Spirituality in LARP?

Shanthony

Shanthony

Novice
So, I've been brainstorming some ideas for potential characters concepts in the future and I thought about a great aspect that would give great depth to a character, their spirituality and feelings towards the supernatural.

Yet every time I consider this, there's the nagging voice reminding me of the taboo of religion in larp and our responsibility to shy away from it. It's important to have a sense of religion-neutrality in game, but superstitions, ominous power and mysteries still exist. I guess my question is,

How do we correctly play spirituality? Is it possible?

I've fantasized about having wise sages, shamans or priests in game simply because of their iconic role in society. Meditating in a search for wisdom, contacting the dead, maybe a little fortune telling? Can characters have a sensitivity to their environment and 'feel' if something is wrong? I imagine 'the force' in Star Wars and all its pseudo-spiritual effects, but I cringe because I know these things can be sacred for many. It would be beautiful if we could play into this field a little more, so I guess I want to find where the line is drawn.

From my search in other topics in the forums, I got the impression that the most definitive line was at worship: no idols or deities. The use of real life symbols is forbidden as well, and I can understand that.

Ugh, my head is swimming with thoughts just trying to figure this out. Tell me folks, what are your thoughts?
 
I tend to think of this as a spirit of the rules (no pun intended) issue. We draw upon the power of the Earth to heal, we have superstitious Barbarians and High Orcs that see omens and honor fortune tellers, and we allow non-corporeal forms in the form of "spirits" for effects like Spirit Walk, Golems, and other effects. These and similar concepts are used in some religions, but by themselves, these things are not religions. It's all in what you are doing, why, and how.

To explain in more detail: we have Earth Guilds, but not Earth worshippers and priests. Earth Guilds are more like universities for the study of magical effects as a science than they are monasteries to the Earth deity/religion. Barbarians may be superstitious and have bad or good feelings about certain things, but they should not perform rituals to appease supernatural powers ("for good luck"/"to rid bad luck" should be as far as it goes in that direction). High Orcs and fortune tellers exist, but the way fortunes are told should be done with real world religions in mind. I now personally discourage players from using Tarot cards after having several out-of-game conversations with several different people whose religion/faith also uses the Tarot and their discomfort at seeing it in game.

My personal opinion- the best thing to do is avoid the concept entirely. Supernatural things are part of everyday life in Fortannis (just think of what happens to the average town on a monthly basis in terms of crunchy monsters alone and what it would be like to live among that), so I don't think there would be reason for a character to feel something is wrong.

In other words, what is supernatural in Mundania (the real world) is natural to those in Fortannis, even if unwelcome: "Guildmaster, there are reanimated corpses walking around town!" "*Sigh* ...Again? Go to the local tavern and find some adventurers to handle these pests. These undead are really becoming a nuisance."
 
Nigh unto anything you can come up with will reflect some religion, somewhere. Humans have invented any and every method of explaining the universe around them through belief. The key is not to push it in anyone's face, and to treat anything with the respect you would want someone to treat your own beliefs with.

At that point, you character can be religious or spiritual without the major outward signs that might offend someone by accident.
 
You can fear or revere the elements we have in game, there's already precedent for it with the race packets... I'd just draw the line at folding your hands and doing anything that looks like praying to icons of those various elements.
 
I would say iconography should be avoided as that is a major point of the primary religions of the last 2000 years. Also having a name of a deity brings things firmly from a set of shamanistic beliefs to a modern religion which could offend.
 
I've seen chapters have icons of elements come into game (the Icon of Chaos had a jester-type outfit on and did all sorts of random things) because being an icon of something can mean that you're the symbol of it. If we can use the term templar, and have wands, circles, calling upon elements and resurrection, the only real hard-and-fast lines we can have is to avoid prayer and gods.

Icon: a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it.
 
To me, the Healer's Guild seems largely reminiscent of celtic druidism, as it is very earth-centric and scholarly at the same time. So much so that I adopted a celtic 'mindset' for the character (and am trying to learn how to fake a welsh accent)

The very name 'Templar' brings to mind the Knights Templar and the whole 'paladin' archetype (even though I recognize they can go celestial instead of earth). Is this not the intention?
 
Historical religions and spirituality are difficult to avoid, so it's fine to draw inspiration from them. It's another thing to actively practice the religion in game.
 
