Elia's Blog

Being a TTRPG Creator/DM with Religious Background

“Me” Problem

Writing my first-ever blog and joining Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon. At first, I didn’t know what topic to write about. But as that train of thought went on, I started thinking: what is “my” problem when running or creating a TTRPG session?

Since Indonesian people famously have religion in their "KTP" (ID Card) and religion is a part of our nation state ideology, so why don't I write something about that. But I don't want to rant about the current state of Indonesian's religion. I too, as Indonesian, hoping that Indonesians or Outdonesians understands that Indonesians care about religion.

Please take this blog with a grain of salt. I don't want to hurt or offend people of any religion. This is just my personal problem and experiences. Here’s my best at writing a blog about it, so please enjoy!

Background

I’m from a religious background. Dad is a priest at a local church, Mom is a religious person as well. Me? Well, I am too a religious person. I also love stories, either high fantasy, horror, sci-fi, or even just everyday stories. So when I heard there are games where you can tell stories with your friend, I’m hooked. Tried to run TTRPG games with my friends, and we love it!

But there is always, in the back of my mind, is it a sin to be a DM/GM where you are making a world, acting as a “god” or the biggest a-hole in my world? Is it blasphemous to create a fictional religion?

The Question

When my parents watch my small D&D series on Youtube, they ask what it’s about. I told them that I’m telling a story with my friends and we act as characters. They asked, “So you created a fictional world?” and I said yes. They ask and told me a bunch of other things, but then I ask this “Is it a sin to be doing this?”. There was silence for a moment, and they told me “As long as you just telling a story.” But that answer doesn’t satisfy me. Like, is it really a sin with what I’m doing or not?

Maybe “Yes” Maybe “No”

Then I linger with this question. There’s a thought in between that lingering question, “There are actors in movies who play the literal demon/devil. Is that a sin, or is it just performance, telling us that demons/devils are really evil?” If that's so, we are just performing, right?

But there’s a saying in the Bible it said,

“You shall have no other gods before me” - Exodus 20:3

Well when I’m playing as a pious character, I’m acting to worship a god, that surely a sin, right? But I’m just acting as a character where that character worships “a” god.

There is also a saying that God always put one talent in every single person, is that a sin then to act like bad guys so believeable?

But if you think that this is not a sin. I have a challenge for you. Can you play as a character that have one traits that follows the Ten Commandments? You just need to roll a d10 to pick a trait. Extreme if you follow all ten.

  1. Thou shalt have no other gods but thy god!
  2. Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain!
  3. Thou shalt keep the last day of the week holy!
  4. Thou shalt honor father and mother!
  5. Thou shalt not kill!
  6. Thou shalt not commit adultery!
  7. Thou shalt not steal!
  8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor!
  9. Do not let thyself lust!
  10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, nor his farm, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his!

Conclusion

I still have no answer to this question. But just food for thought for me. Maybe it is a sin, or maybe it’s just performance or acting. I’ll tell you when I have the answer or maybe I’ll be long gone in this world lol.

But one thing for sure on why that I still want to do this TTRPG stuff is, that this is what I love doing and I really want to be good at doing this.