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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9046008" data-attributes="member: 4937">There are plenty of Christian game masters and as authors like Tolkien, Wolfe, Lewis, and Macdonald show, you can tell a Christian story in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, but...There probably isn't a Christian rpg.&nbsp; Most rpg's that deal with Christian iconography like in nominae or dogs in the vineyard are pretty clearly anti-christian in nature and are spiritually not that removed from dabbling in the occult.&nbsp; And that's to not even get into the larger body of works that are occult inspired.&nbsp; The spiritual danger here is that a game is trivial and the spiritual safety of a game depends on that triviality. There are dangers involved in presenting God in fiction, and it is important to look to Christian authors like the aforementioned writers to look and see how they navigate that heady subject.&nbsp; You can see in Tolkien's forward to the lord of the rings for example his concerns about readers taking his works too seriously. My advise to people engaging with this topic is always the same.&nbsp; If you tell a story in humility and prayer purely with the intention of telling a good story or hosting a good game, you'll end up with a Christian story or game.&nbsp; But of you go in explicitly trying to be Christian about it, you're very likely to end up with a blunt didactic sappy mess that not only fails to inspire, but is often thematically contrary to your intentions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9046008, member: 4937"] There are plenty of Christian game masters and as authors like Tolkien, Wolfe, Lewis, and Macdonald show, you can tell a Christian story in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, but... There probably isn't a Christian rpg. Most rpg's that deal with Christian iconography like in nominae or dogs in the vineyard are pretty clearly anti-christian in nature and are spiritually not that removed from dabbling in the occult. And that's to not even get into the larger body of works that are occult inspired. The spiritual danger here is that a game is trivial and the spiritual safety of a game depends on that triviality. There are dangers involved in presenting God in fiction, and it is important to look to Christian authors like the aforementioned writers to look and see how they navigate that heady subject. You can see in Tolkien's forward to the lord of the rings for example his concerns about readers taking his works too seriously. My advise to people engaging with this topic is always the same. If you tell a story in humility and prayer purely with the intention of telling a good story or hosting a good game, you'll end up with a Christian story or game. But of you go in explicitly trying to be Christian about it, you're very likely to end up with a blunt didactic sappy mess that not only fails to inspire, but is often thematically contrary to your intentions. [/QUOTE]

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