Raven Crowking
First Post
Arkhandus said:In my current homebrew, Rhunaria....
Sounds like an interesting place!
And, again, there are some pretty strong specifics.
People worship gods because they have reason (right or wrong) to believe that the gods are real, and affect the world in which they live (or at least the afterlife). In D&D worlds, it is possible to have superior information to that of the modern world. After all, in D&D, you can cast a spell, ask a question, and get a correct answer. Not a theory; a correct answer. And, in theory, this is a possibility for most people. Want to know if the gods are real? Pick your class accordingly!
In D&D worlds, affecting the world generally means a mechanical game effect (i.e., worship me or you get no spells, etc.) or a manifest presence (such as in Rhunaria or Greyhawk). Being forced to deal with gods as NPCs, or being forced to take gods into account in game mechanics, makes the gods real.
Religious festivals are a really good way to make that reality a cultural one as well as a manifest one. Mortal NPCs who truly believe could, I imagine, make a sort of NPC interaction by proxy, and alter the game mechanics through circumstance modifiers (i.e., "The cleric sees you do not bear the Mark of Zoh'row. Roll your Diplomacy check with a -4 circumstance modifier).
RC
P.S.: I am not trying to claim that D&D worlds shouldn't have gods. Nor am I really trying to knock the system. I am working on a rewrite of my worldbook, and want to make the gods seem more real (and more important) to the PCs. So, even if I don't agree outright with everybody's comments, I do appreciate them!
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