In a world with magic, gods, and demons, people would join a cult to worship a being that has demonstrated power--power to protect them from their enemies, destroy their enemies, make them prosperous, make their crops grow, etc. ...and also power to punish them if they abandon it.
I recently created a cult whos sole purpose is to go to places where great tragedy has taken place and blend into the locals, offering assistance and resources, while simultaneously conducting covert economic and physical attacks to test the resolve of the survivors of the tragaty to see if they are worthy of rebuilding scociety. The belief structure is that it is necessary to weed out the weak to ensure the survival of the strong.
@lanxreedalenlum3706 The theory behind it is simple. If only the strong are left, there will be no more calamity or tragedy. Each member of the cult was a survivor of a different tragedy, and a new member is recruited each new location they go to.
I love the initial idea but it kinda doesn't mesh well with the "weeding out the weak" thing; at least for me. I thought it was meant to be - at least initially - a benevolent thing. By blending into the locals, the cult might try to determine if the people are directly responsible for the tragedy. Or if it was only a small group, have those people been adequately punished or are they still wielding power? If they determine the society is morally good, it would deserve help in rebuilding. So that a similar tragedy doesn't repeat. Maybe all in the hope that a morally good and prospering, intact society if less likely to become antagonistic and warfaring towards the cult's own society.
I have a cult of druid/necromancers. The religious doctrine is about the duality between life and death. You receive the blessings in life and will in turn repay your debt in death. As a mindless skeleton plowing fields to feed your descendants until time and friction grinds your bones down to dust. So the necromancers living in this cult have been practicing in the open for generations mastering separating the soul and sending it off to the afterlife safely while the bones remain to be LEGOed into whatever bone golem shape is needed. To everyone outside looking in it looks like everyone(even kids) are evil necromancers commanding hapless undead around. Protected by legions of undead soldiers. To the cult members having several skeletons around the house is seen as a status symbol because they could afford to give several of their elders that premium "burial".
I'm currently running the Cult of the Dragon in Faerun. It started off with them burning down the party's village (I finally came up with a reason why they did this, which I'll reveal to them later). Now that we're entering into the 2nd act properly, I've been hard at work on designing quests for the party to tackle. One such quest leans into why they seem to be recruiting a lot of lizard-like creatures and targetting kobolds specifically. In my version of Faerun, kobolds are entering into society for the past few years, and goblins have been doing so for at least the past 50 years. Kobolds, however, aren't given much respect despite their natural engineering prowess and instinct on working together. So kobolds have been more or less a joke and most races have been exploting them instead of accepting them. The Cult is using this to their advantage and explaining that they will have a belonging with the Cult instead of being cast aside like they have been in society. Though some members of the Cult don't exactly have the same charisma as the main antagonist and take their own antics too far. Kobolds already tend to look at their dragon cousins as inspiration, so all they need is a little push in thr right direction.
From what I’ve gathered, cults often recruit people when they are at their lowest point because they know those people don’t have the usual mental energy to read any red flags. Even some incredibly brilliant people can fall victim to a cult’s clutches if times are that dire for them. And I think all cultists (barring any who actually benefit from the cult’s actions-such as the leader) are victims of the cult more often than they are villains; the leader grasps the members in a dependent, authoritarian, and abusive relationship and makes them do degrading and awful things to themselves or each other (and in many cases, those outside the cult as well) under the guise of belonging in a community while isolating them from the outside world and discouraging independence from the cult. I also found an anagram for authoritarian control called BITE (Behavior, Information, Thoughts, & Emotions) listing everything the cult regulates to keep the followers in line.
I created the Nameless as a cult of altruistic people who believed giving up one’s name, their identity and the need for worldly possessions to help the poor and destitute all because I didn’t want to come up with character names. An improvised moment that turned out to be pretty cool.
