Thoughts on a Christian RPG
Thanks to this thread at RPG.net I’ve been thinking about what my Christian RPG would look like.
Here’s my thoughts from the thread:
It strikes me that the difficulty I’m having with most of these is that they all seem combat-centric. And while there are many former soldiers among the Saints, their combat expertise or killz is not why there are considered Saints.
As for me and mine, I really think a forgey, story-game, indie-narrativist-hipppie game is the way to go with this.
I wonder if trying to tackle this within the traditional Fantasy framework isn’t where so many of these games fail. Heartbreaker and all that. My own inclination is to go for something more historical and limited in scope. Say the Diocletian Persecutions or 11th century Russia.
Or how about a game called Hagiography. Take the common elements of hagiography…wheels tunring, watch out for the smoke coming from my ears.For my own I don’t think playing Crusaders expected to behave according to Christian virtues (a la Pendragon) still doesn’t get at what I want to do. That’s not a value judgement, just a preference.
Let me use an example:
I love Lacuna. It is as perfect a match of mechanics and theme as I know of. The mechanics directly reinforce “What The Game is About” tm. I have a friend that loves the setting of Lacuna (check out Graham’s review) but is planning on playing it with WoD.That’s totally his perogative, but he’ll be missing a big chunk of what makes Lacuna so special, those mechanics that reinforce theme. Heck his way it becomes a Matrix knockoff.
Put another way, I want a Christian RPG instead of an RPG with Christian parts.
Another example. In Weapons of The Gods, characters are rewarded for behaving according to Confucian Virtues. Does this make it a Confucian game? No. It is just a nice way to mechanically reinforce the setting.I want to design a game that stakes out a Christian Theme and then every mechanic reinforces that theme. I don’t know that any other approach would satisfy me
One thing that keeps coming back to me is the theme of subverting worldly values, first shall be last, whatever you do to the least of these, turn the other cheek, feed your enemy, love your enemy…
So here is what I have brainstormed so far:
“He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God. He manifested Himself by means of a body in order that we might perceive the Mind of the unseen Father. He endured shame from men that we might inherit immortality.” St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54
Theosis
Acquisition of the Holy Spirit
A common thread in the lives of saints is that as they increase in theosis, their worldly troubles increases.
System Thoughts
A character has 3 “stats” rated 1-3 and are spent to effect the scene. They can be replenished from a pool. How is the pool filled?
As the character increases in theosis, they become less effective at changing the outcome of a scene, however, they increase in immunity to the outcome of a scene.
It’s a start.
