Worlds of Design: RPG Gods - Benign or Malign?

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Most RPG settings have some form of godhood. Yet there are some age-old questions that come into play as you create religions.

By Unknown author - Os Deuses Egípcios – IMAGICK, CC BY-SA 4.0, File:Deuses Egipcios.png - Wikimedia Commons​

Gods and “hokey religions” (to quote Han Solo in Star Wars a New Hope) are usually part of fantasy and science fiction role-playing games. From a world-building standpoint, you can approach religion as a form of philosophy, a way to guide one’s life, but a lot more people are into religion than philosophy. Rather than using a religion that resembles a modern day equivalent, let’s start from scratch by asking some fundamental questions:

How Many?​

How many gods are there? In human history, ancient gods often were members of a pantheon, a group of gods. So it is with many RPG campaigns and settings. Gods from these ancient pantheons (Greek and Roman most prominently) were superpowerful and immortal, but otherwise behaved much like humans. Less common was a single god, or a god who has an oppositional aspect (effectively another god) as in Manichaeism or Persia’s Zoroastrian religion (Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman). It has been uncommon to think that only “my” gods exist, and no others. The belief is more likely when there is only one (or two) god(s) in a religion rather than a pantheon. After all, if you can have a bunch of gods, why can't someone else, and those gods compete with one another?

Gender?​

Male vs female? Virtually all the ancient religions were heavily male-oriented, just as societies were heavily male-oriented. Some did have powerful goddesses often related to fertility. But male orientation is not necessary in a fantasy world in which women are often treated much differently than women in the ancient world. There is some notion that in prehistoric times, some religions were heavily female oriented.

Belief?​

Do you believe? Just as in the real world, some characters are going to want nothing to do with gods, while others will devote their lives to them. Some will assume that gods are only bad for humanity, others that gods provide great good for humanity. A GM/World-Builder can influence this strongly through the actual behavior of the gods.

Do You Have a Choice?​

Is there State Sponsorship (forcing everyone to conform)? In the real world, sometimes people are free to choose their religion, other times they are required to conform to the state religion. And you have cases where the laws are devised to encourage someone to convert (as when non-Muslims paid an additional tax in the early centuries of Arab expansion). The Roman Empire changed state sponsorship from their pagan religion to Christianity in the fourth century CE. And so on. The player characters could be religionists resisting state-imposed religion.

Divine Right?​

What about men/women worshiped as gods? There have been many times in human history that rulers justified their right to rule by declaring themselves to be gods. Among these are the Pharaohs, the later Roman emperors, and many medieval kings of Europe. For some it was just an excuse, but others seem to have really believed it.

Manifestations?​

How much do gods manifest in (appear or directly influence) the world? Some ancient gods, e.g. Greek, were thought to constantly meddle with the world. Egyptian gods were less present in the world. If gods do meddle with the world, how do they do it? Provide direction for worshipers (even holy war?)? Give boons to their most prominent worshipers?

Fear or Love?​

Do characters fear their god(s) (and for that matter, rulers), or love him/her/it/them? This depends on the priesthood, or on the behavior of the “actual god(s)”. It also depends on what the ruler thinks is best. It’s easy to make people fear him/her/it when the gods themselves are involved.

The Old Gods?​

What about the “old gods,” the ones who no longer have worshipers? Do they fade away entirely, or do they hang out in the background, so to speak—perhaps providing quest material for players? If they hang out, do they become neutral, or benign, or malign?

What Are They Really?​

"Gods" as Aliens - or Monsters. What are the gods, really? Perhaps they're all part of a big scam?

For an in-depth exploration of different ways to implement religion in your campaign (and answers to some of these questions), see Andrew “Corone” Peregrine’s excellent series of articles on the topic.

Your Turn: What questions did I miss?

 

[Davies]

-deleted-

 

[Helldritch]

I don't take it that far but in my game there are some deities who won't allow their Clerics to multi-class into certain other classes e.g. many of the more Good-ly deities frown on - or outright ban - their Clerics multi-ing into Necromancer or Assassin.

