If you create your own lore/campaigns, how detailed do you like the world's religions to be? What, if any, real world religions do you base them off of? And how do they play into the main story?
>>44233882
If there is any religion, then I'd probably put in a variety of local primarily nature-based religions.
I usually just keep it to one god that's worshipped in a variety of ways.
Until one player just ruined everything by asking so many questions I wanted to set him on fire.
>>44233882
If it's a classic fantasy system I go in depth to make some cool stuff. In this case I make "one" religion with a large pantheon. About 90% of the population believes in all the gods but will only worship one as their patron. From these deities I can make tons of holy orders and fun things for the players to run into. These are usually key to the story. I generally make up them up on the spot and try not to make them too much like any real religion.
If it's sci-fi I make a bunch of religions and philosophies that work like modern ones. No magic, but they hold importance to the NPCs. I never make it clear which are correct. This will mean that they have little baring on the story but will be informative about the world and the NPCs if the players really care to find out. In these cases they usually have a mix of Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Hindus, Feudal Era Japanese Shintos, Asatru, and Native Americans.
>>44233882
Depends on the feeling of the setting I'm working towards. But I usually try to avoid pantheons full of patron gods of such and such, or deities that actually talk to you straightforward. I like keeping it mysterious and ambiguous, such that you can have plenty of mortal wars over disagreements of faith. At the same time, I try to avoid any Crystal Dragon Jesus religions where everything is just Christianity with the serial numbers filed off. Not that I think any of the above is inherently bad, I just don't like relying on those staples too much for my settings.
>>44233882
So we were playing a post apocalyptic campaign with a newbie GM who had demons be the cause of the apocalypse.
one of the players played a priest of the catholic church. the player himself wasn't religious, which kinda impressed me when he would frequently quote scripture that was very pertinent to the situation and whatnot. there were no miracles, no game or stat wise benefits. no spells or magic prayers.
halfway through the campaign we met a god, who revealed to us a polytheism that pretty much invalidated the legitimacy of the catholic religion.
His character hardly missed a beat, and he kept the faith alive. we haven't finished the campaign yet but his character is by far one of my favorites I've ever seen, because he's roleplaying this internal existential struggle very well.
>>44233882
My players make their own religion and it is usually based on some silly shit which is perfectly fine by us since thanks to the news, all of us are tired of inane religious garbage that is supposed to be taken seriously and respected for some political correct reason.
>>44238720
You don't happen to be playing at FSU are you?
If so, you left your copy of Origins of Species last meeting, Matt's got it.
>>44238978
nope. unless you are playing too in South East Asia, I am not your guy.
>>44233882
I really, really like playing dawn of worlds to create the setting, and then basing the religions at least in part on the divine actions my players took as the creators of the world.
For instance, one player could spend the entire session trying to make a beautiful world, and another player could spend an entire session trying to burn it all down.
Bam, god of love and beauty vs god of fire and death, this shit writes itself, and my players get more invested in it.
The religion is more based on the institution and what they do, than the actual gods or holy books.
It's based on, in a fantasy setting, how active the gods are in the physical world.
In my main setting, they're animistic gods quite insistent about visiting every few decades and issuing holy writs, so there's often little to debate. Most people choose to worship one god over another as a patron, and most inter-religion dispute comes from one congregation deciding their god is better than the other. Other religions exist, often worshiping the spawn of said gods, but not as usually as the main line in civilized worlds.
The deities themselves are based a good amount on Hindu and Judeo-Christian Angelic Hierarchy stuff, with an obligatory bit of Lovecraft thrown in.
Different faiths for different people who worship the same or different beings in different ways for different reasons.
Variety is the spice of life.
>>44233882
I like to add a few of the following. There are few interactions between the player and god(s) if any, to keep the metaphysics of the world as nebulous as possible.
>Organized religion mimics western religions
>a system of folk belief
>an interaction between institutional and diffuse religious beliefs
>a society with high participation, but low belief
