To force religions to have content will make the hollow ones much less competitive.
I highly dispute that assertion. All you will force people to do is generate reams of boilerplate crap that they then ignore. You cannot force the generation of content. Nor can you force involvement.
Therefore, the more interesting ones will more easily flourish. They will then have the power they need to create interesting events and situations in the game. Time has told us that the status quo favorises the bland religions that add absolutely nothing to the game, that even reduce the fun factor by undermining the atmosphere.
I disagree with your opening statement, and agree with your closing statement.
It doesn't matter how many reams of theological mumbo-jumbo you write. The vast majority of your noble converts won't ever read it, even if they know that it exists.
If you're bad at attracting and holding interest, your religion will fail. You can get that interest many ways.
- You can position your religion as a tool of the state. Nothing wrong with that. It's even a bit historically accurate in some cases, isn't it? But this will cause you problems as you attempt to expand outside the parent realm.
- You can attempt to differentiate yourself from the realm structure. Your success at that point can depend on your realm's permissiveness. Some are very permissive, some will burn down your temple instantly.
- You can differentiate yourself from the other religions in the area. Take a stance for or against them.
- Take a stance on something. Don't be the usual BattleMaster-standard "live and let live" religion. You need something to fire up the congregation. Get them involved and interested in doing something. A rich and vibrant theology (i.e. reams of crap on the wiki) will not get people interested in your religion. The in-game speech you give about the Evils of Keplerism will get people interested.
- Go for the top. Get the leaders of your realm, and hopefully other realms, interested in your faith. This is the key to power in religion. Covering the bigwigs in the political community to your faith. No matter what you do, if you have no influence in the political sphere, your religion will be marginally influential, at best.
Also, perhaps one of the most important factors of the success of the religion is who founds it, and who runs it. To take up a theme I used earlier, it doesn't matter how many reams of crap... err... theology... you write, if other characters don't like your character, your religion will be a failure. You need a popular, well-liked character. And he needs to be able to attract other popular, well-liked characters. I think this is something that a lot of people forget.