Some other deities, meanwhile, actively encourage their Clerics to multi-class. A deity of Thievery, for example, might encourage his more nimble Clerics to take up Thief as a second class; and would gladly accept a Thief taking up his Clericism as a second class. (worth noting I hard-cap the number of classes a character can have at two)

Yep, this is not an instant rebuttal and denial. The god is asking why. Nothing more, nothing less. Some gods will accept others won't. But it will be the decision of the player in the end if he does it or not.

To all actions, there are consequences. It is when you know the consequences that you make a clear choice.

It is not as if the consequence (if any) drops all of sudden on the unexpected player. Most of the time this is an incredible opportunity to role play an important decision in the character's development. Sometimes, the decision leads to the loss of the power of the class that is "abandoned" and at other times, it is fully accepted by the god/patron in a joint alliance of convenience. Dual allegiance can and do work at times.

@Hussar , you seem to see this as heavy handed and yet it is not. I have been doing this since the 1ed with my players and not in a single instance have I seen a player balk at the process. In fact in most instances, the decision stands but the role play involved is exactly what the player was looking for in the first place! It makes a simple game mechanic a great opportunity to role play. It shows that the gods are not uncaring and that most of their non intervention policy is to protect the mortals and not just some fancies.

If all the gods are doing is punish the unfaithful, I can understand why players is such campaigns are taking badly such an approach. But gods are not just there to punish. Gods in my campaign can and do intervene on rare occasion. A miracle can happen in favor of the player just because the player has been roleplaying his cleric/paladin so well that the god is willing to "break" the non intervention rule to save the character. Sometimes it is the refreshment of spell slots or inspirations recharge for the whole group or being able to use key spell as a bonus action and many other ways. Hey even a dream of what is to come is a very good way to make the god feel important! And when the gods are important, the players are much more enclined to listen and think hard when their god come to them and asks for some clarifications.

Again, it not only amplifies the experience that multiclassing is by making it a role play experience, it also make the character feel a lot more than just another cleric or another paladin. Yes the god can read in the heart of the character, but the god cares enough about the character to ask! Would you not feel touched if such a thing could occur in real life to you?

Again, there is a very big difference in coercing and forcing a player to do or not to do something and talking things through with his his/her god.

 

[Hussar]

Funny thing is, players would equally balk at me intervening to give miracles. It’s not about the good or bad. It’s about the dm stepping in at all.

 

[Lanefan]

Funny thing is, players would equally balk at me intervening to give miracles.

You have unusual players, in that case.

Divine intervention shouldn't happen often - maybe once every few years if not less frequently than that, in a long-term campaign - but when it does it can provide some truly memorable moments.

Keep in mind also that divine intervention and miracles aren't always beneficial to the PCs. The last divine intervention in my current campaign (of any relevance, anyway) was in favour of the foes: the party were fighting a group of nasty but rather outmatched Clerics; one of which tried for DI and against some pretty serious odds got it, whereupon she started radiantly glowing. The PCs, undaunted by this, kept on fighting as if nothing was wrong; and due to her deity's blessing the glowing Cleric's next - and, as it turned out, last ever - combat swing outright beheaded a party member.

It’s not about the good or bad. It’s about the dm stepping in at all.

If the DM's just doing it arbitrarily, I agree. But if it's a random unpredictable and very rare thing along similar lines as the much-more-common wild magic surges, I'm fine with it.

 

[Helldritch]

@Lanefan , I can assure you that divine interventions are rare and used sparingly. And most of the time it is something small that only marginally help. I reserve true divine interventions for the clerical power miracle.

@Hussar Then why is there a DM? The game belongs to both players and DM. The goal is not to force a story down the throats of the players or to put words in their mouth. It is to build and see a story emerge from play. If you as DM can role play alongside your players, what exactly are you doing. Rolling dice for their foes?

Not every DM's actions are there to put players at ease or to start a war. We have a very democratic game where every player has a voice in the rules and events. I happen to be a player too. But I do not play a player character, I play NPCs. As long as I play within the rules and apply them fairly to both PCs and NPCs and I do not mess up with players' agencies for the fun of being mean, I see no problems to play the I do. It has worked out for almost 40 years now. No one ever thought that I was being abusive. Why would you and your players think so?

