I found it useful to understand atleast one particular branch of the problem of evil by treating dungeons and dragons as a simulation.
Vax’ildan is having a pretty stressful day. After a mindblowing battle he descended to the bottom of a well where his battle comrade fell. Because of the economic situation he spends a good ten minutes combing through the decaying slime. 6 gold pieces is a small bit in the every bit that counts in mounting a defence against the recent dragon attack, well worth getting your hands dirty. While waiting for his time to be pulled up he picks up some bones and uses the skulls around as improvised drums. As the voices echo, he also reflects his life and choices that got him there.
A weird voice booms in.
-”So, isn’t it a great world?”
Vax: “Not really. My life was in a real danger and i am in the bottom of sum bit graverobbing. I would really like to findout who left so shitty a world around”
-”Oh yeah the Dungeon Maker is really proud of his work. He is your biggest fan. I am sure you can appriciate the touches, it was made especially for you!”
Vax: “Creating a giant tentacle monster that has eyes in all the wrong places is not what a fan of me would do but rather my worst enemy. Is he trying to kill me? What is the purpose of this? Where can I meet him?”
-”Well, he is not really trying to kill you or atleast not quick. The purpose is to have a mass sending spell to have 2 million giants that are 300 times taller than you take delight in your struggle. The Dungeon Maker is not in Exandria so you can not go meet him.”
Vax: “That sounds extremely sadistic. I would know if giants of that size would exist in the world so you are lying to me there. The powers that be really seem to be against me.”
-”No we are not against you and we in fact love you. We have this other-worldly concord ‘fourth wall’ that makes it actually not unethical or misleading to you, althought you are right in that such monsters do not literally walk on Exandria”
Vax: “Oh, so they are somewhere far beyond the Divine Gate?”
-”Err, it is rather… much further out. And within more powerful spheres.”
Vax: “But are not the gods all powerful?”
-”To the gods you can prey and communicate to, but the Dungeon Maker communicates throught you”
Vax: “I have just had regular thoughts and all my speech has made sense to me. I am pretty sure that I can act under my own agency. Who is he even communicating to?”
-”The Dungeon Maker is talking to your other you who has been making a lot of speech within you but we have this other concord called ‘retcon’ which means you do not remember”
Vax: “The other me? Why is he not talking to me directly? If he is so powerful, more powerful than the gods, surely he could send a simple message. And what he is communicating to that ‘other me’? And why is he is not fixing the dragon attack? Why he requires his beloved to go around fishing for change within a flood of corpses?”
-”Your relative died. He is trying to keep up your spirits and give space to process things. Part of that is distracting your other self so he is not constantly thinking about the same things. Making you too aware of the Dungeon Maker would break that as it would remind you too much”
Vax: “Well, with that it would seem the Dungeon Maker is not a total asshole that would further the deaths of his beloveds family. Atleast he has a vision and acts consistently”
-”Errr… the Dungeon Maker actually rolls dice quite often when determining what happens to you.”
Vax: “But I am not especially important and personally close to the Dungeon Maker? Why would he leave me so adrift and be so careless?”
-”A sense of pride and accomplishment is a big factor. And that is why you will follow the same rules as everybody else. He also cares about the world and wants you to save that too.”
Vax: “What? An omnipotent being forms opposing forces to me, does not move a finger in helping taking them down and then expects a very limited being like me to do all his dirty work and save the whole world? And save from what? The dragons?”
-”Yeah, that is on the docket. And if you can at all prevent giving a hand to the whispered one that would be great.”
Vax: “In all his omniscience the Dungeon Maker can not see the future? I hope the rewards are going to be commesurate.”
-”Well, yes and no. He is going to be surprised with you. And he is also making your guaranteed victory more graphical than it needs to be to benefit greatly financially. You get to marry an aspect of his wife. And your other selfs other self is going to be offered the top goverment position of an entire empire”
Vax: “Is he not monogamous? And let me guess the “other other self” is going to be in some super distant land?”
-”Seems consistent that he is monogamous. But your ‘self-brother’ is significantly less so. And no he is going to be in Exandria.”
Vax: “He is not in Exandria now? What is he some sort of time traveller? Does it mean I get to be reincarnated?”
-”He surely thinks he is a time traveller. And no you have to pay diamonds like everybody else if you want a reincarnation. And no you are not going to come back for a second round. To the extent you even get to die instead of doing indentured servitude for eternity”
Vax: “I was supposed to be rewarded but eternal slavery seems like an imposed punishment!”
-”It totally is a favour and you will opt into it instead of it being coerced into it”
Vax: “I would never do that!”
-”Well, let’s wait and see”
Vax: “Right, I was waiting to get out of this mess. Grog! Throw down the rope! Please!”
-”Are you sure you want both ends of the rope down here?”
Vax: “We are destined for some esoteric mission of defeating the dracons and you are suggesting that the ones that are going to do it are so dumb they would not know that I mean to pull me up?”
-”It is Grog.”
