#RPGaDAY – August 6, 2025 (MOTIVE)

 

 #RPGaDAY – August 6, 2025 (MOTIVE)

MOTIVE– Motive and the resulting Motivation in RPGs are tricky concepts. Per our good friend Google, “Motive and motivation are related but distinct concepts. A motive is the underlying reason or cause that drives a person to act, while motivation is the process or force that initiates, directs, and sustains that action. In essence, motive is the "why," and motivation is the "how" of behavior.” 

Ideally, player’s characters should have some motive or reason behind why they are adventuring and that should be built into their backstory somehow.  Likewise, the DM’s villains and BBEGs should have some sort of motive about why they do what they do. I would say that evil/bad guys are rarely evil just for evil’s sake. Clearly, they must want something, even if it is simply power and greed that is their main motivations.

But that brings me to another question though.  Do the evil/bad guys even think of themselves as evil? Or do they think their opponents are wrong and misguided? It is after all, just a matter of perspective. In Star Wars, do the leaders of the Galactic Empire see themselves as bad?  They are just trying to bring order, safety, and stability to the entire universe and those pesky Rebels keep sabotaging their best efforts. While the Rebels think the Empire is out to enslave everyone and take away their free will.

Anyway, to bring this back to Fantasy RPGs, in my most recent Grimdark 5E homebrew campaign, one of the main antagonist groups is the Radiant Church of Light and their Lightguard. They are loosely based on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time organization, the Children of Light.  Jordan’s world is predominately made up of Humanity and the Whitecloaks are dedicated to fighting the Shadow and its Darkfriends. They are a “the ends justify the means” organization and are all about doing anything they want and whatever it takes to defeat the evil, which basically includes anyone and anything they feel it should, including anyone who uses magic. 

In my game, the Radiant Church of Light followers view mankind as superior above all other races and that the use of any kind of magic, beyond the holy divine magic of their faith is evil.

As part of the player’s Grimdark character creation, they were part of a traveling circus and all had some innate form of magical powers and so were automatically “evil.” This was mostly through the Magic Initiate Feat, although one of the players (the Rogue) chose the Telekinetic feat instead.  During one of their first fights against some brigands in town, they were too free in openly displaying various magical powers and had to go into hiding and eventually flee the town, with the Lightguard hot on their trail.

 

Here is a little bit about my homebrew world, Skymning:

 

The World of Skymning

For the World of Skymning, which means twilight in Swedish, the “Age of Magic and Monsters” is slowly giving way to the “Age of Man.”

Some of this is just the natural process of things, with powerful monsters dying out and magics dwindling.  Some of this is the normal process of change and some is due to the machinations of men, whether due to prejudice, fear, or greed for power and wealth.

There is no greater advocate of this than the Radiant Church of Light, who believes in the superiority of man, with all other non-human races and creatures considered inferior or in some cases, offensive.

Friendly races, such as elves, dwarves, and such are mostly just viewed as inferior, and not having the same rights and privileges afforded to humans by both mortal law and divine favor.

Other less fortunate races, some evil and some not are generally feared and hunted, some to extinction.  Although not all orcs or goblins are evil, with the bounty being paid for every two ears presented, they have been virtually wiped out and are rarely seen outside of the remotest of locations.   Naturally they now view all humans with suspicion and are likely to attack first and ask questions later.

It is generally accepted that more powerful creatures, like the mighty dragons have been hunted to extinction, although there are always rumors to the contrary.

 

Gods/Deities

The Radiant Church of Light (RCL) worship of He Who Is Above All is the dominant religion everywhere, with the most followers, worshipers, and organized clergy and places of worship. They have pretty much pushed any other/older religions or deities to the side, if not destroyed them outright.  Any references to the Church are referring to this faith.

If a deity gains power from their worshiper’s faith and beliefs, then the majority of the older gods/pantheons are pretty negated.  They might have some scattered followers quietly worshiping them, but they are really just a small fraction of the power they once had.

In this new Age of Man, this new god is removed from the world, taking with them most of their direct divine powers and miracles.  No one knows the god’s will or plan and they only choose to speak to highest levels of Church clergy.

In addition to the clergy of the RCL, there are the Adjudicators who dispense justice and enforce the Radiant Church’s rules and laws.  They employ the Inquisitors who help investigate and identify enemies of the church, including those who embrace the evil power of spells and magics.  The church also has its own army of soldiers, paladins, and warriors that make up the Lightguard.

 

There are still other general belief systems that some people follow or believe in, which the Radiant Church has deemed okay, or at least not a threat to The One Above’s rule.

Some people choose to believe in the concept of the Power of Goodness itself as divine, which the Church just views as an extension of the Radiant One. 

One would assume some people believe in the concept of the Power of Evil being divine, but the Church views these as zealots and cultists, which it seeks out and destroys wherever it finds them. The Radiant Church does not believe in a true Evil Deity, they feel that some men are manipulated or tricked by the malevolent beings of the lower planes (Hell and the Abyss.)  Presumably the One Above has some plan for these beings or allows them to exist to be a temptation or trial to man’s true faith and belief in them.

Naturalism is the belief in nature or the Power of the World itself as a guide.  An offshoot of this would be an herbalist or artificer who manufactures potions, poultices, and other natural curative effects.  Some in the Radiant Church believe that walks a very close road to being a witch, seduced by the powers of evil.  It is a slippery slope and some Inquisitors and Adjudicators might pre-emptively burn a witch alive, to help them avoid becoming evil.  They are just doing their god’s work, which is above reproach by mortal men.

There is some Ancestral Worship of those family members who have come before them, their ancestors coming to guide their living relatives.  This heathen form of family worship is most prevalent with the Dwarven culture, whom the church sees as lesser beings than man anyway. The belief is that their ancestors were such powerful and good people in life, that their life force lives on for a time to allow them to guide their kin in the future.  The Church would likely not tolerate this from a group of human worshipers and would surely convert them to the proper faith or else destroy them forever.

Finally, there are some mortals who misguidedly have not yet seen The One Above’s true light and still choose to place their faith in the Old Gods or Small Gods, beings of obvious lesser power who are simply remnants of an older age that refuse to dwindle and pass on like the others of their kind. Often the lesser races, especially the bestial one’s cling to this type of worship and should be destroyed, as their time has passed.