OrcFighterFTW said:
Historical religions and spirituality are difficult to avoid, so it's fine to draw inspiration from them. It's another thing to actively practice the religion in game.
Click to expand...

Exactly - my character doesn't precise druidism and is not a druid - but I drew inspiration from welsh culture and druidism. (I was thinking of wearing a triskele, but after this thread I'm probably not going to.)
 
There is no hard and fast rule on where the line is. The best I can offer is: The rule exists for two reasons; these being to avoid the possible negative press from upsetting religious persons who do not play our game and to avoid the negative everything from upsetting religious persons who do. For the sake of the first reason, a pro forma observance of some of the more obvious points (don't make boffer crucifixes, don't name your character Mohammed, don't actively worship any god, real world or fictional) is sufficient. For the latter reason everything must be considered on a case-by-case basis, and arbitration/final decision left up to the staff and owner of whatever chapter you are currently in. The best guideline in my own opinion is: "Be respectful of others' beliefs or lack thereof, compromise where able, don't take things personally."
 
Dan Nickname Beshers said:
There is no hard and fast rule on where the line is. The best I can offer is: The rule exists for two reasons; these being to avoid the possible negative press from upsetting religious persons who do not play our game and to avoid the negative everything from upsetting religious persons who do. For the sake of the first reason, a pro forma observance of some of the more obvious points (don't make boffer crucifixes, don't name your character Mohammed, don't actively worship any god, real world or fictional) is sufficient. For the latter reason everything must be considered on a case-by-case basis, and arbitration/final decision left up to the staff and owner of whatever chapter you are currently in. The best guideline in my own opinion is: "Be respectful of others' beliefs or lack thereof, compromise where able, don't take things personally."
Click to expand...

Well said. The problem with this issue is that we cannot have a bright line rule. There are so many gray areas. The intent of the rule is clear but in practice, it is impossible to completely remove religion from mythology and our game relies so much on mythology...
 
Shanthony said:
So, I've been brainstorming some ideas for potential characters concepts in the future and I thought about a great aspect that would give great depth to a character, their spirituality and feelings towards the supernatural.

Yet every time I consider this, there's the nagging voice reminding me of the taboo of religion in larp and our responsibility to shy away from it. It's important to have a sense of religion-neutrality in game, but superstitions, ominous power and mysteries still exist. I guess my question is,
Click to expand...

Stop. Stop right there.

The "taboo of religion in LARP" is actually a very, very, VERY local thing, specific in fact to a few games of significant size- and those being Alliance and NERO (and some of their offshoots, but definitely not all of them). Look at much of the LARPing community outside of those, especially outside the US and that "taboo" doesn't exist. Now, being sensitive to existing religions? Absolutely. At this point, I've played in more LARPs with religious content than not- and most of those take pains to not step on the toes of real-life religion. They have their own, fictional divine systems just like LARP magic has nothing to do with the rituals of certain religious groups, or our combat systems have anything to do with actually trying to kill each other.

How do we correctly play spirituality? Is it possible?

I've fantasized about having wise sages, shamans or priests in game simply because of their iconic role in society. Meditating in a search for wisdom, contacting the dead, maybe a little fortune telling? Can characters have a sensitivity to their environment and 'feel' if something is wrong? I imagine 'the force' in Star Wars and all its pseudo-spiritual effects, but I cringe because I know these things can be sacred for many. It would be beautiful if we could play into this field a little more, so I guess I want to find where the line is drawn.
Click to expand...

A lot of that already does exist. I've had my fortune told, Contact Spirits happen, etc. etc. But an out-and-out religious construct in Alliance won't. It's hard-wired into the core of the game at this point for too long.
 
Work with your local chapter's plot team to find a gentle medium. Some chapters are more picky about what constitutes a violation of the no religion rule. It's a really hard one to define. People have stated the big ones to avoid: worship, blatant religious iconography, god(s) and prayer.

I always joke that my character is as close to a religious fanatic as you can get in this game. I play a character that sees the issue of necromancy in absolute black and white. There is not casting necromancy and me attempting to kill you, that's the options around that character. I have created a group that has similar intentions towards necromancy and I teach that way of thinking. Now that's not "religion" but throw in a deity and prayer and I have the starting of a cult.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top