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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 3073565" data-attributes="member: 15538">But so is the difference between clerics in Forgotten Realms versus clerics in Mystara (Basic D&D setting). The clerics in FR must have a patron deity, whereas the clerics in Mystara do not, and indeed, deities as such are not a strong part of the setting (there are immortals, and there are clerics, and there might be named deities, but there is nothing that says, "These are the Gods and they rule the universe, each having a specific portfolio that concerns them." Words like god and deity appear only a handful of times in the Cyclopedia.) Thus, fighting a cult dedicated to raising an evil deity from his prison has a very different context. In FR, the cult is raising up a master who directly grants them powers and could smite any mortals that pissed him off. In Mystara, the cult would be raising him basically because they liked him and thought he was an excellent embodiment of their goals and beliefs. In a few Basic D&D modules, cults dedicated to obscure, inhuman deities tend to be headed by wizards who pass their spells off as miracles, and those deities are more or less monsters that wish to rule over humans and demihumans and perhaps benefit from some kind of sacrifice. There is no orderly Wheel in Mystara, nor a Hell or Abyss. Demons, then, live somewhere in the multiverse, and are a part of the natural order. IIRC, you just have the Material Plane, Ethereal Plane, elemental Plane, and the great void. And that's it. So if you include demons, they live somewhere, and it's not an infinitely layered plane full of demons. Demons are just magical monsters, much like genies, but meaner and weirder.Furthermore, since there are no great Gods, elves, dwarves, halflings, and so forth aren't the creations of specific racial deities. Small differences can become huge differences. I've read about campaigns where orcs weren't humanoids at all, but aberrations that look humanoid, or even construct-like creatures. That makes a huge difference in how orcs are portrayed, or what they are capable of. If orcs are actually a form of evil planetouched, that makes a difference in how humans regard them.</blockquote>

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