative as well. Leviticus is laws for the priest with a bit of narrative, Numbers is mostly concerned with a census and Dueteronomy is actually the written recording of a farewell speech. In the New Testament, Matthew through Acts are written histories, but the rest of the New Testament is actually a series of letters written to churches.

The Old Testament has a lot of fighting in it. The books of Judges (I always liked old Ehud myself) is good if you are looking for that sort of thing as is 1 and 2 Samuel. There is a wonderful stroy about Jonathan, son of Saul (for whom I was named) crawling on his hands and knees up a hill to attack a legion of philistines who were waiting for him at the top. Samson and the foxes is a neat story and the chapter that briefly mentions the exploits of David's fighting men is worth checking out - some of those guys were very tough!