This is Faith in Play #81: The Bland Mind, for August 2024. I’m going to confess up front that this thought came from a typo: I was studying in the Synoptics about Jesus healing a blind man, and I mistyped bland for blind. I corrected it immediately, but it left me wondering, couldn’t Jesus heal … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #35: Seekers, for October 2020. The “magic” in our role playing games is “make believe.” It’s not real, and no one could by reading any of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks or source books learn how to do any “real magic,” if such a thing exists. Indeed, you can’t learn … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #25: Transmats, for December 2019. This article has been republished from Gaming Outpost’s Game Ideas Unlimited series from June, 2001, only slightly edited for republication here, originally entitled Game Ideas Unlimited: Transmats. Matter transmitters bug me. In short, I find them incredible in the most basic meaning of that word: I don’t … [Read more…]
The House of Holma is the branch tasked with healing. Despite what would be expected, Holma is one of the most highly criticized Houses. Naturally, their abilities are in high demand which has often made them the targets of extortion, kidnapping and bribery. Due to those realities they are secretive and mostly nomadic. Their own … [Read more…]
It was inevitable that this subject would eventually surface in this series. After all, the supernatural elements in many role playing games are the ones most feared and criticized by those who oppose them, and eventually something would have to be said about them. But it is just ironic coincidence that the issue has come … [Read more…]