The Horror
This is a challenge for role-playing games, where few characters actually have an organized religion that they fiercely adhere to. More traditional fantasy games might have such an allegiance – certainly paladins and clerics have something to fear from the temptation of other religions – but it can be hard to role-play this out unless the player is interested in role-playing his character losing faith in his religion. The alternative, then, is not to have the character converted but to have him used as a sacrifice.
The sacrifice of the unbeliever is a staple of horror films. If you think about it, this doesn’t really make any sense – most sacrifices are sanctified and purified, selected specifically to please a deity. Meddling investigators, if they believe in anything at all, are unlikely to be true converts and thus highly unappealing as sacrifices. The god’s taste for unbelievers aside, the premise of The Wicker Man is really an elaborate sanctification of an unwilling sacrifice.
But what are the temptations? The seven deadly sins are a good start: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. It’s difficult to get players to care about sloth (most investigators, by nature, are active), and few can be lured to overeat because few rules support slimming down or bulking up. The other sins are fair game. Wrath and greed are a staple of adventurers of all stripes, with pride, lust, and envy also prevalent. To really lure characters into their trap, the cultists need to have the right kind of bait.
Wrath and greed are straightforward – starting a fight or leaving out money for a quick grab are easy enough – but the other sins require more subtlety. Getting a character to be competitive (envy), or defensive (pride) will take some role-playing. The easiest lure is, of course, lust. Tempting a character with the right combination of women, wine, drugs, and food could easily hit all four sins in one night. Once the character is appropriately sanctified through his sins, it’s time for the sacrifice. The trap isn’t laid by just a few fringe individuals but by an entire village, making escape nigh impossible. Characters will need a backup plan that involves agents on the outside, a bomb, or an army to rescue them. Of perhaps they can find a way of turning the tables on the cult by making the sacrifices unsuitable. I leave it to the game master’s imagination about what loathsome acts might be necessary to achieve such a state…
Your Turn: Have you ever caused a religious character to have a crisis of faith?
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