As I was updating the gods in the Middle Lands to be more in line with a dark Swords & Sorcery setting, I started re-evaluating the gods themselves and how they work in such a dark world.
Gods Dark and Dangerous
The gods I had laid out before were elemental-based, with different aspects of each being worshipped. These could be good, bad or both. (I got the idea from an old article in Dragon magazine). But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the ones I had written up just did not really fit in a low/dark fantasy world.
The more I thought about gods in the old stories that I loved growing up, the more I realized I needed more, well… dark gods. For example, in the Conan stories, only Ishtar or Mitra were what might be considered "good" gods. The others were either neutral, selfish or outright evil.
In the Kane stories, I don’t remember any good gods at all–they were either insane or very evil. On top of that, dealing with any god was very dangerous, and would likely result in dangerous quests at best and having your soul blasted or eaten at worst.
At the same time, one idea given to me by Jeff Vandine was to use Sine Nomine’s Silent Legions as a basis for old school evil gods. That would help give them that pulp era, Lovecraftian feel–and push me to take them beyond where I normally would go.
On top of that, dealing with any god was very dangerous, and would likely result in dangerous quests at best and having your soul blasted or eaten at worst.
An interesting idea that come with that was to have the "elder gods" true aspect be hidden, with the people worshipping a different "public" aspect. In other words, in the setting, there are many different gods that are worshipped by various people, but they may only be false front for a god’s true, darker reality…
Intersections With the Gods
That brings up how to have people interact with gods in dark fantasy settings. Most people just don’t–and are grateful for that. The people who will most likely interact with the gods directly will be priests and sorcerers.
All priests and some sorcerers–specifically theurgists and necromancers–will derive power from their gods. Some of this power will be good, but most of it will be evil. In dark settings, though, most priests tend to be feared, and for good reason. They work closely with their gods, and draw some of their god into themselves. If that god is evil, that means the priest is evil as well.
For necromancers, the same is true–but even more so. Necromancers deal with the dead, and that means dealing with the gods of the dead, too. Even in high fantasy settings, this is seen as taboo. In a low or dark fantasy setting, it is even worse. Necromancers not only gain power from death gods, but they also interact with the dead heavily, too. Almost all cultures see this as unnatural–and to be feared.
For normal people (and heroes), gods are worshipped and hopefully held at bay. Offerings are made to make them happy, maybe gain some benefits–but not powers. Most people will not interact with the gods directly–while this is a big plot point in fiction, it should be rare in the game world.
When common people do interact with the gods, it will be a really big deal. That is more of a roleplaying thing than a rule mechanic, but make it special.
Religious Magic In Swords & Sorcery Campaigns
So from a game perspective, how can this work in Blades? At a basic level, none of these details are really needed. A character or NPC can be designated as a sorcerer/priest, have spells from HOW or Black Magic, or be given the Theurgy domain. Any magic cast has a physical damage cost, and that is that. Mechanically, the game is no different.
But… but… if you want to have more depth to your game, adding gods and the power they provide is a great way to layer more roleplaying opportunities to your magic. Tying the magic of priests to a god or gods in your campaign setting allows you to add more flavor to your storylines. It also is a great way to explain the "cost" of magic–a sacrifice to the great good Baal (or whoever).
Another thing to tie to religious magic is the ritual. Many games have complex rules for adding additional wizards or acolytes to the casting of a spell in a ritual format. In my ritual magic rules for the Middle Lands, I tried to keep things very simple: the cost of the spell is split between the participants, and caster gets a -2 DRM to cast the spell. That way the spell is still risky and still has a cost, but gives some incentive to adding people to pay the price of dealing with a god. (I’m waiting to see what C.R. does for Black Magic, too…)
Actually, another option is to tie ALL magic to the gods and ONLY have priestly sorcerers be capable of wielding magic. In such a campaign, only priests or witches would be allowed to cast spells. In fact, that is actually closer to the feel of the original swords & sorcery stories–more like Thulsa Doom than Gandalf. Players of games like Dungeons & Dragons or even The Fantasy Trip may hate that, but it is definitely an option for swords & sorcery!
No matter what, though, for religious magic to work in a low or dark fantasy campaign, it needs to have a cost. This includes both for the caster and the recipient–sorcerers, priests and common people alike. The cost to cast spells must be in physical damage–blood. Depending on the spell, the Referee could also require some kind of permanent sacrifice as well–attribute points, disfigurations, etc., as well as sacrifices of a more grisly type. Those kinds of costs really add to the game, and increase the darkness of the setting.
All of this keeps religious magic on a path to be more complicated than "normal" magic, and much darker. Both in roleplaying and mechanical terms, it is a ton of fun to have in a campaign–and much more fun this way than the simple cleric who is a walking healing hospital!
So what are you doing to integrate religion with magic? How do you keep it interesting, and not just a tool to heal adventurers?
Marko ∞
(Originally published on middle-lands.com, on 4/19/2019.)
