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…]
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 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 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 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 Faith in Play #5: Fear, for April 2018. I heard a comment on the radio to the effect that fear is a problem for intelligent imaginative people. The argument was that such people readily envision all kinds of terrifying possible outcomes of any situation, and so give themselves negative expectations. Stupid people, it … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #4: Bad Friends, for March 2018. This started with a bit of silliness that over the course of a few hours became considerably more serious. It was a morning drive, and on the radio someone was talking about how Jesus had saved her marriage. She said that now her husband … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #3: Javan’s Feast, for February 2018. Have you ever been in a game in which a character in the game did something that impacted all the players at the table? It happened to me once. Well, it probably has happened to many of us. It happens sometimes when one player … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #2: Portals, for January 2018. I’m going to begin this with a bit of a theology lesson, continue with a some words from a song I wrote a few years ago, and then tie it back to our fantasy and science fiction stories and games. One of the things that … [Read more…]