How To Create Interesting Temples

In the world of a fantasy RGP, temples and shrines are a place of veneration and respect. The gods have a very real impact on the world, and sentient creatures are well aware of their power.
In this video I show you how to create temples that reflect the ethos of the gods to who they are dedicated, and the role of that religion in your world.
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[@michaelwest4325]

Great reminder to bind things through the culture, in the fantasy "D&D" setting deities can be real, power, danger and reward exists in their service or opposition, temples are more than just places, they are the nexus of that other world and yours!

[@DDHomebrew]

That's a very good summation! The power of the gods in an RPG setting (notice I didn't use D&D, though in conversation I use it constantly!) would make them THE focus of the people who work the fields and toil in the cities. And the nobles, rich merchants and PC's would always be respectful of that power.

[@Marcus-ki1en]

The Medieval Cathedral provides an interesting concept for your temple. They usually have several side alters dedicated to a particular Saint. What if the main temple had side alters to each of (or some of) the "lesser gods". One spot - stop and shop. So you aren't having to make several temples in every village. In a large city, you might have separate temples, but not in smaller towns and villages.

[@DDHomebrew]

I hadn't thought of that, even though I've toured a lot o European cathedrals.

[@shawnhuls1606]

This popped up in my recommended videos today. Very inspiring examples. Subscribed!

[@DDHomebrew]

I'm glad you like it!

[@timothylamont845]

Great stuff and, selfishly, incredibly timely! My PCs are on the cusp of entering a small town on the frontier and in their travels they've been coming across small shrines to the goddess all over. None more than a simple statuette under a small roof, but (hopefully) ample signs of her widespread devotion. Im going to take a page from you here and modify the physical structure they find in the town to bring it more into line with the issues you discussed -- low walls, easy access, open concept, etc. as befits her persona and portfolio. Im loving this! Thank you!

[@DDHomebrew]

Glad I could help. And I think when your players are exposed to this architecture they will be affected by its simplicity: evidence that the truth is not necessarily complicated.

[@djhollowman9567]

You just gave me an idea. Using that God of Travel idea, if there were a small shrine near a well, attended by an accolyte of the God of Travel, and my players were to water themselves or their horses, and give an offering to the accolyte, I would give them (without telling them of course) a bonus to the dice roll I make when determining if they have dangerous encounters on the road.

[@DDHomebrew]

Great idea. If the players come across the acolyte in trouble and help him, the travel god could reveal the next encounter and give them surprise.

[@mackdmara]

I think you got some solid stuff there. People can exist because of the fact they aren't alone. As a species, humans need each other if they are to live. Same with the other species in D & D. So pocket comunities don't last. This means that both evil and good groups work that way. If evil is so beaten back, where can goodness shine? You don't heal plagues if there is no sickness. They need each other narratively. In the end, groups are also a hurdle. People get greedy or power hungery or abuse others for personsl gain of any number of kinds. Often the party is shunned or hated in town as they enter. "THOSE NO GOODS ARE HERE TO ROB THE GRAVES OF OUR ANCESTORS!!!", A towns man might say as your at the local bar. Never mind you are there because there is a cult raising the dead. In fact, that is probably a cult member saying that, using his renown in the comunity to protect himself. The best villian doesn't have to hide. He can openly gather his desired reasources. So the temple to that cult will reflect that nature, won't it? Hidden deep in that graveyard, on what was once was hallowed ground, kept running by these, "good people", hiding in plain sight. That is a great cultist temple. Humble brag aside for whomever made that idea, as I didn't come up with it. Of course, I think a real world God wouldn't need to act that way. If you can wait for it, most people will wreck themselves. You can choose the weak an unworthy by societies standards, because those people will be honor bound to you. They also clearly couldn't have done it themselves. It makes the truth very compelling. You did say something I think is true either way. Not all prisons have bars. Everwhere is a prison, when there is no where else you can be. You are absolutely right there. God doesn't need to fight, when he holds all the cards. It is when people force them to the table, that good things come out. Then the evil is clearly evil and all those things done because society dictated it, fall away. But enough about reality. I love imaging these things as a balance and the pcs are never on safe ground. They have ground and amass good things for themselves in epic quests. This must come in the form of loot, skill level, and reputation (good or bad), that is simply the game. The fact evil is so pervasive is why they are clearly good. Unless they are murder hobos, in which case that cultist was right about them. Evil people tell the truth when it suits them. It is what makes evil characters compelling. Drives the drama, if you will. Ya know, if the PCs decided to be like that. Anyway, absolutely the temples reason for existing will and should shape it. Soild idea. I love swapping stories about this kind of thing.

