TheRPGSite

The game is simple, fill in the X, with or without explanation as you prefer.

For my part, "X" is "PCs with dark supernatural powers".  Also, "published adventures where certain villains fight with the PCs but cannot under any circumstances be slain by them".

RPGPundit

Freedom-loving frontiersmen who fend off the evil hordes through a love of independence, and the sheer worthiness of the nuclear family living on an isolated farm.

Humanoids that steal sheep and rough up farmers once and a while, but never do anything truly monstrous like sack towns and eat everybody in them *.

* If these guys are no better than ugly and incompetent bandits, then why is driving them off such a heroic feat?

Mysterious patrons who hire the PCs, only to betray them later on.

Monotheistic religions that serve as a dumping ground for all of the setting designer's teenage rage against his/her parents forcing him/her to go to church.

Similarly, polytheistic, pagan Olde Faithes that work exactly like modern-day Wicca.

A fantasy setting with elves and dwarves.

Magitech.

Quote from: The_ShadowMagitech.

That makes me very sad.

That said... magic as a resource. Vancian, MP, whatever... just bugs me.

Point-based things in general. There are a few exceptions, but I don't like point buy or mana points or anything like that.

For me its anime inspired stuff. Especially when it creeps into games that previously had no ties to anime.

Vampires.

I'm sick of them.  Especially when their monstrous nature is downplayed to make them kewl and romantic.

Quote from: jgantsA fantasy setting with elves and dwarves.

Ditto.

A fantasy setting with humans.

Seriously, Elves and Dwarves on their own are just fine. Suckage / heartbreakerism sets in only when they're exotics in a human-dominated world.

ninjas in a Tolkein-based fantasy setting.

Games with an ablative humanity/sanity/empathy kind of stat. The player should decide how to roleplay their character, not the game mechanics.

Quote from: Kyle AaronGames with an ablative humanity/sanity/empathy kind of stat. The player should decide how to roleplay their character, not the game mechanics.

I had my Warhammer FRP players trained well.  They rolled their own insanity points, without GM prompting, after a while. :D

Quote from: Pierce InverarityA fantasy setting with humans.

Seriously, Elves and Dwarves on their own are just fine. Suckage / heartbreakerism sets in only when they're exotics in a human-dominated world.

Actually, I'm just bored with elves and dwarves.
but I get your point.

Anime.  Thanks!  Goodnight!

Quote from: AosActually, I'm just bored with elves and dwarves.
but I get your point.

I'm sick of fantasy settings with nonhumans as playable races (unless you're specifically shooting for an "old-school" feel).  

Pete

Quote from: pspahnI'm sick of fantasy settings with nonhumans as playable races (unless you're specifically shooting for an "old-school" feel).  

Pete

Seconded, or thirded, or whatever.

I like settings focused on rich cultures not racial monocultures.  I like central conflicts that arise from greed or lust or jealousy or just plain old madness not artificial racial differences.  Give me Westeros (GRR Martin) over Middle Earth (Tolkien) any day of the week.

EDIT:

In the context of my rant, my signature is kind of funny.

I agree with a lot of these, but to add another: McGuffins and fetch quests. I hate campaigns where the PCs have to go find the Rod of Stupendous Power and the Talisman of Total Awesomeness to defeat the Dark Lord because they're the only things that some wack-ass prophecy says can harm him.

Canon.

Quote from: MelanCanon.

I'll see your Canon and up you a Metaplot.

Quote from: DrewI'll see your Canon and up you a Metaplot.

I'll call you both with setting based novels that in fact set both canon and metaplot.

Quote from: One Horse TownI'll call you both with setting based novels that in fact set both canon and metaplot.

I shoot your metaplot with my cannon.

-clash

"Re-imaginings" by a new author that has this cool idea of how to "change the setting for the better".

TNE, GWd20, I am looking in your general direction.

Untouchables.  I ought to be able to gank, shank and yank anything without having to bend over backwards, do a barrel roll and hit the Konami code while wailing on a guitar and defending my thesis that solves the Wandering Salesman problem.

Quote from: WarthurMysterious patrons who hire the PCs, only to betray them later on.

Monotheistic religions that serve as a dumping ground for all of the setting designer's teenage rage against his/her parents forcing him/her to go to church.

Similarly, polytheistic, pagan Olde Faithes that work exactly like modern-day Wicca.

Fucking right on all three.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Bradford C. WalkerUntouchables.  I ought to be able to gank, shank and yank anything without having to bend over backwards, do a barrel roll and hit the Konami code while wailing on a guitar and defending my thesis that solves the Wandering Salesman problem.

