Uncertain Faith by Robert J. Schwalb is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This supplement covers religion in the Urth setting.
This is available as a 60 page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $10, as a softcover print on demand book for $23.99 or as both softcover and PDF for $23.99. It is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed and was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. The PDF comes in two versions, one with and one without a background. The PDF is the version reviewed. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is the front matter, one page the Table of Contents, two pages are the Index and one page is an ad for Exquisite Agony.
The Introduction gives an overview of religion, the servants of the gods, aka priests, and that each religion has holy ground, which has an effect on things within that area. The supplement references material from other supplements, including Tombs of the Desolation, Terrible Beauty, the Demon Lord’s Companion and Exquisite Agony. None of these are stated to be needed to use this supplement, although some elements are marked as having come from Demon Lord’s Companion.
Chapter 1: The Old Faith starts by covering the Old Faith in general, how and where it is practiced, holy sites and sects and factions, as well as problems with the New God. General priests of the Old Faith are then covered. Gods of the Old Faith covers the various different gods specifically, describing the deity, the temple, the effect of their holy ground, symbols and priests specific to each deity.
Chapter 2: The Honored Dead is dwarven religion. The dwarves do not venerate deities any longer, although they used to venerate the Gods of Blood and Iron, the same gods venerated by the jotun. Once the dwarves were the favoured children of Grimnir, but in their arrogance they sought to become gods. Grimnir cast them down, stripping from the dwarves their beauty and their stature. Now, the dwarves venerate their own dead. Holy ground and priests of the Honoured Dead are covered.
Chapter 3: Witchcraft is a faith that essentially spun off from the Old Faith. Dedicated to protecting the earth and helping others, witches are easy to identify but often suffer from persecution, especially from some of the more intolerant elements of the Cult of the New God. Once again, holy sites and priests are covered here.
Chapter 4: The New God is the dominant faith in the Empire. Its origins, heresies and the seven orders are detailed, as well as holy sites and priests. The Cult is frequently intolerant of other faiths, and certainly of heresy within its own, but wields enormous power in the Empire, especially in the Kingdom of God.
Chapter 5: The Dark Gods are the former gods of the dwarves and the current gods of the jotun and some orcs. They are generally Norse in nature and feel. Again, holy sites and priests are covered.
Chapter 6: Other Faiths briefly covers some others that are worshipped. For these, only associated traditions are given for game effects. These are the Dark Lady of the Kingdom of Skulls, One-Eyed Pete, the god of the Pirate Isles, the fey lords and ladies, Oceanus, a deity of the sea, the spirits of the Woad, genies, the Demon Lord, giving some of its cults, small gods and creating your own religion.
Appendix 1: Magic of the Gods starts with the effects of divine favour and divine wrath. Next are a collection of spells from different traditions, then finally are some relics associated with various religions. As with many relics, some of these are dangerous to use.
Appendix 2: False Wonders is an adventure for Novice characters. A man brought his daughter to a shrine of Astrid in the Kingdom of God. The priestess there recognised the girl was possessed by a demon and attempted an exorcism. She was only partially successful, driving the demon into the statue of Astrid. Now the statue’s wounds drip actual blood and the faithful believe this is a miracle. The demon will at some point attempt to possess one of those at the shrine; the characters have to try and defeat it.
Uncertain Faith in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, but only the chapters, appendices and Index are linked. By contrast, the Table of Contents covers major and minor sections and is hyperlinked and the Index, which is also hyperlinked, provides an extra level of detail. With the exception of the bookmarks, navigation is very good.
The text maintains a two column format, on either a full colour background or without, and appeared to be almost free of errors. There are a variety of colour illustrations, which would appear to be custom. Presentation is very good.
This supplement covers the major religions that characters are likely to either encounter or become a follower of. The various rules for the different priesthoods make each religion more unique, differentiating them from each other. Within the Empire, the most common religion will be the Cult of the New God, albeit more so in some regions than others. This provides potential adventure hooks for conflict between religions, when it comes to characters. The various relics are another source of hooks, for characters could stumble across them or be sent to find them. Most religions are going to be interested in associated relics. Uncertain Faith provides a lot of new options for using religions in game and can be found by clicking here.
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