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Old 06-11-2019, 05:34 PM   #16
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Clerics made simple

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tywyll View Post
I have to say, I strongly disagree with Steve's reasoning here. The vast majority of games and gamers use 'Fantasy' religions and no one has ever complained of 'short changing' real ones.
Since you wrote "no one", I'll just mention that I quite agree with Steve's reasoning, have always appreciated and enjoyed that TFT left religion as a blank that GMs can either fill in or not however they please, and that there are zero mechanics suggesting religious is any particular sort of magic power.

As for fantasy religions in other games, they're a case by case affair, but I have a deep aversion towards D&D-style religions with official Alignments, literal personified gods, "clerics" that heal, religious rites that are really just an alternate book of magic zap-power spells, etc.

There's also the whole view (which seems correct to me) that thinking of religion as literal beings and magic spells for personal power is severely missing the mark of what the actual intention of most religious traditions are about.

I have quite enjoyed religions in various homebrew TFT & GURPS fantasy settings, but I think leaving them open to GM creation, mystery, or omission, is a good thing.
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