Rolls for players looking to fund a new major religion

[Alonsua]

It's pretty self explanatory: What expenditures, skills and rolls would you require a player to do in order to achieve this kind of titanic feat?

[Daigoro]

You might need to sketch out a few things such as what world, genre, setting and culture you're looking at.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

You might need to sketch out a few things such as what world, genre, setting and culture you're looking at.

Realistic Earth in any culture. I think that the book already points out penalties for cultural differences.

[talonthehand]

Fund or Found?

If you're looking to fund a new religion....any of the normal money-related skills.

If you're looking to found a new religion....tricky. You say Realistic Earth - is this modern day Earth, or can you go back a few thousand years? Also, how do you define major? Does it need to have as many followers as Christianity/Islam/Hinduism? Be as historically significant as Judaism? Have as much media behind it as Scientology?

[ericthered]

And how "new" is it? Most new religions are splinters off of existing ones, or syncretic creations. Being similar to an existing religion makes it easier to get new converts, but it also diminishes what you can do with it. There is also a weird curve where as you get more and more different from your base religion(s) you go from a weird ally to a controversial member of the movement to a major threat to a minor threat to irrelevant.



Another factor to take into consideration is timing and cultural landscape. Now, you can attribute getting the correct timing to Deity (and many do), but you've got to get the timing on a successful new religion right. You've got to have large portions of people looking for a solution to existing religious and philosophical problems, and you've got to an acceptable answer.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

Realistic Earth in any culture. I think that the book already points out penalties for cultural differences.

Ok, but what TL and era are we talking about as well? There's a difference between Stone Age shamanic religions and Transhuman Space memetic cults.

And which book do you mean? I think at least Infinite Worlds and Social Engineering cover this.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Another factor to take into consideration is timing and cultural landscape. Now, you can attribute getting the correct timing to Deity (and many do), but you've got to get the timing on a successful new religion right. You've got to have large portions of people looking for a solution to existing religious and philosophical problems, and you've got to an acceptable answer.

This gets at the key problem here - the factors that allow something to become a major religion are essentially not under the control of the founder. That is there *are* no traits that will allow you to do this. There are traits appropriate for founding a minor cult, but it becoming a major religion is not under your control.

And in fact I think the number of people who have successfully founded a major religion approaches zero. With the possible exception of Muhammad I think all the founders of anything that even approaches major are dead for decades before their faiths could have been so characterized, and even he's dead before anybody outside Arabia, not exactly an important world power, considers Islam very significant. Some "reformers" have managed a little better, but even there its not so common. Movements take time to build to major, and once they start to do so they'll probably have escaped control of the founder anyway.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by malloyd

TAnd in fact I think the number of people who have successfully founded a major religion approaches zero. With the possible exception of Muhammad I think all the founders of anything that even approaches major are dead for decades before their faiths could have been so characterized, and even he's dead before anybody outside Arabia, not exactly an important world power, considers Islam very significant. Some "reformers" have managed a little better, but even there its not so common. Movements take time to build to major, and once they start to do so they'll probably have escaped control of the founder anyway.

He that hath a Gospel
For all earth to own--
Though he etch it on the steel,
Or carve it on the stone--
Not to be misdoubted
Through the after-days--
It is His Disciple
Shall read it many ways.

It is His Disciple
(Ere Those Bones are dust )
Who shall change the Charter,
Who shall split the Trust--
Amplify distinctions,
Rationalize the Claim;
Preaching that the Master
Would have done the same.

(Rudyard Kipling, "The Disciple")

I would almost say that it's not a religion while the founder is still alive. "For he taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes" is a description, not of a religion, but of a cult, as a sociological entity.

[tanksoldier]

Agree with the above.

With the exception of Muhammad and Joseph Smith I can’t think of a religious founder who was actually trying to found a new religion.

Much more often people are successful with spinoffs.

[Daigoro]

I guess you also need to define "major" for the purposes of this exercise. Scientology, Aum Shinrikyo, Branch Davidians or the Raelians could all be considered "major" according to definitions of impact, popularity, wealth or infamy.