Of Gods and Men

For those of you that didn't know, I hold a Bachelors Degree in Religious Studies. Much of my time in college revolved around the study and understanding of religion in a real world context. It is a subject that I find endlessly fascinating, and as one would expect, that interest bleeds into my D&D.

I almost always begin the creation of a D&D world with the Gods, and their relationship with Mortals. In my longer running game world, Meaghana, the Gods are a constant presence in the world. In addition to providing their faithful clerics and paladins with magical powers, the Gods themselves are often manifesting on the world to interact with mortals. It is a world where being an Atheist is nearly impossible. How can one disbelieve in the existence of the Gods when one came to dinner last Thursday. In addition to this, there is little room for faith in such a world. By that I am using the definition of Faith as belief lacking definitive proof. When the presence of the Gods is so obvious, one has knowledge not faith.

This may or may not seem an important distinction to some of you, but there are some major side effects to this sort of world. The most important, in my opinion, is the certitude it provides heroes with. If you know heaven exists (possibly because you used magic to go there for your last vacation), then the power of being willing to sacrifice your life for a cause is somewhat lessened. It is the fear of the unknown that makes death so frightening, and thus makes sacrificing your life such a heroic action. If you know, with absolute fact, that you are going to heaven, then there is no real sacrifice. And that is my definition of a hero, one who is willing to sacrifice for the greater good.

This brings me to my new game world: Gorbaldin. I have done my best to present a completely different view of Gods there. The only evidence of Gods are the powers wielded by their clergy. Now, it can be argued that clerical magic provides the same sort of proof, but I would argue that in a world of arcane magic and magical beasts that the source of this magic is much more in doubt. And in that doubt, faith is born. In Gorbaldin, no one knows with certainty how the world was made, or where the dead go when they die. Travel between the planes is basically unknown, and even the faithful of the individual Gods disagree with each other on matters of dogma and religious history.

In such a world, faith is paramount. And I believe that such faith, whether it be in Gods or simply in a philosophy, can provide an amazing depth and poignancy to the actions of the heroes. In addition, the creation of Religion, without the direct influence of a divine entity, tells us more about the people who brought about that religion and serves to flesh out the game world at a very human level. And it is this level that deserves the most fleshing out, as it is the level that your players, and their characters are engaged in.