Making a new world and I could use a hand! [D&D]

[BennyG]

Here is my idea: (ANY and ALL input is appreciated)

The Blood War, an ongoing battle between denizens of the underworld has raged on for countless milennia with no end in sight. It is probably the only thing keeping the good from being overrun, and they know it. So too does the King of Baator, Asmodeus. He has hatched a plan over 3 millennia ago which is almost come to fruition. Purely by accident, he found a world in which people didn't believe in "gods" and a new and unknown power was in existance: psionics. So, for the past few millenia he has been exerting his influence upon this world, slowly at first. Now he is the only Diety in existance. He has re-written history so as to look like the creator of this world. As well, he has placed powerful magics upon this world, fuled by his worship, that disallow other deities from contacting this world. In addition, no being from any plane other than Baator may enter the world or communicate with any inhabitants of the world.

Basically, Asmodeus is the only deity and the players will EVENTUALLY battle to free their world from his grasp. But I need help in designing a world with only one deity who is evil. There is examples of a monothestic world in deities and demigods, but it always refers to good deities.

Any help would be appreciated...

BennyG

 

[Randolpho]

Might I suggest you take a look at the world of Ultima 8?

If you're unfamiliar with the game, I'll try to post some links to the story as I find them:

http://www.classicgaming.com/rpg/REVIEW/u8.htm

 

[hellbender]

or try the world-create list on www.yahoogroups.com

hellbender

 

[Paragon Badger]

Cool idea. Here's my random thoughts off the top of my head.

I see 2 approaches you could take. One where the devils have a direct hand in the world. One where Asmodeus keeps all (most) the devils from directly controlling the mortals.

In one scenario you could have a strictly regimented society with strict laws and codes. (As is Lawful Evil). I could kind of see a 1984 gone medieval world. "Asmodeus is your ruler. You will obey your ruler." I see an official church of Asmodeus that strictly controls the actions of the citizens and forces a single world government (or possibly several "states" all kept unwittingly in a state of perpetual warfare by the true puppet master Asmodeus).

Another more varied world idea would involve several churches of As that are sects based on the domains that Asmodeus grants. Maybe a sect/country totally dedicated to law and order. Strictly a military society (Sparta gone bad). Another sect/country dedicated to pure evil. They main goal is to sway all the followers of other sects to their views. Perhaps you'll have Asmodeus grant Magic as a domain and have a sect/country that focuses on demonology or necromancy. Destruction domain = bunch of crazy psions that like to blow stuff up. And since they would be under the influence of the big A these society would attempt to infiltrate and destroy each other. The PCs could belong/create a organization against As and use these differences to try and weaken all the sects.

Anyway that is just my random babbling and I need to get back to work. I hope that is at least a little useful/intriguing to you.

Edit: So many spelling errors, no time to proof now, fixed obvious ones...

 

[Happiest_Sadist]

Why must the religion be manifestly evil. Asmodeus may create a seemingly good mythos that will in the end serve him. Consider this cosmology. If it is followed, Asmodeus may essentially call upon the whole world to fight his demonic enemies.

The world is all but doomed and the day of Raganarok is coming. When it happens our world will be destroyed by the encroching tides of Chaos. We are all doomed, but at that day we may preserve our honor and earn our place in Valhalla by fighting with Asmodeus. In this battle humanity shall decide the fate of the universe.

 

[Paragon Badger]

Why must the religion be manifestly evil.

Good point. Just my natural tendancy toward the evil empire to fight against, I guess.

A false front would be a good deceit worthy of As'. This idea could allow Asmodeus to use the valinant and good hearted schmucks of this world as shock troopers. Can't you just see Psychic Warriors dressed in the Paladin-like battle armor charging on noble steeds across the battlefield toward a demonic host with the battle-cry. "Die foul villians in the noble name of the Knights of Asmodeus!" Mwa-ha-ha

 

[Kibo]

Why not go a nice spanish inquisition route. You can burn innocent people, to protect the flock from the influences of evil of course, and your newly minted god can claim their souls and grow in power.

Depending on how far you wanted to take it, the church might decide that psionics are evil, the devine gifts from the lord on high are good, and btw all the pc's have at least some psionic talent, maybe they could start out as citizens of their local community with jobs, memberships in secret guilds banned by the church and such.

 

[Methinkus]

This is a great idea. To design the world, I would look at Asmodeus’ alignment, as it could be the prevailing one of the society in the setting. LE means a strictly regimented and controlled society, maybe even complete with a caste system to make it that much more evil, or if he is CE anarchy rules the day, with random encounters with deamons or devils or wandering monsters being common even around heavily populated cites where of course, the clergy rule with an iron fist, supported by the mandate of might makes right

Or what if he isn’t the only major power? He clearly has s lot of power, but I would ask if there are still some pockets of the old atheists anywhere in the setting? Maybe a sect of psionics with enough power to rival his priesthood would exist as well. This could work well with the other idea of his church not being openly evil, with the party fighting for the A-man to rid the world of the infidels and their unnatural mental sorcery!

 

[Darraketh]

Cool. This scenario reminds me of the recent incarnation of the movie "The Time Machine."

As it would apply to this setting Asmodeous has established a caste system with him at the top controlling his minions psionically. The minions are created from humans. A church is established to quell the fears of the populace and assure them that giving themselves to Asmodeous is the right and just thing to do and will lead them to a reward of eternal peace.

In truth the humans or whatever other races you are working with, are given to a prolonged life in a rigid caste system serving Asmodeous in the War of Damnation. They become workers, soldiers, spies and elites all reengineered into hideous but efficient biological machines. Bwahahaha…

 

[BennyG]

Thanks for all the input All!

To answer one specific question: Why must the religion be manifestly evil?

The ideal is that the PCs will eventually rally those who are against Asmodeus into a full on rebellion. In addition to that, I plan on having 3 dieties contacting the PCs (one LG, one N [of Nature] and one other [maybe evil as well]) and giving them a way to partially undo the magics/psionics that are cutting off the plane to other deities. The party will then be able to become clerics, druids, paladins or rangers as they will be allowed to breach the "blocking spell."
I also forgot one part... Asmodeus in blocking the other dieties influence also dampened arcane magic. (Arcane casters will have to make a spellcraft test every time they cast a spell. The DC is 5 + (5 x spell level). As you can imagine this makes it tough to be an arcane caster. It also makes psionics the premiere thing to use. And the way I am playing it is that all inhabitants of this plane have the potential to be psi's. So Asmodeus is attempting to steer denizens down that career path.

BennyG