An Ordinate List of Christian RPGs

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Yep, that's a defensible definition. That Kickstarter, for instance; I can't imagine any devout Christian embracing as a "Christian" RPG one where the PCs can line up with the evil side.
 
I believe we may have a new contender. And this time it’s hardcore. Lightraiders is written by one of the original players of Dragonraid.

 
I believe we may have a new contender. And this time it’s hardcore. Lightraiders is written by one of the original players of Dragonraid.

I could be wrong, but if I understand correctly, Dragonraid and the subsequent Lightraiders are not "roleplaying" games as we think of them. They are actually even stated to be more to enhance "scripture memory and application".

I mean, directly proselytizing tools. I can't remember if that was something that the OP was or wasn't looking for.

But not really satisfying as a roleplaying game. I watched multiple videos on people's attempt to play Dragonraid and that is what I got from those videos.
Good for making Sunday school more fun. Not a good replacement for an actual RPG.

But, I could be wrong about Lightraiders.
 
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Along these lines:
Holy Lands has finally (been several years in coming) released their Book 3 recently.
Holy Lands does fit securely into RPG classification.

I am still working on getting mine out there, Allies of Majesty:
https://www.alliesofmajesty.com/
Right now my goal is an Intro Kit with a tutorial scenario and a few storyline booklets to play through or be inspired by.
Here is the current draft of Apex, the Wrestler who serves as a sort of drill sergeant in the tutorial scenario.
Apex.png
 
I could be wrong, but if I understand correctly, Dragonraid and the subsequent Lightraiders "roleplaying" games as we think of them. They are actually even stated to be more to enhance "scripture memory and application".

I mean, directly proselytizing tools. I can't remember if that was something that the OP was or wasn't looking for.

But not really satisfying as a roleplaying game. I watched multiple videos on people's attempt to play Dragonraid and that is what I got from those videos.
Good for making Sunday school more fun. Not a good replacement for an actual RPG.

But, I could be wrong about Lightraiders.
This list includes both games that are written for indoctrination purposes, and any game whose setting/theme is explicity based on Christian doctrine/mythology
 
Cool. I didn't remember. It is in that way, hardcore, then as you say, since it is pretty hardcore in the indoctrination. I think my mind was going to "hardcore" as in RPG. That, not so much. :grin:
 
Dogs In The Vineyard maybe?

The Deryni Adventure Game is set in a fictionalized Wales, but the Church of Christ is a big part of the setting.

I think High Medieval also uses a real-world Christian Church as part of its lore, but I'll have to check.

FUDGE-based game THE COLLECTORS places players in the roles of demons whose job it is to collect souls.

Grabbed High Medieval (Morrigan Press, 2005) of my shelf. Let's see
Ch. Two The World - Humans
"It has been said by many that Man is the true inheritor of God's Kingdom"
It also uses "the Year of Our Lord twelve hundred and fifty,"
It has sections on the church and talks about the current pope, and inquisition.
"Divine magic is the domain of the church." p. 47

Feels right to me.
 
Chaosium's Paladin (2018) probably deserves to be on here. The setting is so Christian that old period propaganda about rival religions is made true for thematic purposes.
 
I could be wrong, but if I understand correctly, Dragonraid and the subsequent Lightraiders are not "roleplaying" games as we think of them. They are actually even stated to be more to enhance "scripture memory and application".

I mean, directly proselytizing tools. I can't remember if that was something that the OP was or wasn't looking for.

But not really satisfying as a roleplaying game. I watched multiple videos on people's attempt to play Dragonraid and that is what I got from those videos.
Good for making Sunday school more fun. Not a good replacement for an actual RPG.

But, I could be wrong about Lightraiders.

I think Dragonraid has all the foundations needed to run an RPG - a gameable premise with identifiable conflicts and rules for interactions and determining success or failure of actions. But it also uses that structure as an "educational" tool (insofar as memorizing Biblical verses is considered educational). I don't doubt for a second that I could run an RPG using it, it's crunch is just on par with Risus or the Ghostbusters RPG.

One thing I will say for Dragonraid, the original books had some gorgeous cover art.

dr.jpg
 
I think Dragonraid has all the foundations needed to run an RPG - a gameable premise with identifiable conflicts and rules for interactions and determining success or failure of actions. But it also uses that structure as an "educational" tool (insofar as memorizing Biblical verses is considered educational). I don't doubt for a second that I could run an RPG using it, it's crunch is just on par with Risus or the Ghostbusters RPG.

One thing I will say for Dragonraid, the original books had some gorgeous cover art.

Yes, it did have some nice art. Fun fact, the cover was used to condemn it having a dragon on the cover (aka the devil). They changed it to the Narnia looking cover right beside it in the red, but it was too late. But, if you look into the history of it, Christians were the demise of Dragonraid.
 
I think Dragonraid has all the foundations needed to run an RPG - a gameable premise with identifiable conflicts and rules for interactions and determining success or failure of actions. But it also uses that structure as an "educational" tool (insofar as memorizing Biblical verses is considered educational). I don't doubt for a second that I could run an RPG using it, it's crunch is just on par with Risus or the Ghostbusters RPG.

One thing I will say for Dragonraid, the original books had some gorgeous cover art.

View attachment 71099
Its interior art is pretty fantastic too. It's actually a pretty nice RPG that could use some minor fixes. I wish I still had my copy because its so pretty. And I've actually run it unlike some.
 
Its interior art is pretty fantastic too. It's actually a pretty nice RPG that could use some minor fixes. I wish I still had my copy because its so pretty. And I've actually run it unlike some.
And, that I have not done. I am limited to having watched playthroughs by a couple different groups. So, I cannot speak from experience, only from observation. I went back and skimmed a playthrough and realized that it would be considered more of an RPG than I remembered. I felt the intro mission seemed oriented to a audience of 10-12 yrs.

