Saturday 26 October 2019

The why of cults

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A table to generate cult characteristics. A lot of the adventures I've been looking at lately have been premised on ideas like a cult infiltrating a community, or setting up a secret headquarters under a building and performing unspeakable rites. There's little or no description beyond 'a cult', though. I don't have an ongoing campaign involving a cult, so I thought it would be nice to have a chart to generate one on the fly if I was to run an adventure like this as a one-shot.

This cult formed when someone charismatic:

  1. discovered a long-hidden holy book handed down by their ancestors.
  2. had a vision while meditating/feverish/starving/poisoned by bad mushrooms.
  3. made a cynical deal with an extraplanar/infernal being.
  4. experienced a mental snap.
  5. was helped out of a bad situation by a supernatural entity and wanted to show their gratitude.
  6. thought deeply about mainstream religious practices and came to a different conclusion.

They are trying to:

  1. recruit influential worshippers
  2. obtain magical texts
  3. practice unspeakable rites
  4. infiltrate positions of power
  5. extort a specific group
  6. blackmail powerful individuals

In order to:

  1. gain political influence
  2. build wealth
  3. suppress dissent
  4. drive out other religions
  5. maintain secrecy
  6. develop in mystical power

Which will result in:

  1. the apocalypse.
  2. a breakaway state.
  3. wealth and privilege for members.
  4. the return of a forgotten god.
  5. revenge for an ancient grudge.
  6. fulfilment of a prophecy.

They recruit by:

  1. drugging prospective members and showing them visions
  2. taking in the destitute
  3. offering protection and clandestine support
  4. encouraging prospects to commit vile crimes
  5. threats and violence
  6. exposing people to mind-warping magic

And maintain secrecy by:

  1. targeting a betrayer's family
  2. magically cursing betrayers
  3. sending agents armed with a drug that causes madness
  4. rewarding loyalty with money and authority
  5. geasing recruits not to talk about cult business with outsiders
  6. hypnotising acolytes to forget their activities during daily life

Which has caused:

  1. a culture of suspicion and paranoia among acolytes.
  2. a string of unexplained deaths in the community.
  3. a rash of weird events and sightings.
  4. rumours and whispering.
  5. an unexpected shift in the social pecking order.
  6. a wall of silence against outsiders to the community.

Cult members:

  1. learn to speak an unusual language.
  2. submit to ritual scarring or tattoos.
  3. learn a few simple cantrips.
  4. carry the same superstitious charms.
  5. perform a simple routine task in an unusual way.
  6. refuse to say the names of common gods.

The cult is:

  1. reluctantly tolerated.
  2. feared.
  3. despised and ridiculed.
  4. dismissed as a rumour.
  5. respected.
  6. ignored.

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