Forums » Smalltalk » Religion and its place in RP (Questions)

I thought this would make a good conversation for the forums, lets just keep it clean people. Anyway moving on...

Does anyone else find it odd or perhaps normal that a non religious person would rp a character that believes in a deity or a set of gods? For example, Thor, Hades, Odin, ect. I know rp for most people is one big game of 'what if' or pretend, or a chance to explore something new...but is it normal for people to rp characters that think any of these deity's exist when them in real life dont believe in such things?

I know some characters like vikings for example, come per packaged so to speak with some gods of their own. However, what are your thoughts on the matter? Would this only to apply to deity made in real life, or does this extend to deities made in movies and video games as well? or perhaps even new made up ones by a player or group of players?

Tell me what you think below.

Asking if it's odd that a character believes in a deity I don't believe in is like asking if it's odd that my character is a baker when I'm not, in my opinion. We create them to be fictional characters with professions and beliefs that make storytelling fun for us, that matter in the plot and dictate their responses and personality. Religious beliefs can have a huge impact on how a character interacts with others. But so can a profession, or a lifestyle (like veganism, or bodybuilding, or gaming), or cultural differences etc.

I don't consider religion in RP anything other than a tool to guide and tell the story with, so I'm not seeing it as anything odd or weird when it happens to be different from my own viewpoint.

I agree with Sanne. I think it'd MAYBE be a little strange to play as a character who believes in a religion you absolutely hate, because it may seem like you're satirizing it or something, but even that's subjective.

It fleshes out the character! . It helps make them who they are, drives their decisions and actions. If a character who believes in a certain religion has that taken away, they'd be different, and likely not how the creator wanted them to be. It is a really touchy subject in real life, and it can possibly lead to some ooc problems if two characters begin to have a religious debate (I've seen ooc problems spur from incredibly stupid things, so religion isn't too far-fetched). But as far as characters go, it usually doesn't cause any problems, and it's usually a pretty good element in roleplay.

I think it's especially interesting when they create their own religions! Maybe it's simply because I like to know about religion and stuff that it doesn't seem odd to me, but I absolutely LOVE to read about religions that characters believe in that the creator made themselves.

Interesting question though!

Isn't part of roleplay exploring topics you may not be able to in real life? You may not be a warrior/slaver/merchant/slave in real life, nor a cat, dog, dragon, or fairy. It is a way to explore and be creative. As an atheist, I've never had a problem with playing a religious character.
If anything, playing a character with a trait you yourself don't have makes it more interesting. It means you need to do some research and now you're roleplaying something new and fresh.

I think it fleshes out the character and makes interesting effects on their decisions sometimes.
Like, I may be religious in real life, yet, I have a character who is a God, which is against what I believe in.

But the thing is, it's just for fun. Just for a story. So it doesn't hurt anyone as long as it doesn't become an OOC issue of forcing religon on someone.

Very interesting topic.

I'm not sure I find it strange at all. Though I'm irreligious, I still find faith to be a very interesting aspect of the human experience, and religion just as fascinating. Some of my characters are completely faith-driven or ruled by their own religious beliefs, while with others religion has little to no impact at all. As with people, every character has their own set of beliefs and it's just a part of what makes them who they are.

I would say that someone who is unable to approach the subject without striving to be accurate, objective and with due respect/sensitivity is bound to butt heads with someone about it.

As an atheist I find it difficult, but not weird. I have religious characters and I often feel strange sometimes when I play the more spiritual aspects of them. I have a hard time remembering to portray that element at times.

However, I do think you need to know something about the faith you are trying to represent, if you're representing it as what it is and not a fantasy version of it, you know? But this also goes for professions and cultures as well.

What everyone else said! I think 'difficult, but not weird' sums it up well.

I'm a firm atheist, but the majority of my characters are far more religious than I am. I've got various forms of theists, agnostics, and atheists alike. Do I prefer characters who are agnostic and/or atheistic? Admittedly, it's easier to get into their head and easier for me to relate to them more.

