Overqualified and Underappreciated

Question: I'm getting a new game together and one of my prospective players has a Masters degree in Religious Studies. I totally do not have any sort of degree in Religious Studies. Am I in trouble, or does "these are my interpretations of Deity X and God Y, so don't tell me how they should behave" fly as a part of the Storyteller Has The Final Say caveat?

First of all, John would like to reassure you from over my shoulder that a degree in Religious Studies usually doesn't include a lot in the way of polytheistic mythology. The vast majority of Religious Studies degrees are primarily focused on the major world religions of today (so you may have to watch your step around the Devas or Amatsukami, but are unlikely to have to bee too careful with the Anunna) and the philosophical and sociological developments that contributed to them arriving at the form they're in today. He notes that, from his experience in school, Religious Studies usually focused on monotheism first, Buddhism second, and everything else a somewhat distant third, and suggests that if your player's got this kind of a degree, he probably won't have too much of a leg up on you.

But we don't know exactly what kind of Religious Studies degree you have on your hands, and it might be religious anthropology or comparative myth or something, so in that case, you're likely to have more to worry about. But we also want to encourage you not to worry!

If you're concerned that you're going to get something wrong and make your player lose faith in you as a Storyteller, John suggests that your first few games be set in mythologies he might be less familiar with; if he's an expert in Greek myth, try starting out in China or something, where he's less likely to notice if you drop a detail and you won't feel like the pressure's on so much. You can then ease your way up into the stuff you know he's good with as you get more comfortable with it, and buy yourself a little time to study up on it and feel secure. We'd caution that you don't want to always avoid his subjects of expertise, because that would probably be disappointing for him and hamstringing for your game, but you can always skip around if you need a little more research time to make sure you're on the same page with him.

But beyond that, our advice is not to sweat it. Your player is probably used to being pretty knowledgeable on the subject and isn't going to think you're an idiot for not having the same degree that he does. He's probably just happy to get to play a game, so hopefully your efforts to write a fun and exciting story for him will outweigh any bobbles in history or myth. If he's being intrusive or frequently correcting you during games, to a point where it's getting disruptive for the other players, take him aside to let him know he's breaking up the flow some, and never feel afraid to say that you're running with what you've got for now, and ST Mysteries Will Explain Why Later (and if you feel like you did make a mistake you didn't want to, hey, you're the ST! Write in a reason that weird, anachronistic/inaccurate thing was happening! Darn those Titans/Fatebonds/illusion'd up tricksters!).

And if he's not being interruptive to the game, he might actually be a great asset for you, providing you info you didn't know about, sources you hadn't previously seen or just a spin on an idea that develops into something awesome for the game. It might be fun for both of you to talk about mythology - he might know some things you don't, and you might be able to put them in game contexts that wouldn't occur to him. Use that font of religious knowledge for your game, baby!

And if you guys wind up feeling frustrated - either because you don't feel like you're able to keep up with him, or he feels like you're cutting off too much stuff he knows about - then suggest that he try his hand at running a game as well. He might find it a fun creative outlet, at least to try once, and then you'd have a nice balance between one game that was more freeform and another that was more closely tied to his area of expertise (and bonus! you'd get to play in one of those!).

But seriously, above all, don't worry about it. You can always try to bone up on your mythology and religion ahead of time, plan ahead so he doesn't catch you flatfooted and be ready with ideas that are less likely to be a problem, but you shouldn't feel like you can't or shouldn't do things in the game just because a player happens to be more of an expert in some areas than you. Especially since you haven't started yet, don't panic over the player's knowledge causing problems until it does, and remember that your purpose is to tell an awesome adventure story about Scions becoming gods, not to be part of an academic competition. It's okay for you to get things wrong, or even to redefine what right and wrong are in the first place. As long as you and he are willing to roll with the punches in the spirit of fun, there may be no problem at all.

Let us know how it turns out!