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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6226516" data-attributes="member: 27160">I think a thing both tricky and curious about religion in games of any sort is that it is multi-faceted. It has a devotional aspect - a "Charismatic" aspect, if you will - and also a societal or political aspect both in attempting to "guide" society and in providing context (myths that tell the people where they come from and what they are here for). Different RPGs (and different games in general, in fact) have handled these different aspects with varying degrees of facility, although in general I agree that the level has been, on average, fairly poor.For the more personal side of religion and the devotional side, I agree that HeroQuest/Wars, Pendragon and Burning Wheel are standouts. Glorantha in general (including the iPad/PC game King of Dragon Pass) handles the myth and context area superbly. This is a side that D&D has generally handled poorly or barely at all.On the political/societal side, though, I found Birthright - especially the "Priestcraft" book - really rather fine. The setting as a whole has a slightly wierd but quite thematic "origin myth" for the gods, and the focus of play being widened to include ruling "domains" (which includes churches and temples - church orders, effectively) makes the setting particularly suited to exploring the political side of religion. The Priestcraft book really plays to this, explaining the doctrinal differences (and consequent political conflicts) between the church orders. It is perhaps the only D&D setting (except maybe Eberron?) where priests of the same god might have genuine reasons to be at odds built into the setting itself.Religion is an area where games - especially roleplaying games, arguably - need to be particularly careful and respectful, but it can be done. I can't help myself giving a mention to the computer game "Crusader Kings II", here, since it is a superb example of a moderately high profile game that includes real-world religions in play while keeping sufficiently respectful/balanced in its treatment as to avoid giving offence to religious people of any persuasion. As a way of handling the political/worldly aspects of religions, it has a lot to teach RPG writers, I think.</blockquote>

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