Do you mean classes of people who you'd get in trouble for killing (moreso than a normal person) like, say, nobles in many settings?

Or particular NPCs who have the 'not for killing' label on them?

Quote from: LeSquideDo you mean classes of people who you'd get in trouble for killing (moreso than a normal person) like, say, nobles in many settings?

Or particular NPCs who have the 'not for killing' label on them?

I'm guessing the latter.  I as a GM find these NPCs intensely annoying in published adventures, where PCs can't harm them because they're essential to the rest of the story or whatever; its even worse if the adventure specifically sets up a situation where the PCs have fight them but no matter what happens the NPCs cannot be killed or captured.

In my own homebrew games of course I never do this kind of shit; even in my historical campaigns ANY NPC is killable, assuming the PC has the power or planning to do so, and wants to bad enough (in some cases, he has to want it really, really bad).

RPGPundit

Okay you guys just made me feel better by saying that. Here I was worried that my players killed the major NPC too easily a few months - but if I look at it your way , he was always killable and the time was right or just worked out that way.

 My players tend to make their "lucky breaks" happen or think really well on their feet in unexpected situations.


- Ed C.

Stats for songbirds and house cats.

Quote from: WarthurMonotheistic religions that serve as a dumping ground for all of the setting designer's teenage rage against his/her parents forcing him/her to go to church.

Huh.

I kind of like big churches as enemies, me.  Granted, in my current project, the evil superchurch doesn't actually have a god, but it's still a big (corrupt) superchurch.

Quote from: TimStats for songbirds and house cats.

...which, going by those stats, can kill untrained adult civilians two times out of three.

Quote from: Levi KornelsenHuh.

I kind of like big churches as enemies, me.  Granted, in my current project, the evil superchurch doesn't actually have a god, but it's still a big (corrupt) superchurch.

That's something that kills a setting for me. Since most game designers don't understand religion, they either:

A: Ignore it and hope it will go away.
B: Make it a saturday-morning cartoon.
C: Make it eeeevil and exploitative.
D: Make it a farce, a front for what's really going on in those churches/temples.
E: Make it some pansy milquetoast "be good" ethics lesson.
F: Some combination of the above.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceI shoot your metaplot with my cannon.

-clash

It was already full of holes anyway! :D

Quote from: One Horse TownIt was already full of holes anyway! :D

There you go, being all holier-than-thou! :O

-clahs

Quote from: flyingmiceThere you go, being all holier-than-thou! :O

-clahs

OK clahs...*snrrk* :D

Quote from: One Horse TownOK clahs...*snrrk* :D

No problemo, Dna! :D

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceThat's something that kills a setting for me. Since most game designers don't understand religion, they either:

A: Ignore it and hope it will go away.
B: Make it a saturday-morning cartoon.
C: Make it eeeevil and exploitative.
D: Make it a farce, a front for what's really going on in those churches/temples.
E: Make it some pansy milquetoast "be good" ethics lesson.
F: Some combination of the above.

-clash

*Shrug*

I'm not sure I'm quite doing any of those.

In my case, I just wanted to do something...  Well, here:

What I've got is a "church" in a world where there are no deities.  There are, however, demonlike things - and the traditional place of the church is to ward them out of the world, and ensure that they can't "catch" a soul between reincarnations.  There is, though, a faction of the church that believes they ought to punish diabolicals instead of just warding them off.  So, they've started making magical gear out of trapped diabolicals, and human society deeply craves magical gear, so the faction has risen to prominence.  This has the downside of weakening the boundaries between the world and Tartarus (where the diabolicals live)...   and that makes them the bad guys, because they're endangering the whole world.

I didn't want the evil crusade, or the frothing hate-preacher, or a church that wants to "burn the witches".  But, still, evil church.

Quote from: flyingmiceA: Ignore it and hope it will go away.
B: Make it a saturday-morning cartoon.
C: Make it eeeevil and exploitative.
D: Make it a farce, a front for what's really going on in those churches/temples.
E: Make it some pansy milquetoast "be good" ethics lesson.
F: Some combination of the above.

I think that covers how most people treat their real religion.  So designers are showing ecological validity.

Quote from: LeSquideDo you mean classes of people who you'd get in trouble for killing (moreso than a normal person) like, say, nobles in many settings?

Or particular NPCs who have the 'not for killing' label on them?

Definitely the latter.

