I actually never heard anyone using “normal” christian religion in AW. Most of the times its weird cults and misunderstood dogma.
So what playbook makes a good “normal” christian priest.
I came up with Touchstone, Maestro’D and Operator.
Hocus might just be to weird for that.
What do you think
Originally shared by Josh T Jordan
So your post-apocalyptic novel doesn’t have any Christians in it. What religion is now most popular in your state?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/06/04/the-second-largest-religion-in-each-state/
Hocus is perfect IMO.
Oh. I was thinking that kind of character might see the MAelstorm as Hell that came to the world, so opening the brain to it would be something they rather not do. So a low Weird score.
Of course taking the temptation and using it still is always there which is great!
Oh. I was more thinking about someone who tells people supernatural fairy tales and creates a cult following based on personality…
I agree the Hocus is perfect. It’s possible to get into HUGE debates here but what the hell, that’s what teh interwebz are for. Speaking in Tongues? Snake Handling? Laying of Hands? Possession and Exorcism? Conversations with Jesus? Ouija boards are tools of The Devil? Dungeons and Dragons corrupts your soul? God hates Fags? Sounds to me like a lot of “normal” Christians have been talking to the Maelstrom this whole time.
.
Gary Oldman’s Character in Book of Eli is like Hardholder who knows the power of religion, but doesn’t have faith. Eli is the touchstone.
Chopper. Alpha dog: Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
Driver. Daredevil: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
And, obviously, Solace. Alive in the world: Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.
Angel? Quarantine.
Honestly, I think Christianity is a very strange cult that just happened to take off and so it seems normal. As such, any of the playbooks would be fine.
Whoa, am I the only one here who has known way more “love thy neighbor/judge not lest ye be judged” Christians than the manipulative cultist variety? Maybe that’s just a perk of living in a godless liberal paradise like Massachusetts.
Anyway, given the likely source material from stories like The Book of Eli, I think the most obvious “post-apocalyptic Christian” playbook is the Touchstone (as long as you’re comfortable with a priest who’s capable of extreme violence). The Angel can also be played as a faith healer on the Weird end of the spectrum or as a missionary who travels to communities to offer medical services if you’re aiming for something more mundane and familiar (or conceptualizing your Maelstrom as somehow unholy).
Admittedly, both of those are probably easier to interpret as ministers/missionaries than as leaders of a community or congregation. If you want a playbook that works that kind of thing in , you’re probably going to have to do some creative cherry picking from other playbooks when you earn advances. The Savvyhead’s “Oftener Right” seems useful for a “wise sage” character (priests, rabbis, and bartenders alike!). Moonlighting and gigs from the Operator (an advancement option for the Angel) also offers a chance to take a couple of the less freaky gigs, like “Honest Work” (raising barns?) or maybe “Brokering Deals” (marriage/divorce contracts..?).
All of that said, I’d imagine that the tricky thing with playing a “normal” Christian (or any religious leader) is that nobody’s really “normal” anymore in Apocalypse World. Remember that keeping things not boring is a core principle of the game. Maybe not every priest is a Hocus named Jackal with fifteen wives and a violation glove picked off a dead brainer – but if every other aspect of society has been seriously fucked in the wake of global cataclysm, then what would “normal” look like for religions anyway? I could actually see AW being used to run a “Left Behind” kind of game where religions are obsessed with catering to those who didn’t make the cut for the Rapture, and the Maelstrom is composed of the souls of the righteous on their way to Heaven. Or, you know, maybe it’s just Hell’s radio station, and the best humans can manage is a fuzzy signal. Could be fun to leave that unanswered.
The general bashing in this discussion is also highly problematic to me…
How about someone like Shepherd Book from Firefly? Which playbook does he fit?
Touchstone, i think Vincent said as much.
Tim Franzke: Yeah, I’m not even religious, but the open disdain for other people’s cultures and beliefs is pretty unsettling. I’m looking forward to seeing more posts taking your original question at face value.
Tim, could you please be more specific about “general bashing?” I didn’t think anything yet said would qualify as that and so I just reread the whole thread of comments and there are some things that seem like very slightly disrespectful comments (including mine, if you have a chip on your shoulder) but none seem to be bashing Christianity’s general nature.
So, for instance, if I’ve hurt someone’s feelings, I’d like to know. I won’t change my mind about historical fact, but I might express myself differently.
That would be appreciated.
Yes Jason Tocci I suspect you are right. Raised in Los Angeles and living in Las Vegas, I have indeed met more crazy cultists than quietly faithfuls. As for generalizations, here’s one: I’ve met many good people in my life, who may or may not have believed in something we never talked about, but in my experience the people who are most vocal about the fact that they’re Christians are exactly the ones you want to stay away from.
Meanwhile, back to Tim Franzke’s question: Since the Maelstrom is ambiguous and player-defined, there’s no “alignment” in it. The Maelstrom can be drug induced, it can be psychic vibrations, it can be quantum consciousness, it can represent anything metaphysical or empirically unexplained. As such, there’s no reason why a player can’t decide their character actually IS talking to Jesus, or Jehovah, or Satan, or name-your-deity-here when they open their brain. Incorporating religion into the Maelstrom isn’t difficult. A failed roll would probably mean a crisis of faith or temptation.
What’s more difficult is picturing what Christianity would even mean in a post-apocalypse. I don’t just mean “being a good person”, I mean “literally believing in and following the New Testament”. Think about it. Many questions become even harder to answer than they already are, and the “collaborative fiction” approach to world-building means that the answers to these questions cannot be predetermined by a GM who applies lots of thought to the matter beforehand. So you would either need to railroad it, or accept the ideological relativism that I’m bringing to the table, or only play with people who already agree with you on the answers to these questions. Which basically means playing with Christians, which means there’s no need to ask us, you already know.
A few examples of the kind of questions I’m talking about: Did God see this coming? Was the Apocalypse God’s punishment on wicked humankind, like all those wicked bastards from Sodom & Gomorrah or all the wicked people who died in the Flood? If so, why are there still so many wicked people walking around? Why didn’t He build an Ark to save the animals this time? Does the Holy Tabernacle even exist anymore? Maybe this world is Hell (but hey, that’s a heresy!) Maybe this is the reign of the Antichrist (but it’s been way longer than 7 years, and you might have to stat the Antichrist). Ok, ok… Did The Rapture happen? If yes, then God’s chosen people have been taken away, right, so bye-bye to Christianity. If the Rapture didn’t happen, then why not? Is it still scheduled? Because this doesn’t look like the Armegeddon promised by The Book. And speaking of “Chosen People”, where are the Israelites? Does your game world have any Jews in it? Let’s ask them!
I think Sean Nittner hit the nail on the head in a podcast once (about clerics I think), when he suggested that in ‘normal’ faith based activity, no-one really gets in your grill about your belief (whatever it is), unless it actively has power – like a move – or threatens something of someone else’s, like a fundamental scarcity.
So I guess if the idea of religion in your apocalypse world should be centred around the answers to those provacative questions that dig deep into the power of a particular faith, or the scarcities it represents.
If there is no real status quo to grind up against, then that sort of faith probably slides into backgound colour and move-less interstitial scenes.