Religion in Shadowrun Options

[neko128]

I know that religion is mentioned in passing in any number of places, and even in depth in a few; things like the upswing of Wicca and Druidism, and the Knights Templar from Threats. Is there, however, a systematic addressing of modern religions, how they've changed, and any new religions, somewhere in one of the books?

[stevebugge]

I don't think there is, and in my opion that's a good thing. Religion is a touchy subject for a lot of people and it's probably best to leave it to individual groups how much religion they want in their games and which ones are good or evil or valid or invalid. When you start making detailed religious views part of Canon you run the very serious risk of alienating portions of your potential customer base.

So that being said there are lots of shallow or introductory descriptions of various religions and frequently realted magic traditions. The magic books cover Wicca and Voodoo (the Grimoire and Awakenings I belive gave the most flavor). IIRC there is a description of the Aztec religion in Aztlan (and I mean the Aztlan state sponsored one). Shadows of North America discusses the Mormons briefly. Shadows of Europe toushes on the Vatican, and Shadows of Asia has a decent section on Islam. I seem to remember s ahor write up on Druidism in the London Sourcebook (I'll have to check it's been over a year since I've cracked that one open). As for new religions the one that springs to mind is the Children of the Dragon (Year of the Comet I think)

[Azralon]

[Waltermandias]

In one of the books (Magic in the Shadows I think) there is a section on a Papal Bull that the Pope issued concerning magic. He basically says that

a: Metahumans have souls. (yay!)
b: Magic, like other human abilities, can be used for good or evil and is intrinsically neither.
c: Summoning spirits isn't intrinsically good or evil either, but it is freaky and raises a lot of difficult questions so Catholics aren't allowed to do it without special dispensation.

[SL James]

It's in a bunch of books. It's called In Imago Dei.

Shadows of Asia has a whole section on several major Asian religions.

There's a whole chapter on the Aztlan Path of the Sun in Aztlan. It's kind of hard to miss since the color inserts are in the middle of the chapter. Plus, it's 20 pages long.

Wicca is explained more in SOTA64 than anywhere else as a religion and a magic system.

The Italian Confederation chapter in Shadows of Europe has an assload of information on the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican.

More is in Threats 2 (Templars) and Loose Alliances (Vigilia).

LA also has information on the three major movements in Islam (IUM, NIJ, IRM). There's also information on the IUM and NIJ in Year of the Comet and System Failure, and they are mentioned throughout Shadows of Asia.

Several different sects of Islam are described in Loose Alliances, Shadows of Asia (natch), and the Aden chapter of Dragons of the Sixth World.

There's a page and a half of Sprawl Survival Guide that discusses religion.

And, yes, Awakening and MitS also have subchapters on magic and religion, but they're actually pretty um... what's the word? Weak. And personally I find them condescending and stupid. And before you ask, yes, I do think Steve Kenson interjected his own beliefs into both books.

[mdynna]

Agreed, I think the largest (and most recent as far as version go) treatment of religion in the Shadowrun world occurs in Magic in the Shadows.

[SL James]

If by " the largest (and most recent as far as version go)" you mean "It's 7+ years out of date and the coverage is shorter than what's in SSG," then you would be correct.

[Azralon]

[neko128]

I wasn't trying to start a political conversation on the subject. :) I agree that it's a... Touchy subject... But my question was more along the lines of "how much is already out there, and how much do I have to make up for my campaign?"

And frustratingly, if not surprisingly, the answer is "There's a lot, but it's spread far and wide, and will cost you hundreds of dollars to gain access to all of it."

Ugh.

[SL James]

[MYST1C]

[yesman]

Universal Brotherhood. - best cult ever.

[Brahm]

But the UB isn't based on a real religion, according to the German government.

[yesman]

[yesman]

ooohhhh,

I get it now. Ha.

[Dranem]

[mfb]

indeed. the UB is a group of rich fanatics with a secret agenda. what's that got to do with Scientology?

woo, sarcasm. i do love it so.

[Brahm]

[MYST1C]

[fistandantilus4....]

In a way, it's good the SR is just lightly touching on religions because, heck, look at all the problems that came up on the Loose Alliance threads talking politics.

To a degree though, the light touching on religion is a little insulting becuase it's just a quick wash example that's in many cases only bare bones quick wash version that only barely describes things in the religion. Voodoo for example. MiTS considers Petro voodoo the corrupted path of voodoo, in the same realm as blood magic and toxics. Really Petro is more the middle line. The really wicked stuff is called Red sects or 'of the red eyes' when talking about loas, and zobop.

But in SR, all you can really do is give each religion a presentation of how it can work in the game world. If it doesn't have something that you can work with in a game, why even include it. The Catholic church has all sorts of stuff that could be great for conspiracy theories, so that's what they include. But they don't try to work in a lot of material about what followers of the religion do or don't belief. That's a good thing, because that 's a mine field.

It's kind of like South Park. yeah, it's irreverant , but it is equally so to everybody. So at least it's equal treatment.

[SL James]

It wasn't about politics. That book wouldn't know politics from a hole in the ground.

[fistandantilus4....]

I was referring more to the arguements that stemmed from it on the forums then the actual book it's self.