However, I always consider the setting. In an older era, characters are far more likely to be religious and uneducated unless they are scholars or in some way aware of more. This is easier to work with in fantasy settings, where deities and powers often represent themselves in tangible manners and multiple pantheons are confirmed to really exist. I find that this is an alien, but incredibly fun dynamic with which to work in.

My characters simply aren't me and even if I disagree with them, that's part of the joy of creating diverse individuals. You have to have all kinds. For instance, I also have characters who are homophobic, racist, support caste systems and slavery, have no interest in concepts of good or evil, who have extreme egomania or madness, etc. I find these kind of things much harder to portray than superstition.

I also enjoy the considerations of how religious belief may or may not affect the thought processes of my characters - for both good and bad! It also functions as a psychological exploration of theology. It helps me understand people a little better at times.

Good replys so far guys, keep up the discussion.
Question, would it be less difficult to base your char's beliefs off less popular deities? If you say ignore the current active religions of today, and focus more on the old gods? Like ones no one longer believes in or worships?

note: I am not talking about current religions to avoid any religious arguments on here, I more meant the older gods people just stopped believing in. Like Loki, Hades, Ra, ect...

Absolutely, because for the most part these ancient religions, superstitions, traditions, what have you, have been lost and abandoned for long enough to fade into mythology and lore.

I would also apply these terms to modern forms of religion, as I feel they likely may be in our future and therefore more freely used in future settings, but currently to do so is taken offensively by many. It absolutely pushes buttons to explore a character of different religion, but a religion that still remains predominate and taken seriously in present times. There will always be that third person taint of perspective that leaks through, commentary through the characters actions and thought processes, which can be taken as misrepresentation or even mean parody.

I'm guilty of this to some extent, absolutely. I have a character currently who is struggling with a pantheon of deities that are tangible, ones that he respects and wants the approval of, but also the threat of a connected religious regime that could take away everything he holds dear. Even cost the lives of those he loves and himself. So, what he's experiencing and what he thinks he knows are in conflict and everything he knows about the world is being challenged.

There is a lot of subtle commentary on religious dictatorships, religion vs. freedoms and rights, good vs. evil, etc. It's a whole lot of fun for me, but there could be some people who absolutely find the tongue-in-cheek philosophy contained distasteful or challenging.

With older religions that are considered stories and creative works of misunderstanding by ancestors long past, the taboo on taking liberties and using them for inspiration is also long since past. So, it's much for free-for-all when you can rework such stories and use them in fiction without anyone being too insulted.

I think it's actually fun to add in religions, even though I'm not religious myself. After all, the character you roleplay as isn't you, so their beliefs and ideas are different than yours. It forces you to see things differently when playing as your character.

In the end, it's just fun to RP something you can't or wouldn't do or think on a daily basis (or ever for that fact). Like Sanne said, it's no weirder than playing a baker even though that's not your actual profession.

I'm a lapsed Catholic that roleplays a pagan viking that likes killing Christians. It's not hard at all, and it's interesting to see through a different set of eyes -- like Rynh said. It's easy to lump groups that aren't your own into big masses of stereotypes, but when you write from their perspective, you can see their motivations and understand their beliefs validity. It gives you a reason to research into it, especially with any RP that happens in prior history.

So it's pretty good for the player themselves. And it has a big impact on writing about a character, too. Their motivations are always influenced by religion or a lack of, and it shows a marker of what time period they're in and what area they live in.

I think the inclusion of religion in roleplay is essential, depending on the setting in question; if the universe in which your characters interact is set in a time and place where atheism is the most wide-spread affiliation, then so be it—but how often is that the case? One should try to consciously restrain their personal beliefs from influencing a character. These beliefs—along with your idiosyncrasies, prejudices, preconceptions—will seep like smoke beneath the locked doors of a character anyway, regardless of your vigilance, so it's best if it happens naturally.

Whether it's roleplay or something else, the focus of your writing is to weave a story and to invite your readers in, asserting that what you have to say is worth knowing. World-building establishes the credibility of your voice, and tantalizes the reader with a glimpse of something bigger than you or them. A world that lives and breathes independently, as though the story goes on even without any participation. The belief systems of a single character is as vital a cornerstone as their upbringing, and the two are generally intertwined.

