The year 2020 surprised all of us, as we scrambled to make life work under entirely different conditions. However, the viral impact on our web site was minimal, as although we slowed down a bit we continued providing what we hope are valuable quality articles on gaming and faith. Last December we published 2019 at … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #37: It’s Greek to Me, for December 2020. Decades ago I was running original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for a burgeoning group that included a number of experienced players. Experienced players of course bring knowledge from their other games, their other Dungeon Masters. I have twice had the complication that one of … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #37: Balancing on the Corner, for December 2020. When “balance” is mentioned in connection with Dungeons & Dragons™ alignment, thoughts immediately leap to neutrality, and of course neutrality is frequently about balance—but not always. As we noted in connection with the side alignments neutrality can often mean simply ignoring one … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #36: Phionics, for November 2020. I was conversing with someone via messaging and he misspelled a word. I recognized what he meant, so I overlooked it—but it got me thinking. The word he wanted was psionics, which had just been mentioned in our conversation, but he misspelled it phionics, which is probably … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #36: Thanks, for November 2020. Later this month Americans will be celebrating Thanksgiving, a secular holiday established for religious people to give thanks to God. Canadians did the same in the middle of last month. Most cultures and nations historically have had a harvest festival celebration to express gratitude for … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #35: Believable Nonsense, for October 2020. This article is named for the lost Game Ideas Unlimited: Believable Nonsense, whose original ideas are recalled here. Years ago I assisted two of my sons in burying a beloved cat, somewhere along the outside of the fence around our yard. That event inspired the original … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #35: Seekers, for October 2020. The “magic” in our role playing games is “make believe.” It’s not real, and no one could by reading any of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks or source books learn how to do any “real magic,” if such a thing exists. Indeed, you can’t learn … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #34: Invisible Coins, for September 2020. This was originally published as Game Ideas Unlimited: Invisible Coins on July 27, 2001. It is only slightly edited for republication here. You’ve probably heard the line about our strange and beautiful relationship—in which I’m beautiful, and you’re… well, I’ll assume you’ve heard it. My relationship … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #34: Guidance and The Machine, for September 2020. Some people I know are terrified of the vision of the world in Person of Interest, the television series currently available on Netflix. In it, a man going by the name of Harold Finch has created a hardware/software combination that monitors and … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #33: Flirting, for August 2020. There was a Game Ideas Unlimited article of this title that addressed these ideas (not, it should be noted, romance). That article appears to have been lost, and this is an attempt to address the ideas afresh. We roleplay for many different reasons. Ron Edwards has identified … [Read more…]