[@DDHomebrew]

I too like to compare the real world realities of good and evil as reflected in an RPG world. I remember hearing once that doing wrong is effective in the short run, but always loses out to good in the long run. Of course there are examples where bad things happen to good people, but I think generally it's true. I think your take on how cultists would manipulate the situation on the ground is spot on. They would find the weak spots in a community and work their way in. And the PC's can come in and expose that manipulation, although at first it might get them in trouble. Of course all of this takes a certain suspension of belief: we used to argue that there would be no atheists in a world of D&D. But another player argued that these powerful "gods" are really just god-like creatures: like a human being compared to an ant. And so it could be argued that the true god, say fate itself or something similar, is always just beyond our ken.

[@krispalermo8133]

@@DDHomebrew Belief is another word for Lack of Fact. --I don't know if it is real, .. but I believe that is what faith is all about. Compare to some of those, " I know cause I believe ... Between you and me, we both know we never did anything to draw the attention of the IRS tax collectors. We never seen them, or really known a of someone that has met them. So how do we know for sure if they are real ? Take it on word of mouth, faith in public communication third hand hear say ? I don't have to believe anything, but I know the gods are real as death & taxes. One hand washes the other. Trying to prove gods exist is like try to prove the guy you see on the tv /computer is really the president ? Do you really want to find out ? Now imagine hearing this from a smooth soft talking lawyer, hard as nail police officer, to wise guy street hustler. Scare Face is ready to see you now.

[@DDHomebrew]

@@krispalermo8133 The other classic response to the D&D reality of the gods is "who made them?" Because that god must really be powerful. So there's always someone else behind the curtain.

[@neutronjack7399]

Back again talking about my Hiberian campaign, because it's the only campaign setting I have really developed. In history, the Western church was dominate at this time. With the fall of Rome, the Church of Rome had lost control of / and influence over the various sects spread across Europe. My main church is called The Church of Light, and their religious symbol is the Chi Ro, (A symbol used by early Christian churches.) Their god is a god of healing and redemption and their churches are relatively modest, (Wood structures with wattle and daub walls and thatched rooves). Each town and village has a church or a chapel and some of the hamlets have a priest. The Abbeys are generally surrounded by a ditch, and earthen embankment and a wooden palisade. Monasteries will have stone buildings and walls. There is an opposite church, the Church of the Dark, a church that secretly worships a god of avarice and destruction and serve as agents of a dark master in the Shadowfell. The church of the dark meets in secret, places like cellars and abandoned passage tombs or barrow mounds. Here is the kicker.., members of the church of the dark have infiltrated the hierarchy of the church of the light, to further their own designs! Since Ireland was not invaded by the Romans, (unlike Gaul and Britain), the Druids still have their scattered nemetons and stone circles, (henges). The henges are not just ceremonial places but observatories, for tracking the positions of the moon and stars and keeping the calendar. (There are "things" that happen on dates, like full moons, new moons, solstices, equinoxes and holidays. The druids keep track of that and every now and then, a druid might need to check the stars and adjust their calendar, (like when the return from a trip to the Feywylde). About half the people still worship the old Celtic gods. The gods used to live there, (Ireland) and they were worshipped, but I don't see much evidence of the ancient Irish building temples to them. But you were likely to encounter them in everyday life. You might be out hunting and invited to spend the night a Lugh's house, Morrigan might be the raven in the tree and you can run into Dagda walking down a country road. I'm still trying to figure out how to work in the "Stone of Destiny", (say that in your best Tim the Enchanter voice). Come on, with an actual place with that name, how can you NOT use it? Well, I need to get back to working on an adventure for a group of Level 1 adventurers. Three days before the Yule celebration, they are tasked to travel to a nearby forest and cut down a tree for firewood and a yule log, then spear several wild boars for for roasting. How hard can that be?

[@DDHomebrew]

Great stuff here as usual. I always love the dark priests infiltrating to good church: the players will have to root them out eventually! Interesting too that the old religion co-exists with the new faith. Too often in real life the newer faith worked to stamp out old beliefs. Of course, most often the old beliefs were syncretized into the new: see Christmas! And of course, any simple mission, one that has been completed a thousand times without incident, has the potential to become a nightmare journey when undertaken by player characters. It's the nature of storytelling and of RPG's!

