Catholicism in a Campaign

[Three_Haligonians]

This may seem to be a weird post to most, but hopefully you guys will be able to help me out. I'm leading a campaign set in a world in which the pantheon on a basic level works like this: four greater gods (chaos, law, good, evil) are caught in a neverending struggle. They have created the lesser gods (of which there are many) and most people worship one of these lesser gods. Some, however, do worship the abstract concepts of the greater gods. It is important to note that this world was created by my boyfriend, not myself, therefore I don't wish to change anything about this relationship between the gods.

In my campaign I've got a Paladin who worships good as a force, and a cleric who has decided to make an interesting choice for her character. Rather than worship any of these gods, she has decided to play a Catholic priest who worships one god only and has the attitudes and beliefs of a Catholic a few hundred years post-Christ. While we've had a lot of fun working out the logistics of this and researching it historically, I'm having some trouble working her into the fold. Here is the problem with which I'm most concerned: Catholicism draws on both the New Testiment and the Old. The problem being that it has come out of another religion to which it is closely tied. In our world, Catholicism comes out of Judaism, but in this imaginary world, Judaism does not exist. I'm playing with the idea of setting it up as if Catholicism has come out of worshiping good as a force (like my other PC's character), but I'm not convinced this is the best way.

I understand referencing real world religion can be a touchy subject, and I want to stress that I'm not looking to incite any flame wars or debates concerning religion. I'm simply looking for suggestions to my problem.

Thanks in advance!
Can't wait to hear from you.

T from Three Haligonians

 

[Dark Jezter]

 

[DragonLancer]

Perhaps the religion your character follows has changed since it was first recorded down for the masses? Theres some interesting plot ideas your DM could use there. Why would priests have changed it if these are the words and deeds of the four gods, for instance.

Otherwise think how it ties to other faiths in the game world... druidic faith, any different views that non-humans may have.

Its late here, but thats what comes to mind first off.

 

[Silveras]

My sincere advice is: Don't do it.

Try to fit the "look and feel" to one of the existing deities in the campaign, but I would not recommend mixing a real-world religion into the game.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Your campaign is screaming out for the inclusion of Cardinal Fang!

 

[Henry]

The easiest solution would be to remove the Catholic and real-world elements from the setting, and rename it simply, "The One God" and "The One Church" (which is pretty much what Catholicism is supposed to be).

If the player wants to still tie God to YHWH, there's nothing to say they can't - the explanation being, in your campaign universe, the message came through a little clearer, and hence the more direct path with fewer splits.

I also want to thank others for treading lightly on actual religious discussion.

 

[Wombat]

A couple thoughts come to mind.

You might want to look at Green Ronin's Medieval Player's Manual -- it's written by David Chart and is really fantastic, not only for general information on how to fit D20 mechanics into a more "realistic" feeling Medieval world, but also for very helpful information on religion, both in terms of specific offices and general theology. I think you would find this book very helpful in your quest.

The other thought that struck me was memories of playing Ars Magica. This is a fantastic game, currently put out by Atlas Games, and the setting is "Mythic Europe", which is more or less Medieval Europe with magic and monsters added; the monsters are drawn from legends and folktales. Again, there is a lot of information on Catholicism in the game book, but I remember in the various campaigns I played the discussions we had on religion, belief, the difference between office and act, and other matters. We had some great, deep discussions and games centering around these themes. Oh, and if you go over to RPGNow, you can download a pdf of this game for FREE

Hope this is at least of some help!

 

[Wormwood]

Bah.

Porting Holy Mother Church into D&D is a two-step process.

1. Replace "Gods" with "Saints".

2. Consult a hagiography. Google is your friend.

Example: St. George is famous for chivalrous behaviour (protecting women, fighting evil, dependence on faith and might of arms, largesse to the poor)---and is, among other things, the patron saint of soldiers, equestrians, farmers and armorers.

So I'd be comfortable giving him the domains of Glory, Good, Nobility, Protection or War.

Later, rinse, repeat.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

First off, it's your world - do you want Catholicism in it. (Not the player, if the church doesn't exist in your world it doesn't exist. Don't give the cleric spells, can't turn undead, etc.)

If you do then you need to decide - are there other gods, and if so how does the priesthood reconcile these other religions also getting spells?

Has Christianity split between East and West?

What is the Church's view on secular (arcane) magic?

I would attach domains to the various Saints as well as the central faith. (Law would seem a likely choice for the central faith.)

Christian D20 settings include the above mentioned Green Ronin book and Legends of Excalibur from RPG Objects. Adventures in a Christian universe include Atlas Games Black Monks of Glastonbury and several supplements from Avalanche.

I have run several campaigns in either a Christian or pseudo-Christian setting, it can be fun, but make sure both you and your players are comfortable with it. (In my case I have run a 1600s game with the Wars of Religion destroying the balance of power, and an 1800s game set in London, with the CofE being the strongest faith in the campaign area.)

The Auld Grump

 

[Khaalis]

From your brief description, I would look at it this way. The Catholic monotheistic belief structure would work in the setting in that they view the 4 greater gods as actually being but one single entity. They feel that the un-enlightened (aka everyone else) worship only a single aspect of this divinity. The lesser gods, as mentioned previously, are simply Saints. I think this is the easiest way to implement your ideas.