Hey,

So, what can you tell me about religion in the Desolation setting? How has it changed in the After? What are the various races'/cultures' attitudes to religion? How much of a role does it play in the setting?

cheers!
Colin

The quick answer is that religion gets an entire chapter to itself in the book, so it's fairly important, both Before and After. Several major religions are included, outlining the most important human faiths, and the main faiths of each race, including the Oruskans (the goblins/orcs/kobolds).

I guess I'll be waiting for the long answer then.

If it's easier, were the religions direct riffs on various Real World religions (and if so, which ones), or created out of whole cloth?

Colin

Without revealing more than will be shown in the religion preview that is scheduled to come out in 2 weeks, which will have one of the religions provided as an example, here's what I can say:

1. Religion can be as important or unimportant as you want it to be. I personally find faith to be an excellent source of plot and motivation.

2. There are many religions described, ranging from a pantheon of dwarvish gods to a monotheistic human religion to nature worship.

3. Each religion has a description about their history, motivation, personality, how it was affected by the apocalypse, plus their beliefs on the afterlife

4. One religion has some similarities to Catholicism and one has some similarities to Shinto. Others may bring other religions to mind, but that would be more coincidence than intent. By and large, the religions were created out of whole cloth.

5. Two of our signature characters have faith and religion play prominently in their background.

Hopefully this will whet appetites enough that you will want to come back for more information when the religion preview is available.

Matt

Okay, read the overview and sample religion; you've just sold me on the game. I like the fact that the actual reality of the universe in Desolation is that of uncaring cosmic forces, and that no single religion (or any religion for that matter) really has the right of it. It breaks from trad fantasy in a good way, and enforces the grittier nature of the setting. I'm glad the typical and overdone, "Cosmic war between God and Evil." has been completely avoided. A definite thumbs-up from me.

Colin

Hullo, Colin,



Yay!! Now that you're sold on the game system, I can hardly wait for you to write some stuff up for the game!

The whole attitude towards religion in Desolation, friom the limited view that I've had on it, does break from traditional fantasy approaches, and seems to make the grittier nature of the game stand out, as you mention. That was one of the things that appealed to me the most about the setting for the game in the early going.

My players have said that they like the approoach as well, since it doesn't force religion down their throats as some other rpgs do.

Well, chances are good that the first thing I'll be changing is the Weight values of various items, as 99% of rpgs seem to get their Weights so far wrong it's not funny, especially D&D and any game that uses its equipment lists as its basis. I mean, I've seen some really whacked out stuff like 5 lb. arming swords (accidentally called Longswords, which are actually the same as Batsard Swords), 15 lb. greatswords, etc. in some rpgs, which suggests that very few designers properly research such things. It's a bit of a bugbear of mine, and one I was delighted to address in Secrets of the Surface World for HEX.

Yep, like your players I was also pretty tired of rpgs that seemed to force the Gods Are Real approach on everything because it's too derivative, and lacks the mystery and uncertainty of Real World religion.

cheers!
Colin

Hi guys,

I'm glad you like Desolation's take on religion. It has worked out very well in the games we've run. People seem to like the uncertainty of religion, even while roleplaying characters who are quite certain about their beliefs. Whether the faith-based characters' prayers are answered or not, it leads to good roleplaying as they justify the lack of divine intervention or gloat over how their god came the the rescue.

For instance, Matt was playing an initiate of the Divine Mother. His character was facing a Weave-touched dog, and would probably have been taken out the next time the dog attacked. However, Matt knew the group's overconfident fighter was in a bell tower beside him and would probably (hopefully) swing into action before the dog attacked his character. Instead of attacking the dog, Matt used his turn to have his character close his eyes and pray that the Divine Mother would save him. As expected, the fighter swung down and attacked the dog, taking its attention away from Matt's character. Of course, the initiate saw it as the Divine Mother answering his prayers. The fighter saw it as the initiate getting lucky.

Hullo, Colin,



The weights on weapons and armour was something that annoyed me in rpgs ever since I first started in 1974 or so, as they were completely unrealistic - although I didn't realize this until I had joined the SCA, and then did some actual research on stuff. The DragonQuest rpg from SPI, which I ran for over 20+ years, was the only game I ever saw where the weights were somewhat more realistic, and I remember making wholesale changes to the weight of most weapons, armour, and gear. I think we'll need to wait and see what the weights for stuff in Desolation are like first.



You hit the nail on the head with your evaluation of this, Colin. I think it's fine in, for example, a game based on mythic and legendary Greece , to have the Gods be active, as that was the nature of the Greek myths and legends, but fantasy rpgs for the most part seem to have an approach of "The Gods are real" for reasons that border at times on the inane. Desolation seems to be taking an approach in this regard that will endear it to a lot of fans of fantasy rpgs, as long as they discover the game, of course.