Religious Text
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Basic Information

Most religions have a body of lore that grow up around it; stories, statements of doctrine, liturgy, prayers, teachings; the amassed wisdom of the faith. In pre-literate societies, this wisdom is transmitted orally, from generation to generation; but eventually somebody is going to write it down in religious texts.

Depending upon the religion, these texts may be considered the wisdom of revered teachers to be studied or divine revelation or someplace between.

Common content of religious texts will include:

  • (Alleged) direct divine revelations dictated to a specific person.
  • Myth, history and legend from the earliest days of the religion, often poorly attributed.
  • More contemporary histories with better attribution which may include:
  • Hagiography of significant religious figures.
  • Collected sayings, decrees and judgements of significant figures.
  • Books of parables, proverbs and koans, sometimes known as 'wisdom literature'.
  • Books of religious law and specifications for sacred objects and rituals.
  • Religious poetry and songs.
  • Religious art.

Not all works will include all aspects and art usually loses out due to the effort involved in reproducing it.
The scriptures of fantasy religions may include spells, either encoded or in plain text … or may not.

Some religions will happily translate religious texts into any and all languages for evangelical purposes (or even just for convenience) whilst others will insist on maintaining them in a given language for one reason or another. Sometimes this is the language in which they were written (and the non-translation is meant to maintian "purity" of the text) and sometimes it isn't…

List of sacred texts of various religions

Sources

Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry - the list of religious texts above was taken from there.

Game and Story Use

  • Existing religious texts may be used as models for the religious writings of an invented gameworld.
  • Stories in religious texts may be used as a source of plots or plot devices.
    • A campaign may be set in the world in which these stories took place
    • If you're feeling particularly blasphemous, a time travel campaign can take the PC's to the events of the text and have them interact with the religious figures of the past and find out what really happened.
      • Or, become responsible for the stories! "Okay, Joshua's army is in place; now hit the walls of Jericho with the sonic blasters!"
  • If the players enjoy thinking as well as killing things, religious texts can provide ideas for themes that can run through the campaign, such as the nature of Good and Evil, the creation of the world, life after death, is taking a life ever justified, what is the virtuous life, etc.
    • Even if the players aren't interested in such matters, a philosopher/holy man who quotes from scriptures might make a good NPC.
  • Forget the content. A rare copy of a religious text, such as the Book of Kells or the Dead Sea Scrolls, might make a good MacGuffin.
  • Religious texts define the fundamental memes of religions - groups of people which are sometimes more numerous and influential than many nations. Thus, any aspiring theocratic ruler had better write up or find a few good texts to keep his followers in line.
  • Some religious texts might be encoded with spells and similar mystic knowledge, making them Tomes of Eldritch Lore.
  • Religious texts may make good relics - or even just treasure given the financial value of a medieval bible - with originals or copies owned by specific individuals (with annotations?) being worth more. Even if they have difficulty selling them, PCs may gain immense prestige and owed favour by donating such works to an appropriate religious house.
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page revision: 10, last edited: 07 Jul 2011 11:03
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