 

[Lanefan]

@Lanefan , I can assure you that divine interventions are rare and used sparingly. And most of the time it is something small that only marginally help. I reserve true divine interventions for the clerical power miracle.

I don't have "miracle" as either power or spell in my game, though I seem to recall such a thing existed in 3e.

 

[Helldritch]

I don't have "miracle" as either power or spell in my game, though I seem to recall such a thing existed in 3e.

At 10th level, clerics in 5th get to have a chance to call on their deity to intercede in their favor. It is a small percentage but it can replicate almost any spells (with the DM adjudication of course). I allow a cleric to add charisma bonus to this check that is 1% per level. A good reason to have charismatic priest(esse)s.

 

[Hussar]

No one ever thought that I was being abusive. Why would you and your players think so?

Hey, I'm with you on this. Please don't think I disagree.

I'm just telling you what my experience with this sort of thing has been. The second that some players get even the merest whiff of the DM getting any sort of power over their characters and they revolt. This is why you see all the "Man with No Name" characters with Outlander backgrounds (if you play 5e - or something very similar in any other edition) with no living family and zero interpersonal connections to the campaign. For added protection, make the character Chaotic Neutral so that the DM can never, ever suggest that you wouldn't do something.

There are more than a few players out there that will absolutely lose their poop if you even begin to think of influencing their character in any way, shape or form.

Heck, gaming story time. This one was recent.

I ran an adventure where there was a temple of Baphomet. The party was there to raid the temple for a variety of reasons, not particularly germane to this example. Within the temple, I placed several fonts full of clean, clear water where you could bathe. The fonts radiated magic if checked. The party took one look at the first one they found and gave it a hard NOPE. No worries.

Then a bit later, a summoned wolf was hit with a fear effect and ran (entirely randomly) into one of font rooms and splashed into the pool. The party discovered that bathing in the pool healed all wounds. Bathing in a second pool granted all sorts of bonuses, which they fully enjoyed. But, when they came across a third pool, there was a magical compulsion for those who had willingly bathed twice to bathe a third time. One of the characters (well, two actually, but, only one is needed for this example) failed the save and bathed a third time.

This basically baptised the character into the cult of Baphomet. Baphomet appeared to him in a dream and told him that they were going to do great things together. Now, the ONLY effect this had was that Baphomet would be able to contact the character from time to time and offer different enticements to cement their relationship and that the character would not willingly sever the contact. The character was under no compulsion to accept anything whatsoever and it was 100% up to the player (and the character) how he would deal with this, other than the fact that the compulsion would not allow the character to try to sever the connection.

The player absolutely lost his naughty word. I had ruined his character and he basically refused to do anything further in the game until I removed this compulsion. This, honestly, was the deal breaker for my last group. I walked away from the group over this. The complete lack of trust in me as a DM and complete and total refusal to engage in anything I tried to do in the game was too much. I left the group.

But, yeah, this is a thing. This is very much a thing. There are players out there that will absolutely freak out if you tried to do anything like your examples @Helldritch. I wouldn't dream of trying anything like you just suggested because I know, before I even tried, that it would just not fly. Heck, in my current game, I was very, VERY careful to ask the player first, many times, before I even hinted at putting a fingerprint on the paint job on his character.

So, yeah, my experiences have been VERY different from yours.

 

[Scott Christian]

What about men/women worshiped as gods? There have been many times in human history that rulers justified their right to rule by declaring themselves to be gods. Among these are the Pharaohs, the later Roman emperors, and many medieval kings of Europe. For some it was just an excuse, but others seem to have really believed it.

One of my regions in my setting has a religion that worships the three founders of the kingdom. Their ideals: strength, wisdom, and wit. Strength helped the kingdom survive the harsh environment. Wisdom allowed them to utilize the natural resources properly and efficiently. And wit, built roads, a harbor town, and created trade with the other kingdoms.