[@krispalermo8133]

Texas wild hogs grow large enough to hunt/eat dogs and coyotes, their hair is as coarse as copper wire.

[@neutronjack7399]

@@krispalermo8133 You just touched on a subject I bring up every now and then. My family does a lot of farming and ranching. Whenever the question comes up, "What do you hunt with an AR-15 or an AK-47?" I point out those two critters, feral hogs and coyotes. Feral hogs are an invasive species in North America. They are aggressive, destroy property, kill livestock and dangerous to people. The are quick, travel in groups, stay close to cover and concealment, so you have to have the ability to shoot fast and as often as you can, while you can. Although the coyote is not an invasive species WEST of the Mississippi River, they are EAST of the Mississippi and now range up and down the east coast from Florida to Maine and have even been seen in Manhattan. The story I heard, those hogs are the descendants of hogs brought over by the Spanish, that escaped. Much the same way as the wild horses that now roam across the American west.

[@DDHomebrew]

@@krispalermo8133 I saw a documentary on Hogzilla. Scary stuff!

[@krispalermo8133]

@@neutronjack7399 Chicago Ill, there is a doc on coyotes living in that city, when the city clear out the coyotes the rat population exploded after three months, same thing for NYC. They found out after a five year research it is cheaper and easier to deal with coyotes that become human condition with healthy avoidance behavior. Then trying to trap and kill of both of the coyotes and rats. I am in my forties and grew up during the 1980' & 90's in mid central Illinois, countryside. We had bob cats, skunks, and coyotes as near house pets. Along with other rural folk. Training and conditioning. a.) Yard train, who training who ? Animal safe in your yard that won't go after you, you small grandchildren, or house pet or livestock. Doesn't mean You can pet them. They more or less avoid going inside the house or too near the doors. b.) Porch trained, the coyote or bob cat sleeps on the front porch, may or may not be pet able. They mess in the house or panic when the doors are close. c.) House trained, won't mess in the house if they can help it. Your grandparents can pet them, but not you as a teenager. They hide behind or under furniture when guest visit. d.) Bed trained, safe to sleep next to and pet. You still live with a wild animal and You are the Pet. As for food, foraging, hunting. As soon as a bob cat, dog, coyote learn of the flavor of pickle vinegar mole, rat, rabbit, half ate raccoon. They will harvest a few acre area to fill multiple 5gal buckets for winter food stock. Skunks, will go to the door or litter box, they also went behind the couch and hibernate through winter in the living room in the selves of the bookcase. .. babies .. Raccoons mess the house and most of the time just don't get along with dogs. Bob cats are bob cats. Rural people kept, feed condition coyotes as yard animals. Cause raccoons coming out of fields will first attack the coyotes over any outdoor porch dog. If you can't control sibling german shepherds dogs from getting into blood pissing matches over who sleeps where in the house. Coyotes are more trouble than what they are worth. Need less to say I lost too many pups from raccoon attacks over anything else. 2.) Few videos on YT, covering homesteading and first-time farmers, seen one about a guy that bought some land in South Carolina. His neighbor from across the street told him feed the crows/ravens to protect your chicken from hawks and train your dog social distancing to get along with the coyotes to not have any raccoon problems. He didn't listen and scared/killed off the crows and coyotes, result the raccoons wreak his chicken fences and kill his dog. Coyotes & raccoons play a deadly game of hunting each other in packs. After three years the crows and coyotes are seen 1,000ft across the road at his neighbors but never at night or during the day at his place. And he is losing a raccoon war over his chickens. a.) Other bad news, roaming wild coyotes will attack other coyotes over your dog first at nighttime raids. Lots of vet bills. Not forgetting when dealing with bob cats or coyotes that they are brutal discipline in dealing with their young. Also coyotes will kill eat other in sibling pack order. b.) Form raising multiple packs from pups over the years, since after they hit near adulthood they gain the instinct to roam/hunt. So they leave a few months or a couple of years. Coyotes listen to my grandparents, hide from the mom and her second husband cause they are a bunch of drama queen that walk like elephants. My sister and her friends painted their toe nails. They bully my brother. Bad news, I grew up with 15 friends and extend cousins so we rowdy beat each other bloody every few weeks just playing football/ wrestling. Since I had a teenage chip on my shoulder, I was the One they challenge for pack social dom. We had clubs and baseball bats all over inside the house and around the outside. Other than the wild animals, my mom and husband like to get drunk and beat each other or the kids. Old fashion domestic abuse. c.) Grandparents country house, had a lot of shrub/ tree coverage along with buckets of fresh water put out daily or roof water run off. There was a lot of flowers and other food plants to water. Plastic baby pool filled with water to rinse off with a long with closet line with sheet hanging to the water to act like an air cooler when the wind blows. We had all types of animals up around the house during different times of the year going for cool drinking water and shade. Other than my sibling decides to have a bag of cow manure crap fights thrown through the house. Then you have a deer charging its own reflection in the window. Other than a waste of time on my fiction writing you can B.S. Hope you all had a good weekend. d.) My grandpa had a few 4ft by 4ft by 8ft plywood sheet dog houses around the house in the shade to be used a work benches that you can cubical sleep in. Safe shelter from bad weather. Us grandchildren set up cloth basket dens with two/three ways in and out with nearby water for bob cats, along with hanging platforms for raven or hawk nest. My grandparent had a kitchen window sheed covering and bar high enough off the ground birds would rest on the bar and watch my granny do dishes. We were just remote away from town we had hawks sit around the house .. Watching .. us for entertainment. When it is hot enough outside that animal lose their fear of humans and each other to go after your wet laundry going for water. Cause it .. smells cool. Granny had a small revolver kept behind the tv on the kitchen table, it Was Not a play toy, and over the years we seen her shot, raccoons, bob cats, possums, coyotes, skunks, and a large turkey buzzard that was bulling kills off the dogs/ coyotes and bob cats. That mean bird just came into the house walking on its feet and flapping its wings in intimidation. Scared the animals to run under the kitchen table for granny to protect them. Granny said .. F-you .. in a matter a fact tone of voice shot the bird dead in the kitchen. e.) Want to hear/ read how to create a rabbit warren ? They draw all types of birds of prey and coyotes/ bob cats to your land.

