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 Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 10:14 am
I've seen religion in RPs as part of the plot, backdrop, or as a sidenote. Sometimes I liked it and sometimes I didn't. But mostly I dont see it at all, probably because religion is a touchy subject and every one is afraid of being preached at or starting arguments. Usually when I do see religion in an RP it is a made up one or, if it is a real one, it is glossed over.
What I want to know is, when is religion good in an RP and when is it bad? What can the GM or the players do that makes it good or bad?
Also, how hard do you think it would be to start an RP with a strong religious theme? Would I be able to get enough Christian RPers to do a Christian RP? Atheist? Buddists? I've been tempted to start a (Christian) RP but didn't think there would be enough interest from good or improving players.
How many people even think about their character's religious orientations when they make and play them? Some RPs I've been in there was room for mention of such things but nobody took the initiative. Maybe they were afraid to bore the other players or to create something about the world that the GM would not agree with.
Yeah, a lot of questions. Debate at will; don't worry about being offensive, as long as you are not an a*****e? xd rofl
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Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 12:39 pm
I think religion in an RP should be added according to each individual. What I'm referring to is perhaps the setting of an RP, it may have a set religion, or a general concept of it. For example, when you participate in an RP involving Greek Mythology, you must be interested in the gods or something, but a person might not have enough knowledge of the gods or what the people believed. For that reason, others might criticize them or their knowledge of the gods.
So, because people have different feelings towards their or other religions, it might be a good idea to have each individual either come up with a religion, or have their own religion in their characters (or have no religion at all xP).
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:05 am
Really, I usually think that my character is just like me: agnostic, that is, if the RP's not around religion, such as some form of D&D-based RP of Record of Lodoss War RP, in which case, it can be really fun to have characters with different religions. I think very little would add more to a fantasy RP than it's own religion, and a Roleplay with preists fighting satin worshipers would be cool, but that's only an example, religion can really add something. You know, I think I'm gonna go make a religion-based RP soon, it sounds fun!
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:02 pm
all i did in my rp is make something called the G.E.C.K. which is the garden of eden creation kit.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:43 pm
Yes, adding religion like that can really spice up the characters AND the plot, but you also dont want to sound too generic about it. I mean, you might want to do something LIKE christianity...or something with a lot of agnosticism in it, but you might want to change it up a bit to make it fit with the environement somehow.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:52 pm
In my opinion, and from what I've seen in RPs, religion can be a powerful tool to cause emotion within players. It is likely that the RP world will reflect our own, even in the most minute way, so it would probably be best to include religious orientation in character profiles. Obviously in religion based RPs players and GMs need to use discretion when referring to real religions. It is fine to talk of the religion and even to slander it if that is a character's view, however, it is highly appaling and disgusting when players openly make out one religion to be an evil religion, which is often done to a demon-based religion in most RPs. It is my view that if one religion is "evil", then it should be clearly defined why the morally defined characters (I.e. non-divine) wuld join such a force.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:25 pm
I would think that adding religion to an RP could be a pretty good thing if they use it with the RP at heart. It reminds me of a book I read called Shawdowmancer. One of the characters had talked about his religion immensely and I was never offended but actually intrugued.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:52 am
ThisViciousCabaret -- you hit the nail on the head. No one wants to be offensive, and I guess people should be somewhat careful. But at the same time if you make it clear in the beginning who is on the good side and who is not as far as religion goes, then people who are going to be offended just wont join. That's fine with me! But at the same time you want some ambiguity to the characters, not always revealing up front who is on what side even in OC knowledge.
killer- -- that is exactly what I would want religion to be in an RP. Intriguing. If it is not intriguing to someone then it does not belong!
