Could you make a Christian-oriented RPG?

Somewhere in this forum is a thread about the infamous Chick cartoons depicting D&D and the people who play it in a pretty bad light.

As I sit here I am left to wonder - Could a monotheistic FRPG be created that revolved around Christianity, Judaism, or some other deity of your choice? What kind of monsters would you have? What kind of delimmas would heroes face? Would magic exist? Could you have other evil gods worshipped by others? Could heroes wield magic without being at odds with some Christian's belief about its inherently bad nature? In a world where demons and devils roamed freely and acted openly, would having a magic system be necessary to keep the characters from getting it handed to them all the time? Would such a setting inevitably suffer from deus ex machina in order to keep the heroes alive? Im just curious what the rest of you think. Lets keep it civil and try to stay focused on a monotheistic god vs evil and not the pros and cons of any real-world religions.

Eric


Pray as if everything depended on God
Act as if everything depended on you.

There is at least one of these out, or at least it was out about 7 years ago.

Sure. All you have to do is eliminate the Greyhawk gods from the PHB. Don't forget, after all, that while not strictly allegorical (as he specifically said he didn't like allegory) the Lord of the Rings is, in many ways, a Christian morality play.

Woot I wanna play a game where the Church hierarchy can declare my enemies anathema allowing me to slaughter, torture and pillage them

And after my sadistic crusader slaughters the heathens I can rest assured knowing my immortal soul is saved...

as i understand it, there has been one such game in existence in the past. i don't beleive that D&D (or maybe even d20) can be effectively transformed into such a game, at least according to the anti-D&D arguments. it would be more than just taking out the non-God gods and making it monothestic. you would in fact, have to remove all reference to magic and magic items of any sort, as well as magical powers for monsters. you'd also have to eliminate the killing of any non-evil creatures, i'd imagine. i guess if you did all that, you'd have something that might pass as christian oriented - but would it still be fun?

Of course I could also suggest a D20 Modern setting where the players are young christian conservatives plotting to kill the murderous family planning doctors. Of course any collateral damage is acceptable in God's War and besides my immorta; sould would be going to heaven anyway...

Vuron

I hate to mention this name, but a fellow named Tracy Hickman (waits for the boos to subside) has written some adventures based on morality plays and biblical themes. As far as monotheism is concerned, yeah it works real well, check your D&Dg for info on that. In some Christian sects you could even get away with a dualistic system where the devil and God are set against one another. One responsible for the good, the other for the ills of the world. Depends on the Christians I guess. The Christian Bible and apocryphal writings especially are rife with themes for epic fantasy.

If you make some cosmetic changes to the divine magic and split it into a Satanic and a Christian (and Judic) part, and you are set. You can give Islam Satanic or Godly magic depending on what outlook you are using (the same goes for Jewish magic, actually). Arcane magic would probably be used by alchemists and the like, and the church would probably dont like it.

I think you can use many of the monsters as they are written. People were certain that they existed in the medieval times, so there is no better problem there.

James Wyatt has a rough setting for D&D
http://www.aquela.com/roleplaying/Night/index.html

Christian RPG
www.celestius-ex.com

Way the Truth & Dice Ezine
http://welcome.to/cggzine

So, yes there are Christian RPGs.

Yes, it could... It would depend a lot on the views of invididual Christians (it would be nigh impossible to get everyone to agree on it), but I'm sure you could come up with something that could please at least one group.

For instance, you could have a game in which the goals of the mechanic (experience, let's say) revolve around following the teachings of Christ... Convert the sermon on the mount to a game mechanic, and you're pretty much set. Some general thoughts:

- Violence would definitely have to be toned down, and definitely not a means to an end... "Turn the other cheek" takes precedence.

- Magic would almost certainly be removed... You might have the ability to pray for miracles, but giving that a game mechanic (or even leaving it to the DM) might be a bit tacky.

One problem (IMO) is the whole reliance on dice rolls... It's not really an explicit tenet of the religion, but looking at things like they are either God's will, or free will doesn't leave much room for chance. You might get away with using the dice roll to symbolize God's will (because we cannot ever truly know God's will -- see Book of Job -- we substitute chance, which is similar only in that it is unknowable) but you'd have to be clear on how it was a symbol, how it would be inaccurate, and so forth.

I think RPGs actually have a good amount of potential for communicating and clarifying a morality system, especially one based so much on the way you live your life... Roleplaying seems like it could help elucidate the practical experience of moral living, which is one of the big troubles people seem to struggle with.

BTW, Tyrant, I like your sig -- I don't particularly believe in God (I'm not an atheist, or agnostic -- just undeclared), but that really gets to the heart of what religion you might say I have.