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Worshipping an ideal.
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<blockquote data-quote="Deadguy" data-source="post: 61903" data-attributes="member: 2480"><p><strong>Down With Gods!!</strong></p><p></p><p>When I started to design my Shattered World setting, one of the key design ideas was to <strong>get rid of Gods</strong>! Over the years I have played in and observed no end of campaigns where the PCs are just marionettes dancing to the will of many deities. Heck, I've been responsible for doing the same myself! They're a convenient 'out' for a DM, a way of getting PCs to follow the right path because basically their are hugely powerful beings who will cream them if they step wrong.</p><p></p><p>Sorry, had to get that out of my system! (And I will add that I have seen gods, faith and religion handled really well, too. It's just not all that common.)</p><p></p><p>So for the Shattered World, there are no gods. Instead there are universal Principles like Order, Decay, Power and Questing. The firm belief in these Principles, as elucidated by a wide number of different groups and organisations, produces the power of Passion magic (the replacement to Divine magic). The key 'believers' are Theurges, and they act much like Clerics. Different groups perceive the Principles differently. So, for example, both the Hierarchy (Lawful Evil) and the Glorious Legion (Lawful Good) are believers in the Power Principle. But the Legion wants Power in order to right the world's wrongs and to preserve life, whilst the Hierarchy are firm beleivers that it it is right and proper that people should rise over the weak and dominate the world. Thus they get access to quite different Domains, representing those beliefs.</p><p></p><p>I have found that this system takes players a little time to get used to. There are no 'divine' beings telling them the truth. Instead they are decided within the group, by whatever means orthodoxy is decided. naturally Chaotic groups tend to fracture regularly! But it does mean that players can aspire to actually influence their groups and maybe even recast an entire group in a different Principle (okay extreme, but it has happenedd in the backstory to the campaign).</p><p></p><p>I guess I am saying that Principles can work fine as the basis for 'clerical' belief, but you need to think through the consequences a bit.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Deadguy, post: 61903, member: 2480"] [b]Down With Gods!![/b] When I started to design my Shattered World setting, one of the key design ideas was to [b]get rid of Gods[/b]! Over the years I have played in and observed no end of campaigns where the PCs are just marionettes dancing to the will of many deities. Heck, I've been responsible for doing the same myself! They're a convenient 'out' for a DM, a way of getting PCs to follow the right path because basically their are hugely powerful beings who will cream them if they step wrong. Sorry, had to get that out of my system! (And I will add that I have seen gods, faith and religion handled really well, too. It's just not all that common.) So for the Shattered World, there are no gods. Instead there are universal Principles like Order, Decay, Power and Questing. The firm belief in these Principles, as elucidated by a wide number of different groups and organisations, produces the power of Passion magic (the replacement to Divine magic). The key 'believers' are Theurges, and they act much like Clerics. Different groups perceive the Principles differently. So, for example, both the Hierarchy (Lawful Evil) and the Glorious Legion (Lawful Good) are believers in the Power Principle. But the Legion wants Power in order to right the world's wrongs and to preserve life, whilst the Hierarchy are firm beleivers that it it is right and proper that people should rise over the weak and dominate the world. Thus they get access to quite different Domains, representing those beliefs. I have found that this system takes players a little time to get used to. There are no 'divine' beings telling them the truth. Instead they are decided within the group, by whatever means orthodoxy is decided. naturally Chaotic groups tend to fracture regularly! But it does mean that players can aspire to actually influence their groups and maybe even recast an entire group in a different Principle (okay extreme, but it has happenedd in the backstory to the campaign). I guess I am saying that Principles can work fine as the basis for 'clerical' belief, but you need to think through the consequences a bit. [/QUOTE]
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