Accidental good lore
this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2025
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But for real, always leave room for the audience's imagination. It adds incredible richness.
Forπ
The DM is forgoated
I think that kind of approach is pretty me-e-e-e-e-e-eh
Depends on how it's handled from there, but there are quite a few fantasy lores wherein deities gain their power from the worship, fear, of even just awareness of mortals; so depending on this specific game's lore it could make sense. But of course, that's just the "why", there might be cause for elaboration on the " how" and the "who". Good stories could certainly be drawn from there, I'd imagine an entire order created for the purpose of enforcing the taboo around these deities, everyone with knowledge of them being forced to take vows of silence or be killed, massive burnings of scrolls, shattering of tablets, spying and inquisitions to find those who break the taboo... And certainly, there'd be some stuff in there that can somehow be tied to the main story. Maybe a group faced by the party could be the heirs, the ghosts, of the magical creations of that order. Or perhaps those of the repressed.
That's in interesting point of view, but I was just making a joke about goats.
Even in IRL religion, names have a lot of power. In the Bible, God mentions his own name many times-
Exodus 3
13 But Moses said to God, βIf I come to the Israelites and say to them, βThe God of your ancestors has sent me to you,β and they ask me, βWhat is his name?β what shall I say to them?β 14 God said to Moses, βI am who I am.β[b] He said further, βThus you shall say to the Israelites, βI am has sent me to you.β β 15 God also said to Moses, βThus you shall say to the Israelites, βThe Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to youβ:
"This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations."
Here God is explaining the meaning of His name to Moses and tells Moses His name- YHWH (rendered in most translations as "The LORD" due to ancient taboos around the Name) and Jewish and Christian lore state that pronouncing this name can grant great power. Jewish folklore states that Moses parted the Red Sea by saying an extended version of God's name, and even today most Christians don't even know that God has a name other than "God" because of taboos around saying it.
Another example of this is Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten who tried to get the Egyptians to worship only one good. The priests and pharaohs after him went to great lengths to erase his name
You can make a danger fraught side quest to uncover the names you must not know.
You can make a danger fraught side quest to uncover the names you must not know.
I first heard this story as a dramatized radio play on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The end of it terrified me.
In 2003, Clarke reported having been told that the Dalai Lama had found the story "very amusing".