Something I'd add is, even in a cult, the people that make it up don't have to be a monolith. The example I look to for inspiration comes from Magic the Gathering. In the Ixalan setting, you have the church that the vampire conquistadors belong to. Some prioritize the doctrine itself, some prioritize leadership within the church, some prioritize the royal family of the government of the country that the church is a part of, and some have their own beliefs but as part of the minority just try to keep their heads low while following their conscience when possible. Among those that follow the crown are those seeking money and/or glory, those just being patriotic, and those just indulging their lust for blood with the excuse of patriotism. Then, within those that follow specific leaders of the church there are those that follow the words of the "saint" who started the church and then there are those that follow a guy that represents the beliefs the church fell into during the saint's absence. Among that latter group there are the most extreme members who are searching for ancient forbidden magics and items of a temple that belonged to their ancestors who predate the church. That's TEN different competing groups with their own motivations in just ONE of the four main factions you can work with! Rather than just mowing down nondescript enemies in hoods, I'd recommend DMs try splashing in some competing groups among the enemies like this. Sure, they still have a shared goal as a group, but people make up that group and join for their own reasons.
I've got a Cult called "Warlock Hunters" Their roll in the story is simple. Anything that relates to other being from other planes is something that they want to gain a grasp over (including warlocks) The tricky part is that the party works for one of the leadership of this Cult without knowing that they do, they'd be in conflict with some of the cultists, while actually doing exactly what the cultists came to accomplish So far, the party caught 2 warlocks and 2 ancient relics that are made to commune with these fiends and fey creatures... and I'm dropping small hints to them session by session until they realise the betrayal The best part is, I managed to slowly convince the wizard to make a pact with a fiend. Now he is a multiclass wizard-warlock... I'm excited to see how would he react 😂😂😂
How do you not have more subscribers?! Your content is always exceptional and succinct. Haven't used a cult in any of my games yet, but I feel a powerful urge to do so, thanks to this video!
1) belief system that makes sense (no need to make it obviously evil/bad, what would attract new mortals there?) 2) define hierarchy and leadership (best leaders are the ones who seem approachable, compassionate, inspiring) 3) make their actions logical (at least to them, their actions should align with their goals) 4) recruitment process (how do they do it? what promises do they make?) 5) not villainy, but extremism (extreme motives that make sense) 6) should feel natural and in place (reaction to someting negative, for example)
nice work man, just writing up a huge campaign right now that has a cult at its core, basing it off greyhawk/toee and i think it needs fleshing out, subtleties - the stuff offered by wotc is ok for 10 year olds but my players need some more of what youre recommending
Some creative writing ive been doing the world's religion(s) revolve around the same pantheon but the main differences are rather or not to venerate the evil gods in the setting. (most) People don't worship the evil gods in a traditional sense, they venerate them in order for those gods to leave them alone. The main religion believes you shouldn't give them worship as it spreads their influence, so it bans it. So i like the idea these cults out there that aren't evil as such, they're trying to do objective good by worshiping evil gods to discourage them from doing evil to them
That is the origin of all religion, not worshipping gods because they are good and praise worthy (the old gods rarely were) but because they are powerful and terrible and can/will smite your whole tribe if you don't keep them happy.
My two favorite cults I designed are the church of the Collector who prey on orphans and those who are weak with the goal of ascending their deity to the higher pantheon. My second favorite is the a cult that worships the sun deity and thinks that the world is destined to becoming a second sun so they essentially go super nova to “bring more people closer to the light.”
Tiamats cult in hoard of the dragon queen and rise of tiamat Are really good as a template I had it be a scorch the earth and join the winning side kinda premise They started out helping people in poverty into pillaging bandits and evolved them into wanting to destroy the corrupt society that ruined their lives (Especially with Asborrowed Joss as the leader) Further they in my game they indoctrinated monsterous races/tribes like gnolls, lizardfolk, orcs, and yuan ti through right of conquest swelling their numbers and i gave my party the chamce to convert the faction by defeating the cult implanted leaders
Lorekeeper what have you done? The main villain of our campaign is a militant cult leader. You're teaching our DM how to make that bastard so much worse.
