Disclaimer: Yes, I have a background in religious studies. This is bad
because my thinking of and about religion is tainted by academia. However, it
might be good because it could help to potentially make religion in
RPG fiction more interesting, hopefully gameplay as well.
If not, curse me!
A lot of people have probably already written better things on this topic. But this is true for all things. Prismatic Wasteland has gathered all the recent cleric posts on their blog, but I have not yet read them.
The Fantasy World Religions Paradigm: Pantheons and Class Essentials
The Ripening of Karma (1469)
Writing down names for gods and making sure that all the cleric subclasses had options was usually one of the first things I did when world-building in my 5e days. Often, after having thought about a creation myth and having decided that there would be 5000 years of history no player would ever know about. I think there are several reasons for this approach and some problems with it.
Most of it I see founded in the paradigm, set by the Dungeons & Dragons tradition. Clerics need gods that imbue them with powers. I am no historian of old-school D&D or Gygaxian thought. So, the exact reasons for this situation are not what I am going to talk about. Nonetheless, the class or role of the cleric does set a precedent for the ways diegetic religion and worlds must function. Gods need to typically be real, powerful, and at least somewhat present. Further, they frequently need to cover different domains or themes. In systems with a lot of gamified character progress, this seems especially necessary. (I remember having to include a dwarf god, so one of my players could play a forge cleric.)
This interpretation of polytheism follows romantic imaginations of ancient mythology, predominantly ancient Greek or old Norse. I do not claim that this is necessarily a bad thing. I think a lot of people like this and want nothing else. Maybe they find it a refreshing alternative to their everyday experience, being heavily saturated and influenced by Christianity. Personally, I do not enjoy it. First and foremost because it places unnecessary restraints on creating worlds or games. I do not believe that fantasy RPGs need metaphysically real polytheism, as much as I do not believe that elves or mechanical class systems are required. Another criticism that I do share with others is that these styles of fantasy religion have too many implications I do not like. If there is a super powerful entity giving your cleric faith-based magic powers, a lot of questions may arise. Like, why are you hanging around a dungeon with greedy adventurers? Suddenly all kinds of issues have to be addressed or handwaved. The game tradition narrows the scope of the fiction.
Here there is a parallel to the history of religious studies. Or at least I will make an analogy for the sake of the argument. Our common as well as for a long time our scientific understanding of religion has been very much structured by a modern Western (European Protestant) and Enlightenment paradigm. If you have spent any time with postcolonial theory, this will be of no surprise to you. Some speak of a world religions paradigm, the idea that the “big religions” encountered in the world are subtypes of one phenomenon. A product of 18th and 19th century theologians and anthropologists in Europe with an interest in religion, essentially looking for something corresponding to their understanding of religion, meaning (protestant) Christianity. As well as inadvertently prompting change and reform in many traditions via colonialism, thus aligning them to the protestant ideal of religion. (See Richard E. King on Orientalism and Religion. Also, Peter Hedges has written a very nice introduction for students if you would like to know more about the paradigm and the surrounding discussion.)
Why do I bring this up? Well, because I’d argue that the concept of religion employed by European scholars was similarly narrow as the one used in many fantasy TTRPG settings. For a long time, scholars of religion coming out of Europe have used their protestant notions of belief to identify and explain religion.
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This means they focused on:
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All the
while ignoring:
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This understanding in turn was shaped by Protestantism’s attempt to distinguish “good” from “bad” religion. Religion as an act of commitment, the disdain for rituals, and the idea of religion as a private affair were all aspects of protestant ambitions against Catholicism and Judaism.
Ok, and why again did I make this deviation through postcolonial religious studies 101?
Well,
because I think there is a lot more that religion could be in TTRPGs or fiction
in general. And this necessitates that we reflect the paradigms we carry with
us and pass on.
What then is religion or what should be in my recreational fantasy game?
“All religions claim to have the ability to avert misfortune, overcome crises, and provide salvation. […] Religion is primarily a promise of salvation. It is the promise of salvation offered by religions and their ability to engender belief in their control of the means of salvation and the paths toward it that constitute their potential to exert authority.”
(Martin Riesebrodt, The Promise of Salvation, 2009, 89)
If you ask a group of scholars of religious studies what religion is, you are in for a treat. I don’t know if there is another discipline with such a heated and controversial discussion around its main thing. The OSR/NSR community may be able to relate.
I am leaving things on a bad cliffhanger because I need to attend to other things and this was hastily written. I will continue this post by presenting some ideas on how I think the question of religion could lead to interesting engagement within the fiction of TTRPGs.
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| "God's Providence" from Orbis Sensualium Pictus (John Comenius, 1705) |
