Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Forresthunt]

first of all, great idea, and with so many people playing the game you may just as well register it and make it another official world religion, lol.

well, jokes asides, questions;

1. is the religion character based, or can I choose my believes as the game goes?

2. Im guessing each religion will be beneficial for different aspects, if so will it be both profession and combat orientated.

3. will there be a place to worship or a shaman/wise-man (whatever you decide to call it) or both, to go to for extra benefits?

4. if there is a shaman, will it be a new minor skill section for it?

5. are there relics to increase religion benefits? Guessing again, made by jewelry-master and ceremonially empowered by some devoted to cause player?

6. will what people "believe"/worship effects individual server settings?
Meaning, if most believe in God of good harvest the weather is good; or if majority of players pray to God of war the server offers combat benefits; God of labor increases products quality, and so on.
( if so, this would most likely prompt religious alliances and wars )

Thanks again for a truly great game.
best regards

[Azzerhoden]

Before the release of YO there was talk of having the player with the highest piety skill be titled "the Pope" and the next 12 highest be a 'council or cardinals'. As such they would be able to direct campaigns against those they deemed unbelievers. This changed though as the game developed.

At this point my feelings on the matter is that this could all be handled without game mechanics, and that the game would be better served by having players form their own religions and RP the drama and conflict that would ensue.

Or not, if they chose to not RP at all.

[MarkRhainer]

Hi AxDog.

Thanks for your questions, I'll try to make things a bit more clear.

is the religion character based, or can I choose my believes as the game goes?

If you mean gods with their own personalities and connected lore, then yes, it is character based.

I've also asked our gamedesigner for help, so he gave me some hints on gameplay mechanics. Here they are.

Im guessing each religion will be beneficial for different aspects, if so will it be both profession and combat orientated.

No. Definitely not.

will there be a place to worship or a shaman/wise-man (whatever you decide to call it) or both, to go to for extra benefits?

Yes.

f there is a shaman, will it be a new minor skill section for it?

There will be no minor skill branch. As far as I know a hinghly developed Piety skill provides some "shamanic" opportunities. There also will be The Pope and cardinals elected by players.

are there relics to increase religion benefits? Guessing again, made by jewelry-master and ceremonially empowered by some devoted to cause player?

The answer is "no" but this may change .

will what people "believe"/worship effects individual server settings?
Meaning, if most believe in God of good harvest the weather is good; or if majority of players pray to God of war the server offers combat benefits; God of labor increases products quality, and so on.
( if so, this would most likely prompt religious alliances and wars )

Definitely no.

Feel free to ask any more questions, I'll try to respond asap.

[Sharana]

There also will be The Pope and cardinals elected by players.

Hi MarkRhainer,

is that still the case? They were mentioning Pope + elected cardinals (15?) as another playground for political battles (battle for votes, behind the scene agreements, bribes). Also that the "church" (the said council of players) will be able to affect guilds. For example a guild that isn't supporting the church (= not paying it's church tax) or was noticed in too many violations (like bandit guild attacking traders and caravans) can be "expelled" after a voting from that council and they will be killed by everyone without alignment loss. And if they want to be accepted back they will have to find "common language" with the pope and the cardinals council (and pay them ofc xD).

Any of this stuff still in the designers plans you've mentioned?

[Azzerhoden]

There also will be The Pope and cardinals elected by players.

Hi MarkRhainer,

is that still the case? They were mentioning Pope + elected cardinals (15?) as another playground for political battles (battle for votes, behind the scene agreements, bribes). Also that the "church" (the said council of players) will be able to affect guilds. For example a guild that isn't supporting the church (= not paying it's church tax) or was noticed in too many violations (like bandit guild attacking traders and caravans) can be "expelled" after a voting from that council and they will be killed by everyone without alignment loss. And if they want to be accepted back they will have to find "common language" with the pope and the cardinals council (and pay them ofc xD).

Any of this stuff still in the designers plans you've mentioned?

I have a very dim view of this. While I've always stayed away from Hyperions/Wessex religious RP, I would be pretty dead set against having to 'conform' to some dictated religious structure built into the game mechanics.

A sand box game should have these features developed by players, not the game designers. I would fully support players RPing a holy war, but forced by game mechanics? I guess I would need to see how it was implemented, or at least a design document first.

[Forresthunt]

thank you for answering my question, very helpful.
don't know about the last part but I actually placed that post after I read your PDF file on religions.
it was the document that made me speculate about possibility of worshiping different Gods accordingly to player's needs. I thought you meant it to work just like the crafting skill tree but for Gods. One have to choose what to believe therefore receives different benefits.
No game mechanics would be changed, just number modifier.

well, I was wrong, but that was, is, a fine document you made and stories you wrote. I though you guys implemented a small patch to help it going.

thanks again,

[Sharana]

Bobik answered in the Q&A topic today:

585. What is your plan for the piety skill, tell us !

• Answer: It is not finalized yet. But I still want to stick to the fuse of politics and religion. So major alliances should be able to somehow affect the cardinals/pope elections, while Pope will be able to affect a political life. For instance by the temporary excommunication of a certain guild/alliance that will allow everyone to kill its members without an alignment drop. And when I say "cardinal" and "pope" I mean only roles, not real titles of course. I'll have to ask our lore master how those titles should look like

[Forresthunt]

I really hope you guys don't bring real world religions into the game. there is enough drama related to it already out there. You do so and you may end up with politics on a big scale wether sepported or not by the game mechanics.
I would NOT want to be foreced to choose a server based on the religion influencing it or in my case, forced to look for free of such drama location.
I say introducing religios is a great idea but it should be multiple, totally fictional (made up by YOU) and benefitial to individual players only, prefferably in relation to the trade they are in.

[Sharana]

I really hope you guys don't bring real world religions into the game. there is enough drama related to it already out there. You do so and you may end up with politics on a big scale wether sepported or not by the game mechanics.
I would NOT want to be foreced to choose a server based on the religion influencing it or in my case, forced to look for free of such drama location.
I say introducing religios is a great idea but it should be multiple, totally fictional (made up by YOU) and benefitial to individual players only, prefferably in relation to the trade they are in.

The game is kind of sandbox of medieval Europe where religion was fused in the big scale politic, that's the reason they want it implemented. And many familiar with the currently established big politics on the MMO would enjoy such a feature.
Fictional (ingame) religion of course, but the talk is only about the MMO if you didn't understand. You can't look for other servers, there is only 1 big world

[Forresthunt]

thank you,
Im sure religion aspect will be appreciated by many including myself.
I like the game a lot, I just worry about it getting out of hand.
the game have't started yet and you are telling me that if I don't understand it I should go play somewhere else.

writing this post I was hoping for a "imaginary God" that I could worship while tilting my crops and planting potatoes so I could have a good harvest or more luck crafting my hunting bow and arrows.
instead Im off to undertake a crusade.
Im just a simple peasant and Im new here too; You are right, I know little about the politics; I should stick to my potatoes and leave the Holy Wars to others.

Im sure we will ALL enjoy this full of possibilities and truly great game. having different opinions and expectations only adds to the flavor and make it more interesting. it is a sandbox and we ALL make it TOGETHER.
Life is Feudal, enjoy it

[MarkRhainer]

I really hope you guys don't bring real world religions into the game.

No, we don't. Also I can't really imagine any real world religions in LiF .

[Forresthunt]

great!
looking forward to see it all in action.