Making Religion Matter in Fantasy RPGs

Religion is a powerful force in any culture and difficult to ignore when creating a gaming setting. Here's some things to consider when incorporating religions into your campaign.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

The Question of Gods​

When we look at religion from a gaming perspective, the most interesting thing about it is that in many settings, the existence of deities is not in question. One of the most common arguments over religion is whether there even is a god of any form. But in many fantasy games especially, deities offer proof of their existence on a daily basis. Their power is channelled through clerics and priests and a fair few have actually been seen manifesting in the material realm. This makes it pretty hard to be an atheist in a D&D game.

While the adherents of any faith believe the existence of their deity is a given fact, having actual proof changes the way that religion is seen by outsiders. In many ancient cultures, people believed in not only their gods, but the gods of other cultures. So to win a war or conquer another culture was proof your gods were more powerful than theirs. While winning a war against another culture can make you pretty confident, winning one against another culture’s gods can make you arrogant. Add to that the fact you had warrior priests manifesting divine power on the battlefield, you are pretty soon going to start thinking that not only is winning inevitable, but that it is also a divine destiny. Again, these are all attitudes plenty of believers have had in ancient days, but in many fantasy worlds they might actually be right.

Magic vs. Prayer​

If a world has magic, it might be argued that this power is just another form of magic. Wizards might scoff at clerics, telling them they are just dabblers who haven’t learned true magic. But this gets trickier if there are things the clerics can do with their magic that the wizards can’t do with theirs. Some wizards might spend their lives trying to duplicate the effects of clerics, and what happens if one of them does?

The reverse is also interesting. Clerics might potentially manifest any form of magical power if it suits their deity. So if the priest of fire can not only heal but throw fireballs around, is it the wizards that need to get themselves some religion to become true practitioners of the art? Maybe the addition of faith is the only way to really gain the true power of magic?

Are the Gods Real?​

While divine power might be unarguably real, the source of it might still be in contention. A priest might be connecting to some more primal force than magicians, or tapping into some force of humanity. What priests think is a connection to the divine might actually just be another form of magic. As such, it could have some unexpected side effects.

Let’s say this divine power draws from the life force of sentient beings. As it does so in a very broad way, this effect is barely noticed in most populations. A tiny amount of life from the population as a whole powers each spell. But once the cleric goes somewhere remote they might find their magic starts draining the life from those nearby. In remote areas, clerics might be feared rather than revered, and the moment they try to prove they are right by manifesting the true power of their deity, they (and the townsfolk) are in for a very nasty surprise.

Can You Not Believe in Them?​

There are ways to still play an atheist character in a fantasy game. However, it does require more thought beyond "well I don’t believe in it." That's a sure way to make your character look foolish, especially after they have just been healed by a cleric.

What will also make things much tougher is having a character that refuses to benefit from the power of religion due to their beliefs. They might insist that if they don’t know what in this healing magic, they don’t want any part of it, especially if the priest can’t really explain it outside the terms of their faith. That this healing works will not be in doubt. So are they being principled or a fool? If the explanation for magical healing isn’t "this is just healing energy" but "it’s the power of my deity, entering your body and changing it for the better" the character might be more reticent about a few more hit points.

When it comes to deities manifesting on the material plane, it’s a little harder to ignore them. But this isn’t always evidence of the divine. A manifesting deity is undoubtedly a powerful being, one able to crush armies and level cities, but does that make them divine? While the power of a deity is not in dispute, the definition of what is actually divine in nature is a lot muddier. This is ironically harder in a fantasy world where lich-kings, dragons and powerful wizards can do all the same things many deities are supposed to do.

What Are Gods?​

So we come back to the question: Whether you are a cleric, adherent or atheist, of what actually is god? What quality of them demands or inspires worship beyond the fact they are powerful? Plenty of philosophers are still trying to figure that one out. While in a fantasy game their existence and power may not be in question, whether they are holy or even worthy of trust and faith might be much harder to divine.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The interesting part there being that the author (J Michael Straczynski) is an atheist. Not that we should engage in discussion of religion here, but the guy has been public enough about it that I thought it bore mentioning.

One of the great things about science fiction, at least in my opinion, is at allows for writers to engage in thought experiments around the societies and beliefs in the setting (and even with the cosmology). I think being able to get outside your own worldview is key for making something outside your worldview believable. I don't know specifically what enabled him to write so well about the subject. My understanding is he comes from a Catholic family, so maybe he was around it growing up enough that it helped. But I think he also studied sociology so I would imagine that was useful. Or maybe he just spent time thinking and researching it. Whatever the case, I got the sense that he took the beliefs of his characters seriously, even if he didn't share their belief in the supernatural and that is what made it work. And I think that makes a difference. It is easy to make a character who has beliefs you don't hold (whether they be religious, political, or philosophical) to be a bit cartoonish. What I loved is you had a character grounded in real religion like Sinclair (who was I think supposed to have Jesuit education) and a character like G'kar who is part of a religion created for the show, and both feel believable and at home in the setting (I could easily see that turning out lopsided in either direction if it weren't handled well). Especially with G'kar because there, the character was actively expanding the religion. The episode that really sold me on how well he handled religion was Passing Through Gethsemane. And there were lots of other places in the show where it featured religion of its characters or as a theme.

 

[Umbran]

Oh yeah....ST:V was dreadful. And shabby in its handling of the supposed 'god' figure.