Vax: “It is Grog”
-”Well, I know this might have been a lot so feel free to regard this as you having hit your head and hallucinating on your way down. But I guess I won’t be running this simulation of you much longer so whether you are going to head off in synchrony to your other versions won’t matter that much”
Vax: “The universe is about to end?”
-”Well, not atleast not before the next Apogee Solstice. But kinda yes, in the same way that the guy burried here has not been created yet”
Vax: “Who is that guy?”
-”The champion of your master whom your bards other self met in a floating city and did an epic ad spot for the Dungeon Maker”
Vax: “How can the guy not been created yet if my bards other self has already met them? Didn’t the Dungeon Maker use this world for emotional support needs rather than financial ones?”
-”Sorry, I should have been more specific that it is the changeling (which is more of a self-brother) that did the ad rather than the human. It is actually a different City Maker that allowed it for humour than for actual financial effect. But it was still pointing to the Dungeon Maker. The world is created every thursday and it has not yet been that thursday yet.”
Vax: “Are you saying the greater-than-gods entities are just regular humans? Surely there are some even weirder entities running around in such a powerful plane? What is a thursday? What kind of superspecies is thur?”
-”Yes, they are essentially humans. There are not any other bipedal entities above int 7 on that plane. You would know that day as Conthsen. Thur is Thor, a god that shoots lightning bolts but is actually fictious and is nilpotent and althought has legs does not walk on that plane.”
Vax: “Did they mass extreminate all the elves, orcs and halflings? Why humans? Are they like looking up to us as some kind of pinnacle of existence? How come gods there can’t cast even a simple cantrip like eldritch blast?”
-” No, the other races just never were there. It is rather the other way around that humans here were made to be images for them.”
Vax: “We are just images of them?”
-”For them. They wanted avatars to be able to inhabit Exandria.”
Vax: “But you said that the Dungeon Maker is not in Exandria, does not seem like inhabiting to me. Does everyone in Exandria get a human avatar?”
-”The Dungeon Maker is closer than you think. Very few individuals get to be avatars FOR THE HUMANS, so it is mostly just your friends. You should be glad that you get to know as much as you do instead of living in a World Of Darkness”
Vax: “Is that the superworld above the human-only plane?”
-”No, it is more of a brother-world”
Vax: “There are other planets beyond the Divine Gate?”
-”No, it is more accurate to think of it as a plane which has its own Story Tellers”
Vax: “I am not living in a story! I am not fictious! Your tales are rather tall!”
-”Sure, sure. You don’t have to understand it. The universe just is. Now that you are almost done with your climb from the ‘cave’ I am sure you have some real business to attend”
I found it useful to understand atleast one particular branch of the problem of evil by treating dungeons and dragons as a simulation.
Vax’ildan is having a pretty stressful day. After a mindblowing battle he descended to the bottom of a well where his battle comrade fell. Because of the economic situation he spends a good ten minutes combing through the decaying slime. 6 gold pieces is a small bit in the every bit that counts in mounting a defence against the recent dragon attack, well worth getting your hands dirty. While waiting for his time to be pulled up he picks up some bones and uses the skulls around as improvised drums. As the voices echo, he also reflects his life and choices that got him there.
A weird voice booms in.
-”So, isn’t it a great world?”
Vax: “Not really. My life was in a real danger and i am in the bottom of sum bit graverobbing. I would really like to findout who left so shitty a world around”
-”Oh yeah the Dungeon Maker is really proud of his work. He is your biggest fan. I am sure you can appriciate the touches, it was made especially for you!”
Vax: “Creating a giant tentacle monster that has eyes in all the wrong places is not what a fan of me would do but rather my worst enemy. Is he trying to kill me? What is the purpose of this? Where can I meet him?”
-”Well, he is not really trying to kill you or atleast not quick. The purpose is to have a mass sending spell to have 2 million giants that are 300 times taller than you take delight in your struggle. The Dungeon Maker is not in Exandria so you can not go meet him.”
Vax: “That sounds extremely sadistic. I would know if giants of that size would exist in the world so you are lying to me there. The powers that be really seem to be against me.”
-”No we are not against you and we in fact love you. We have this other-worldly concord ‘fourth wall’ that makes it actually not unethical or misleading to you, althought you are right in that such monsters do not literally walk on Exandria”
Vax: “Oh, so they are somewhere far beyond the Divine Gate?”
-”Err, it is rather… much further out. And within more powerful spheres.”
Vax: “But are not the gods all powerful?”
-”To the gods you can prey and communicate to, but the Dungeon Maker communicates throught you”
Vax: “I have just had regular thoughts and all my speech has made sense to me. I am pretty sure that I can act under my own agency. Who is he even communicating to?”
-”The Dungeon Maker is talking to your other you who has been making a lot of speech within you but we have this other concord called ‘retcon’ which means you do not remember”
Vax: “The other me? Why is he not talking to me directly? If he is so powerful, more powerful than the gods, surely he could send a simple message. And what he is communicating to that ‘other me’? And why is he is not fixing the dragon attack? Why he requires his beloved to go around fishing for change within a flood of corpses?”
