Hell in Dungeon Fantasy

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I understand that I'm treading on dangerous ground. But I'm not looking for explanations for why I should consider the real world believers right. That ain't gonna' happen. What I want is a "theo-babble" explanation that might work for gaming..

It's not complicated. The gods don't offer their protection to those who aren't their worshippers. What more do you want?

[combatmedic]

B-Dog wrote about 'gods' , so I'm guessing his world is a 'pagan' cosmos with multiple gods who are neither all-powerful nor all-wise.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

It's not complicated. The gods don't offer their protection to those who aren't their worshippers. What more do you want?

I'll buy that for a dollar.

[b-dog]

In my game world the gods are the real world gods. The Greek, Norse, Celtic and others have been reduced to powerful fairy while Abrahamic gods are the most powerful in Mythic Europe.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by b-dog

In my game world the gods are the real world gods. The Greek, Norse, Celtic and others have been reduced to powerful fairy while Abrahamic gods are the most powerful in Mythic Europe.

There is more than one 'Abrahamic' God in your setting?

Or was that a typo?

In any case, you might look at Sandman, as was mentioned above. Gaiman did what I'd call a good job of handling multiple active mythoi in the same reality/cluster of realities.

[combatmedic]

You might be able to get some mileage out of In Nomine, too.

[PseudoFenton]

You could just ban planar travel to the 'upper' and 'lower' planes (ie heaven and hell, and any other variants if there are more than one), ban resurrection (or have it wipe your memory of the time you spent dead, perhaps leaving only vague feelings of happiness or pain etc) and forbid the dead from discussing the afterlife if communicated with.

Oh look, now the only way to find out what hell is actually like, is to die and end up there - but if you do, you can't come back to tell anyone about it. Problem solved, in the exact same way that the real world has ambiguity on this front - the only people who can tell you anything about the afterlife, are the exact same people who have an invested interest in spinning propaganda about it.

In fact, it may actually be the gods doing that these rules are in place, especially if Hell isn't a place of punishment but it's useful to disaude souls from going there (from fear) or its just a handy boogieman to keep your followers acting in a way you favour. The details don't matter as the mortal PCs will never know one way or the other - they just 'know' that demons are evil and souls need to be redeemed.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

There is more than one 'Abrahamic' God in your setting?

Or was that a typo?

Not a typo, God and Allah and YHWH are all different dudes in b-dogland.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Not a typo, God and Allah and YHWH are all different dudes in b-dogland.

What about adding the Gnostic Demiurge?

[vicky_molokh]

Umm, people, I got bored with the topic rather fast, so I'm not paying too much attention to this thread, but

[MOD]
Please make sure that any plunges into real-world religious discussions remain with zero victims of drowning, etc. You know the drill.
Things seem civil as of now, so just remember to keep them that way.
[/MOD]