Well, the figure was, in fact, a shabby entity trying to play off the needs of lesser beings. So, shabby was appropriate.

 

[Umbran]

Get it right, man!

Yes, yes, I got it already. Just remember this the next time you wish someone would cut you a break over a small thing.

 

[dave2008]

should Theocracy be the only form of government in DnD?

No

 

[J.Quondam]

Bleh. VI wasn't great either. I'll correct.

My only real beef with VI was the scene with the floating gobs of lavender klingon blood.
It looked like someone unleashed a Romulan disrupter on the candle aisle at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I very much agree with this. I find religion to be more interesting than gods. I guess that's one reason Eberron appeals to me, because it deals more with the cultural aspects of religion, and to some extent has the same gods worshipped in different constellations in different cultures.

I have two major problems with gods and religion in most D&D settings (or at least, the most well-known ones).

1. You have gods that have no claim to omnipotence that still regularly oppose one another and seek to "convert" people to their "faith", instead of having one religion with multiple deities for different purposes. I can see clerics having to devote themselves to one deity to gain powers, but it should generally not be the case with laity. Using the Faerûnean pantheon as an example, a young farmer should pray to Chauntea for a bountiful harvest, to Sune when wanting to woo the pretty girl over in the next village, to Waukeen when going off to sell his goods, to Helm or Tempus when defending his village from raiders, and to Kelemvor when burying those lost in the raid. But FR strongly portrays a world where everyone chooses one main patron deity and focuses on their dictates and taboos. Which leads me to the next problem:

2. Most D&D religions are reskinned Christianity. There's a particular Holy Book, one or a few Holy Days, worship takes place in temples/churches with an altar at the front (with treasure underneath, of course) and pews where worshipers can sit and listen to a priest giving sermons on whatever virtues the god likes. Why should all religions be like that? You want to worship Malar, go on a hunt and bring down the biggest beast you can find. You don't do that in a stuffy old house.

I agree - with a typical DnD pantheon, the best reference for how laity would interact with religion is: "Shinto as presented in anime." Not a daily or even weekly activity, priests aren't really leaders (more like craftsmen), and people either go to a temple/shrine for a specific purpose or because it's festival day (which is more of a community event than a religious one).

If it ain't festival day, and you don't need a spell cast, there's no need to think about it.

 

[Umbran]

What I loved is you had a character grounded in real religion like Sinclair (who was I think supposed to have Jesuit education) and a character like G'kar who is part of a religion created for the show, and both feel believable and at home in the setting (I could easily see that turning out lopsided in either direction if it weren't handled well). Especially with G'kar because there, the character was actively expanding the religion.

Good point, and it leads back around to this discussion.

G'Kar effectively expands on the religion of his people - it is reasonable to expect that he's on his way to becoming another of his people's prophets, in fact.

But, there is very little detail about the religion. We see him praying from time to time. There is one episode that hinges on the needs of a ceremony. And indeed, G'Kar gives his copy of his holy text, the Book of G'Quan, to another character to learn from, and we still get nothing much about the religion or its precepts. The character of G'Kar, and his behavior, is the documentation about the religion.

Which suggests that a bunch of campaign details is not what you need to show the impact of faith - you need a player interested in doing so.

 

[Stormonu]

Don't forget the Mimbari!

 

[Bedrockgames]

Good point, and it leads back around to this discussion.

G'Kar effectively expands on the religion of his people - it is reasonable to expect that he's on his way to becoming another of his people's prophets, in fact.

But, there is very little detail about the religion. We see him praying from time to time. There is one episode that hinges on the needs of a ceremony. And indeed, G'Kar gives his copy of his holy text, the Book of G'Quan, to another character to learn from, and we still get nothing much about the religion or its precepts. The character of G'Kar, and his behavior, is the documentation about the religion.

Which suggests that a bunch of campaign details is not what you need to show the impact of faith - you need a player interested in doing so.

I would want to go back and rewatch again to really comment on this fully, but I think one of the things that was clever about how they handled G'kar and transmitted to the viewer the significance of his text, is we see the transformation of the character from one way of thinking to another, and we know the details are a reflection of that change. I can't recall how much actual information we got about the religion and his addition to it, but I remember not feeling the way about G'kar and the book fo G'Quan, the way I might have felt about such things being introduced in other science fiction shows.

Somewhat related, since the subject of religion in science fiction caused this part of the conversation, I have been rewatching the 90s show Alien Nation and that is another one that makes use of religion (and it isn't set especially far in the future so it might be a different kind of example). But they get into the newcomers beliefs, and even deal with the fact that they have a bunch of different belief systems.

 

[Umbran]

I would want to go back and rewatch again to really comment on this fully,

Fair. I'm currently rewatching, in Season 4. So, I have this more in the forefront of my mind at the moment.

but I think one of the things that was clever about how they handled G'kar and transmitted to the viewer the significance of his text, is we see the transformation of the character from one way of thinking to another, and we know the details are a reflection of that change.

Yes. Indeed, this is how JMS tends to handle religion, in general. He doesn't talk about festivals and holy days and dogma so much as his talks about what is important to the character of faith.

I can't recall how much actual information we got about the religion and his addition to it, but I remember not feeling the way about G'kar and the book fo G'Quan, the way I might have felt about such things being introduced in other science fiction shows.

Indeed, G'Kar has one of the best character arcs in all of sci-fi TV, imho.