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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

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Other (feel free to post about it)

[Jimmy]

In my 3.5e game, I used the Geas/Quest spell to explain the cultist's minion's motivation. The cult is led by a high level cleric or wizard capable of casting the spell, and he Diplomancy's his minions into accepting the quest to (insert macguffin here). If the cultists don't follow their quest, they take 3d6 damage every day, essentially meaning they either do what they're told or they die.

[Neonivek]

From what I can tell from one adventure path I read...

For the most part they are run by a leader who is getting direct supernatural assistance from the deity to fulfill things they want to do on earth right now... And they attract basically psychopaths and basically stupid people who they basically have to herd into doing something useful... but usually they mess up. The end result of their following will always be their own destruction but the leader either
a) believes they aren't being duped
or
b) wishes to betray the deity fueling them (It is kind of something unique to evil deities in that... Their follows can fully want to usurp them)

So cults are basically ruled by someone charismatic and powerful who is receiving power, or wishes to receive power, in some way.

Totally insane cults can occur but they don't have the mindsets required for anything far spanning, but they do exist.

But the general idea is that cults are for the power hungry, mad, psychotic, or sheep... but they always offer something material in the here and now or a promise that will be fulfilled at a sooner date. The more mad cultists just believe in the evil teachings but those are not the leaders. The reason why cults don't have sheep leaders is because they need to add strategy and reservation to their cult, they are the one who stop the cult from doing random killings. A Cult with a Sheep leader generally speaking won't last long.

[Harry Baldman]

To borrow a video game example, the cult of Skaen from Pillars of Eternity makes a lot of sense - the idea is, the worshipers of Skaen are abused servants, oppressed peasants and other such people who tend to get trod upon by their masters. So they all congregate and hatch elaborate, yet brutal plots to destroy them, guided by priests of Skaen motivating them to cruelty and revenge against those they deem to have committed crimes against decency.

Now, slaves seeking freedom from oppressors you'd put squarely into the Good category of things, the kind of stuff that a conscientious hero ought to be helping with. However, Skaenites in their powerless nature get drawn into an echo chamber for their revenge fantasies, the blood rituals they view as necessary to attain the necessary power to strike back at their enemies (and, it has to be said, are often conducted with willing, incredibly vengeful volunteers from within the cult) invariably change them for the worse, and their plots often bring a lot of innocents into the crossfire. And their god himself is just about the nastiest piece of work imaginable, just as you'd expect from a god of revenge plots. But being nasty pieces of work to spite their masters is what the abused servants want, seeing no hope in a good life for themselves (or in some cases hoping to bring about the downfall of a tyrant for the sake of their descendants).

Also, taking inspiration from real-life evil cults might be a good idea - for instance, they provide a sense of community and acceptance for the ostracized, grant power to the powerless, provide an alternative to a stifling prevailing ideology or perhaps the alternative in the region is simply worse (or is perceived as such).

Finally, you can also take the internet for inspiration - MRAs, gang stalking communities, certain kinds of subreddits, Stormfront, the deep web, all of these give an interesting perspective into what the inside of an evil cult might actually be like with their twisted little microcosms of disturbingly like-minded individuals.

[Neonivek]

The only hard part is that dnd deities for the most part are irredeemably evil... cartoonishly evil. It is IMO the worst and weakest part of the dungeons and dragons pantheons.

They want to do evil, they will do evil, and it doesn't matter who you are they will do evil to you. They have no altruism, no gregarious nature, any reward they give is only so you may do another task... and they REALLY don't hide this fact.

While I am sure Skaen offered some genuine rewards.

The closest to any sort of freedom from cartoonishly evil are the devils who at LEAST are like evil businessmen. In that sure, they want to enslave all beings and subject them to torture for the rest of all time... But if you work hard and have a evil attitude you can be promoted and maybe some day you will have the corner office in hell.

Which is... another form of cartoonish villainy.

I mean sure... Lovecraft had a lot of cults surrounding the great old ones and outer gods... But those gods were multifaceted, offered rewards, offered thanks, and a lot of the time they directly drive their followers insane in order to make them follow them. HECK Yog-Slothoth is also a wizard deity of magic secretly. The only exception was Azathoth but he never EVER answers the prayers of his followers and even the other Outer Gods and Great Old Ones outright sabotage him.

[Flying Dice]

...and pantheons are also one of the easier things to DIY.

[Neonivek]

...and pantheons are also one of the easier things to DIY.

To admit all you have to really do is make the evil deities more willing to make deals.

Orcus is a demon god who offers immortality and untold necromantic power. Just that is lich ritual is intentionally flawed to twist people who undergo it into becoming evil over time or under his outright control.

Don't start off a cult to Orthus as something big... Just perhaps a small enclave of mortality fearing individuals, who are empowered by their dark pact with Orcus. Growing slowly more cruel as they cunning plan in advance building power. They know that most people cannot be swayed by the undead, so what they need is a front a popular one.