Bad guys who live in the corner of the map.

-O

Quote from: flyingmiceThat's something that kills a setting for me. Since most game designers don't understand religion, they either:

A: Ignore it and hope it will go away.
B: Make it a saturday-morning cartoon.
C: Make it eeeevil and exploitative.
D: Make it a farce, a front for what's really going on in those churches/temples.
E: Make it some pansy milquetoast "be good" ethics lesson.
F: Some combination of the above.

-clash

Exactly.

It's part of a more general problem in fantasy fiction: the authors who tend to talk the most about gods and religion tend to understand religion the least. On the flipside, the likes of (say) C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were very religious, and were correspondingly careful about what they said about god or gods.

Quote from: WarthurExactly.

It's part of a more general problem in fantasy fiction: the authors who tend to talk the most about gods and religion tend to understand religion the least. On the flipside, the likes of (say) C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were very religious, and were correspondingly careful about what they said about god or gods.

Heh. I wrote a fantasy novel in my twenties that had all of these problems (and oh so many more). Then I actually studied theology and comparative religion for a while; I doubt I'll ever put anything but a passing reference to religion in any of my fiction ever again.

Quote from: NicephorusI think that covers how most people treat their real religion.  So designers are showing ecological validity.

You are far too charitable, Nicephorus. :D

-clash

Quote from: WarthurExactly.

It's part of a more general problem in fantasy fiction: the authors who tend to talk the most about gods and religion tend to understand religion the least. On the flipside, the likes of (say) C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were very religious, and were correspondingly careful about what they said about god or gods.

Agreed. I think it's even more of a problem with SF, where almost all SF writers are agnostic or atheist, but fantasy talks about gods more, thus it's more blatantly visible. :D

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceAgreed. I think it's even more of a problem with SF, where almost all SF writers are agnostic or atheist, but fantasy talks about gods more, thus it's more blatantly visible. :D
 
-clash

Actually, a common speedbump in both genre fiction and rpgs is the poorly ground ax - going on at length about something to the point that it detracts from everything else.  It's especially bad if the writer obviously has no clue what they're talking about.  In addition to religion, politics, economics, and gender issues are brought up badly so often that my eyes get into pre-roll mode as soon as one of the topics come up.  
 
Whenever the current political setup is portrayed as if it's ideal and the bad guys are western style govs or big corporations, I can be pretty sure that the game/book is going to be shallow and annoying.

...then you have the interesting example of BABYLON 5. JMS says he is an atheist - and yet over the course of that show's 5 years he treated both Earth and alien religions with more respect and fairness than 80% of what primetime television.


- Ed C.

Quote from: flyingmiceSince most game designers don't understand religion

Most players have distorted view of medieval and ancient religions. Back in the early 90s, a friend and I studied medieval culture and society. Not only just for learning but gather more interesting plot hooks to use in our respective campaigns.

My players had to goto a village that had a major cathedral. Several of them were scandalized when they walked into the main entrance and found a lively market in the main chamber. They tried to call me on it but I pointed out that for many communities the temple/cathedral was the focus of the region and no only religous services were conducted but many other types of business as well. The priests often acted as witnesses/clerks/lawyers for those who needed various types of legal help. Of course certain areas, namely around the altar, were off-limits.

I pretty much have no interest in any setting that constrains creation instead of evoking it from the players and GM which is sadly most of them for me.

Quote from: TimStats for songbirds and house cats.

This is what I'm looking for in a setting.

Animalia, coming up for free on rpgdrivethru tomorrow...

And I'm quite enjoying Squirrel Attack which has these stats.

Quote from: Levi KornelsenWhat I've got is a "church" in a world where there are no deities.  There are, however, demonlike things - and the traditional place of the church is to ward them out of the world, and ensure that they can't "catch" a soul between reincarnations.  There is, though, a faction of the church that believes they ought to punish diabolicals instead of just warding them off.  So, they've started making magical gear out of trapped diabolicals, and human society deeply craves magical gear, so the faction has risen to prominence.  This has the downside of weakening the boundaries between the world and Tartarus (where the diabolicals live)...   and that makes them the bad guys, because they're endangering the whole world.

At which point I'd question why these people are a church, per se. They don't serve a function of bringing the community together on a regular basis to worship together, they don't set out to promote a particular faith as set out by church doctrine, and they don't seem to prioritise people's well-being in this world much - you wouldn't go to one of these guys to confess your sins, say, or ask for moral or spiritual guidance.

