Tabletop Roleplaying games, like Dungeons & Dragons, are an essential part of my life. They help me get in touch with the part of my mind that many people me seem to have given up on -- The Imagination.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tabletop roleplaying games, the concept is simple: Everyone sits around a table. They take on the persona of a character that (in most games) they created, those characters exist in a world called a campaign setting, then they use dice a tool for creating the randomness of the world.
What Is A Dungeon Master?
The Dungeon Master (or Game Master) is the person who runs the storyline for the adventures. As the DM (or GM) you create an interactive experience for everyone playing, developing problems to solve, giving the group monsters to fight, providing all of the other personalities in the game, from the shopkeep to the evil overlord, but most importantly — the Dungeon Master is the storyteller.
A dungeon master can never know everything that the players are going to do, but if you spend a few extra minutes preparing, using the following tips, you can put yourself in a position to have everything lead them down the path you’d like.
More tips and info on Dungeon Mastering here:
Become A Better Game Master and Storyteller #1
Become A Better Game Master and Storyteller #2
Become A Better Game Master and Storyteller #3
Faith, not Certainty, for religious characters
In a world of gods and monsters, sometimes the fundamental challenge of a religious character, like a cleric or paladin, is lost to their religious certainty. They know that the gods exist, which negates the idea of faith.
Throw characters and events into the game that will cause them to shift their opinions, and test their faith.
Have the party run into a high intelligence/wisdom non-player characters that explain the difference between divine and arcane magic. For example, an authoritative, ancient, and powerful wizard might say: “There are no gods. Arcane magic is a result of your one's ability to impose their will on the world around them, while divine magic is a result of understanding yourself and the will to draw energy from within” or some nonsense like that.
Or have them meet other cultures who worship the same god differently, particularly cultures who live by an opposing moral code. To them, "protecting the people" might mean slaughtering the neighboring village to one people, while the hero it might mean protecting all life. When the religion offer’s vague rules, use it to your advantage as a storyteller. How can people of the world you’re playing in use the lack of clarity to achieve their goals?
Keep the gods hidden, quiet, and active.
To challenge your divinely powered characters, don’t allow them to be certain that their god exists. Don’t let the players know when they’re receiving divine benefits. Characters shouldn’t need blatant signs that they’re being helped, they should see those signs in the world around them. Some of them will get frustrated and that’s okay, tests of faith should always be part of a religious hero’s journey.
To do this, try keeping track of faith points.
Faith points are collected as a character offers prayer, makes sacrifices, follows devine rules, and converts new followers. Conversely, if you find that the character isn’t being faithful or isn’t taking opportunities to follow their god’s rules - subtract points.
Working Faith Points Into Your Game
During character creation, note what kind of god the character worships and the role of that deity in the world. Write down a number of possible benefits the god can bestow upon them for being a faithful servant.
For example, Jenna worships Temis, the god of Travelers, so she might get faith points for the following tasks:
- If she prays every morning for safe travels from the start to the finish of a journey.
- If she helps a struggling traveler along during the journey.
- If she maps out a new path to make traveling easier for others.
- If she sets up safe place for travelers to rest on a path.
- If she completes a pilgrimage along a treacherous path in the name of Temis.
- If she opens up blocked paths.
- Converts other people into her faith.
- Goes above and beyond when following Temis’ laws.
She might lose faith points for the following:
- Not praying for a significant amount of time on her journey.
- Not sharing goods that would benefit her party on their travels.
- Not keeping track of a new path she’d taken.
- Not helping a suffering traveler.
- Making a path more treacherous for others.
- Not completing a journey.
- Teleporting or flying rather than trekking somewhere on foot.
- Breaking the general rules of this particular god.
Depending on the number of faith points the DM would start bestowing random acts of the divine. The party shouldn’t know that anyo of this is divine favor. It should seem like it just happened.
- She might bypass a random encounter.
- She might fight an easier route to travel.
- She might find a cache of goods to help them along.
- She might run into a stranger offering some benefit to the party.
- She might discover a ruin, artifact that benefits the party.
- They might run into strangely favorable weather.
If the character starts going into the negative faith points:
- More random encounters that slow travel. (Example: Thieves/brigands on the road.)
- Bad weather.
- Longer travel time.
- Faulty items.
- Bad maps.
- Blocked trails.
- More difficult survival/tracking checks.
- Severe and repeated transgressions might result in loss or reduction of divine powers. Less damage or reduced healing capabilities.
Here are a few other ideas for different gods and goddesses:
- Luck Deity: Extra treasure, more favorable conditions, odds in their favor for gambles.
- War Deity: botch a villain’s attack on behalf of the hero, find a needed weapon, an environmental combat bonus
- Thief Deity: a trap malfunctions, a gust of wind blows out candles darkening a hallway, a treasure box is left unlocked.
- Love Deity: Improved social interactions.
- Freedom Deity: Ropes binding a character are old and breakable, lock on the cell is faulty, guard drops a key to the cuffs, random event gives the characters a chance to flee captivity.
Thanks for reading!
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