I don’t know the official lore reason but maybe they view dragons as the superior beings that must be followed and who else to worship then the dragon god; or at least the one they know of
Tiamat has promised them they'll be spared when she rises, and that they'll sit at her right hand and rule with her. (actually they'll sit in the snack bowl at her right hand, but she's not going to say that out loud)
Im creating a cult for a western style campaign that takes place in a desert. I wanted to play with the idea of dark being good & light being bad. So the god behind the cult is a god of the undead with light imagery. The cult says the members that are strong in their faith and loyal in their servitude will have a loved one "filled with the light of life again" (ie. Brought back to life) or even be saved from death. They will do anything to spread their god's beliefs and light, to save people from the darkness of death. And they're going to do that by bringing their god into the mortal plane, even though in my setting, gods in the mortal plane is really bad. My players have already started making their characters & backstories, & ive already tied it in to a couple PCs' backstories. That may change if my players change things up, but i think they're going to stick with it.
Guys.... I don't think this is a video about TTRPG...
oneofus oneofus oneofus
Twoofus twoofus
Threeofus threeofus threeofus
fourofus fourofus fourofus
In a world with magic, gods, and demons, people would join a cult to worship a being that has demonstrated power--power to protect them from their enemies, destroy their enemies, make them prosperous, make their crops grow, etc. ...and also power to punish them if they abandon it.
I recently created a cult whos sole purpose is to go to places where great tragedy has taken place and blend into the locals, offering assistance and resources, while simultaneously conducting covert economic and physical attacks to test the resolve of the survivors of the tragaty to see if they are worthy of rebuilding scociety. The belief structure is that it is necessary to weed out the weak to ensure the survival of the strong.
dmn thats ace, woud love that
@lanxreedalenlum3706 The theory behind it is simple. If only the strong are left, there will be no more calamity or tragedy. Each member of the cult was a survivor of a different tragedy, and a new member is recruited each new location they go to.
I love the initial idea but it kinda doesn't mesh well with the "weeding out the weak" thing; at least for me. I thought it was meant to be - at least initially - a benevolent thing. By blending into the locals, the cult might try to determine if the people are directly responsible for the tragedy. Or if it was only a small group, have those people been adequately punished or are they still wielding power? If they determine the society is morally good, it would deserve help in rebuilding. So that a similar tragedy doesn't repeat. Maybe all in the hope that a morally good and prospering, intact society if less likely to become antagonistic and warfaring towards the cult's own society.
I have a cult of druid/necromancers.
The religious doctrine is about the duality between life and death.
You receive the blessings in life and will in turn repay your debt in death. As a mindless skeleton plowing fields to feed your descendants until time and friction grinds your bones down to dust.
So the necromancers living in this cult have been practicing in the open for generations mastering separating the soul and sending it off to the afterlife safely while the bones remain to be LEGOed into whatever bone golem shape is needed.
To everyone outside looking in it looks like everyone(even kids) are evil necromancers commanding hapless undead around. Protected by legions of undead soldiers.
To the cult members having several skeletons around the house is seen as a status symbol because they could afford to give several of their elders that premium "burial".
In a sort of twisted way, Druid cult is making their own golem with body and soul of their deceased followers
I'm currently running the Cult of the Dragon in Faerun. It started off with them burning down the party's village (I finally came up with a reason why they did this, which I'll reveal to them later).
Now that we're entering into the 2nd act properly, I've been hard at work on designing quests for the party to tackle. One such quest leans into why they seem to be recruiting a lot of lizard-like creatures and targetting kobolds specifically. In my version of Faerun, kobolds are entering into society for the past few years, and goblins have been doing so for at least the past 50 years. Kobolds, however, aren't given much respect despite their natural engineering prowess and instinct on working together. So kobolds have been more or less a joke and most races have been exploting them instead of accepting them.