Their main contact with non-members seems to be through making sure people's souls are OK after death, and whacking the occasional demon-worshipper; otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much reason for them to be particularly open to outsiders (especially if they have secret demon-binding techniques).

If they perform little-to-none of the social functions of a church, or any other organised religion, why make them a church? It sounds like it would make more sense for them to be a business, a guild charged with protecting the souls of the dead and maintaining the wards (and making juicy profits out of those magic items) - with perhaps some elements of a secret society, for the demon-hunting end of things. Kind of like the Freemasons, only thematically based around undertaking (if they're going to be providing the warding-the-soul service, they may as well do the rest of the funeral too) instead of building cathedrals.

Quote from: walkerpAnimalia, coming up for free on rpgdrivethru tomorrow...
QUOTE]

Wow, thanks for the heads up on that.  I've been working on an intelligent animals setting for years, but haven't been able to get the system to work right for me.  I had wondered about Animalia, but no one seemed to know anything about it.

Pete

Quote from: Koltar...then you have the interesting example of BABYLON 5. JMS says he is an atheist - and yet over the course of that show's 5 years he treated both Earth and alien religions with more respect and fairness than 80% of what primetime television.

That's a good example. JMS might not agree with religion, but he's certainly done his research and treats the subject matter with respect - he's really good at tackling tricky topics and expressing his own point of view without necessarily ramming it down the viewer's throat or absolutely discounting others' perspectives.

The best example's the episode where the station's doctor comes into conflict with aliens whose religion has a similar no-transplants policy to the Jehovah's Witnesses; JMS neatly puts across the doctor's arguments, but also shows us how others might consider the doctor to have been in the wrong on that issue.

IIIRC, that was also the episode where they had representatives of all the different alien' species religions showing up, and Sheridan solved the problem of "who represents Earth?" by getting representatives of every human religion out there. It was a neat statement, and also cleverly showed the particular strength of the humans in B5 - their high level of cultural diversity compared with the over civilisations.

Quote from: WarthurAt which point I'd question why these people are a church, per se.

Well, they manage the social, community rituals surrounding death and birth, both.  They have a hierarchy, run the graveyards and the funerary locales, and are the only institution based on human spiritual belief outside of diabolical cults.

I'd consider that a church.  Of sorts.

(I also already have a super-guild: The magic-item makers that the church is replacing, who made stuff out of dead dragons before the dragons pulled back a ways and fortified.   And, since the players characters in the game are the dragons...   I wanted to keep it simple).

Quote from: Levi KornelsenWell, they manage the social, community rituals surrounding death and birth, both.  They have a hierarchy, run the graveyards and the funerary locales, and are the only institution based on human spiritual belief outside of diabolical cults.

I'd consider that a church.  Of sorts.

Aha. So their spiritual beliefs relate more to ensuring that the soul safely travels from death to rebirth and doesn't fall into any of the horrifying pitfalls along the way? Reminds me a lot of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Out of interest, what makes the demons "demons" and not simply malign gods, given the absence of any other type of god?

A tangent, vaguely related to the subject but not specifically about Levi's campaign: wouldn't the presence of physically tangible gods and demons in a gameworld imply that any religion arising there would be fundamentally different from religion in our own world, where both gods and demons tend not to be visible and only visible through such miracles (or whatever the satanic counterpart is) as they cause to happen?

I hate the old man/soldier/farm girl NPC found dying alongside the road who, after imparting his information to the PCs, cannot be saved by them in any way whatsoever.

Quote from: pspahn

Quote from: walkerpAnimalia, coming up for free on rpgdrivethru tomorrow...
QUOTE]
Wow, thanks for the heads up on that.  I've been working on an intelligent animals setting for years, but haven't been able to get the system to work right for me.  I had wondered about Animalia, but no one seemed to know anything about it.

Mundi Animalia is actually up on Friday.  Tomorrow is Tales From the Wood, which could be interesting as well.

Quote from: WarthurIIIRC, that was also the episode where they had representatives of all the different alien' species religions showing up, and Sheridan solved the problem of "who represents Earth?" by getting representatives of every human religion out there. It was a neat statement, and also cleverly showed the particular strength of the humans in B5 - their high level of cultural diversity compared with the over civilisations.

Actually you're combining plots from TWO different episodes - but not a big deal.

In an interview that Straczynski did, he said that the lineup of representatives from Earth was made of spare crewmembers and office staffers at the studio. When each one said what his or her religion was - that was the person's REAL religion as well. He also made sure thare was at least one atheist that would be heard in the first 6 or 7 - so that would still be heard in dialogue before the scene was over.

