YOUR OWN PERSONAL JESUS: Building a Clerical Order Cheaply & Quickly

 

In my current BX game, both of my players have rolled clerics. Now, I didn't want to have to build a whole pantheon or build too much around those characters because-- BX D&D-- they could die. However, as much as I find clerics to be the true odd-class out versus fighter-wizard-thief, they do come with a lot of pre-baked role-playing opportunities due to fielty to a greater power. Plus, my players rolled they were seeking the bones of saints. So, what can I do to establish a clerical order quickly and with little effort?

Some wants:

1. To match a  diety to primarily undead turning, light, purity, healing, removing fear, and some martial ability
2. To make something the players (with mainly Christian backgrounds) would find easy to make prayers and rites for on the fly; eliminates the needs for lengthy lore dropping too
3. To explain why the abbey has a limited number of clerics on hand-- why do the players always have to do the hard quests?
4. To come up with a slogan that is also easy to communicate and matches the above.

DIETY: So what is a good "fantasy Jesus"? I think C.S. Lewis did is pretty good with Aslan the Lion, so I just stole that like any other self-respecting DM. Aslan became "AZLN the Lion of Light". 

PRINCIPLES: Also, since the magic mainly wielded is less "fire cleansing sin" (very Old Testament) and more "cleansing & purifying" (more hippy New Testament), I thought the order's slogan could be "Light, Beneficence, Order". Strong guiding principles- which help the players understand what they should be concerning themselves with and what they can ask for of their god.

The ORDER: But I still wanted to explain why the abbey has a limited number of clerics AND give the players a little more to go by. I thought it would be cool to come up with a set of principles for the abbey's order and so was born the 90 + 10 Edict which:

1. Established the purpose of the order is to combat the schemes of the undead prince Orcus (always feels like one of the best universal old-school baddies)
2. Explains that only 10% of the abbey's population (currently 100) can be clerics (which is why the players have to do everything)
3. Outlines what material wealth they can keep. Not gold and silver, but only copper, topaz, citrine (the colors of AZLAN), and pearls (all mainly to keep the clerics from gaining wealth and power)
• In-game fiction: the church justifies the taking of gold for good works and silver for the abbey. Copper, topaz, and citrine are the colors of AZLN and so can be kept and used in ornamentation.
• As a piece of in-game fiction, sailors like this clerical order because they often pay with pearls, which is the currency of the sea; captains like them too for their ability to cast Remove Fear. Also, dwarves won't trade in pearls because they come from living things not the earth.
4. Also outlines that the clerics can only order around those who submit to their will due to their exemplary character ( again, in-game, the church doesn't want a martial order to gain power AND influence)

More nagging questions--  if I was restricting money to just copper and certain gems, how will the players resupply? Or acquire better non-magical items? And since there are only two players, how can they get retainers/hirelings etc?

Turns out there is a real position in an abbey called "obedientary" where a monk has a more specialized job the abbey. And in terms of potential "hirelings" or "followers", one ready-made pool of 0-level adventurers could be the "oblate"-- sorta wards of the abbey (also real). People who seek escape for one reason or another, but won't become monks.

OBEDIENTARY: Clerics may get favors from their obedientary as their clerical sponsors under the 90 + 10 Edict. The non-sponsor obedientary are also who they can turn to for resupply and items of special interest (2d6 roll similar to how Ben L of Ultan's and Ava of Errant do their procedures).

Here I tried to describe the general purpose and add a specific "give" in yellow, hopefully to encourage out of the box thinking or untilization. For instance if players wanted to perform some sort of rite they might need to combine the obendientary for Church and Prayer.

Micah Ulrich is the artist here- very cool work

OBLATE: Each of these start as a 0-level NPC who can weld a 1d6 weapon and has 1d6 hp. It again takes a 2d6 RxN roll similar to the hireling rules to measure willingness to go on quests. And depending on what happens during the quest, bribes to ensure continues service (especially if someone else dies). Which I think pairs well with the other way to attract followers by completing reliquaries and ossuaries.

So like the Obedintarians, the Oblates require management mainly not from money but from reaction checks and diplomacy. If the clerics act poorly or immorally, then they are less likely to be able to attract help.

EDIT: Putting it all together

So what does an "Abbey Turn" between adventures look like? Is it just roll, roll, roll and on to the dungeon? In some ways "yes", but each roll is an opportunity for the players to bring to bare various RPG elements to influence that roll or maybe even eliminate it altogether if they have a compelling reason. So the next session will work like this:

[Game Start]

Summary of last adventure

Recieve, somewhat optional, requests from the Abbot regarding the abbey's needs

Players decide what they want to pursue or follow up on what they told the DM last time or find something else via discussion with the abbey population or pilgrims

"Morning prayers" where players decide which spells to prepare & which reliquary they want to pray to

DM rolls 1d6 to see who has been attracted by the ossuary and has come on pilgrimage

Players converse with the Obedientary (2d6 reaction roll) for resupply of basic equipment and/or novel requests

Players converse with the Oblate (2d6 reaction roll) for additional party members

[Leave abbey for quest]