The Cult is using this to their advantage and explaining that they will have a belonging with the Cult instead of being cast aside like they have been in society. Though some members of the Cult don't exactly have the same charisma as the main antagonist and take their own antics too far.
Kobolds already tend to look at their dragon cousins as inspiration, so all they need is a little push in thr right direction.
From what I’ve gathered, cults often recruit people when they are at their lowest point because they know those people don’t have the usual mental energy to read any red flags. Even some incredibly brilliant people can fall victim to a cult’s clutches if times are that dire for them. And I think all cultists (barring any who actually benefit from the cult’s actions-such as the leader) are victims of the cult more often than they are villains; the leader grasps the members in a dependent, authoritarian, and abusive relationship and makes them do degrading and awful things to themselves or each other (and in many cases, those outside the cult as well) under the guise of belonging in a community while isolating them from the outside world and discouraging independence from the cult.
I also found an anagram for authoritarian control called BITE (Behavior, Information, Thoughts, & Emotions) listing everything the cult regulates to keep the followers in line.
I created the Nameless as a cult of altruistic people who believed giving up one’s name, their identity and the need for worldly possessions to help the poor and destitute all because I didn’t want to come up with character names. An improvised moment that turned out to be pretty cool.
Something I'd add is, even in a cult, the people that make it up don't have to be a monolith.
The example I look to for inspiration comes from Magic the Gathering. In the Ixalan setting, you have the church that the vampire conquistadors belong to. Some prioritize the doctrine itself, some prioritize leadership within the church, some prioritize the royal family of the government of the country that the church is a part of, and some have their own beliefs but as part of the minority just try to keep their heads low while following their conscience when possible. Among those that follow the crown are those seeking money and/or glory, those just being patriotic, and those just indulging their lust for blood with the excuse of patriotism. Then, within those that follow specific leaders of the church there are those that follow the words of the "saint" who started the church and then there are those that follow a guy that represents the beliefs the church fell into during the saint's absence. Among that latter group there are the most extreme members who are searching for ancient forbidden magics and items of a temple that belonged to their ancestors who predate the church.
That's TEN different competing groups with their own motivations in just ONE of the four main factions you can work with!
Rather than just mowing down nondescript enemies in hoods, I'd recommend DMs try splashing in some competing groups among the enemies like this. Sure, they still have a shared goal as a group, but people make up that group and join for their own reasons.
That's such great advice! Appreciate you taking the time to write that out, definitely agree
I've got a Cult called "Warlock Hunters"
Their roll in the story is simple. Anything that relates to other being from other planes is something that they want to gain a grasp over (including warlocks)
The tricky part is that the party works for one of the leadership of this Cult without knowing that they do, they'd be in conflict with some of the cultists, while actually doing exactly what the cultists came to accomplish
So far, the party caught 2 warlocks and 2 ancient relics that are made to commune with these fiends and fey creatures... and I'm dropping small hints to them session by session until they realise the betrayal
The best part is, I managed to slowly convince the wizard to make a pact with a fiend. Now he is a multiclass wizard-warlock... I'm excited to see how would he react 😂😂😂
How do you not have more subscribers?! Your content is always exceptional and succinct. Haven't used a cult in any of my games yet, but I feel a powerful urge to do so, thanks to this video!
1) belief system that makes sense (no need to make it obviously evil/bad, what would attract new mortals there?)
2) define hierarchy and leadership (best leaders are the ones who seem approachable, compassionate, inspiring)
3) make their actions logical (at least to them, their actions should align with their goals)
4) recruitment process (how do they do it? what promises do they make?)
5) not villainy, but extremism (extreme motives that make sense)
6) should feel natural and in place (reaction to someting negative, for example)
Should I be worried that you know so much about this…
...no
nice work man, just writing up a huge campaign right now that has a cult at its core, basing it off greyhawk/toee and i think it needs fleshing out, subtleties - the stuff offered by wotc is ok for 10 year olds but my players need some more of what youre recommending
Great content!