In My TRAVELLER campaign religion does get mentioned - but the characters have never really had a conflict about it ...at least not yet. The ship's main 6 or 7 characters represent at least 5 different faiths or religions from what I can remember.

  The Ship's navigator is a member of the "Church of The Still Waiting".  Its a 57th century descendant of what we nowadays think of as Christianity , but there have been MANY amusing adjustments and changes over the centuries.


- Ed C.

Quote from: TimStats for songbirds and house cats.

There'sa supplement for Over the Edge with stats for a lapdog. . .that can kick most gutterpunk's asses. :D

Peace,
-Joel

Quote from: estarMNot only just for learning but gather more interesting plot hooks to use in our respective campaigns.

What's funny to me is that you just described how I wound up as a Medieval History major (and then an Antiquities major) in college. No, really... it all started with me wanting to make my settings more realistic.

:haw:

Jebus, I'm such a dork.

-=Grim=-

Quote from: WarthurAha. So their spiritual beliefs relate more to ensuring that the soul safely travels from death to rebirth and doesn't fall into any of the horrifying pitfalls along the way? Reminds me a lot of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Bingo.

Quote from: WarthurOut of interest, what makes the demons "demons" and not simply malign gods, given the absence of any other type of god?

In the game, the demons were once a living race that learned to subsume the "essential natures" of other things into themselves.  Hence, chicken-legged scorpion-tailed vulture-headed things, and the like.  Mussushu, cockatrice, minotaur, tarrasque.  They ate their world, and fell into the "place between worlds" - and now, they live there, and try to eat other worlds; and what's more, others can really and truly join them and become the same kind of things as they are.

Hence, the cults.  Which serve demons in order to become demons.  And usually get eaten instead...    but only usually.

You could call that a god, I suppose...   but I decided not to.

Quote from: WarthurA tangent, vaguely related to the subject but not specifically about Levi's campaign: wouldn't the presence of physically tangible gods and demons in a gameworld imply that any religion arising there would be fundamentally different from religion in our own world, where both gods and demons tend not to be visible and only visible through such miracles (or whatever the satanic counterpart is) as they cause to happen?

This, I think, would be a whole new thread, not just a part-time threadjack.

Quote from: Warthurthe episode where they had representatives of all the different alien' species religions showing up, and Sheridan solved the problem of "who represents Earth?" by getting representatives of every human religion out there. It was a neat statement, and also cleverly showed the particular strength of the humans in B5 - their high level of cultural diversity compared with the over civilisations.

A good point though JMS went out of his way to depict the alien species as also having diverse religions instead of the typical cookie cutter everyone believes or acts the same. Not quite as successful as the depiction of humans but the effort was made.

Quote from: Levi KornelsenIn the game, the demons were once a living race that learned to subsume the "essential natures" of other things into themselves.  Hence, chicken-legged scorpion-tailed vulture-headed things, and the like.  Mussushu, cockatrice, minotaur, tarrasque.  They ate their world, and fell into the "place between worlds" - and now, they live there, and try to eat other worlds; and what's more, others can really and truly join them and become the same kind of things as they are.

Hence, the cults.  Which serve demons in order to become demons.  And usually get eaten instead...    but only usually.

You could call that a god, I suppose...   but I decided not to.

Nor would I; they don't have any legitimate claim to the loyalty of mortals; nor can they can't claim to be the originators of the universe (or even important principles within the universe). In my own invented cosmologies, where there are actual gods, they have to qualify by at least one of those standards.

It sounds like a cool setting, and it certainly doesn't have the tired old takes on religion which tend to push my buttons; certainly, I wouldn't call your "church" a bad caricature of Christianity - heck, it doesn't even qualify as monotheistic.

Quote from: KoltarIn My TRAVELLER campaign religion does get mentioned - but the characters have never really had a conflict about it ...at least not yet. The ship's main 6 or 7 characters represent at least 5 different faiths or religions from what I can remember.

  The Ship's navigator is a member of the "Church of The Still Waiting".  Its a 57th century descendant of what we nowadays think of as Christianity , but there have been MANY amusing adjustments and changes over the centuries.

Have you seen the 101 Religions supplement from British Isles Traveller Support? It's hella cool.

Quote from: Casey777A good point though JMS went out of his way to depict the alien species as also having diverse religions instead of the typical cookie cutter everyone believes or acts the same. Not quite as successful as the depiction of humans but the effort was made.

