Here’s an early start to your Christmas holiday: We were very lucky to have Shannon Dickson, a.k.a. “Leoff” (or Mrs. Ninja to some), join us for this episode. Shannon talks about the games she runs as a church activity for kids and adults; some family-friendly settings she’s designed; and some great outside-the-box thinking for RPGs. Enjoy!
Our first guest host is an awfully good one: Dan Repperger from Fear the Boot! After we plug our fundraiser for PEG Partners, Grant, Peter, Branden, and Dan discuss the intersection of faith and fantasy. We talk about why they’re not mutually exclusive, the major fantasy works which have impacted us spiritually, running games within a Christian frame, and some concerns and benefits of doing so. Thanks again, Dan!
Grant, Peter and Branden talk about designing settings for your game! Using Peter’s game and homebrew setting as a case study, and a few other examples, we talk about all the elements that go into setting design, as well as how to get those design ideas started and handling player input. We also talk about setting design when you’re playing in someone else’s published setting.
Scripture: Exodus 35:30-33, James 1:17
Grant’s back! And believe us, he’s got a story to tell. He’s also got a topic to talk to Branden and Peter about: Whether or not it’s all right for Christians to play games set in explicitly dark settings like the Warhammer 40,000 universe. We break that conversation apart a bit, talking about three major types of ‘dark’ games in general, the problems they can present, and some possible solutions.
No Grant for this episode — he’s been busy with some personal issues. That means this episode is just Branden and Peter. It’s a short episode, discussing the intersection of faith and video games. We discuss how video games get faith right (and wrong), morality in video games, representations of the church in video games, and much more. Enjoy!
Scripture: Psalm 78:1-4, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Romans 14:19
We continue our Virtues & Vices series with our first (and according to Paul, the greatest) of the virtues: Charity, a.k.a love. We explain the Christian concept of charity and give some background theological material. Then we dive in to the in-game possibilities charity presents, as well as the out-of-game opportunities and needs for charity we have in our gaming groups and daily lives.
It’s an episode full of beginnings: Branden joins us for the first time as a host, and our Virtues & Vices series kicks off with a discussion of Avarice! We explain what avarice is (and isn’t), and discuss plot threads and character opportunities greed might present. We wrap up with a discussion of greed at the table—how it appears and how to avoid it.
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-10
Episode 03, “The Crusader Archetype”, features a discussion of knights, crusaders, and Christian holy warriors, whether they be real, fictional or legendary. We also talk about Christian theories of “just war”; how crusading knights appear in published RPGs; and how to use them in your own game. Also, Peter talks about the Steam Summer Sale, and Grant sells Peter on Minecraft. Fun!
Scripture: John 15:13, 1 Samuel 17:45
In which Peter and Grant discuss alignment and other methods of modeling morality in roleplaying games, and how to use alignment mechanisms effectively without making them feel unnatural.
An additional note: Branden, a.k.a. SilverSeraphAE, will be joining us as a host in future episodes! That’s really awesome, and we’re very excited to have him on board. He added a lot to the discussion in this episodes from “behind the scenes”, so a big thank-you to him, too.
In which Grant and Peter attempt to dispel the myth that roleplaying games are inherently evil. We discuss certain misinformed beliefs about what roleplaying games are and what problems they can cause Christians; certain commonly-cited examples of the “evil” of roleplaying games; and take a hard look at the real problems RPGs might introduce into someone’s life.
