Spes Magna Games

In the first part of this thought experiment, I focused on how the setting’s true God would function within a monotheistic campaign setting. In this second part, I will focus on what to do about the other gods and goddesses mistakenly worshiped by ignorant PCs and NPCs.

Step #3: The Other Gods and Goddesses

What about the lesser beings mistakenly worshiped as gods and goddesses in your monotheistic campaign setting? In keeping with real-world history, the existence of a true God in your campaign setting doesn’t mean that other religions in the setting suddenly cease to exist. As is the case with other D&D settings, you can still have your monotheistic campaign setting be set in an otherwise predominantly classical pagan world.

Since clerics of other faiths would need to get their divine spells from somewhere (this is a rule that has been present in all the published editions of D&D), it makes sense that these “lesser gods and goddesses” would still exist in the campaign setting. That perhaps could be one of the religious mysteries centered around the true God of your monotheistic campaign: “Why does the true God permit the existence and worship of other gods and goddesses by the ignorant?”

The classical Jewish and Christian understanding of the pagan gods was that, if they actually did exist and simply weren’t made up, they were perhaps higher angelic spirits who rebelled against God and left their assigned posts in the celestial hierarchy. So, perhaps in your monotheistic campaign, the other gods and goddesses were originally high-ranking Celestials assigned to protect individual groups of mortals, but something happened in the mythic past that caused these high-ranking Celestials to be worshiped mistakenly as deities and demigods. Whether it was intentionally done by the Celestials themselves or done first by the mortals can be left up to the GM’s prerogative.

In AD&D’s first and second published editions, a deity’s divine rank (greater, lesser, et cetera) set a limit on the adherent cleric’s granted spells (which before 3rd Edition was limited to the 7th spell level). In an old school style game, perhaps the GM can use this mechanic to differentiate the setting’s true God from the other gods and goddesses. Thus, the true God would be the only available deity who is at the divine rank of “greater deity”. According to the 1st Edition Deities and Demigods handbook, the following information is how cleric spells and patron deities normally operate:

1. All 1st and 2nd level cleric spells are gained through the cleric’s knowledge and faith. 3rd and higher level cleric spells are gained through the act of prayer.

2. 3rd through 5th level cleric spells are granted by the supernatural servants or minions of the cleric’s patron deity. For example, a cleric of a lawful good deity would, after praying, receive his 3rd through 5th level cleric spells through a Celestial creature appointed as the deity’s intermediary to the cleric. These appointed supernatural servants and minions range from creatures to demigods.

3. A cleric whose patron deity is of the demigod rank (and not the lesser god or greater god rank) receives his 3rd through 5th level spells directly from their patron deity. In 1st Edition, a demigod could not grant cleric spells above 5th level.

4. 6th and 7th level spells are granted to clerics directly from their patron deities (in this case being lesser gods and greater gods). In 1st Edition, a lesser god could not grant cleric spells above 6th level; only a greater god could grant 7th level cleric spells.

In terms of keeping the setting’s true God as the only deity at the divine rank of greater god, the GM could simply downgrade the other gods and goddesses by one divine rank so that none of them rank higher than lesser god. Not only will this make potential clerics of the true God notably stand out when they inevitably appear in the campaign, but the ability to receive 6th level cleric spells from the other gods and goddesses can serve as an in-game incentive for many PCs and NPCs to persist in their ignorance of the setting’s true God being the only deity worthy of worship.

I now come to the end of my article for this gaming blog. I hope it proves useful to anyone reading it that pondered how to do a monotheistic campaign setting at their gaming table.

Tags: monotheism, world-building

(Today’s post is not me, Mark L. Chance, getting back into writing for this site. Rather, it’s Christopher “Giant Boy” Chance stepping in as a guest poster. Huzzah.)

How One Could Do A Monotheistic Campaign (Part I)

Greetings, readers of Spes Magna Games. This is Christopher Chance (aka Giant Boy) writing this feature blog post. I have been giving thought to how one could do a monotheistic campaign setting for a D&D campaign, mainly because I wish to encourage fellow Christians to not be afraid of participating in table-top, pencil-and-paper roleplaying games. Here is how I think it could work if you come across players who are either uncomfortable with or don’t want to play in a polytheistic campaign setting.

Step #1: The GM Gets to Have the Final Say

This one should be a no-brainer. Yes, healthy gaming groups have a GM who is willing to listen to advice and feedback from his or her players when the situation warrants it, but the players should know and be willing to accept that the GM ultimately has the final say. If the GM does not wish to do a monotheistic campaign, then the players should be willing to accept this. But, if the GM is willing to try their hand at something that seems rare at D&D tables, we should proceed to the next steps.

