This is Faith in Play #18: Order, for May 2019. A lot of people think that lawful (and specifically lawful good) is The Christian alignment in Dungeons & Dragons™. They think this because they associate it with keeping the rules, and they think that Christianity is about keeping the rules. I would disagree on two … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #17: Narrativism, for April 2019. Two months back we started seeking what might be a Christian approach to what is called Creative Agenda, by discussing gamism. Our conclusion was that gamism was not inimical to Christian faith, insofar as it encourages us to be our best and meet the challenges … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #16: Mourning, for March 2019. Dearly beloved, we gather today to mourn the passing of our companion Ralph, a bold adventurer who met his fate defending his friends and companions. Although we are greatly saddened at this loss, we can take some comfort in the knowledge that Ralph was a … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #15: Gamism, for February 2019. Glancing back over previous articles, I am often reminded that although I did an article on DFK—Drama, Fortune, and Karma, Faith and Gaming: Mechanics—I never addressed the more controversial three-letter set found in Ron Edwards’ Big Model, GNS. After all, what we get out of … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #14: Wickedness, for January 2019. In discussing Dungeons & Dragons® alignment, as we began last May with True Religion and continued looking at that which the game calls “good” in Goodness, it is important to remember that each alignment is something in which people actually believe. That becomes a problem … [Read more…]
Last November we published Overview of the Articles on the New Christian Gamers Guild Website, in which I attempted to index everything that had been posted to the site in the previous eighteen months–the time from when our capable webmaster Bryan launched the new web log-driven format through the republication of the entire Faith and … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #13: The Evils of Monopoly®, for December 2018. It is perhaps almost a joke, that whenever uninformed people begin talking about the evils of role playing games a gamer will respond with the notion of the evils of the game Monopoly®. I mentioned it myself in my 1997 article Confessions … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #12: Fiction and Lies, for November 2018. I once encountered someone who held the view that all of Jesus’ parables were literally true, that they were recountings of real events of which He in His omniscience was aware. There really was a Good Samaritan, a Prodigal Son, a woman who … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #11: Halloween, for October 2018. One of the unofficial “traditions” of the Faith and Gaming series was that in October we always talked about something related to magic. It happened entirely by coincidence (and we have discussed that recently) the first year, and thereafter I looked for topics for October. … [Read more…]
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…]