This is RPG-ology #24: An Amusing Dungeon, for November 2019. On June 1, 2001, Gaming Outpost began publishing Game Ideas Unlimited with an introduction to the author and the series plan. The following week this article appeared, only slightly edited for republication here, under the title Game Ideas Unlimited: An Amusing Dungeon. Some years … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #24: The Christian Veneer, for November 2019. My attention was called to a crowdfunding effort for a Christian-themed game. This was long enough ago that I expect, or at least hope, that nothing I say will impact the success of that funding effort, because it really looks like it might … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #23: Nonrandom Thought, for October 2019. A long time back in Faith and Gaming: Mechanics we talked about Fortune, one of three methods of resolving outcomes in our games: the use of dice, cards, and other randomizers to create unpredictable random outcomes. We discussed then the question of how Christian faith relates … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #23: Kralc’s Law, for October 2019. I don’t want to say that Arthur C. Clarke is famous for this; he is, after all, author of the book behind one of the most iconic of near-term science fiction space travel movies (have I limited that enough?), 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, he … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #22: Snow Day, for September 2019. As I write this, it’s snowing; snow is sticking to the ground, and we’re probably going to be snowed in. At least, the boys are hoping there will be no school tomorrow. That makes no sense to most of you as you read this. By the … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #22: Individualism, for September 2019. Quite a few years ago now I was playing a character in an experimental Attorney class in a game largely based on original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons™. I had just successfully defended a player character (an Antipaladin) on a murder and robbery charge, and the … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #21: Living In the Past, for August 2019. All four of my grandparents have died. I have also lost my father, and both of my wife’s parents are gone. I had a long list of great uncles and great aunts at one time, but it has dwindled to nothing, and of my … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #21: Villainy, for August 2019. It was a year ago, but I had a stack of articles in the queue when it happened, and decided not to disrupt the plan by answering what appeared to be a question from a Troll posted to our Facebook page (I managed to lose the … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #20: Pay Attention, for July 2019. When Multiverser was first going to publication, artist Jim Denaxas suggested that from henceforth everything in my life had become tax deductible. My job today is to create worlds, and to find ways to import worlds to games—my games and the games of referees around the … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #20: The Problem with Protests, for July 2019. It was brought to my attention that twenty thousand well-meaning wrong-headed religious conservatives have signed a petition asking Netflix not to run a show produced by Amazon exclusively for Amazon Prime subscribers. The show is a scripting by Neil Gaiman of a … [Read more…]