Writing Religion into a Campaign Setting

[barsoomcore]

When I created Barsoom, I consciously set out to create a world WITHOUT religion.

Bad idea. Religion is such a profound part of human existence that Barsoom felt fake without it.

But keep in mind that "religion" means a whole lot more than just the names and descriptions and armour classes of the deities. What are the practices, the philosophies, the disagreements, the metaphysics, the myths, the truths...? How do people in this world relate to the supernatural? How do they demonstrate their faith or their submission or their veneration or whatever they demonstrate?

What are the holidays and WHY?

Those questions will give your setting far more depth and life than any list of deities.


That said, statting out the Demon Goddess in preparation for the Season Two climactic showdown between her and her nemesis was FUN. +87 to hit? Hee. It made me giggle. As a free action, she could deal something like 80 points of Con damage to everything within a quarter-mile.

They didn't call her the Demon Goddess for nuthin...

 

[Lanefan]

Statting out a god is easy: everything approaches infinity. Any questions?

As for designing your own, I did this for my game, and warning: it's a lot of work unless you want to go monothestic (and even then, would different races follow the same god/dess?).

First, decide what types of deities you want and-or that make sense for your world. The interests of player choice and game mechanics somewhat dictate there needs to be at least one deity covering each alignment (though some can overlap, of course) so players can play Clerics/Druids of any alignment or ethos they want. Then, decide whether the different races get their own deities or not. Will there be more than one Human culture represented? After doing this step, I wound up with 60(!) deities to flesh out...

This is where outside sources can really help. I stole liberally from the various published sources for the non-Human deities (Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, Gnome, other), and took some real-world deities as foundations for mine; mostly the Norse, as to me D+D is not D+D without Norse!

Then, for each deity I wrote out:
- Sphere(s) (war, agriculture, nature, fertility, death, arts, mining, etc.)
- Cleric types supported (normal, druid, war; war clerics are a homebrew class)
- Cleric alignment (Clerics must be this)
- Follower alignment (followers tend toward this but are not bound to it)
- Follower types (who normally follows this deity, include adventuring classes)
- Details (totem animal, weapon of choice, raiment colours, etc. - not all deities have all of these)
- Holy days or times (full moon, dawn, equinox, 3rd day of each month, etc.)

Then, each got a short write-up that includes typical temple type and description (e.g. solid stone keep, hidden grove, showy arts palace, simple wooden hut, etc.), sacrifice and offering details, whether followers are actively sought out and converted or not, ways in which the deity interacts with other deities (if known), and what the deity is rumoured to look like if-when it manifests (this happens in my game, now and then).

Behind the scenes, I dreamed up a divine framework or system that any deity can fit in.

All this was a lot of work, but the payoff is that I'm pretty much set for life now; any future campaigns I may run can simply use the same system, tweaked to suit the particular world or setting.

Hope this helps!

Lanefan

 

[Baron Opal]

Two sources that I found to be of great help are The Book of the Righteous by Green Ronin (mentioned above) for a "western" spin on religion and Mitlanyal by Zottola Publishing for the "eastern". Mitlanyal goes into the common doctrine vs the inner secrets, multiple aspects and how there can be competing doctrines even though the gods are active in the world.

 

[delericho]

You are virtually certain to never need the stats of a deity. If your PCs reach Epic level, they might be worth having, but otherwise don't bother. Even if your PCs do reach Epic level, only stat up a deity if you're actually going to use it.

That said, stats for the Aspects and Avatars of some deities might be a good thing to have... but again, only stat them if you think you're going to use them.

From a mechanics perspective, all you need is a name, alignment, list of domains and, if one of the domains is War, a note of the favoured weapon. (Heck, if you use the Eberron rule that Clerics don't need to be close to their deity's alignment, you don't even need that!)

But, just a list of the 'nuts and bolts' of the deities is boring.

What you really want to do is to give some thought to the place of religion in your campaign. Do all the races follow the same gods, are there racial gods for the various races, or do they have wholly distinct pantheons? Do the gods of one race accept followers of another race? What about Clerics? Are the Paladins tied to one particular god, to any LG god, or to any god at all (you really need non-LG paladins <spit> for that), or indeed, do they not get their powers from the gods at all?