Some creative writing ive been doing the world's religion(s) revolve around the same pantheon but the main differences are rather or not to venerate the evil gods in the setting. (most) People don't worship the evil gods in a traditional sense, they venerate them in order for those gods to leave them alone. The main religion believes you shouldn't give them worship as it spreads their influence, so it bans it. So i like the idea these cults out there that aren't evil as such, they're trying to do objective good by worshiping evil gods to discourage them from doing evil to them
That is the origin of all religion, not worshipping gods because they are good and praise worthy (the old gods rarely were) but because they are powerful and terrible and can/will smite your whole tribe if you don't keep them happy.
@ sure especially with older faiths but there was also an element of wanting a boon too
My two favorite cults I designed are the church of the Collector who prey on orphans and those who are weak with the goal of ascending their deity to the higher pantheon. My second favorite is the a cult that worships the sun deity and thinks that the world is destined to becoming a second sun so they essentially go super nova to “bring more people closer to the light.”
I need that background music for my next Shadowrun game.
02:45 Dude, all those _are_ legit righteous actions.
One of us. One of us.
Free Luigi!!
Tiamats cult in hoard of the dragon queen and rise of tiamat
Are really good as a template
I had it be a scorch the earth and join the winning side kinda premise
They started out helping people in poverty into pillaging bandits and evolved them into wanting to destroy the corrupt society that ruined their lives (Especially with Asborrowed Joss as the leader)
Further they in my game they indoctrinated monsterous races/tribes like gnolls, lizardfolk, orcs, and yuan ti through right of conquest swelling their numbers and i gave my party the chamce to convert the faction by defeating the cult implanted leaders
I really like your contents
Lorekeeper what have you done? The main villain of our campaign is a militant cult leader. You're teaching our DM how to make that bastard so much worse.
What is the clip at 3:18 from? It's a perfect illustration of something my current BBEG can do
Probably fantastic beasts
Interesting
So a cult of Tiamat. How do they act and why do they follow Tiamat?
I don’t know the official lore reason but maybe they view dragons as the superior beings that must be followed and who else to worship then the dragon god; or at least the one they know of
Tiamat has promised them they'll be spared when she rises, and that they'll sit at her right hand and rule with her. (actually they'll sit in the snack bowl at her right hand, but she's not going to say that out loud)
@@MarkoSeldo that’s sounds like the info hazard basilisk in dragon god form, genius
Im creating a cult for a western style campaign that takes place in a desert. I wanted to play with the idea of dark being good & light being bad. So the god behind the cult is a god of the undead with light imagery. The cult says the members that are strong in their faith and loyal in their servitude will have a loved one "filled with the light of life again" (ie. Brought back to life) or even be saved from death. They will do anything to spread their god's beliefs and light, to save people from the darkness of death. And they're going to do that by bringing their god into the mortal plane, even though in my setting, gods in the mortal plane is really bad.
My players have already started making their characters & backstories, & ive already tied it in to a couple PCs' backstories. That may change if my players change things up, but i think they're going to stick with it.
Nice analysis. Only, a bit of Arcane spoilers 😅
"At least thats how I build my cults, I dont know, maybe im crazy..."...Buddy what haha?
LOL I guess that was weirdly phrased...😅
On a side note, completely unrelated, come down this alley with me really quick...
Would've been very disappointed if the "The greater Good" joke hadn't appeared at least once here.
Ooooohhhhhhh........ for fiction....... dangit.....
Is it just me or are more creators doing this video topic recently than usual...
oh really? I had no idea lol, I just thought of it because of a game I was playing haha
@TheFantasyForge a likely excuse. Just come out and admit you're all one big cult!
*Rolls die*
I got a 14 on persuasion.
Basically that is religion, but not considering themselves a religion is quite hilarious lmao
....in Minecraft.
Thats ACTUALLY not how that word works
Man is just describing my ideal friend group as a cult here 🫨
ONEOFUS ONEOFUS ONEOFUS