This is Faith in Play #69: Steeple, for August 2023. There is something in Jewish history we call the Diaspora. It refers to the fact that having been driven from their homeland many Jews settled in nations throughout the world. It may have begun with the Assyrian Empire and perhaps is technically still happening today. … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #60: Afterlife, for November 2022. What happens when we die? The western religious view (I call it “western” because it is the view of most but not all Christians and Muslims) is that the soul or spirit goes to a place of either punishment or reward, depending on what it … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #44: An Alignment Grid, for July 2021. I thought I had finished discussing alignment, as it appears in Original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons™. I had explained why it was the True Religion of characters in the game world, and described Goodness as beneficence, Wickedness or Evil as selfishness, Law as … [Read more…]
Monotheism seems to be fairly uncommon in most campaign settings, but it is far more playable than one might think. I once thought that such a system would equate to boredom because it seemed to eliminate a few fantasy staples, such as friction between the gods, religious wars, and even non-violent religious rivalry—all of which … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #38: Places of Worship, for January 2021. As a boy I several times went to summer camp at Camp Lebanon (in Lebanon, New Jersey). One of its more memorable aspects was a chapel in the woods known as The Green Cathedral (pictured). To me there always seemed something providential about … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #33: Psionics, for August 2020. About eighteen years ago, in July 2002, I published Faith and Gaming: Mind Powers, and thought I had said everything that needed to be said on the subject of psionic powers in fiction and games. It was republished fourteen years later on our refurbished reformatted … [Read more…]
Hi class! Nice to meet you all. I’m teacher Nikolaj, and today we’re talking about games! But first, an introduction. I’m Nikolaj Bourguignon, a graphic designer turned child caretaker turned teacher. I teach Protestant religion in what I think in the United States would be Primary School—kids aged 6-12. I can do this because in … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #32: Zealots, for July 2020. Some years back in one of my games an important local military official was murdered, and under the authority of their cavalier the party took over investigating the crime. They had out-of-character reason to believe that a certain local cleric and his two acolytes were … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #27: Believing Balance, for February 2020. Over a year ago we began a series on the notion that in the Original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® game system alignment was the True Religion, what characters actually believed. We have since examined those beliefs in Goodness, Wickedness, Order, and Individualism, the four … [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…]