Is there a unified religion in the campaign, where the gods mostly co-exist peacefully, with each having its own place in the pantheon, or do the various gods deny one another's existence, or do they each fight to show the "one true way", or what?

What are the portfolios of the gods? Who worships them? (I don't mean races or classes here, I mean soldiers, farmers, blacksmiths... Commoners, Experts and Aristocrats).

How do the gods view mortals? Are they a source of power? Are they a status symbol? Are they a parasitic nuisance, stealing the power of the gods?

What about adventurers? Do the gods care? Do they vie to be the patrons of the great heroes of the age? Do they challenge the heroes, the better to see their greatness shine?

What are the great legends surrounding the gods? Did one hang himself from a tree, and give up half the light of the world, in order to gain wisdom? Did one spring fully formed from the head of her 'father'? Were there elder gods whom your gods drove away, and if so, what happened to them?

Where do the gods live? Can heroes make their way to the courts of the god and demand answers?

How do the gods feel about magic? Was it a gift to mortals? Was it a curse? Did one god try to use it to enslave her chosen people, and then was forced to open it to all? Was it stolen by your Prometheus, given to wily mortals, and thus is ever distrusted by the clergy?

Are there religious holidays? Regular services? Secret places?

How do priests dress? Are they well respected, or must they hide their alliegance?

Don't be afraid to have lots of different answers for different cultures. Don't even be afraid to have mutually-exclusive and contradictory answers... from the point of view of the people in the campaign world (you should probably have a consistent answer, though).

Adding religion to a campaign is a lot like detailing any part of the campaign - you get out what you put in. But don't do too much, or you'll burn out.

 

[Thurbane]

I am looking for how other DM's have handled this for their setting.

I am very hesitant to use the deities from Deities and Demigods, namely because they have to much use, and are not specific to the world that I am going to be running the games in.

In my own campaign, the human deities are loosely based on some of the dieities of ancient Sumeria and Babylon...

Does a name, and domains with a brief description work or do I need to go all the way with their descriptions and stat them out and everything. (A Note Gods do not manifest themselves in the world often, and they rarely influence the gameplay, preferring to let their servents work out their own troubles, and only lending aid in the form of extra luck and somesuch)

For myself, I have found that listing just the basics (Domains, alignment, favored weapon etc.) to be quite sufficient, along with a paragraph or so of descriptive text. If I want the gods to manifest at some point, I will stat them up as aspects...

Also does anyone have a good resource (or know of one) for 3.5 Lankhmar gods, or for the Pantheon of India. Also anyone with information on Slavic Fairytales, and Gods if they could lead me to some information that would be cool, thanks everyone

Hmm, that's something I would really be interested in - I had some great gaming back in 1E and 2E with a DM who ran a Lankhmar campaign...

I've got an old 1E supplement from a 3rd party publisher which has some info on slavic myths and monsters buried away somewhere - if I can dig it up I'll get you the name.

 

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

To the OP: Dog Soul's Sahashra and Russiya settings deal with a mythic India and Slavic setting respectfully. In the case of Sahashra I know there is some relgion supplements in the works that will adress the gods of the setting. I will point this thread out to the author and see if she can at least give you a list of books to check out.

I'm working on a religion supplement to my original Sahasra book that I'm supposed to be finished with by the end of November. It focuses on Hindu gods. There will be a total of five supplements on various religions of Sahasra.

There are some good books I've been using for information, a coupld of which I picked up at Barnes & Noble:

Hindu Goddesses, by David R. Kinsley
An Introduction to Hinduism, by Gavin Flood
Dictionary of Ancient Deities, by Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter (great for browsing and coming up with deity ideas)
The Book of Hindu Imagery: The Gods and Their Symbols, by Eva Rudy Jansen (neat for throwing in bits of symbolism into a game)

Maybe those will help until the Religions of Sahasra supplements come out!

Donna

 

[Priest_Sidran]

Thank you for the move,

I got much more replies than I thought I would...


