This is Faith in Play #10: Goodness, for September 2018. Back in May I introduced the notion that in the original Dungeons & Dragons game, alignment was the True Religion of the game, what the characters ultimately fundamentally believed. I did not at that time delve into what those religions were, but promised to return … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #9: Three Doors, for August 2018. Probably over a decade ago now there was a big debate in the community of people who enjoy logic puzzles when Marilyn Vos Savant published her solution to one, and many disagreed with her. I was belatedly dragged into the argument by my father, who sent … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #9: Clowns, for August 2018. When I thought I was reaching the end of the Faith and Gaming series, Christian Gamers Guild member Lynette Cowper (who wrote GURPS Rogues) suggested that I address Archetypes. It was a challenging suggestion for me—I had never thought about characters in terms of archetypes. … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #8: The Illusion of Choice, for July 2018. Last time we talked a bit about the power of the referee, how it can be abused, and the principles that should prevent that abuse. This time our focus is on how to use that power in a way that will enhance the game … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #8: Redemption Story, for July 2018. Years ago I wrote Faith and Gaming: Redemption, which was republished last spring. In it I made the distinction between the “Prodigal Stories” that we sometimes call stories of redemption and the real “Redemption Story”, the story of how the price was paid, how … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #7: Playing Fair, for June 2018. I was corresponding, electronically, with someone I introduced to role playing games over the Internet, and since I introduced him to them, his first game and still his favorite is my game, Multiverser. Of course, as all players, he was expressing the opinion that I didn’t … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #7: Coincidence, for June 2018. If you follow this series, odds are fairly good that you followed, or at least were aware of, the previous series, Faith and Gaming. It originally ran monthly, as this one is scheduled to do, beginning in April of 2001 and ending in that same … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #6: Name Ideas Unlimited, for May 2018. If you’re going to run a game, if you’re going to write a book, if you’re going to tell a story, you quickly find that your characters need names. There are a lot of ways around this. Sometimes a character can exist with only a … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #6: True Religion, for May 2018. In the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons™, the original role playing game from which all others (including those electronic games that call themselves “RPGs”) are descended, there was a rules section known as alignment. Many players did not understand it; many gamers did … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #5: Country Roads, for April 2018. Of course, role playing game referees almost always have maps, and many of us make most of our own maps. The fact is that you don’t really necessarily need maps, and we’ll probably eventually talk about running games without them, but for most of the kinds … [Read more…]