Monotheistic world - a question for world builders. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Monotheistic world - a question for world builders. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Droog
03-19-07, 10:33 PM I'm currently putting together a campaign that has a single good creator god and it's evil counter part. Several major religions have developed, the followers each believing they are worshiping in the 'correct' way.

Has anyone else ever done something similar, and if so, can you tell me about any unexpected pitfalls you encoutered? Any great successes? The reaction of the players in general? Anything you'd care to share would be appreciated.

Thanks
Hochiu
03-19-07, 11:57 PM I'll direct you to one of the best game-based tales I've come across yet dealing with what can happen in a monotheistic world that's following a single religious paradigm and how it can be incorporated into (especially) higher level play. It's a story based around the DM's party from years ago, before the 3.5 conversion, and it's been tossed around on these forums as an example of GOOD Paladin roleplaying, but I've learned a lot in regards to monotheistic religion: Tales of Wyre (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=58227&page=1&pp=20).

I'm currently writing a world where there's a rising Holy Church against the myriad of pantheons that exist. I'm taking it in kind of a realistic perspective, with each human culture (human dominated world) having a cultural pantheon, as well as a major pantheon for my Roman Empire analogue to have instilled on the people they conquered centuries ago, before they fell. The main thing is that the church wasn't accepted as the state faith by this empire before it fell, so its gaining ground slower than a mass-conversion of aristocratic faith would.

I've also experimented with a number of servitor deity beings (above angels) that work with the primary good god that can be worshipped as a particular representation of the faith. Example, the follower of X overGod happen to venerate Y Saint or some-such. They can thus take a single domain from each, to represent the to views, and gives it a bit more flavor and diversity.

My suggestion is to look at real-world monotheistic religious institutions and decide which one you like and would possibly like to gain inspiration from. My personal favorite is using Traditional (Pre Vatican II) Roman Catholicism.

Another idea is to include a religion of Henotheistic worship, where there may be other deities worshipped, but the state only recognizes a single being as its primary god, and may or may not sanction worship of other deities. There is precident, Amarna Egypt, for example, and the Kingdom of Israel prior to the destruction in 722, CE by the Assyrians. It leads a lot of possibility open for inter-faith strife and campaign ideas if your players want to portray a religious individual (or even someone just caught up in it).

Edit: Well, technically, Judah would be probably more appropriate an example, until King Hezekiah (and later King Josiah) basically wholly outlawed the worshipping of other Canaanite deities, effectively instituting a monotheistic reigme that persisted and helped to form the core of modern Judaism.
Drausktanchache
03-20-07, 12:26 AM I can think of only one pitfall in this is fundamentalism, I'd strongly reccomend that you place this into one, or both of the churches. If you look at things the Catholic Church has done, put it into the campaign, its just because monotheism brings self-judgement. It may be hard, but it'd add flavor.
Yakman
03-20-07, 12:00 PM There's no real problem with doing this.

Look at the Reformation or the Sunni-Shi'ite split--different groups with the same holy book and same basic beliefs, who absolutely hate each other. You don't need pantheons to have good DnD. imho, pantheism is much less compelling than monotheism in dnd (or in RL... which is why it's gone the way of the dodo in so many places around the world....)
Kadasbrass
03-20-07, 12:25 PM Instead of a evil god, could have the one single god but still evil people believing their following the god the same way correctly. But would require the single god being TN or not even exist at all.

Have different sects of the religion organized around different teachings/teachers and divide the domains out between these sects.
pukunui
03-20-07, 04:39 PM I was thinking of making a monotheistic world myself a while back. It's still something I'd like to try, but at the moment I'm running a campaign using the "default" d&d pantheon.

A couple of ideas you could try:

1) Eberron has clerics of churches rather than specific deities. You could do something similar (where it would be a church devoted to the one god rather than a pantheon of gods).

2) You could also do a Catholic-style church and have the one high god but a multitude of "saints", and clerics have to pick a "patron saint" in order to get access to the various Domains.

3) Instead of having an evil anti-god or whatever, you could have evil clerics who "sell" their souls to the demons and devils to gain their power. So rather than one single evil deity or whatever, you have the "hells" collectively granting evil divine magic. That's what I was going to do in my monotheistic campaign world.
Droog
03-20-07, 10:32 PM 2) You could also do a Catholic-style church and have the one high god but a multitude of "saints", and clerics have to pick a "patron saint" in order to get access to the various Domains.

This actually falls in line with my original idea. A series of of saints, generals, or similar, for both the good and evil being.

3) Instead of having an evil anti-god or whatever, you could have evil clerics who "sell" their souls to the demons and devils to gain their power. So rather than one single evil deity or whatever, you have the "hells" collectively granting evil divine magic. That's what I was going to do in my monotheistic campaign world.[/QUOTE]

Now that's something I hadn't considered. I'm going to kick this one around for a while and see what I come up with.

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to respond.
pukunui
03-20-07, 10:39 PM 2) You could also do a Catholic-style church and have the one high god but a multitude of "saints", and clerics have to pick a "patron saint" in order to get access to the various Domains.

This actually falls in line with my original idea. A series of of saints, generals, or similar, for both the good and evil being.Cool.

3) Instead of having an evil anti-god or whatever, you could have evil clerics who "sell" their souls to the demons and devils to gain their power. So rather than one single evil deity or whatever, you have the "hells" collectively granting evil divine magic. That's what I was going to do in my monotheistic campaign world.