Due to the common theme among your responses I have decided to do the depictions of them along with they're home plane, symbol, divine rank, and titles, along with their portfolio (inside the text), and domains, with favored weapon's listed in text along with their name for them. Followed by a few types of things that the deity will do for his/her followers, and then a paragraph about who their allies and enemies are. Followed by a few paragraphs of information on each of the following subjects; Dogma, Priestly Garb and Rank, Shrines & Temples, and Adventuring Clerics. The last being a description of why a cleric of a particular deity might find himself adventuring. Since a number of the deities in my new setting are going to have a Cult following I have also started writing a new form of divine layout that deals with the Cult, its leader, Cult dogma, and Power and Influence, followed by the above write out for the Cults God, or Focus. I also am incorperating the Lesser Gods from a forgotten dragon magazine (3.0) 275-290 range. Which produced a few hearth gods, and forest gods and things that were in dominion over a small area of target people.

I wanted to take a time out to say thank you to everyone for their advice on this matter, I have always had trouble with adding deities and their religions into my settings. Prefering to make it a Monotheistic setting so that I could focus the religion on one subject. With the advice you gave me (and for some the hard work that you spent on writing some great resources) I have finally got a good set of deities on the way without head ache.

Also I will second the advice about the useufulness of 2.0 Deity manuals my favorite (that I own) being Faiths & Avatars from the old FR line.

 

[delericho]

The last being a description of why a cleric of a particular deity might find himself adventuring.

This is a really good idea. It's one of those that's so obvious that I find myself asking, "why didn't I think of that?"

Also I will second the advice about the useufulness of 2.0 Deity manuals my favorite (that I own) being Faiths & Avatars from the old FR line.

Back in the day, I found "The Complete Priest's Handbook" particularly useful, although I don't know how well it would cross-over to 3.x.

 

[Stormborn]

Thank you for the move,

I got much more replies than I thought I would...

[good ideas here]

I wanted to take a time out to say thank you to everyone for their advice on this matter, I have always had trouble with adding deities and their religions into my settings. Prefering to make it a Monotheistic setting so that I could focus the religion on one subject. With the advice you gave me (and for some the hard work that you spent on writing some great resources) I have finally got a good set of deities on the way without head ache.

Just thought I would add, not to make it overly complicated for you, that you can still have a Monotheistic Relgion - just make the other "gods" saints or angels who serve as patrons of various things. You can add a few demonic cults for the evil ones. One of the Religions in Iron Kingdoms is like this, works very well to create a specific flavor.

 

[Voadam]

I am looking for how other DM's have handled this for their setting.

I am very hesitant to use the deities from Deities and Demigods, namely because they have to much use, and are not specific to the world that I am going to be running the games in.

Does a name, and domains with a brief description work or do I need to go all the way with their descriptions and stat them out and everything. (A Note Gods do not manifest themselves in the world often, and they rarely influence the gameplay, preferring to let their servents work out their own troubles, and only lending aid in the form of extra luck and somesuch)

Also does anyone have a good resource (or know of one) for 3.5 Lankhmar gods, or for the Pantheon of India. Also anyone with information on Slavic Fairytales, and Gods if they could lead me to some information that would be cool, thanks everyone

1 Name and brief description are enough IME. I allow any domains the character feels is appropriate and do not limit it by specific gods. Since they are not showing up onscreen you don't need to stat them anymore than you need to stat the council of archmages in the empire next to the one your game is set in.

2 I would use the 2e Legends and Lore book for Lankhmar and Indian gods. That source provides enough of a description on each to use them, you would just need to come up with appropriate domains.

3 Slavic, Dog Soul Publishing's folkloric Rassiya, Monkeygod's Frost and Fur, and 1e Role-Aids Gods and Monsters, (I forget which one but one of the III had slavic stuff IIRC) come to mind. Monkey god also has two Russian folklore based modules one with Baba Yaga. Bastion Press' Fairies also has Baba Yaga IIRC. There is also the 2e module Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. I'm sure there is more stuff about bogatyr and other slavic folklore stuff somewhere.