Friday, June 26, 2009

Xtian Fantasy RPG Published

Once when reminiscing about the Christian Right's hate for D&D with a friend, I remember saying that I was surprised some enterprising capitalist hadn't yet created a D&D derivative that wouldn't in any way offend the Christian community , and that would actually promote Christian ideas and conversion. It seemed to only make sense that the Christian Fundamentalists would eventually co-opt D&D for their own purposes (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, sorta)... Well, if they hadn't already done so then, they have now. Christian Holy Lands has a FAQ which should satisfy most of your curiosity. Sample excerpts:

Q: Can You Play other Character Races in Holy Lands, such as Dwarves, Elves, etc.?

A:
Currently, Holy Lands characters can only be of some form of the human race since PEOPLE were created in the image of
God with a soul for eternal redemption.

...Your character’s job is to protect the Church from evil demons, sorcerers, and non-Christian invaders, all while you do your best to convert unbelievers...

How's that for "Imagining the hell out of it", S&W players!

I'm a little hesitant to check this out further by signing up for the download (why can't we get the PDF without giving up our email address and name already, hmm?).

I've played Bruce Galloway's "Highest Level of all Fantasy Wargaming" which hilariously included stats for many Christian saints and also for Joseph and the Virgin Mary. I wasn't even one of the faithful and knew that book had crossed a line. I suppose it's only a matter of time until an Islamic interpretation of D&D comes out as well.

6 comments:

Jeff Rients said...

A few years back at my local con some guys ran a demo of a Christian D&D-esque game designed specifically to be something fun to do at church retreats and camps and stuff like that. They seemed much more friendly towards the rest of the hobby than the Dragonrain nutjobs. And they used a combat system that took place entirely on an 8 x 8 battlegrid, so that you could use a chess set as miniatures. I thought that was a great idea. Damned if I can remember the name of the game, though.

Al said...

I have .pdf of this somewhere, I'll have to see if I can find it. There's some discussion on it here: http://necromancergames.yuku.com/topic/1561?page=1

Anonymous said...

I took the plunge and signed up. Got a link for the download which led to a 404 error page. Did a google search and found a secondary site. This site has no pdf download and is strictly online only. It has three account setups, restricted free and two accounts that can cost up to $4 a month. If anyone can tell me where to get this "lite version" pdf I'd appreciate it.

I still have a copy of Dragonraid. They still have a mailorder online presence.

Keith

ladybug said...

Very interesting development...I wonder if it has Saints or Paladin type characters...(esp. since Catholicism is often considered "heathen" by the type of Prostestant Christianity usually attacking RPG's)...in fact how do they even handle the historic period of the Crusades-since it was before the Reformation?

Don Snabulus said...

It sounds as satisfying as a warm can of O'Douls. Nonetheless, it might be a good "gateway drug" into other RPGs for independent minded people who get tired of the restrictive play of Holylands.

The Inn On Palmer ST. said...

As a preacher I never saw what was wrong ( biblicly ) with D&D and role playing in general .

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