[@morrigankasa570]

Interesting video & points, however I slightly disagree with 2 things. Yes, certain things are considered Evil by the vast majority of people. Yet; at the same time, Evil can be Relative. Take real life Wars and other things, 1 side thinks they are "Good/Justified" with the opposing side as "Evil". The other point I disagree with is not building the Temple/Shrine/Etc defensively. Sure the Deities have real power; yet if say a Raiding party or other group decides to Attack a Temple/Shrine for whatever reason, that attacking party could have their own Clerics/Paladins/Warriors & their own Deity they believe in/get power from. So logically in case of such things, it makes sense to add extra Physical and possible Magical protections on top of already existing defenses. Better to be overly Cautious & Safe and have Defenses you don't need, rather then need such Defenses and not have them. Anyhow, still was a good video overall.

[@DDHomebrew]

I agree with you that in the real world evil is relative. Through out history, very few people worship evil gods. And today very few really worship Satan or any other declared evil god. It has always been "my very good god opposed to your supposedly very good god" conflict. And many have died over these conflicts. But in D&D you really have evil gods that humanoids and sentient creatures really worship. So you have to act accordingly. As for not having a defensive structure of a temple; just because it looks like a temple is open for all to come worship doesn't mean they don't have a host of traps and warning magic and seemingly peaceful acolytes that are in fact very nasty. And you could have a very lawful good temple, say dedicated to wiping out evil no matter the cost, that is built like a fortress. I'm just saying you don't have to advertise always. And I do think that evil temples, knowing the approbation they feel among the general, non-evil populace, would be well defended for that reason. But as always, it's all up to you!

[@morrigankasa570]

@@DDHomebrew Fair enough, just felt the need to bring up some possible considerations for any others that watch your video:) Although, even in Fantasy/D&D some think certain Deities are Evil. Yet other lore counters that. A good example is: "The Raven Queen", certain Lore implies she is Evil, yet other Lore indicates she is more Neutral. Another Deity that is either mostly forgotten (as far as I can tell based off Videos/comments) or misconstrued if mentioned at all is "Garagos'". Some consider him Evil, yet other Lore indicates he is "Chaotic Neutral". Either way it is good to have discussions like this.

[@mistergoats4380]

Nice video

[@DDHomebrew]

Glad you liked it!