How often do you use demonic worship as a central theme in

[Shorty Lickens]

your campaign?

I just realized that at the beginning of each book is a warning about demonic worship and its a big theme in MANY of the books and its supposed to be a recurring theme throughout the whole series. and most advenutres are supposed to be based around demons and specifically worship. BUT in actuality, how many of you really use demonic worship regularly or at all?

[The Beast]

I can't think of a single game that I've played in during the past few years that had demon/devil worship as part of the setting, theme, or whatever.

[Shorty Lickens]

Oh, cuz we;'ve done a couple groups of demon worshipers. Real demons too, that gave the people actual powers and orders and plots.
BUT, we never got around to tthat campaign we wanted. Real demon slayors, the kind of glorious heroes they write novels about.

[Orin J.]

it's a holdover from that period when there were legit satanic panics over the game. kev doesn't change things that don't cause him problems.


even when the cause everyone else problems.

[Curbludgeon]

I've ran a couple of EEEVIL games which involved demons in differing amounts. While it brought up themes which were beyond the pale, elements like torture and sacrifice were usually just alluded to, and at its worst still involved a fade to black.

[Blue_Lion]

Typical it is not a campaign central theme. while a few sessions the party might have went against a AI cult, it has never been the theme of a campaign, to either be or fight.

[Warshield73]

your campaign?

I just realized that at the beginning of each book is a warning about demonic worship and its a big theme in MANY of the books and its supposed to be a recurring theme throughout the whole series. and most advenutres are supposed to be based around demons and specifically worship. BUT in actuality, how many of you really use demonic worship regularly or at all?

Oh, cuz we;'ve done a couple groups of demon worshipers. Real demons too, that gave the people actual powers and orders and plots.
BUT, we never got around to tthat campaign we wanted. Real demon slayors, the kind of glorious heroes they write novels about.

Short answer no. The players in my games have never even tried to worship gods of light or other deities much less demons. They have slain hundred of demons/devils and even a few gods so the NPC worshipers of those beings were a part of the game, mainly as bullet catchers and loot piñata's, but outside of interrupting a few disgusting rituals not a big part.

As for the warning, that has really evolved over the last 30 years at least to be more generally about yes the supernatural but mostly about violence, war, and even drug use. Truthfully I barely notice it anymore sort of like the rating at the beginning of a TV show or movie. Although, since my son was born I have started to pay attention to that if he is awake.

it's a holdover from that period when there were legit satanic panics over the game. kev doesn't change things that don't cause him problems.

even when the cause everyone else problems.

First, what do you mean "legit satanic panics"? Do you mean they actually existed or that there was good reasons for these ridiculous panics.

Second, if you look at the books the warning has changed a lot over the decades. Even looking back at the RMB that warning was more about violence and horror then demons. In the most recent books drugs get a bigger mention than demons.

Third, how does this cause problems? Just wondering because I have been buying and playing Rifts for more than 30 years and I barely even thought of them.

I've ran a couple of EEEVIL games which involved demons in differing amounts. While it brought up themes which were beyond the pale, elements like torture and sacrifice were usually just alluded to, and at its worst still involved a fade to black.

I think this is the reason why I've never run an Evil PC campaign. When a member of one of my player groups brought up the idea another player said that he didn't think it would be fun because he would always be cheering for the hero NPCs to kill them all.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Demons are also pretty easy bad guys. Don't need to worry about realistic motivations or how the bad guys justify slaughtering a village or three. When you are the cosmic embodiment of the metaphysical concept of Evil, you don't need a motivation to do bad things to good people.

[!REAPER!]

It never came up in any of our Palladium games. My group was about to encounter that in Africa facing the minions of the Horsemen, but then life interrupted that.

I am going to be running some Fantasy Flight Games Warhammer 40k games, and they will probably encounter some cultists there.

In thinking back over the years, none of the games & gaming systems I have run have ever had that in them. I was rather surprised, actually. My games always tended to be monster & alien fighting ones. The group always liked that. Not to say they wouldn't have liked to smack down evil cultists -- it just never came up.

[Blackwater Sniper]

You know all those warnings on lawn mowers? (Even the stupid ones like: "Don't clean the undercarriage with your hands while the blade is spinning")

They all got there because someone did something stupid and sued the company. Even people posting on YouTube have to say "Don't do this at home" as a warning or they could be sued for tacit approval of whatever. (Remember, you can sue a potato in civil court for any wrongdoing a lawyer is willing to put their name behind.)

Back in the '80s when DnD was hitting its first prime, there were a bunch of groups who saw the pictures and assumed the game was evil. Players knew it was a game to stimulate the mind and creativity, but you can't tell that to a person with their sights on a certain prize.

[hup7]

It was the 'central' theme in one game I ran. It was a central theme in a game I played in.

More often it is a side-theme. And there are ALWAYS a few demon encounters in every game we played.

[Shorty Lickens]

You know all those warnings on lawn mowers? (Even the stupid ones like: "Don't clean the undercarriage with your hands while the blade is spinning")

They all got there because someone did something stupid and sued the company. Even people posting on YouTube have to say "Don't do this at home" as a warning or they could be sued for tacit approval of whatever. (Remember, you can sue a potato in civil court for any wrongdoing a lawyer is willing to put their name behind.)

Back in the '80s when DnD was hitting its first prime, there were a bunch of groups who saw the pictures and assumed the game was evil. Players knew it was a game to stimulate the mind and creativity, but you can't tell that to a person with their sights on a certain prize.

OK this is my bad because I wasnt clear in my OP and I do that frequently.
The point of this thread is NOT the warning at the beginning of Rifts books.

The point of this thread is: Do your campaigns have demon worshippers? Have your players ever run a group of very evil characters?

[hup7]

The point of this thread is: Do your campaigns have demon worshippers? Have your players ever run a group of very evil characters?

Sorry I didn't read the "players" part, so I'll elaborate.

I ran a campaign where the party found a book that could summon demons - (it was cursed) and only one player actually figured out what it was and how it worked. That player used it a couple of times without the others really catching onto what was going on. As that player used it more and more (and eventually made a pact to become a witch) it became central to the game. It wasn't designed that way - I assumed they would try to rid themselves of it as quickly as possible. So while most of the party were trying to figure out how to get rid of it - one player was trying to keep it around and even leading the rest to places where it could become more powerful. So this was a case of a "side-quest" then slowly becoming the main quest. FYI the game eventually ended when the ONE player sacrificed another player character and the other players barely escaped with their lives. Once his secret was out it didn't make sense to continue the campaign - so we epilogue ended after that and started a new campaign. In the next campaign the witch-character was one of the main enemies, as their influence spread. It took a while for the 'new' party to figure out who it was.

I played a game where the central theme was a demon lord trying to get followers into a military base. So, often we were opposing demon incursions but additionally we were sometimes dealing with witches within the base personnel or in the outlying areas.

Yes, there are a number of witches / demons around in all our campaigns. Witchery is a VERY simple and quick path to power - it makes sense a lot of people might choose that option in the Rifts world. Additionally a lot of demons have 'healing' powers - so I assume they "help" people to get their foot in the door. There are a number of demons / shifters / etc listed in the books so I assume it is a fairly common thing.