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Comments
Given that the only other most common option I see in most fantasy settings is Thinly Veiled Christianity?
Yeah.
Thinly veiled Christianity is arguably the best choice for a European medieval fantasy, though, if only because it fits, being a fundamental part of the social and technological development of the period. There's also a lot to draw on, from the concept of Christian love to the vilest xenophobia, plus divine hunts against creatures of the night and so on and so forth. Most of the best European medieval fantasy religions I've seen are basically Christianity with a different coat of paint for mostly those reasons.
Also, it's a convenient point of reference. We all know what a church is and why it's special. We all know what a priest is, what a nun is, the relevance of someone being considered a "holy warrior" and so on and so forth. Most of us grew up at least in a Christian country and perhaps as Christians ourselves, which is typical for a Western person of our generation. We all know how this stuff works in good enough detail that it can be used in various ways for the sake of a campaign, and lend relevance to engagements. Going to have a fight in the Cathedral? Then stock the fuck up on healing potions. It's a Cathedral battle. You kinda just know it's going to rock some socks at some point.
Also, you can use anime Catholicism at any point. Best Catholicism.
No.
Overdone and boring, kthnxbai.
Yes it mirrors the real world medieval period fine, but that doesn't make it interesting.
Although honestly medieval fantasy in general is overdone and boring.
Rather sweeping, don't you think.
Yeah but it's easier than saying "most of the medieval fantasy I've read or seen lately has been very derivative and thus not fun media to consume, and I'd prefer it if more things attempted to innovate instead of just aping Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, or both. Or at least ape creatively."
I'm trying to remember the last time a fantasy setting I've read actually had thinly-veiled Christianity.
There was David Edding's Elenium- but wait, while there was a Christianity-styled God, there were multiple other Gods, and the Christianity-styled God was not present and he was noted to be distant.
There was His Dark Materials- but, well, it's His Dark Materials.
... Nope, I can't actually recall reading a fantasy story with thinly-veiled Christianity for a long time.
Religions with a single, omnipotent Creator? Yup. Thinly-veiled Christianity? Not by a long shot.
Well clearly you're just not reading the right stuff then. :B
Also, any time "thinly-veiled [x]" is brought up, I am generally immediately against it.
But that's just me. I don't think I need to specify that my opinions are opinions here.
I'm trying not to dismiss it out of hand, so please don't encourage me to. At least post some examples or something.
Not really willing to go on a Google hunt here. You can either take me at my word or not, I don't have a great memory for titles.
I know I've seen it at least a few times and it was pretty dumb all of those times, but idk, I could just be remembering more than I've actually read. So maybe it's not overdone. Still boring though.
"Boring" is kind of a useless term here. What's boring to you may be enthralling to me. It doesn't tell me why you found it boring or how the religion worked within the frame of the narrative.
'k
> ignores the rest of my post and thereby my other points
I don't want to put it like this, but can you stop being an asshole?
You pretty much called me a fanboy a little bit back, and last time we had a debate about fantasy, you called me "unscientific". Your opinions are you own and as much as I'm going to disagree, I have no interest in calling anyone else names over such things. But the way you slip minor insults into your posts and your behaviour are trying my nerves, and I'm notoriously forgiving about this kind of thing. I'm in a Catch-22, because reacting to them makes me look like an asshole, but leaving them be validates that kind of behaviour.
Have your opinions. Totally. Not my place to say you can't have them. But please express them in a way that isn't passively insulting.
Yeah here's the thing.
This is a "debate" to you guys. It's really not one to me. I'm here cuz I'm bored. And having this conversation cuz I'm bored. If we're gonna take it serious, it's not a conversation we're going to have, cuz I'm not interested in taking it seriously.
I'm not "being an asshole". I'm just not willing to engage in the kind of intellectual effort required to have a serious debate about something like this because I don't really consider it important enough a subject to warrant that. Plus, I only called you a fanboy that one time because, well, that's just how I saw it. My knowledge of you does not extend much farther beyond "likes swords and makes large posts". So I don't think it's hard to see how I would come to that conclusion.