In the realm of fantasy religions (or better still, religions you've concocted yourself), you have free rein to tailor a character's beliefs, to complicate or simplify them, and to decide on the fervor of their faith. Perhaps you've never been religious, and the idea of an ecstatic zealot appeals to you; or maybe you were raised in a church without ever having made the decision yourself, and you want a rogue who cares nothing for the whims of gods. Truly inhabiting a character is a vital exercise, whether you're departing from your own gender, ethnic background, socioeconomic class or, in this case, belief structure (or the lack thereof).

Regarding the use of historical religions taken from our own world, one finds it constrained in construction but rich in resource. It's good to be respectful of real world religions, but it's also important to stay true to your character. In the past there have been far more diverse types of people than any single writer could cook up, and religion has existed through most of history as a vehicle for conquest. It's a difficult balancing act—on one hand you want your character to embody the era in which you've based them, and on the other, we realize that not every stereotype need be fulfilled. You might play a viking who has some serious reservations about ritual sacrifice, or a Christian knight whose God does not mind violence as long as it's directed at non-believers. The religion may inform a character's behaviors and thought processes without altering their decision-making.

For myself, I try to imagine what the character is on a very primitive level, which has more to do with moral alignment than the trappings of his past. If it is in his or her nature to commit transgressions—whether they are borne of greed, lust or destructive abandon—then they will do so; if they are religious, then they may struggle with an inner conflict, or search for absolution in the aftermath. This does not change the nature of good and evil. The moral compass of a person tends to spin independently of their belief, and only synchronizes if they happen to be a paragon. The religion of a character is, to me, another jigsaw piece that helps the final picture come into sharper focus—but even if the pieces are scattered and unconnected, it remains the same picture, merely viewed through a more inelegant lens.

I find it normal, and even as a non-religious person who doesn't care if a god or gods exist or not, I wouldn't have any problem at all RPing a religious person in a universe where gods actually really exist and do things. A character prays for something, repeatedly, it's not something that could happen by accident, and their prayers are answered, maybe in a supernatural manner? Well, as far as I am concerned, it kinda makes sense to believe in the gods, then.

Whether the character chooses to worship them is another matter, but being an atheistic character in a universe where gods really exist and manifest themselves is similar, IMO, to not believing in McDonald's. I mean, it exists. You can love it or hate it, but that's pretty much it. Pretending it doesn't exist won't make it go away.

I implement religion of all sorts into my characters, or a lack thereof, because it adds a level of realism. Not religion itself (depending on personal opinion of the reader), but because religious beliefs of all shapes and sizes have existed for millenia around the world. To ignore that would be to ignore something that has undeniably shaped humanity's development, be it for good or ill. I've played pagans of all stripes, and Christians, and even characters that have started out religious and turned to atheism or vice versa.

In the case of fantasy continuities where gods or god-like beings exist, introducing faith or lack of into that can be entertaining.

My character, Illiandi, is devoutly Catholic. The religion's practice is part of his daily life, a fundamental decision-maker for him, and something that if he were not around balancing influences, would be something that he'd try to make a government based around.

And I'm really glad he has those balancing influences, because I'm a non-practicing pagan who distrusts the capacity of theocracies to rule in a just manner.

Illiandi has his religion because of where he happened to live most of his life, because he tends to have his core beliefs shaped by the people around him, and because I needed to extend to him the mercy of having a faith. It's also supposed to be extremely common for the time period he's played in for people to be Catholic (he's constantly baffled that he's the only one).

I've never been to a Mass, so I've had to do a ton of research to play his faith correctly. He's not set up to be a straw-man Catholic with deliberately stupid perceptions to try to push my own agenda through. I play him sincerely. I've enjoyed not only the learning that has gone into playing the role, but also the way that it sharpens my debates when I DO go into them, because through my character's sincerely I've learned what it feels like to really 'get' the other side of the argument.

As a practicing Catholic, I'm curious as to how someone would play a character who is, especially if the former is not. From what I've seen on his page, Illiandi (his name sounds a bit like my username! ) is a very fascinating and intricate character.