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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5003640" data-attributes="member: 54707">Good advice.Certainly true. I too am a Christian and I do not see RP games or Dungeons and Dragons as problematic to Christianity per se. (A lot of things in the earliest versions reflect specifically Christian ideals or concepts as a matter of fact - Resurrection, the Paladin, the Cleric, Healing miracles, etc) Of course a particular game or campaign which actively promoted evil ideals would bother me, but then again it might bother non-Christians as well, for good reasons (excuse the pun).Like many things in life it just depends upon the way a thing is expressed or utilized as to whether it bothers me or my faith, though little does other than active and intentional evil, to which I'm opposed. I'm forgiving and kinda patient of most everything else.I also run a primarily Christian campaign (centered around basically Christian ideals and most of my players are Christian) set in the Byzantine Empire. This allows people to specifically explore and even play their own religious faith, though they are also free to play non-Christians, etc. One reason I developed this setting or world was because my players asked for a setting that would allow them to play their own real world faiths. So that's one possibility, let people play their own faith and what is important to them.Another is to allow them to play their own religious ideals if there is no room in your campaign for specific real world faiths. For sentence your players could play Paladins or Clerics or other classes or characters which basically reflect Christian ideals, but are not Christian per se, or Christian in name. They can play as a Christian, just wouldn't be called that. (Of course I also understand the idea of playing an evil character just to explore the idea of evil, but I think of that as a mental and not a psychological or behavioral exercise - that is one can play evil to explore the limitations and self-destructiveness of evil, and I have before - but that doesn't mean such characters have to necessarily be endangering, they can also be edifying and a good moral lesson in how not to really behave. Like seeing a movie about an evil and destructive character - it will often remind you of the wages of evil, rather than enticing you to do harm to others. So that can also be a sometimes useful exercise.)That being said I think I might gently remind your players that like in the real world, you're D&D setting is filled with very imperfect creatures and characters. (Not to say Christians are perfect, they are not, I certainly am not, but the  ideal is to live out certain ideals and principles as well as humanly possible). So, take for instance in my world, not everyone in the Empire is Christian, not everyone acts Christian, not everyone is motivated by Christian ideals, and even Christians fail on occasion, for good reasons or bad, concerning their behavioral intentions. And this is certainly true of those living outside the Empire as well. In other words it's probably as unlikely that one can play a perfectly Saintly character in a game as it is that one can be a perfectly Saintly individual in real life, though I got nothing against trying to be Saintly in perfect in either game or real life. As a matter of fact I encourage it, I just know it's a heavy effort.So remind your players that not everyone is perfect (in fact no one is), and that even among those trying to live as Christians, you will on occasion fail. This will remind them to take a more realistic and pragmatic view of the imaginary world in which they live. Just compare the foibles of your imaginary settings and characters with the failures found in the real world and they can then probably relate to what they perceive as the moral or behavioral defects of the setting. Of course if they have fundamental disagreements with the setting then you probably won't convince them anyways, but at least you tried. Assuming the real issue is their faith, which I have only your word for, and I'm not doubting your perception or your word, just saying sometimes people perceive things incorrectly or give reasons for things that sometimes cloak other things - it may just be their faith clashing with your particular setting, or it may be something else entirely. (It's force of habit from my detective work and experience to be skeptical of first appearances/explanations and limited one-party sources of information, so don't take that observation personally. I'm just considering all possibilities.)So those are my suggestions. Present some solution along those lines that perhaps you can all live with. And of course I'd allow them to present their own ideas as well and see if a reasonable and workable solution can be reached. After all they might have already thought of something neither of us have. Maybe in that way you'll hit on something worthwhile or a workable accommodation for everybody. Maybe not, but ya never know til ya try.Well, it's after midnight and I gotta hit the sack.Anyways, good luck and Godspeed to ya.</blockquote>

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