Each has different prayer beads and worship is segregated by gender, as the kingdom is a matriarchy. Men can worship all three, while women choose one in a traditional coming of age gathering. Basically, Harry Potter's sorting hat without the hat, a bar mitzva for girls, and a quinceañera all rolled into one. The singular focus allows for more in depth learning, while the broader approach covers greater circumstances.

Each temple is designed according to the founders ability. And, to throw some truly genericism in, each one has a spirit snake that is regarded as the founder's embodiment: viper, cobra, mamba. (I'm a sucker for the classics.) The temples are based off these. For example, the House of Chains is the worshipping place for Viper. Here is one of my descriptions:

"The large circular building is the shape of a coiled viper. For each rung around, there are massive chains draped to the side. You know this to represent the viper's attribute - strength. As the rungs continue upward the chains get smaller. Each rung inside is also a circular walkway. Pilgrims slowly ascend until reaching the head. There, a pitch-dark room with incredible heat allows worshippers to meditate. While inside, the chains outside can be heard grating along the walls. It is loudest below yet becoming more and more muffled the closer one gets to the head. This "noise" is almost hypnotic once inside for any period, almost having a living swaying motion."

 

[Yaarel]

Hey, I'm with you on this. Please don't think I disagree.

I'm just telling you what my experience with this sort of thing has been. The second that some players get even the merest whiff of the DM getting any sort of power over their characters and they revolt. This is why you see all the "Man with No Name" characters with Outlander backgrounds (if you play 5e - or something very similar in any other edition) with no living family and zero interpersonal connections to the campaign. For added protection, make the character Chaotic Neutral so that the DM can never, ever suggest that you wouldn't do something.

There are more than a few players out there that will absolutely lose their poop if you even begin to think of influencing their character in any way, shape or form.

Heck, gaming story time. This one was recent.

I ran an adventure where there was a temple of Baphomet. The party was there to raid the temple for a variety of reasons, not particularly germane to this example. Within the temple, I placed several fonts full of clean, clear water where you could bathe. The fonts radiated magic if checked. The party took one look at the first one they found and gave it a hard NOPE. No worries.

Then a bit later, a summoned wolf was hit with a fear effect and ran (entirely randomly) into one of font rooms and splashed into the pool. The party discovered that bathing in the pool healed all wounds. Bathing in a second pool granted all sorts of bonuses, which they fully enjoyed. But, when they came across a third pool, there was a magical compulsion for those who had willingly bathed twice to bathe a third time. One of the characters (well, two actually, but, only one is needed for this example) failed the save and bathed a third time.

This basically baptised the character into the cult of Baphomet. Baphomet appeared to him in a dream and told him that they were going to do great things together. Now, the ONLY effect this had was that Baphomet would be able to contact the character from time to time and offer different enticements to cement their relationship and that the character would not willingly sever the contact. The character was under no compulsion to accept anything whatsoever and it was 100% up to the player (and the character) how he would deal with this, other than the fact that the compulsion would not allow the character to try to sever the connection.

The player absolutely lost his naughty word. I had ruined his character and he basically refused to do anything further in the game until I removed this compulsion. This, honestly, was the deal breaker for my last group. I walked away from the group over this. The complete lack of trust in me as a DM and complete and total refusal to engage in anything I tried to do in the game was too much. I left the group.

But, yeah, this is a thing. This is very much a thing. There are players out there that will absolutely freak out if you tried to do anything like your examples @Helldritch. I wouldn't dream of trying anything like you just suggested because I know, before I even tried, that it would just not fly. Heck, in my current game, I was very, VERY careful to ask the player first, many times, before I even hinted at putting a fingerprint on the paint job on his character.

So, yeah, my experiences have been VERY different from yours.

The DM plays the world.

The player plays the character.

When something overlaps both how the world works and what the character concept is, both the player and the DM need to agree.

A player has the right to nope out of something that alters the character concept.

With regard to the world setting the DM has a right too, to nope something that a character might want.

Negotiation and trust can be vital for a healthy game.