Faith & Gaming (Revised and Expanded Edition)

in 2001, Christian Gamers Guild chaplain Mark Joseph Young began a monthly series of articles addressing issues in role playing and hobby games. Those articles became available some years later in book form. Now BlackWyrm Publishing is pleased to announce the release of a new expanded edition under their Blessed Words Books division, containing several more articles on the subject not part of the original series.

The series began with five articles laying the groundwork for a Christian approach to role playing games, covering the social context, the mechanics, and aspects of setting, along with the concept of including bad things in our imaginary worlds.

The sixth through the twelfth articles address many of the objections raised against roleplaying games, that they include magic and false gods, might cause someone to stumble, or appear to be evil. This is followed by articles about characters, good stewardship of our time, the place of Christian games, and psychic abilities.

The series then turns to ways in which Christians can bring their faith into their games, including obvious ways like playing the good guys, using wisdom, and seeking justice, but also less obvious ones such as playing the bad guys, showing awe, and playing well.

The question is then asked, quite seriously, just how Christians ought to treat Pagans anyway, and whether the conduct toward gamers has been at all Christian.