Step #2: The One True God

In a monotheistic campaign setting, the true God (or “High God” if you want to take a henotheistic variant on this idea) needs to clearly stand out from the lesser beings that the ignorant PCs and NPCs in your campaign setting mistakenly worship as gods or goddesses. The true God in a monotheistic campaign not only needs to be a purely spiritual being but also the “Uncreated Creator” of the campaign setting in general. According to classical positions among philosophers, the following would be traits you would need to give your setting’s true God:

1. Aseity: The setting’s true God does not depend on any cause other than himself for his existence, realization, and end, and has within himself his own reason of existence.

2. Immutability: The setting’s true God is unchanging in his character, will, and covenant promises.

3. Impassibility: The setting’s true God does not experience pain or pleasure from the actions of another being.

4. Ineffability: The setting’s true God surpasses the ability of language to fully express his nature, attributes, motives, et cetera.

5. Omnibenevolence: The setting’s true God possesses maximum goodness and permits the existence of evil in order to bring a greater good out of it.

6. Omnipotence: The setting’s true God possesses maximum power and can do all things that are logically possible that do not contradict his other attributes.

7. Omniscience: The setting’s true God possesses maximum knowledge of all things that are logically possible.

8. Simplicity: The setting’s true God is a single, unified entity with no distinction between his attributes. He has no parts.

9. Transcendence: The setting’s true God is completely independent of the material world (e.g., all of Creation itself) and is beyond all physical laws.

The GM should decide if and when the true God decides to make himself known to the residents of the campaign setting for the purpose of starting an organized religion around him. To make the campaign setting “nice and messy” about which religion is true (as most inhabitants would be ignorant that the true God is the only being worthy of receiving divine worship), the lesser gods and goddesses should have organized religions and cults built up around them as well.

This brings us to the end of the first part of this thought experiment. In the second part, I will give thoughts on how to handle the lesser gods and goddesses in a monotheistic campaign setting.

Tags: monotheism, world-building

Well, the new year is here, and so it’s time to start a new project. With determination and hard work, maybe this project will get done. “What is the project?” you ask. Well, I’ll get to that in a paragraph. But, first!

In December, I leaped into Dicember 2022, posting almost daily something new at least vaguely related to Old-School Essentials. This weekend, I compiled all the posts into a Word document, did some light formatting and editing, and PDFed it. You can download the PDF via this link.

And now back to that project. I’m shooting to complete two different writing projects, combining them into one. That’s right! I’m tackling both Roy Otus’s Gygax 75 and Sean McCoy’s Dungeon 23. You can read about both at their respective links in that last sentence. Nota Bene: Much of the Dungeon 23 link is hidden behind a Substack subscription box.

Now, practically speaking, since I go back to work on Tuesday, I’m not likely to adhere devoutly to either schedule. Also, since with Gygax 75 I’m writing up the start of a fantasy world, much of what I’m doing at the outset isn’t really coming up with a dungeon room a day for 365 days. Still, I think I’m off to a good start, as shown in the pics below.

The first pic shows the Flux’s Flying Fort. The second pic shows the Eastern Reaches, the rugged environs in which the adventure involving the Flying Fort takes place. I’ll likely run some version of the adventure at OwlCon in February. I might attempt a second run at North Texas RPG Con in June. Also, it’s quite probable that some variation of the adventure will kick off my soon-to-begin Old-School Essentials campaign that I’ll run for my Sunday group.

Huzzah!

Tags: #Dungeon23, #Gygax75, adventure design, Old School Essentials, world-building

Elfland’s Ethics & World Building | World-Building: Causes & Consequences | World-Building: Geneses | World-Building: About Alignment | World-Building: The False Light | World-Building: The Elves | World-Building: Rules Changes I

Nota Bene: Some of the details below may seem less detailed than necessary. If so, it’s likely because I’m still working the answers to a few questions.

Isarn Egni, the Forge Lord, mined iron from the depths of the First Mountain. He purified the metal with the heat of his gaze and hammered it on the Dread Anvil into the forms of Heled and Murgeda, the first dwarves. Isarn Egni granted his creatures life by plunging them into pure spring water untouched by sunlight. He then gave Heled and Murgeda dominion over all lightless places as well as the lands surrounding the entrances to the World-Under.

During the Second Age, dwarven culture reached its pinnacle. The dwarves expanded westward across the Duna, driving the elves from their cities and liberating the humans whom the elves had ruled. Dwarves built and controlled the most powerful cities, crafting an empire that radiated out from Ironspyre, the mightiest dwarven mountain home. Dwarven hegemony shattered during the Gargarizein, when gargoyles erupted from World-Under into the Deeps to overrun several major dwarven strongholds. Thousands of dwarf warriors died defending their domains. Thousands more abandoned their homes when it became clear hope was lost.

