Hey Guys! So after my last LARP Adventures experience I am really excited to start crafting my main character for a more long term RP persona. Long story short, I'd really like this character to be a Druid, and I'd like some advice on transferring Druidism to an RP Character, when Druidism itself exists in the real world as a religion. Maybe a discussion on creating RP World religions and their practices?
With many things in RP, like magical creatures and elves, these things don't exists IRL, so we can have free reign sort of. But what are the 'rules' for crossing over things that exist in real life? The thing that prompted this is during the last LARP Adventures event, Julie/Meryn and I had a brief discussion about Crystal Healing and Chakras. Both elements people believe exists IRL she had been able to bring to her character through her healing magic.
Since Celtic religion crosses over so closely to a lot of the RP elements, especially with magic, do you guys have any suggestions for how best to use Druidism, without disrespecting that actual religion its based off of?
Or, does anyone know any Druids they could direct me towards who have crossed into the RP world?
I'd like this to be an open conversation about RP religions, so feel free to throw in any ideas or suggestions!
Also, do want to clarify I did clear this conversation with Skip, since it involves religion, but since its mostly RP based religion, we are good to go.
So as with many such questions the answer here lies at the heart of role play and reality. The best way to approach this is academically.
When creating a fantasy persona with a strong belief system, it's fantasy and a continuing story so you don't have to have it all figured out to start with. In fact, it may be a better experience for you to start by creating the base tenants of a faith structure, I find it best to start with a creation myth, or some prophesy that interest you and calls to the character you are creating.
Basing your story on the framework of a preexisting mythos or within one and tailoring it to your character is a good way to begin to flesh the persona out. Making it a personal exercise to learn all about an ancient culture and role playing it with reverence is cool, doing that without offending someone one and having respect for others is a good goal.
Like the way we created the Tharros myth and styled it like an ancient Greek myth and then linked it to our characters in various ways. That made it personal and allowed us to weave that story into the world.
It can be a very fun and enlightening exercise, broadening your perspective on faith, religion, and storytelling.