Posts belonging to Category Gods
Posted by Ravyn on December 29, 2011
I originally wrote this for an early RPG Blog Carnival on the subject of gods and religion. It all came down to one question: were the two necessarily mutually dependent?
I’ve always been partial to chicken-and-egg questions, particularly within the context of invented worlds. And I always come back to this one: Do gods [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, Religion, World-building |
Tags: gods, religion, reprise, roleplaying, World-building, writing | 
1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on September 29, 2010
Yesterday, I talked about the creator’s reasons why the good (or at least, allied-with-the-protagonists) gods are so prone to not being near as helpful as the ones on the other side. But there’s also the element of in-character reasons for a distinct lack of divine intervention, as UZ started pointing out. Needless to say, this [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, World-building |
Tags: gods, intervention, roleplaying, writing | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on September 28, 2010
I’ve noticed a lot of stories in which the evil gods (or at least, the antagonistic ones) are the only ones who ever seem to do anything. Either both sides aren’t allowed to intervene and they’re ignoring the prohibition, or they’re just the only ones who seem willing to do anything, period (except maybe tell [...]
Categories: Cliche, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, Technique, World-building |
Tags: gods, good gods, roleplaying, roles of gods, World-building, writing | 7 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 18, 2010
So you’ve got a world in which religions grow and flourish for a while, and then die down (usually, one of those places where the gods and the religions aren’t joined at the hip). And you have to wonder, just what happens to the gods of the religions that are left behind? Are they remembered [...]
Categories: Cultures, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, Religion, World-building |
Tags: gods, religion, stories, succession, World-building | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on November 20, 2008
Many of the gods we’re used to in Western mythology either created their domains or just took charge of them—whatever happens to the domain, the god stays constant. But a common fantasy element is the idea of gods that are mostly tied to their domains—as the domain changes, so too does the god. These can [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Character creation, Characterization, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, Nonhuman characters, World-building |
Tags: original posts | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on November 19, 2008
Yet more for RPG Blog Carnival.
Fantasy worlds and gods seem to go hand in hand; having or hinting at at least one seems to be practically the price of admission.
Now, this is fine. Except for the fact that there’s a lot more variety in the divine than most people give credit for, let alone use. [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, Nonhuman characters, World-building |
Tags: original posts | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on November 18, 2008
More for RPG Blog Carnival: Religion, this time inspired by thinking about the topic itself and the way people have responded to it.
I’ve always been partial to chicken-and-egg questions, particularly within the context of invented worlds. And I always come back to this one: Do gods and religions require each other? Can you have a [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Gods, Religion, World-building |
Tags: original posts | 1 Comment »