Is it bad if a fantasy religion strongly resembles a real religion?

It's usually boring if it does. Exaggerate or accentuate some of the more interesting aspects of the religion and get something better. Incidentally, I'm doing this with native Ainu religions for my 5e wood elf druid. I'm taking the oral traditions, clothing, and customs, but making them work in a fantasy druidic tradition.

>real religion

>not also fantasy

That's science fiction.

ow the edge

Depends heavily on how you present it.

Like, for instance, Tolkein wrote the Lord of the Rings as a VERY Catholic cosmology with tiers of angels worshipping a literal, singular big-g God and the main peril to mortals comes in the form of a fallen angel whose influence corrupts the hearts of men to sin. BUT it's buried under (and worked into) enough semi-Nordic, sword fighting and Fukken Elves, Man (plus it's mostly kept in the Silmarillion, which nobody fucking reads) that you don't really mind.

Compare that to the works of C.S.Lewis who was straight up just going "JESUS. THE LION IS JESUS. JESUS IS A LION. ARE YOU WORSHIPPING JESUS YET." Because it was far more obvious, I think it's a bit less interesting and less thought out. Tolkein's beliefs came out almost organically through his world, whereas Lewis was hammering the story into a blunt instrument.

So, if you make the Chatholic Kurch run by Bope Penedict whose beliefs all revolve around a matyred figure but whose priests keep getting caught in sex scandals, your players are probably just going to sit their, roll their eyes and wait for the next time they get to roll dice (probably in a fight against the OH SHOCK TURNS OUT HE WAS EVIL Bope.)

Having them work through a tainted world that strives for redemption in small deeds, coming across flawed people who seek to better themselves while acknowledging their faults, who find comfort in the words of an institution that offers a literal mouthpiece of divine authority and whose institution takes great pride in tracing its heritage back to the days - and they see people taking solace in rites that unburden themselves of guilt and sin, who gladly give of material wealth in the hopes that it will improve their spiritual lot (and are maaaybe being exploited as a result) people are still probably going to go "okay that's pretty Catholic" but it comes across as a bit more level-headed and plausible.

It technically falls into the category of Lost World Romance, but it is definitely a "fantasy".

top kek
/thread

It's kind of unavoidable, because most large religions have similar tenets (general kindness, faith, charity, the general seven virtues). However, you can make them seem different by weaving them into the history of the world.

For example, in my fantasy setting that I run games in for players new to d&d, many humans worship a Jesus-like figure who liberated the human kingdoms from Elvish occupation. He's kind of an analogue of Jesus, but he was around only two and a half centuries ago, so there are dwarves and elves who still remember a time before his arrival.
Anyways, each succesor human kingdom has their own interpretation of the faith he established, with one kingdom revering him as a god of mages manifest on Earth, etc.

What my point was that if you made an organic setting with a well-thought out backstory and weave your religion into the history and present of the setting, you'll get a realistic, unique religion with some real-world influences.

There's a lot of resemblance of real world religions to one another. Religion usually has a goal of establishing values, creating morals and explaining the unknown, so even disregarding any shared roots or spread through communication, it's easy to see why certain patterns would arise across different religions over time.

Unless your fantasy setting is really weird, you should expect certain similarities to one religion or another.

It's Sword & Planet you retard.

How was that edgy?

Probably upset that thinks real-world religions are fiction.

Probably just underage b8, like this tryhard.

This. Draw on themes, influences, and maybe aesthetics and fit them to the setting and your needs. Make them an organic, integrated part of the world as opposed to a slightly changed copy plopped into the setting with no regard for how it would change the world and be changed by it

That's not really that edgy. I mean there's a pretty big difference between real but very separate from the world like most real world religions, and real as in you can go to a place and point at your god real as in many fantasy worlds

>Bope Penedict
Bope Pansis, you mean. Penedict has been out for years.

Penis and Planet you mean.

>bope
Braise Chezus :DDDD

Shitty and mostly boring with a handful of cool ideas that are sidelined for type shit.

So yeah, Penis & Planet is probably an apt description.

My setting uses the Legends & Lore book from AD&D for the religions/gods. Pantheons are worshipped/recognized based on region and country.
For example, not!Spain tends to go on holy crusades in the name of Athena, the [insert region name] god of war

Is this okay? Pic unrelated

Religion and superstition is the product of human minds finding none-existing patterns in reality. Order is more confortable to our minds than pure chaos.

I get what you mean. If there are demonstrably gods, that people have seen walking around and throw down lightning from the sky, then I feel like the concept of faith would be different.

Considering all religions are just fantasy stories, go for it.

But people do see God, every day, as they have for thousands of years. They interact with Him, they see how He shapes the world and them, and his presence is totally tangible. Doesn't matter where in history you go, but the gods are a real presence in daily life.

Only if it said fantasy religion is controversy, then it is a bad idea

Two names for the same genre.

ow, the edge

Why should god be good? Why should he be bound by meaningless mortal morality?

Considering the alternative is doing in-depth research on every religion that has ever existed on Earth, a number I don't want to think about but is probably in the millions under a certain definition since there are over fifty thousand versions of Christianity alone, to make sure your idea is not accidentally similar to any of them, I'd say no, just don't make it obvious.

Calm down, christfag.

No. Unless the religion in question is Scientology.

>edge
You don't understand this meme yet. Come back when you do, and maybe we can play.

Usually, the idea is that we insignificant mortals are bound by God's divine morality.

Depends on the setting. Many have gods get all their power from being worshiped and even outside of settings with that particular rule, most gods are depicted as being people with their own thoughts and opinions instead of just being some force.