In the D&D adventure an acquaintance and I are running, the adventuring party is hunting down a trio of magical items with minds of their own. So far, both of the items the party has found have been willing to use their magical abilities to the party's benefit, as long as their conditions are met. One of those items is Wave, a magical trident who is only willing to use her powers in behalf of a worshiper of Poseidon, but she is more than willing to accept new converts. All a person has to do is "Praise Poseidon," and Wave will help them. There's just one problem: That's not how conversion works.
Conversion is more than a one-time event, and worship is more than just saying a few prayers. Naturally, we're not spending too much time on the motivations and moral standings of these characters since our game-time is limited, the players are mostly children, and this isn't meant to be a long-term game anyway. If there were fewer, more mature players and we had more time to explore moral and religious nuance, we probably delve deeper into Wave's insistence that someone convert to worshiping Poseidon, or we would simply go without her magical aid, though we need all the help we can get.
In this D&D game, we're not trying to be realistic, but if we were, we wouldn't make "conversion" to Poseidon anywhere near as simple or easy as saying "Yeah, sure, I worship Poseidon now, I guess." Conversion is more personal. It requires more commitment over a longer period of time. Conversion is a process of a lifetime, not something someone can do at the drop of a hat in order to secure some magical power. If someone is "converted" the instant they say they are, who's to say that they won't become "unconverted" just as quickly? Easy come, easy go. Conversion is supposed to last for eternity, which is why, in reality, the process of becoming converted takes a lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment