Mythology in D&D

A recent episode of Fear the Boot explores the, at least perceived, lack of mythology in fantasy role playing games. The main thrust of the argument appears to be that since there is a known pantheon of gods and that clerics of those gods have known and provable powers, there is no superstition or mythology in the game. It is based on the opinion that the reason we have gods, myths and the like is that things happen in the course of our lives that we have a hard time explaining and that we create explanations for these events. Over time, these explanations become the basis of the myths and legends that form our cultural knowledge. In many fantasy RPGs however, there is this lack of mystery about how and why things happen. Or more succinctly, "they lack mythology because everything is real." In the end, however, it's less about what is and isn't detailed in the rule books and more about the fundamental tensions of playing a cooperative, story-based game on top of a number of competitive encounters and challenges with characters whose knowledge does not mirror the player's own.

While it's true that many of the things that we, as players, consider to be myth are "true" in many fantasy rpgs, this is not the reason why myths and superstitions are so hard to create in fantasy role playing games. Instead, one of the hardest problems to overcome is that people don't like to do poorly in a game, particularly among friends.

This leads many players, particularly power gamers, to read as many of the rule books as they can. Shelly Mazzanoble illustrates this tendency in her book, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress. She states that in preparation for her first game, she read Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies, the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual. Most people don't enjoy failure and they will try whatever tricks will give them an edge even if they interfere with the atmosphere the dungeon master might be trying to create. It becomes socially more difficult to create new monsters who don't act or behave in ways the players expect.

In addition, players who have been around the block a few times have gained quite a bit of their own knowledge regarding the game and its tropes. While this isn't an issue in itself, it leads to a situation in which players assume certain things mean x because that is how the books mean them. Since they are not the dungeon master, they forget the fundamental rule that all of the books are meant to provide guidance and a bare framework for the dungeon master's game. This makes it a lot harder for DMs to create a sense of myth and legend using known monsters.

Finally, most dungeon masters, at heart, want to be nice guys. While they might stack the encounter against the player characters, they are still supposed to be the impartial judge of the rules and, well, they are usually friends with the other players. This often leads to a situation where dungeon masters don't want to overly harm the players without warning. But this warning dispels the magic of the story and makes it much harder to create the atmosphere required to have superstitions and myths. Mythology, as mentioned in the podcast, requires a sense of mystery and the easiest way to create this sense is to add terrain elements and powers that are uncommon knowledge and may lead to a feeling of "unfairness" among players.

Suggestions:
* While it may seem difficult or wrong to not give your players every bit of knowledge that you have about the world, hold some info back if they don't make the appropriate skill roll. The campaign guide for Eberron has some nice examples of this.
* Players shouldn't assume that the stuff available from the books is how things work in a particular world. It's not true until the dungeon master says it and, even then, it still might not be true.
* Richer, more detailed environments have more chances to create the sense of mystery. This includes terrain features, non-player characters, and even the marking of time. Does the whole town pray at a certain time of day? Why do they celebrate their mid-autumn festival with large paper lanterns?