Fellow GMs I need your help.
I'm currently brewing a realistic XIII century setting and everything is doing fine, since I love medieval history and I sorta know my stuff in the matter.
Problem is I really want to come up with something original regarding religion, a cult which echoes Catholicism and covers pretty much the same social layers the medieval Church did.
I want to avoid something like The Seven Pointed Stars, cause it's both unoriginal and an obvious rip-off, but my creativity just went blank today.
Keep in mind this world has crusades, abbeys and archbishops, so I might as well go full Jesus and fuck off, but I really want to find an entertaining alternative.
Bumping with generic middle ages.
Sun/son worshippers like that Star Trek TOS episode
>>48067642
Depends what you want. If you want Christ with the serial numbers shaved off, it's basically just replacing names. If you want an alternative religion, THAT'S something we might be able to help with.
If you want to keep monks, make it a religion based on preserving knowledge. If you want crusaiders, make a religion with holy sites that must be protected. If you want archbishops, well any religion can have an aristocratic high priesthood.
>>48067642
Do what Spanish rpgs do and just use fantasy Christianity. Complete with fantasy Christ who is known as Christ
>>48067642
God is Dead, the universe is run by a Hierarchy of Angels trying to keep shit together, opposed by Devils who think they can run thing better than the flawed Angels can.
Don't use any Gods whatsoever, spells and miracles granted by the highest ranks of Angels/Devils. No all-powerful, all-knowing Lord of Creation, just powerful flawed supernaturals making a mess of human civilization.
>>48069848
No Satan either.
You can either do without him, or say that whatever killed God took Satan with him.
Turn the mythology into a Game of Thrones power struggle between Archangels (Solars) and Pit Fiends. Or use Archdevil level types if you must.
Get rid of infallibility.
>>48067642
If the deity exists in your setting think about what that deity wants and expects from its worshipers as well as what the aristocracy wants and how they can twist the religion to serve them.
If the deity doesn't exist think about how the religion benefits the aristocracy or how it has managed to survive despite the aristocracy working against it.
>>48067642
Ever read the Demon Wars saga by R. A. Salvatore? It's based in a world he created, and has a fairly unique religion. The religion is made up of monks, who are a cross between European monks, and eastern monks. They are housed inside abbey's, but are also top-tier martial artists. They are also the sole users of magic, via gemstones that rain from the heavens on one particular island. Each gemstone does a different magic attack (ruby=fireball, etc). It's pretty cool, because they have saints and stuff and the main "evil" forces (Satan equiv) would be the demon dactyl. Look into it, it's pretty good.
Why bother reinventing everything to be as similar as possible?
Just run a historical game with fantasy elements. You're not Tolkien trying to find reasons to create languages and explore alternative developments of cultures, so why bother reinventing basic shit?
Are your goblins that much better of they're in The Dragons Asshole Mountain Range instead of the Alps?
>>48070256
>Are your goblins that much better of they're in The Dragons Asshole Mountain Range instead of the Alps?
That's certainly an improvement.
>>48067642
Here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_the_Catholic_Church
and here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire
just take these and add a thousand or so years of rapid and gradual sociopolitical change
>>48069865
Satan isn't all powerful, he's not even all knowning, he was merely the leader of the angels that opposed god.
He's smarter than the other angels, sure, more charismatic, but he's not a godly being he's just an archangel.
Actually is he even an archangel? Are archangels only like Gabriel and the Riders?
>>48069865
>Turn the mythology into a Game of Thrones power struggle between Archangels (Solars) and Pit Fiends. Or use Archdevil level types if you must.
Or Diablo-esque. Have the angels vs demons be a big thing. God never really shows up in those games.
>>48070853
Lucifier was the highest possible level of angel, actually. The ones that are so close to god they're literally constantly on fire.
>>48067642
Instead of crucified he got send before a firing squad of arrows.
Instead of buried behind a rock, cremated.
Instead of an empty grave two women see the ashes coalesce back into his shape.
>>48067642
try this on for size: http://tenfootpolemic.blogspot.com/2016/06/religion-in-loegria.html
>>48067642
If you want a fantasy version of Medieval Christianity you first need a reason why that religion became so all encompassing, remember that Christianity started off as a cult filled with beggars, prostitutes, slaves and the poor which became popular because it promised them everything in the kingdom of heaven exchange for faith.
With that in mind you could easily create a religion that slowly became popular because it took root in the minds of the your settings lower/middle classes who didn't have a lot of political power and felt abandoned by their original god(s). This opens up a lot of fun Christian-esque names, 'The Beggar King', 'The King yet to come', 'The Once and Future King' (if your group aren't familiar with Arthurian stuff) and this gods cult was eventually adopted by the ruling aristocracy out of a combination of the following three factors:
>Faith, some people may have just found the teachings of this Christ figure appealing
>Lose of Faith, decline of the old ways/gods normally coincides with the decline of the civilisation that supported them
and most importantly from an Emperor Constantine perspective
>Political Expediency. Nothing prevents a religious war (or provides you with an army) like adopting, and then formalising and controlling, the religion of the potential rebels
From there it is up to how your settings world history went but once this Not-Christianity was rooted in the minds of the people it would have been hard to dislodge because there is a central promise (normally of a better world for the faithful) to worshippers.
My other big piece of advice is this: do not do what has been suggested by some posters in the thread and base your Christianity around a single aspect of medieval Christian practice or a single aspect of worship, that is polytheistic thinking! You have to adopt a holistic approach to explaining the world through your cult.
>>48069848
Take this and go a bit Yazidi with it.
God made the world, did a bunch of stuff with it and then left.
Bunch of Angels left to look after it.
Where did He go? Who knows. Maybe to build another world. Or He's resting or something.
Point is nobodies sure if he will come back and if he does it might not be a good thing.
>>48069848
>tips fedora
>>48067642
Just make it the same deal with American Jesus as the star of the show.
>he was secured to the front of a chariot, and then the chariot was driven at top speed into another chariot, which was on fire.
>then they took his remains and shot them into space
>but after 3 years, he returned, with space powers and a flaming chariot of his own
How about
Jusus = The great Shepherd
Holy Father = The perfect Judge
All together = The Light