-”Your relative died. He is trying to keep up your spirits and give space to process things. Part of that is distracting your other self so he is not constantly thinking about the same things. Making you too aware of the Dungeon Maker would break that as it would remind you too much”
Vax: “Well, with that it would seem the Dungeon Maker is not a total asshole that would further the deaths of his beloveds family. Atleast he has a vision and acts consistently”
-”Errr… the Dungeon Maker actually rolls dice quite often when determining what happens to you.”
Vax: “But I am not especially important and personally close to the Dungeon Maker? Why would he leave me so adrift and be so careless?”
-”A sense of pride and accomplishment is a big factor. And that is why you will follow the same rules as everybody else. He also cares about the world and wants you to save that too.”
Vax: “What? An omnipotent being forms opposing forces to me, does not move a finger in helping taking them down and then expects a very limited being like me to do all his dirty work and save the whole world? And save from what? The dragons?”
-”Yeah, that is on the docket. And if you can at all prevent giving a hand to the whispered one that would be great.”
Vax: “In all his omniscience the Dungeon Maker can not see the future? I hope the rewards are going to be commesurate.”
-”Well, yes and no. He is going to be surprised with you. And he is also making your guaranteed victory more graphical than it needs to be to benefit greatly financially. You get to marry an aspect of his wife. And your other selfs other self is going to be offered the top goverment position of an entire empire”
Vax: “Is he not monogamous? And let me guess the “other other self” is going to be in some super distant land?”
-”Seems consistent that he is monogamous. But your ‘self-brother’ is significantly less so. And no he is going to be in Exandria.”
Vax: “He is not in Exandria now? What is he some sort of time traveller? Does it mean I get to be reincarnated?”
-”He surely thinks he is a time traveller. And no you have to pay diamonds like everybody else if you want a reincarnation. And no you are not going to come back for a second round. To the extent you even get to die instead of doing indentured servitude for eternity”
Vax: “I was supposed to be rewarded but eternal slavery seems like an imposed punishment!”
-”It totally is a favour and you will opt into it instead of it being coerced into it”
Vax: “I would never do that!”
-”Well, let’s wait and see”
Vax: “Right, I was waiting to get out of this mess. Grog! Throw down the rope! Please!”
-”Are you sure you want both ends of the rope down here?”
Vax: “We are destined for some esoteric mission of defeating the dracons and you are suggesting that the ones that are going to do it are so dumb they would not know that I mean to pull me up?”
-”It is Grog.”
Vax: “It is Grog”
-”Well, I know this might have been a lot so feel free to regard this as you having hit your head and hallucinating on your way down. But I guess I won’t be running this simulation of you much longer so whether you are going to head off in synchrony to your other versions won’t matter that much”
Vax: “The universe is about to end?”
-”Well, not atleast not before the next Apogee Solstice. But kinda yes, in the same way that the guy burried here has not been created yet”
Vax: “Who is that guy?”
-”The champion of your master whom your bards other self met in a floating city and did an epic ad spot for the Dungeon Maker”
Vax: “How can the guy not been created yet if my bards other self has already met them? Didn’t the Dungeon Maker use this world for emotional support needs rather than financial ones?”
-”Sorry, I should have been more specific that it is the changeling (which is more of a self-brother) that did the ad rather than the human. It is actually a different City Maker that allowed it for humour than for actual financial effect. But it was still pointing to the Dungeon Maker. The world is created every thursday and it has not yet been that thursday yet.”
Vax: “Are you saying the greater-than-gods entities are just regular humans? Surely there are some even weirder entities running around in such a powerful plane? What is a thursday? What kind of superspecies is thur?”
-”Yes, they are essentially humans. There are not any other bipedal entities above int 7 on that plane. You would know that day as Conthsen. Thur is Thor, a god that shoots lightning bolts but is actually fictious and is nilpotent and althought has legs does not walk on that plane.”
Vax: “Did they mass extreminate all the elves, orcs and halflings? Why humans? Are they like looking up to us as some kind of pinnacle of existence? How come gods there can’t cast even a simple cantrip like eldritch blast?”
-” No, the other races just never were there. It is rather the other way around that humans here were made to be images for them.”
Vax: “We are just images of them?”
-”For them. They wanted avatars to be able to inhabit Exandria.”
Vax: “But you said that the Dungeon Maker is not in Exandria, does not seem like inhabiting to me. Does everyone in Exandria get a human avatar?”
-”The Dungeon Maker is closer than you think. Very few individuals get to be avatars FOR THE HUMANS, so it is mostly just your friends. You should be glad that you get to know as much as you do instead of living in a World Of Darkness”
Vax: “Is that the superworld above the human-only plane?”
-”No, it is more of a brother-world”
Vax: “There are other planets beyond the Divine Gate?”
-”No, it is more accurate to think of it as a plane which has its own Story Tellers”
Vax: “I am not living in a story! I am not fictious! Your tales are rather tall!”
-”Sure, sure. You don’t have to understand it. The universe just is. Now that you are almost done with your climb from the ‘cave’ I am sure you have some real business to attend”
Vax: “Well, that was weird”
Vax pulls himself over the well edge.
Vax: “What is going on?”