D&D and the “elf game” TTRPG genre has a wealth of cults and cultists that seem to exist just to summon dark gods/ be killed by the PCs. But if we look at real world counter parts, from ancient and historical to modern day cults, that’s not really their function.

Design Goals For Cult Depiction

• A group that is functionally a pyramid scheme

• A charismatic leader who typically has no success plan. At best, the succession plan is going to be a rough one.

• A goal whose truth is not commonly shared within the group and certainly not with outsiders. The goal is likely unachievable, even if the leader does actually believe it.

• The promise of a better life and the requirement of sacrifices (perhaps marketed as “hard work”) to get there.

Traditional D&D/ Trad TTRPG Cult Depictions

• The group wants to summon a deity/ take over some region

• The leader is usually just a cultist with a better stat block. They rarely have much personality. Sometimes its a magical creature (looking at you, Explicita Defilus).

• Usually unclear why cultists are joining (what’s the lie that they are sold on?) unless its just “charm person” or “they have a chaotic alignment”.

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Poor Examples

• Temple of Elemental Evil - I love the adventure, but we have bog standard “cults of the different elements”. The faction play between them can be fun, but there’s not much personality written into the adventure.

• Tyranny of Dragons/ Princes of the Apocalypse - Cultists that serve to be killed by PCs because they want to summon ancient evils. Little more to be said.

Good Examples

• Against the Cult of the Reptile God - The OG of good “cult adventures”. Still makes for a great time, but I think there’s been room for improvement in the past 40 years.

• It Consumes - Inspired by The Stuff, a mining town is full of converts. There’s some subterfuge, obvious goals for the cultists, and a dark god. It has a more clear sense of “why are there cultists” that the PCs can actually learn through play than the previously mentioned materials.

• Came the Monsters of Midwinter - This is more a criminal enterprise by a small cult-like family (so a cult in the same sense as the family from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a cult). Again, we have a understandable reason for the cultists to exist and supporting material for how they continue in their activities.

• Accursed Heart of the World Ender - A fun example of a good cult! They bring folks to their monastery with the promise of being proven as long lost royalty if they can pull a spear from a mound. Of course, this action magically mutates those who fail. But don’t the ends justify the means?

Great Examples

• Dark Tower/ Caverns of Thracia - If you know, you know. It’s another one of the OGs. Extensive cultist activities and factions. If you thought ToEE was a megadungeon, this goes way further.

• Dark Visions - A collection of cults, classes, monsters, and standalone adventures for Shadowdark. This is meant for plug-and-play material where you don’t have to use it all, just use what makes sense for your campaign.

• Cults of Cthulhu/ Cults of Runequest - The Call of Cthulhu product line is packed full of cults that are far more functional and realistically depicted than what you see in most elfgame adventures. These books offer a huge amount of detailed background material to use in your games, inspire creatin your own cult factions, and new adventures.

  

Style of Cult

So we’ve outlined how we ideally want to depict a cult and provided a few examples. Let’s categorize them. These broad categories will help us create our own cults (just for gaming purposes, folks!) It is important to remember that cult members often rewrite their entire personality to exist around their group. Any criticism of the group is a criticism of them. When the group is threatened, so are they and any power that they wield. They will have sacrificed to much to obtain what they have that they will now do once unthinkable things to protect the group.

• Criminal Enterprises - The mafia hits all our points for a “cult”. Its an organization that preys upon the disadvantaged and promises a better life, but those low ranking members and associates are but pawns in a pyramid scheme. Sacrifice and the ritual of “being made” (a process once a bit more ritualistic) also connect. Plus, the succession of power is often fraught with danger. Though not a religious cult, the organization structure and recruitment methodology is similar. Besides, a number of cults do get involved in criminal enterprises to create needed revenue...

• Cults of Personality - One of the great examples of this is the Roman Imperial Cult, but you can ascribe this to any group where power is gained through sheer charisma. Hangers-on and trusted advisors gain power by riding the coat tails of success. At a certain point, things always get weird, whether its the British Royal Family, Regina George, Fey Courts, or whatever Jared Leto does on his creepy “retreats”. This “personality” can even be a brand, and the cultist can be a superfan (see Apple fanboys, Trekkies, etc). But, as Brad Kerr said on an episode of Between Two Cairns, being a fan of Batman is like being a fan of Pepsi.

• Religious Cult - Original flavor cult! We can look to the ancient cults of Isis and Osiris or modern day Scientology. A better life is promised and reinforced with a like-minded community. Don’t stray from the path or else! Especially not if you have learned some scary secrets! We’re probably all very familiar with this style so I’ll leave it at that.

• Secret Society - This can be your Illuminati, Masonic Lodge, or a Neighborhood Watch Alliance who works for “the greater good”. These groups can be small and of relevant little power, or can perhaps influence global politics. These tend to feel most real when you juxtapose them against mundanity (Delta Green excels at this).

So I hope that helps folks create better cults in there games. There is a place and a type of game that does benefit from nameless cultists that exist as enemies to be thoughtlessly killed without remorse, but there’s also a type of game that greatly benefits from giving them a little more thought and internal consistency.

Have you made a weird cult a highlight of one of your games?

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