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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tymophil" data-source="post: 5727783" data-attributes="member: 46923">Here's what I do in my present campaign. There ARE religions, and there ARE believers... Anyone can see that. And SOME people claim that there are gods or other kinds of supernatural agents.Religions come in two breeds : natural forces that can be called to act for the faithful, and anthropomorphic ones that can answer payers of the faithful.I designed a loose, even simplistic, "ancient cult" for the natural forces believers.I designed a Pantheon for the anthropomorphic gods, with very few dieties. Each one is linked to a natural force : Sun god, Moon goddess, Sea god, etc.Believers come in any shape of form. I stressed the point that, in most religions, sects spread like wild fire. The Sun god being the most revered, he can be worshipped as the Ardent Sun, the Cropper, the Righteous Father, the Morning Giver, etc. I made some gods persona non grata in certain places... by believers at least.In my group, I have a firm believer in the Sun god (an avenger). He's an almost intolerant one that was indoctrinated by a Sect. His initiation rite did go awfully wrong, and his skin is scarred with burnt skin, he lost all hair, and his eyes lost their colour. Still, he believes in his god and his clergy. All that was chosen by the player... He really understood the mood of my campaign.One is mercenary, with down to earth beliefs. “Gods ? Maybe, but powers, sure... Let's try to get as univolved as possible. I may need that power, whatever its source.” I portray him an agnostic.Two characters worship the ancient cult of Natural Forces beyond our comprehension (a shaman and a warder). They get power from those sources, the kind of power they have make it plain. They don't believe that there are anthropomorphic gods. It is very interesting to play as those cults are considered obsolete, yet dangerous, in certain areas.The rogue never talks such matters... He's too busy surviving. We've played almost 15 sessions so far, and got often into heavy roleplay around religions. Yet he never said a word that could lead anyone to know what is his take on those matters. I consider it a fine way to play such a character !The wizard is a kind of agent provocateur that makes a point at mocking religious people, whatever their religion. He always comes up with a “this is all arcane magic in disguise” kind of explanation.I made it so, that this could be a good explanation, until... The wizard did something very nice rewarded with... “You will get an answer once by a deity.” The player got silent on the topic for a few sessions... But when the answer came, he was surprised (and disappointed) that the answer was not what he expected. Yet it was the most useful at the time.I also made sure that the religions had evolved over time. So much, that the older versions of them could be heretic to the believers of today.For example, the players went to a very ancient place that was holy centuries ago, only to find that the Sun god and the Moon goddess were worshipped in the same temple. The Moon goddess doesn't have any temple in resent days, and it is important to this religion. While the Sun god clergy forbids any sign of worship of the Moon goddess were it is powerful enough.In my view, religions, gods, and most importantly believers are the opportunity to give depth and sense of mystery to a setting. If there is enough depth, there should be room enough for the atheist point of view to thrive...</blockquote>

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