Today, dwarves are uncommon. The surviving clans have scattered, forming enclaves in a handful of cities along the Duna, the great river that separates the Western Lands from the plains beneath the Sundered Chain, that range of mountains that was once the backbone of dwarven military and political power. Within these enclaves, dwarven guilds dominate all aspects of metalworking while the scions of once-great clans dream of reclaiming their ancient mountain halls.

Prime Requisite: Strength
Level Limit: 12
Multi-Class Options: Cleric, Paladin, Thief

Dwarf Special Abilities

These special abilities replace those described in the standard rules.

Armor and Weapons: Dwarves can wear any armor and use shields. They may use any weapon of normal or small size, but may use neither two-handed swords or longbows.

Dark Sight: Dwarves can see in total (nonmagical) darkness as if it were bright light. In dim light or night-time conditions, their vision is limited to 120 feet, and they lose the ability to discern color, seeing everything in black, white, and shades of gray. Dwarves have their vision further reduced to 60 feet in bright light, and they suffer a -1 on their “to hit” rolls in such conditions.

Languages: Dwarves speak Common and Dwarven. If they speak any additional languages, the first choice must be Garg, Goblin, or Orc.

Mettle of Metal: Dwarves possess remarkable toughness. Nonmagical fire inflicts -2 points of damage per damage die (with a minimum of 0 points per die). Magical fire inflicts -1 point of damage per damage die (with minimum of 1 point per die). Dwarves take 1 fewer points of damage from cutting or slashing attacks (to a minimum of 1 point of damage).

Skilled: When making an ability check related to metalwork, mining, or stonework, reduce the difficulty by 1d6.

Stout: A dwarf’s tactical movement is not affected by encumbrance to the same extent other races experience.

Tags: B/X D&D, character races, world-building

Elfland’s Ethics & World Building | World-Building: Causes & Consequences | World-Building: Geneses | World-Building: About Alignment | World-Building: The False Light | World-Building: The Elves

Today a shorter post to clarify a couple of things that the elf introduced as game mechanics not native to B/X D&D.

Multi-Class Options

A character of any race can multi-class, giving the character one additional class. So, an elf could be a cleric/elf or an elf/thief (owing to my love for alphabetizing). The system I’m using follows AD&D in many respects. XP is always divided evenly between the classes. This means, for example, that a cleric/elf levels up in cleric faster than in elf, but slower than either a cleric qua cleric or an elf qua elf.

Hit points are determined by the average of both classes’ Hit Dice when those dice are different. The cleric/elf would just use d6 for Hit Dice, but the elf/thief would use (1d6+1d4)/2 to determine hit points. Constitution modifier applies to the quotient. Saving throws per category follow whichever class has the best number. The multi-class character uses the least restrictive armor and weapons, except for thieves (who are limited in armor) and clerics (who are limited in weapons).

Ability Checks

The ability check system I want to use is still under construction. Ability checks are used for determining the success of actions that are not “to-hit” rolls or saving throws. The DM determines the difficulty based on the player’s description of the action, the circumstances surrounding the action, et cetera. The action attempted is either Easy, Average, Hard, or Nigh Impossible. The DM also determines which of the six ability scores best fits the attempted action.

I’m uncertain about how I want to handle the dice results. I’ve got two ideas:

First Idea: The action’s difficulty tells the player how many d6 to roll. The harder the task, the more dice the player rolls. The dice are totaled. The total is compared to the character’s ability score relevant to the check. If the total is less than the ability score, the action succeeds. Or, if the total is less than or equal to the ability score, the action succeeds. Using this system, the elf’s -1d6 to ability checks to locate secret or concealed doors makes it easier for the elf to succeed.

Second Idea: The action’s difficulty tells the player how many successes are needed. Every even number counts as a success. Every odd number counts as a failure. The character’s ability modifier adds to the number of successes. Additional successes over the minimum needed may grant additional benefits. Using this system, the elf’s -1d6 for locating secret or concealed doors means the player gets to ignore one odd-numbered die, making it easier for the elf to succeed.

Right now, I like the first system because it’s straightforward. Roll X dice, total, and compare. But, also right now, I like the second system because it’s an opportunity to introduce mechanics that adjudicate degree of failure and degree of success. I enjoy other game systems that use these sorts of mechanics (such as Fate and Dungeon World).

In either case, retooling certain racial abilities to be a dice modifier fits.

Tags: B/X D&D, world-building