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School Of Dedicated RPers Captain
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:52 am
Owen_The_Swift all i did in my rp is make something called the G.E.C.K. which is the garden of eden creation kit. Shameless fallout rip... blaugh (I love that game...) Anyway, RPing is supposed to be a suspension of reality. I'm a devout Orthodox Christian (not as devout as I'd like to be), and I usually play a cleric or a paladin, a servant of some pagan god! But its just a game, and as long as people know where to draw the line, everything should turn out fine. I think that it can be kinda fun to have god-scale conflicts. I guess it depends on the maturity of the players, whether they have too much vain glory, or how well they can stay in-character. I just know that clerics and paladins are some of the most fun things to play as. 3nodding
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 6:45 am
Well I happen to find the generic pagan-gods roleplay boring, but I know that is only a personal preference. At the same time Im sure I could like one if it were really pulled off well. In the real world there are lots of different religions. In a lot of RPs there is only one b/c the RP focuses on whoever has it right. Then it's not so much like a religion any more but jus tlike me knowing that gravity pulls things to the earth. To make it really interesting it's nice to include doubters or people who get something wrong. Maybe there are many gods but this sect worships one that they made up and doesn't really exist... or maybe there are people in this type of multi-god universe who are not polytheistic. Get my drift?
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 5:22 pm
I think why many people don't bring up religion in RP's is because it's a bit of a taboo subject. It's politically incorrect to judge others religions in real life, and it carries over into the world of gaming.
I think for all intents and purposes, Religion in games should be like religion in life - For some people it doesn't matter at all, for other people it's their reason for being. It varies. For me, it would be more interesting to through an extremely religious person into an adventuring party filled with athiests just to cause a little bit of flavour in the story. Unfortunatly, too many people think that someones Character is a reflection of the player (which in many cases is true). So people are afraid to create characters who are assholes because they don't want their character to make others think badly of the player.
In short: I think religion is a nice touch to an adventure, but in itself is not enough to make a good topic for a game.
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 5:59 pm
Eh... For me... Religion really doesn't matter to me because...
A: I usually don't play in those...
B: I respect (though badmouth occasionally) religions as a majority. Then there are suicide cults. I dunno what to say to those.
C: My character in a RP with Religion in it is usually a non-believer in anything, and doesn't care what people practice as long as it doesn't involve killing him.
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School Of Dedicated RPers Captain
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 8:21 am
That's funny because I love playing assholes! So I guess I just wish people were less easily offended...because Im not?
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:42 pm
Thus is old but I'm going to comment anyway...
Everyone is saying a lot of ... "it's a touchy subject, stay in line, don't go overboard, character belief reflects personal belief, and that religion is taboo." Seriously? Go watch some movies, every religion can be insulted by just going off of facts alone because people aren't very bright all together. From Carrie to See No Evil, christianity has a bunch of crazy cultist who grab snakes to go around killing people. Pick a religion and chances are it's been messed with at least once in cinema. So ... taboo? HA! Then as far as people being sensetive, get a grip ... if it's not true then the people who care about the truth will find that out.
The last thing about characters belief reflecting my belief ... they really shouldn't unless the character is based on yourself. Otherwise use some in character thinking and if people get confused that's for them to deal with. Me and my characters are different people, real or not ... sometimes we agree when I'm being a lazy role player but mostly we don't. Eh who cares if I sound crazy ... when the rock played a gay bodyguard trying to make it as an actor in be cool I really doubt he was playing himself, he was playing a role and that's what role playing is. When Edward Norton played a neo nazi in American history X, I doubt he joined the fascists in a racism camp for a drink or a few executions.
So yeah ... roleplay that christian hating mass murdering facist racist A-hole if you want, go ahead and play some red neck kkk member or something ... hell, play a kamikazi bomber from the middle east, just don't take this stuff to heart or be an idiot. Your character can hate all he wants, and you can hate all you want but both should not be judged like their the same one in the two.
Pretty much...
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:48 pm
I'm probly going to start an rp in a setting that may or may not be semi religious based on my short story/stories in this guild forum ... kind of a post end of the world thing going on about it.
See if your really interested when or if I get it going.
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