Now that's something I hadn't considered. I'm going to kick this one around for a while and see what I come up with.Glad you like that one. I was inspired by my own church's teachings about the hells.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Droog 03-19-07, 10:33 PM	I'm currently putting together a campaign that has a single good creator god and it's evil counter part. Several major religions have developed, the followers each believing they are worshiping in the 'correct' way. Has anyone else ever done something similar, and if so, can you tell me about any unexpected pitfalls you encoutered? Any great successes? The reaction of the players in general? Anything you'd care to share would be appreciated. Thanks
Hochiu 03-19-07, 11:57 PM	I'll direct you to one of the best game-based tales I've come across yet dealing with what can happen in a monotheistic world that's following a single religious paradigm and how it can be incorporated into (especially) higher level play. It's a story based around the DM's party from years ago, before the 3.5 conversion, and it's been tossed around on these forums as an example of GOOD Paladin roleplaying, but I've learned a lot in regards to monotheistic religion: Tales of Wyre (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=58227&page=1&pp=20). I'm currently writing a world where there's a rising Holy Church against the myriad of pantheons that exist. I'm taking it in kind of a realistic perspective, with each human culture (human dominated world) having a cultural pantheon, as well as a major pantheon for my Roman Empire analogue to have instilled on the people they conquered centuries ago, before they fell. The main thing is that the church wasn't accepted as the state faith by this empire before it fell, so its gaining ground slower than a mass-conversion of aristocratic faith would. I've also experimented with a number of servitor deity beings (above angels) that work with the primary good god that can be worshipped as a particular representation of the faith. Example, the follower of X overGod happen to venerate Y Saint or some-such. They can thus take a single domain from each, to represent the to views, and gives it a bit more flavor and diversity. My suggestion is to look at real-world monotheistic religious institutions and decide which one you like and would possibly like to gain inspiration from. My personal favorite is using Traditional (Pre Vatican II) Roman Catholicism. Another idea is to include a religion of Henotheistic worship, where there may be other deities worshipped, but the state only recognizes a single being as its primary god, and may or may not sanction worship of other deities. There is precident, Amarna Egypt, for example, and the Kingdom of Israel prior to the destruction in 722, CE by the Assyrians. It leads a lot of possibility open for inter-faith strife and campaign ideas if your players want to portray a religious individual (or even someone just caught up in it). Edit: Well, technically, Judah would be probably more appropriate an example, until King Hezekiah (and later King Josiah) basically wholly outlawed the worshipping of other Canaanite deities, effectively instituting a monotheistic reigme that persisted and helped to form the core of modern Judaism.
Drausktanchache 03-20-07, 12:26 AM	I can think of only one pitfall in this is fundamentalism, I'd strongly reccomend that you place this into one, or both of the churches. If you look at things the Catholic Church has done, put it into the campaign, its just because monotheism brings self-judgement. It may be hard, but it'd add flavor.
Yakman 03-20-07, 12:00 PM	There's no real problem with doing this. Look at the Reformation or the Sunni-Shi'ite split--different groups with the same holy book and same basic beliefs, who absolutely hate each other. You don't need pantheons to have good DnD. imho, pantheism is much less compelling than monotheism in dnd (or in RL... which is why it's gone the way of the dodo in so many places around the world....)
Kadasbrass 03-20-07, 12:25 PM	Instead of a evil god, could have the one single god but still evil people believing their following the god the same way correctly. But would require the single god being TN or not even exist at all. Have different sects of the religion organized around different teachings/teachers and divide the domains out between these sects.
pukunui 03-20-07, 04:39 PM	I was thinking of making a monotheistic world myself a while back. It's still something I'd like to try, but at the moment I'm running a campaign using the "default" d&d pantheon. A couple of ideas you could try: 1) Eberron has clerics of churches rather than specific deities. You could do something similar (where it would be a church devoted to the one god rather than a pantheon of gods). 2) You could also do a Catholic-style church and have the one high god but a multitude of "saints", and clerics have to pick a "patron saint" in order to get access to the various Domains. 3) Instead of having an evil anti-god or whatever, you could have evil clerics who "sell" their souls to the demons and devils to gain their power. So rather than one single evil deity or whatever, you have the "hells" collectively granting evil divine magic. That's what I was going to do in my monotheistic campaign world.
Droog 03-20-07, 10:32 PM	2) You could also do a Catholic-style church and have the one high god but a multitude of "saints", and clerics have to pick a "patron saint" in order to get access to the various Domains. This actually falls in line with my original idea. A series of of saints, generals, or similar, for both the good and evil being. 3) Instead of having an evil anti-god or whatever, you could have evil clerics who "sell" their souls to the demons and devils to gain their power. So rather than one single evil deity or whatever, you have the "hells" collectively granting evil divine magic. That's what I was going to do in my monotheistic campaign world.[/QUOTE] Now that's something I hadn't considered. I'm going to kick this one around for a while and see what I come up with. Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to respond.
pukunui 03-20-07, 10:39 PM	2) You could also do a Catholic-style church and have the one high god but a multitude of "saints", and clerics have to pick a "patron saint" in order to get access to the various Domains. This actually falls in line with my original idea. A series of of saints, generals, or similar, for both the good and evil being.Cool. 3) Instead of having an evil anti-god or whatever, you could have evil clerics who "sell" their souls to the demons and devils to gain their power. So rather than one single evil deity or whatever, you have the "hells" collectively granting evil divine magic. That's what I was going to do in my monotheistic campaign world. Now that's something I hadn't considered. I'm going to kick this one around for a while and see what I come up with.Glad you like that one. I was inspired by my own church's teachings about the hells.