Historical Context for the Hollywood FilmsKingdom of Heaven and Arn: Knight Templar Preface: I Initially wrote this article for my medievalist friends, who recreate an order of soldier-monks in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). They often show new recruits The Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Arn: Knight Templar (2007). At some point, they asked … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #48: Embraces, for November 2021. Our thanks to Regis Pannier and the team at the Places to Go, People to Be French edition for locating copies of many lost Game Ideas Unlimited articles. This was originally published as Game Ideas Unlimited: Embraces, and has been reproduced here with minor editing [bracketed]. I … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #48: Advent, for November 2021. There was, decades ago, a gag in a comic strip (called Funky Winkerbean) in which two of the characters were walking down the street marveling at all the decorations, the lights and garlands and wreaths put up for Christmas, and then one of them says, … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #47: Left or Right, for October 2021. Our thanks to Regis Pannier and the team at the Places to Go, People to Be French edition for locating copies of many lost Game Ideas Unlimited articles. This was originally published as Game Ideas Unlimited: Left or Right?, and has been reproduced here with … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #47: Magic In The Bible, for October 2021. In the interest of disclosure I am here commenting on a book by the title Magic In The Bible, by Ken Goudsward, published by Dimensionfold Publishing, who late last year put my recent book Why I Believe on the shelves. Goudsward is … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #46: Deceased, for September 2021. Our thanks to Regis Pannier and the team at the Places to Go, People to Be French edition for locating copies of many lost Game Ideas Unlimited articles. This was originally published as Game Ideas Unlimited: Deceased, and has been reproduced here with minor editing [bracketed]. The … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #46: Undo, for September 2021. I was folding laundry, and as I picked up a lab jacket I realized that one of the sleeves was inside out. I pushed my hand down a sleeve, grabbed the cuff, and reversed it—only to realize that now both sleeves were inside out, as … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #45: Learning, for August 2021. Our thanks to Regis Pannier and the team at the Places to Go, People to Be French edition for locating copies of many lost Game Ideas Unlimited articles. This was originally published as Game Ideas Unlimited: Learning, and has been reproduced here with minor editing [bracketed]. Gamers … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #45: Special, for August 2021. A few decades ago when I was studying Paul’s letter to Philemon I realized that the prayer, and therefore the entire book, was about how God had placed special gifts within each of us, making us uniquely suited for His place for us. Not long … [Read more…]
When I started to DM with regularity, I began keeping bulleted summary notes on each gaming session. By my current standards, those first notes were barely adequate. In time, I made some improvements. I also began to incorporate into my summary notes some short lines of text that I used during the session itself. They … [Read more…]