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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7346240" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think the ultimate answer is &quot;none&quot;, isn't it?I have little essays I wrote on the theology of the main religion in my GH game (a fairly elaborate variation on St Cuthbert, Pholtus, Tritherion and others as branches of a monotheistic religion). What was the point? Self-amusement. Taking my readings on Christology and metaphysics out for a bit of a spin. Some of the political differences between branches of the church turned out to matter in play, but I don't think the intricacies of the the theology ever came up!On the flip side: in my 4e game it is well-established that there are theological and doctrinal divisions among adherents of the Raven Queen, because the paladin PC, who is a Marshall of Letherna, and the ranger/cleric demigod who also serves the Raven Queen, disagree over these things from time to time. I don't know if either player has any real details in mind, but at the table the differences tend to emerge in fairly course-grained ways. But it actually matters to play much more than my essays ever did!All this is true. This is what I was trying to get at when I said that &quot;Vecna isn't the big deal&quot;, and in another context it could have been Iuz or Graz'zt or whomever.Because we're playing D&amp;D there's obviously a certain pleasure in using (recycling?) these old tropes, but they're means to an end, not the ends in themselves. Vecna in my current 4e game is a different being from Vecna in my old RM game (although they both fit the &quot;sinister archlich with ancient secrets&quot; role); Graz'zt was one thing in that RM game, and a different thing playing a different role in my long-running OA game (though in both had six fingers, and was a sinister manipulator with demon servants).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7346240, member: 42582"] I think the ultimate answer is "none", isn't it? I have little essays I wrote on the theology of the main religion in my GH game (a fairly elaborate variation on St Cuthbert, Pholtus, Tritherion and others as branches of a monotheistic religion). What was the point? Self-amusement. Taking my readings on Christology and metaphysics out for a bit of a spin. Some of the [I]political[/I] differences between branches of the church turned out to matter in play, but I don't think the intricacies of the the theology ever came up! On the flip side: in my 4e game it is well-established that there are theological and doctrinal divisions among adherents of the Raven Queen, because the paladin PC, who is a Marshall of Letherna, and the ranger/cleric demigod who also serves the Raven Queen, disagree over these things from time to time. I don't know if either player has any real details in mind, but at the table the differences tend to emerge in fairly course-grained ways. But it actually matters to play much more than my essays ever did! All this is true. This is what I was trying to get at when I said that "Vecna isn't the big deal", and in another context it could have been Iuz or Graz'zt or whomever. Because we're playing D&D there's obviously a certain pleasure in using (recycling?) these old tropes, but they're means to an end, not the ends in themselves. Vecna in my current 4e game is a different being from Vecna in my old RM game (although they both fit the "sinister archlich with ancient secrets" role); Graz'zt was one thing in that RM game, and a different thing playing a different role in my long-running OA game (though in both had six fingers, and was a sinister manipulator with demon servants). [/QUOTE]

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