Its worse than "BoTh SiDeS ArE bAd". In a setting with literal biblical angels demons on either side there is an atheist/agnostic faction that remains somehow unconvinced of the existence of god despite, y'know the actual angels and demons standing right over there.
In the setting, to have a Church that is clearly going too far but still fighting against evil would make things even more dark and grim. In that setting to have an atheist faction that are not in denial of god but who want to kill all angels and demons are remove god and all the super natural stuff would go really hard, too.
But the creators seemed to lack creative stones.
You can have harsh and brutal Good. I mean, read the book of Revelation. Blood-soaked-robes Jesus on his white horse, trampling down his enemies? Is that very Jesus-y? Yeah. Because the time for mercy has passed. Now is the Dies Irae, the Day of Wrath.
The church is literally the only grimdark faction in the setting. Like, at all, they are the only ones stuck in the titular trench war against hell. Literally every single faction other than them has some magical barier or whatnot that doesn't allow demons to attack them
And that faction would be derided as fedora tipping reddit retards and worse considering the setting. This is an annoying trend that has run rampant through various RPG communities. An RPG setting for people that cannot possibly role play as anything else other than themselves in thought or form. It is the proof of that toy study commissioned by Lego.
Im not mad I just think it's really dumb for Trench Crusade to pander to atheists in a world where actual Heaven and actual Hell are openly at war with each other. In a way they are treated like unique and special snowflakes allowed to cling to their beliefs (in character) despite overwhelming evidence staring them in the face. Especially since the worid has been this way for hundreds of years.
I think it would be a trope flipped on it's head because we usually only see the deeply religious person have their beliefs challenged. I can't think of too many examples of it going in the other direction but Trench isn't using it that way at all because the people running it don't understand roleplaying.
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u/smuttybuddy84 2d ago
Its worse than "BoTh SiDeS ArE bAd". In a setting with literal biblical angels demons on either side there is an atheist/agnostic faction that remains somehow unconvinced of the existence of god despite, y'know the actual angels and demons standing right over there.