Quote from: soltakss;728664If you are happy to accept them then why not accept that deities of some kind can have their place in games?

(shrugs)  Because that's his break point.  You don't share it.  I don't share it.  But I'm certain that there's at least one element of RPGs that I can't stand with which I bet every other poster on this thread has no problem, and that there's at least one element of RPGs I love that you all hate to death.

After all, your laundry list could be altered to fit genres, rather than facets of fantasy.  You like X, Y and Z, don't you?  Then why don't you like SF, or horror, or Wild West gaming, say?

Quote from: Spinachcat;728666I am as anti-religion as they come and I love playing pious, evangelical clerics of all flavors.

As a GM though, I prefer my gods to be more Greek. I like them more as demi-gods who actually live somewhere on the game world and who can be slain.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

Interesting approach.

Personally Im fine with pantheons in a RPG. Im even ok with more than one in an RPG. Within limits.

But in one of my published RPG there was a pantheon, but no organized religion. It was all down to the individual. Any temples built were under the aegis of the individual adherent, usually dedicated to a particular concept. But it didnt grant any power and there were no empowered priestly organizations.

I look at pantheons and organized clergy in games the same as other aspects of gaming. If someone doesnt want it in their campaign then dont use it. Dont like assassins in AD&D? gone. Want a "no wizards" campaign? Ta-ta mages. etc.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;728089So yeah. No gods please. I don't want to play games with gods in (maybe Lords of Olympus is different? ).

Well, in LoO you play gods, or the not-yet-god children of gods.  But of course, they're "classical" gods, which means that if you squint a bit you can understand them as hyper-dimensional space aliens of incredible power, rather than "father creator" types.  
In LoO, the closest thing to fit the more modern understanding of "gods" would be the Primordials, which are mostly not very anthropomorphic, certainly not very human in behavior, and are sometimes scary as fuck in a vaguely Cthulhu-esque "the universe is unfathomable and doesn't give a fuck" kind of way.

RPGPundit

First off, I'll state that I too am atheist. But I agree that in medieval and fantasy games religion and the gods should have some level of prominence, it would be weird if they didn't.

One of my best characters became "accidentally" religious. It was something I hadn't planned on but it added a whole interesting layer to the character and became part of his main focus. The set-up is this: in a Hero Fantasy campaign his main role was as a martial artist/swordsman. Secondarily I had tossed some points into nautical skills and made his "primary" career a merchant sea captain. He owned a ship, had a good crew and sailed between several cities.

For whatever reason (meaning, I forget) the main city the party was based in had a temple to a minor sea deity which had burned down long ago. After a particularly successful adventure the PCs were flush with cash. I spent some of mine on a new, larger ship but decided it was a good time to appease the gods. So I found the last few followers of this sea deity who owned the remains of the temple and offered to help them out.

Architects were hired to survey the land and design a new building. The land was cleared and construction was started. All funded by my largess. Seemed like a good way to invest all that gold that tends to pile up. The GM and I had a few discussions about look of the new temple, city interest in the new construction, etc. He was quite impressed with my idea and turn of character direction.

Religion isn't all bad.

Quote from: Arminius;728370To moderns, yes.

If your god didn't do what you requested, it wasn't because he didn't exist, it was because another god was more powerful, or because you didn't do enough to please the god, or because your god was being a jerk. In that case you could,yell at him, but you didn't stop believing he exists. In the Middle Ages, although the omnipotence/omniscience/benevolence of God was a given (so you couldn't yell at Jehovah), people did make ritual complaints against saints (like taking away some decorations of their shrines) if they didn't come up with the goods.

When the prophets or Jesus or saints performed miracles, they weren't kindling people's faith in the existence of God, rather it was in the power vis a vis other gods and and spirits.

There have also been some interesting archeological finds recently that show worshippers also punished Gods when they were dissatisfied using a process called God Binding. A process where they wrap ropes around the deity's statue as a form of punishment or to curtail its negative powers.

To the OP it sounds like the whole Noah incident is more naff than anything else, maybe that's what's annoying as much as anything else.

Quote from: Weru;729400There have also been some interesting archeological finds recently that show worshippers also punished Gods when they were dissatisfied using a process called God Binding. A process where they wrap ropes around the deity's statue as a form of punishment or to curtail its negative powers.

To the OP it sounds like the whole Noah incident is more naff than anything else, maybe that's what's annoying as much as anything else.

Both Xerxes' famous whipping of the sea, and, more so, Caligula's war against the Sea, has elements of this. Especially the latter, since taking the shells was interpreted as stealing Neptune's bounty.

Quote from: Rincewind1;729404Both Xerxes' famous whipping of the sea, and, more so, Caligula's war against the Sea, has elements of this. Especially the latter, since taking the shells was interpreted as stealing Neptune's bounty.

Celebrity God Binding! On a more serious note I'm guessing those two were doing that sort of shit as way to prove equivalence with the gods (or superiority in Caligula's case). I think they were both known to have 'issues' The evidence for God Binding seems to be more low key villages that have bad crops trying to stop a certain god messing with them.

However, going back to Xerxes and Caligula, and we can add Alexander, they lived in an age where people believed in Deification for heroes and leaders (pretty much standard procedure for Roman emperors). That could be interesting fodder for RPG religions. Which I gues the I part of the BECMI had covered. It's one of the interesting D&Disms in the Malazan books too; the idea of ascendant heroes that become living minor deities or full blown gods.

Where can I find out more about god binding?

Let us not forget evocatio, which consisted of kidnapping a foreign god and/or bribing him/her/it with a temple in Rome.

This is some serious Runequest (specifically, God Learner) shit right there.

Quote from: Arminius;729478Where can I find out more about god binding?

What I read was a short (1/4 page) article in either the BBC history, or BBC Archaeology magazine. I'll check see if we still have that issue and if there is any further reading/info.

Quote from: The Butcher;729535Let us not forget evocatio, which consisted of kidnapping a foreign god and/or bribing him/her/it with a temple in Rome.

This is some serious Runequest (specifically, God Learner) shit right there.

Ohh, that's a good 'un. I think, in a similar way, the Mycenaean-era Greeks used to have Zeus marry various local goddesses as a way of absorbing their cults.

Quote from: Arminius;729478Where can I find out more about god binding?

What I read was a short (1/4 page) article in either the BBC history, or BBC Archaeology magazine. I'll check see if we still have that issue and if there is any further reading/info.

Quote from: Weru;729540Ohh, that's a good 'un. I think, in a similar way, the Mycenaean-era Greeks used to have Zeus marry various local goddesses as a way of absorbing their cults.

Well, that would certainly explain Zeus.

JG

Just wait a couple hundred years, and we'll demote the patron goddess of your island to a duck!

Quote from: Imp;729703Just wait a couple hundred years, and we'll demote the patron goddess of your island to a duck!

and then Zeus will rape her.