My impression was that the aliens were deliberately meant to be not as diverse as the humans: oh, they'd have a few religious differences, but it'd be more like, say, Protestantism vs. Catholicism, or at the most extreme Christianity vs. Islam, as opposed to - say - Christian vs. Hindu. Each alien civilisation tended to have a reasonably universally-accepted baseline: the dispute was in the details.

I wonder how I did on religion in "Tribes of Mother Night", I need to do a rewrite but lack of communication with the person behind the system has left me at a loss as to what to do with it. I could write it to its own system, or clean things up for a system I like. (Seeing about a license.)

I've also tackled it in my "not quite hard" SF game, lightly. (My Space Opera game by its nature also has religion, particularly Catholicism and Front line combat priests, mostly due to humanities enemies)


In the "semi" HARD SF game though I still have religions (fragmented, diverse) but it doesn't have intelligent aliens--sort of, I provide examples, but they are NOT incorporated into the main text or intended for PC's, they're there as examples for aliens that could be introduced by a GM. Since I part of the fun of SF games is "exploration" leaving the aliens and first contact to a particular GM and his players makes the game more suitable for my tastes. (Plus, the GM could insert any aliens he saw fit too.)  Someday I'll finish it.

One of the things for me it addresses as my "X",If I don't see a game that doesn't leave room for  for GM's and players to shape the big things in the game while still providing a start for play.
I created  organizations for example, in game, whose aim was A) Make sense in a star faring culture and B) give the PC's something to do, together, that gets them out there in space.

A lot of SF games I've been exposed to, make up a lot of details, but leave out any specific ideas on how to "go and do" (Transhuman Space was one example--while I can think of dozens of things, its one of the more notable criticisms I've seen, and is a pretty accurate criticism at that for many people want a "start", so I give it to them)



In High Valor, being epic fantasy whose ties are too a specific setting, there is a specific and somewhat fragmented human "Church of the Martyr" (basically Christianity), since Beowulf is a large inspiration, and that Church is largely in the right. However, that doesn't prevent the common people from being superstitious, or from having other religions that the worshipers believe to be "right" from the animal-god worshiping Caen-Cluith, to the Rykarns very "Norse" inspired cults, and so on. Uup to and including quite foolish worship of the former demonic-enemies of mankind, the Fane Lords.  (and yes I have "Elves" and "Dwarves", because I've never once seen them "done right" for me. Having both mystery, strangeness, and yet still being playable PC's)

things I am tired of in games:

Tolkienesque fantasy: Been there. Done that. Got bored. Moved on.

dualistic morality: Destroys any potential for political play.

metaphysics (a.k.a. planes, alternate universes): destroys any kind of focus for the game. Seriously, what happened to the good, old "The gods live on very high mountains or other remote places of the world." or "The Underworld of the Dead is literally underground." -schtick of classical mythology?

Quote from: WarthurMy impression was that the aliens were deliberately meant to be not as diverse as the humans: oh, they'd have a few religious differences, but it'd be more like, say, Protestantism vs. Catholicism, or at the most extreme Christianity vs. Islam, as opposed to - say - Christian vs. Hindu. Each alien civilisation tended to have a reasonably universally-accepted baseline: the dispute was in the details.

Pretty much (it's been a while since I've examined B5 in depth), and that was a major difference and strength of HUmanity, but that treatment of aliens is still more complex than either no mention at all or everyone believing the same thing. And I'm moving anything more to the other thread.

Quote from: walkerpThis is what I'm looking for in a setting.

Animalia, coming up for free on rpgdrivethru tomorrow...

And I'm quite enjoying Squirrel Attack which has these stats.

Then you should pick up Sidewinder:Recoiled, which has at least a half-page stat block for a generic songbird in it.

You'd love it. Want to buy my copy?

Well, on the religion & demons angle, in my current Rolemaster campaign demons are just an aspect of divine servitors as they are seen by those of opposing faiths.  But then, the religions in the campaign are very pragmatic and business like organizations.  More like banks for mana really.  There are real gods but they post huge profits year after year.  (not tapping the pun potential of this paragraph just about killed me)

Anyhow, campaign elements I don't want to see:

Black and White morality.

Races that are purely evil or purely anything else really.

Dark overlord demigods.

Ninjas, monks, samuari, anime, any of that.

Maps.  I don't like maps.  Not because I think there is anything necessarily wrong with them but they force me into rationalizing how something should work instead of just creating what I think could be interesting to me and the rest of the players.  I hate being binded by geography.