Could you make a Christian-oriented RPG?

[Silver Moon]

A very interesting discussion indeed. The notion of good vs. evil certainly has its Biblical roots, along with roots in other world religions and philosophies.

Personally I have always found that the notion of Christianity is too sensitive a subject to add into the game. That's not to say that parts of the game cannot be based upon the historic church. I took a class on the history of the middle ages, which deal extensively with the church. After that I established a Church of Ukko on our world along those lines, but by keeping it non-Christian did not have to worry about offending anyone.

A few years ago I was invited to the 20 year anniversary game of my original gaming group, and one player there had a cleric that he based upon his interpretation of Christianity, his notion being that it was an evil god. I was one of several guests who was totally offended by his interpretaton, and have no plans to play there again.

 

[Ace]

There was a game called Dragon Raid years back where the players fought Dragons (or some such) using Wordrunes which were Bible verses.

thats here

http://www.dragonraid.net/

there is another one here

http://jonathanscorner.com/tms/

and one called Claymore (though I can't tell its Christian on first glance)

http://claymore.50megs.com/

As far as homebrews I have played in 2 with strong Christian ties

In one I played a Paladin of Yaweh in a panthiest world (which was odd) and another was more alegorically Christian and a bit more fun

 

[Berk]

Hi! My name's Berk, and I posted a statement deliberately designed to offend people!

Seriously, Berk, what were you thinking? I hate editing people's threads. Next time you dislike a subject, please just don't post at all.

- Piratecat

 

[WayneLigon]

Why exactly would magic have to be cut out? The bible is chock full of it.

Here's how it's been explained to me, over the years. The central idea here, the central core to the opposition these people have to D&D, is magic that is weilded by characters. Those last two words are the most important, here. See, what we think of as magic is completely different from the Biblical teaching of magic.

The things you're describing in your post (and others have mentioned) are miracles. Humans cannot do miracles, ever. They do not call down plagues, they do not make food appear, etc. God and only God does those things. Humans cannot do such things, period. If they do, they are using magic, which is a power outside of the Christian realm: ie, from Satan. Remember the extreme duality that most people with this extreme-right mindset have. It doesn't matter if it's healing magic, or what. If it comes at the beck and call of a person, then it's evil.

So, I really don't think you can have an RPG that both deals with usable-by-PC's magic and appeals to the kind of Christian that is against RPG's.

As far as I know, only three games have ever dealt with Christianity in an RPG setting.

(1)'Dragonfire', which was marketed as a Christian RPG -- I know nothing about this game, having never even seen it.

(2) GURPS Fantasy: Their world of Yrth has Christian real world religions all over the place. Of course, their priests use magic, they have mages in their employ, etc. It's explained somewhere in the history how they got to that point (I think their Pope simply said 'under these conditions, it's OK').

(3) Ars Magica: The Dominion is their word for Church-oriented power. Mages find themselves weakened by it, they're at minuses to create or cast spells within it's power, fey are weakened or killed by it, etc. The Church and the Magi have 'agreed to disagree' on most things, and tend to stay out of each other's way.

It's interesting that GURPS and Ars Magica approach the same subject from completely different viewpoints. I think on Yrth, they're making the assumption that Christianity will adapt in whatever ways it needs to, in order to survive. Look at the many adaptations it's made over the centuries in our own real world.

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Dude, Moses was an epic level Cleric... like 30th level! He could kick some series arse. I'd put him in the Knowledge (ten commandments) and Destruction (plagues, domains.

Jesus was also about the same level... but you've gotta put him in the Protection and Healing domains...

By 3E rules, you've gotta give Moses the edge...

PLEASE, nobody take this seriously...

 

[DSC-EricPrice]

The things you're describing in your post (and others have mentioned) are miracles. Humans cannot do miracles, ever. They do not call down plagues, they do not make food appear, etc. God and only God does those things. Humans cannot do such things, period. If they do, they are using magic, which is a power outside of the Christian realm: ie, from Satan. Remember the extreme duality that most people with this extreme-right mindset have. It doesn't matter if it's healing magic, or what. If it comes at the beck and call of a person, then it's evil.

I'm not a big fan of the new testament but Im pretty sure that there are references in there to the disciples performing miracles. I think that all such magic would have to be divine. Whether it came at their beck and call, well that's another matter!

I think a divine source of magic is going to be critical in a setting like this, at least for the "good" guys. Bad guys, they can use arcane magic as much as they like.

 

[X-ray Crossbow]

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

*Sigh.* When Jesus Christ said "turn the other cheek" he was referring to matters of pride--i.e. not killing because of a single insult, etc. not being physically threatened with death or injury or ignoring a moral duty to stop same being visited on innocents.

Most characters might still be okay in their current behavior. Maybe. This is from my limited knowledge of the KJV Bible, which I plan to read sometime...when I can find the time...

 

[I'm A Banana]

Why exactly would magic have to be cut out? The bible is chock full of it.

Well, it's all divine.

The arcane magic, this whole "mastering of forces man was not meant to know" thing...that'd be evil. Mostly Undoubtedly.

Of course, it's possible to take a more open view -- arcane magic is just 'natural philosophy,' learning about God's work, and learning how he meant Man to tap it. It's a righteous power, that, like anything, is open to the evils of human free will. (I'd only take that in a more Mideaval setting, though...)

All snarkiness of the jaded heathens aside (), it's veeeery interesting.

 

[KDLadage]

Yes you could.

I have played FUDGE Narnia games... very Christian Themed. I have played some rather Straight-and-Narrow In Nomine games.

It can be done.

And it can work.

 

[hong]

Kickin' ass for Jesus could be a seriously fun theme for a campaign.


Hong "not to mention a great bumper sticker" Ooi