[NullForceOmega]

My argument about cults is based on the fact that cult leadership and followers tend very strongly towards zealots.  Zealots are miserable characters, they have no real independent motivation, are incapable of reason, and will do anything to further their causes.  So generally a cult makes for a waste-of-time level group of badguys.  I can and do create much more meaningful and effective antagonists without ever pulling the 'evil cult up to mysterious shit' card.

[Harry Baldman]

The only hard part is that dnd deities for the most part are irredeemably evil... cartoonishly evil. It is IMO the worst and weakest part of the dungeons and dragons pantheons.

They want to do evil, they will do evil, and it doesn't matter who you are they will do evil to you. They have no altruism, no gregarious nature, any reward they give is only so you may do another task... and they REALLY don't hide this fact.

You do realize that just because you can unimaginatively apply a god doesn't mean you absolutely must unimaginatively apply a god? That you don't need to adhere to a very narrow interpretation of what a god is, because people as a rule generally don't?

Gods are people, too, and are at least as capable at logical reasoning as a human being, if not more so, and you apply a god just as you would a paladin. A paladin doesn't have to be the absolute epitome of goodness every moment of her life, since a paladin is a person. D&D gods especially are not alien beings from beyond time and space, generally speaking - they're people, just like in many polytheistic mythologies. Many of them were even originally people, not batshit alien paragons of a small set of ideas. And even if they are, you can have the cult project human traits onto their god that don't even have to be there, and the sorts of creative reinterpretations that would characterize an insular sect of individuals developing ideas in whatever enclosed space they occupy.

Besides, it doesn't say anywhere that you can't have an evil cult devoted to a good god. Or a good cult devoted to an evil god - imagine, say, a small chapter of Talona's cultists performing the equivalent of vaccination on the populace and granting the local lord access to some terrifying biological weapons to siege castles with in exchange for permission to openly operate in his villages.

Furthermore, cults ought to go perfectly hand in hand with rebellions - the clergy are great lovers of the status quo, and so a cult would naturally rise up with a rebellion to replace them.

[Bohandas]

What if you had a cult as a red-herring. Like, maybe there's a cult to Vecna in the region, but they're not behind the disappearances or the famine or the monsters or whatever, all they're doing is blackmailing a couple of people.

[Rolan7]

They might even have useful information about the plague, sounds like something they'd study and ask Vecna about.

[Neonivek]

Well no Harry Baldman they outright state what I said "to be the case"

At least in all the material I read. The exceptions is that their direct followers tend to like hellish torture and pain forever... even if the god eventually destroys them at a whim and pretty much enslaves them.

Tiamat is the only evil god I've heard of who actually seems to look out for its followers. If you are a dragon Tiamat isn't a bad god to worship.

Besides, it doesn't say anywhere that you can't have an evil cult devoted to a good god. Or a good cult devoted to an evil god

In Eberron 100% agreed. Any of the other settings? Ohh my no. Ignoring that "Hey why don't we have any clerics?" would be an overt issue, good and evil gods tend to vengefully lash out in those situations.

You pull that crud in forgotten realms or greyhawk and your gonna get yourself cursed or destroyed.

The exception is Helm of course... because even Helm doesn't like Helm and would prefer they all die.

[GiglameshDespair]

Then say that gods don't automatically obliterate anyone who tries to worship them with a different alignment.

[Neonivek]

Then say that gods don't automatically obliterate anyone who tries to worship them with a different alignment.

Well they don't, any sort of maligned cult of a deity would have to either be somewhere the gods don't tamper with (say... the Far realms where this sort of crud would be expected), or would have to be rather recent.

Or once again it could be a temple of Helm

I mean the gods turn you into a monster just for loving the fact that you are beautiful and sexy.

[sjm9876]

-snip-

....Simply put, if you're GMing, you can dictate otherwise. The sourcebooks are guidelines at most, and if you can't work with something there, you are allowed to alter it.

[Neonivek]

-snip-

....Simply put, if you're GMing, you can dictate otherwise. The sourcebooks are guidelines at most, and if you can't work with something there, you are allowed to alter it.

At that point just rewrite the evil gods.

Frankly it is why I liked how Hellboy dealt with the evil deities who relied on worshippers. In that yeah... they were freeken evil and profane... but their followers were vastly rewarded, in fact... The fact that they were so rewarded is part of the theme (In that "Being virtuous is its own reward... because being evil pays")

There is only so many "Teenage Satanist" cults that can exist (In that someone sells their soul for some material thing).

Some gods also fool their followers into thinking they offer anything but destruction. The Elemental Evil is a big one. Every single scenario of "What if the elemental evil got free?" usually starts with them destroying their followers.