We again finished the year, and should observe the tradition to post an index of the past year’s articles on the last day. In December of 2021 we published 2021 At the Christian Gamers Guild Reviewed, and in previous years 2020 at the Christian Gamers Guild Reviewed; 2019 at the Christian Gamers Guild Reviewed; Thirteen Months in Review; and Overview of the Articles on the New Christian Gamers Guild Website, taking us back to the launch of the updated website in 2016. So for anyone who missed something or wants to find something they remember, we’ll try it again for this past year.
Again January opened with a new Faith in Play article, and we got a full year from the series:
- #50: Mercenaries January 4, 2022, considering the values in the archetype of those who fight for a paycheck.
- #51: Protectors February 1, 2022, was another archetype, those who voluntarily undertake the protection of others.
- #52: Pirates March 1, 2022, is yet another fighter archetype, those who fight for plunder.
- #53: Synchronicity April 5, 2022, considers whether there is a way to use remarkable coincidence as a means of bringing God into the game.
- #54: Stigma May 3, 2022, discussing whether the Christian Gamers Guild is stigmatized by its name.
- #55: Marriage June 7, 2022, talks about the meaning of marriage and how to include that in fiction and games.
- #56: Guidance July 5, 2022, considers whether there are ways to include divine guidance for game characters.
- #57: Heroes August 2, 2022, explores the archetype of those ordinary people who rise to meet the need.
- #58: Supers September 6, 2022, is another archetype article, looking at the heroes and the villains and what distinguishes the one from the other.
- #59: Ghosts October 4, 2022, notes that whether or not they are real, they are evidence of life after death.
- #60: Afterlife November 1, 2022, looks at including ideas about life after death in our games.
- #61: Christian D&D December 6, 2022, defends the statement that Dungeons & Dragons™ is one of the most Christian games available.
Two weeks behind that the RPG-ology series also continued:
- #50: Sentience January 18, 2022, recovers a Game Ideas Unlimited article about creating alien intelligence.
- #51: Motivation February 15, 2022, reprints a Game Ideas Unlimited article of the same name, about giving game characters a reason to do what they do.
- #52: Edison March 15, 2022, reprints the Game Ideas Unlimited article of the same name, about the necessity of working to make good ideas a reality.
- #53: In the Spirit of Radio April 19, 2022, reprints an article from Daedalus about lessons role playing game designers can glean from the history of radio.
- #54: Names May 17, 2022, recovers a Game Ideas Unlimited article about how things are named.
- #55: The Process June 21, 2022, is a recovered Game Ideas Unlimited retrospective which talks about how to learn to be creative.
- #56: Voices July 19, 2022, begins a miniseries of game tips, suggesting how referees can distinguish non-player characters during play.
- #57: Ives Loves a Parade August 16, 2022, is about using the juxtaposition of seemingly incompatible ideas to create something new.
- #58: Random Encounters September 13, 2022, suggests ways to streamline the use of such events in play.
- #59: David October 18, 2022, uses several examples to show that sometimes less is what is needed.
- #60: Spreadsheets November 15, 2022, suggests a way to streamline gameplay by putting character information at the referee’s fingertips.
- #61: Procession December 20, 2022, is about cultural absurdities, recognizing them, and incorporating them into your game worlds.
The Christian Gamers Guild also runs a Bible study, and on August 25 the chaplain posted an announcement, The Christian Gamers Guild Bible Study Begins the Gospel According to Mark, as the study of the Gospel of John was completed.
We again had some excellent material from contributors. Early in the year, April 12, we had A Three Act Opening, an examination of using dramatic writing techniques to create the beginning of a role playing game scenario, from Michael Garcia. He followed this the next month, on May 10, with Thoughts on Game Session Summaries, a discussion of how to create and share useful and interesting summaries so players know where they are when play resumes. He has more articles, delayed by overly busy editorial staff and technical issues with posting them, but which should appear soon.
Christian game designer Blaise Wigglesworth gave us some insights into designing a Christian game in Fantasy Monotheism: Faith by analogy, on August 23.
“Geek Preacher” Derek White again graced us with an article, published August 30, announcing his new ministry opportunity in Dungeons & Dragons & Discipleship.
We expect to follow these authors and others into the new year. In fact, already we have Faith and Gaming and RPG-ology articles standing by.
—M. J. Young
Chaplain, Christian Gamers Guild