If you think I'm being a jerk, well then I apologize, but I'm not really trying to be.
In that case, simply do not post, or make a post indicating that you're backing out, rather than making belittling comments.
If you didn't intend them to be belittling, then 'kay. But that's how they came across.
to reiterate
so yeah. I don't know.
I already said what I wanted to say, I guess I'll just leave.
Not posting or saying that you're not interested takes a lot less effort than inserting insults into your posts or withdrawing via posting "k" in multiple threads. You are certainly being an asshole; entering into conversations that others are putting considerable thought into while expecting your opinion to be taken into consideration without comparable levels of thought; using passive-aggressive insults veiled behind the likes of "sorta", "kinda" and "ish"; and exiting discussions with sarcastic acceptance of others' points through a lack of effort or respect on your part.
These things fail to meet the requisite standards of mutual respect I consider fundamental to the environment here. This is no longer about fantasy, magic, swords or anything of the sort -- it's merely about how one person treats another in a discussion context. If you took this kind of behaviour outside the context of silly fantasy fiction debates, I would consider it grounds for a warning. So let this be a "pre-warning" of sorts, and don't let me see you partaking of this behaviour again. Before, it was just me, and as a mod, it would be dishonest to act solely in my own interests. But Nova is not a mod, so you are now being disrespectful and sarcastic to another standard member of this forum without humorous or just intent.
If anyone has a problem with someone else's viewpoints on any matter or otherwise disagrees, I would like to see it out in the open rather than hidden behind this kind of veneer, and the topic discussed in context of mutual respect and willingness to intellectually engage, however little or however much intellectual engagement is required. We all have failures of conduct at some point or another, and that is certainly forgivable, but let's keep such instances to matters of greater importance than the conventions and mistakes of fantasy fiction.
Well, look. Far be it for me to wholeheartedly criticize people for acting like jerks; that would be hypocritical of me, considering that I am often overly blunt, I don't consider what I say before I post, and quite often I'm too tired or upset to give a fuck whether what I say is insulting.
However, I recognize that acting like that is not okay in the least, and it isn't conducive to maintaining a civil air.
This forum is hardly a bastion of positivity, but for the most part, everyone remains civil and respectful.
While I say things and act badly quite often, often I'll come back to the post five minutes later and wipe it because that's not okay. Regardless of the actual intent of the post- whether I intended to be a jerk or not- I still was.
So I apologize, I clarify my meaning, and if I feel that I can't stay civil, I tell people that I'm done with the debate, and I move away.
That's all that's being asked or not. Intentionally or not, you did act like a dick, and although I have no authority over you, I'd still like to state that you shouldn't act like that in future if you wish to maintain goodwill.
Eh, let's go back to real-life pantheons in D&D, okay?
The "Deities and Demigods" handbook actually includes the Greek, Egyptian and Norse pantheons. Since D&D is set in a multiverse and it's not uncommon for incredibly powerful beings (like deities) to travel across different universes, using those pantheons in a campaign wouldn't be that ridiculous.
Now, a complain could be either why Real Life pantheons, if there's no our world in the mix (I've heard of cases when it was, though), or why only these three are used.
It is, actually. Naturally, our universe doesn't have its own official campaign setting, but theoretically it's quite possible to stage a D&D campaign in our world without logical inconsistencies.
Bah, laziness. :P
Still, while these three are the only official RL pantheons with fleshed-out info, but you can just as well use other RL pantheons. The problem is that you'll have to come up with your own portfolios, domains, alignments etc. for them.
I actually already addressed this earlier in the thread.
It's fine to allow people to homebrew a setting. However, it's silly to provide gods from our world into official canon, and then expect people to homebrew a setting just to provide a consistently logical base.
At that point, it would be less silly to just ask people to homebrew up Odin, Thor and Loki when they want to use the Norse pantheon; at least then the homebrewing would be consistent across the board.