But, yes, I will admit my error earlier.
 
And, that I have not done. I am limited to having watched playthroughs by a couple different groups. So, I cannot speak from experience, only from observation. I went back and skimmed a playthrough and realized that it would be considered more of an RPG than I remembered. I felt the intro mission seemed oriented to a audience of 10-12 yrs.

But, yes, I will admit my error earlier.
It is aimed pretty solidly at Young-adults who are learning the Bible. So 10-12 is reasonable assumption!
 
It is aimed pretty solidly at Young-adults who are learning the Bible. So 10-12 is reasonable assumption!
So if you don't mind me asking, which bible, and what kind of learning are we talking about? There are a whole ton of possible answers there and I don't want to assume.
 
So if you don't mind me asking, which bible, and what kind of learning are we talking about? There are a whole ton of possible answers there and I don't want to assume.
I'm not sure of the specific edition (I suspect NKJV, but can't guarantee that I've not seen the verses in more than two decades. And no longer own the game)

Let me rephrase a bit: The main purpose that the game claims: Is to help NEW Christians of a certain age group to learn Bible verses, and to some extent by playing the game and seeing how to interact with people still under the thumb of dragons (Dragons are actual demons in the game, but in dragon shape), and through that learn how to reach non-Christians IRL with the word of God. It was aimed quite clearly at young people who had already accepted Christianity but (that the game writers believed) needed to learn those verses.


It's not exactly teaching big concepts of the Bible in a vacuum but it does throw some ideas out there. I assume most of any actual understanding of the deeper meaning was supposed to be left for the person running the game as a learning tool, and it seemed to encourage youth pastors to be that person. (Got to remember the era it was written for, D&D was still considered Satanic but had a draw.)


Violence in the game is directed at the fallen (creatures whose species already were 'raptured' on their homeworlds, except those who rejected God, and now they are monsters the dragons use to sew sin) and dragons but not dragon slaves (unsaved humans who are victims for the monster and demons.)

I think my worst complaints were that it's kind of cheesy, despite having a lot of solid game design ideas. Plus, I would have done things differently--I'd have left the monsters to be able to be saved because that helps teach that appearances can be deceiving. But I didn't write the game.
 
I'm not sure of the specific edition (I suspect NKJV, but can't guarantee that I've not seen the verses in more than two decades. And no longer own the game)

Let me rephrase a bit: The main purpose that the game claims: Is to help NEW Christians of a certain age group to learn Bible verses, and to some extent by playing the game and seeing how to interact with people still under the thumb of dragons (Dragons are actual demons in the game, but in dragon shape), and through that learn how to reach non-Christians IRL with the word of God. It was aimed quite clearly at young people who had already accepted Christianity but (that the game writers believed) needed to learn those verses.


It's not exactly teaching big concepts of the Bible in a vacuum but it does throw some ideas out there. I assume most of any actual understanding of the deeper meaning was supposed to be left for the person running the game as a learning tool, and it seemed to encourage youth pastors to be that person. (Got to remember the era it was written for, D&D was still considered Satanic but had a draw.)


Violence in the game is directed at the fallen (creatures whose species already were 'raptured' on their homeworlds, except those who rejected God, and now they are monsters the dragons use to sew sin) and dragons but not dragon slaves (unsaved humans who are victims for the monster and demons.)

I think my worst complaints were that it's kind of cheesy, despite having a lot of solid game design ideas. Plus, I would have done things differently--I'd have left the monsters to be able to be saved because that helps teach that appearances can be deceiving. But I didn't write the game.
Hmm. OK. I asked because I have a friend who's a serious biblical exegesis guy and I was wondering whether the goal was memorization or understanding. No worries either way of course. I do wonder how the game scaffolds memorization though. The picture I get is of me memorizing latin from the exorcism scenes in Supernatural.
 
Hmm. OK. I asked because I have a friend who's a serious biblical exegesis guy and I was wondering whether the goal was memorization or understanding. No worries either way of course. I do wonder how the game scaffolds memorization though. The picture I get is of me memorizing latin from the exorcism scenes in Supernatural.
Well, in order to enact the special powers that aren't class-specific (basically prayers/cleric spells of a sort) you have to use a memorized Bible verse. I remember one called light (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.) I also recall that they were talking about changing it from calling light to letting you find a torch so it seemed less like magic. To me that diminished the fantasy aspect of it, but *shrugs*
 
I've always been intrigued with RPGs that take a moral stance. It's this weird aspect in D&D via Alignment that I am very surprised has lasted up until the most recent editions. Both MSH and Pendragon attempt to represent the moral foundation of the setting, that some might say is a narrative-inclined mechanic, but this is why I make the distinction between Simulation and Emulation as design goals. I like games that recreate the reality of a fictional world, where what we see as narrative conventions or tropes is, for the inhabitants of those realities, simply the way things work - Superheroes can break physics, people can fall off skyskrapers but as long as they land in a body of water they'll be OK, or Bible verses are imbued with magical powers as the case may be.

So I don't see FASERIP's Karma or Pendragon's Passion rolls as narrative conventions, rather setting assumptions. And overall, I don't think this is a concept that has been explored to it's fullest extent in RPG design so far.

In particular I enjoy playing in fictional worlds where Absolute Morality exists (sometimes tangibly), this for me gives settings a layer of "living in a fairy tale". It creates a world that I want to live in, to possess that level of tangible assurance that there is an order and meaning to the universe and everything isn't just Lovecraftian existential crisis level chaos.

Also the use of role-playing as a teaching tool (or even just aimed specifically at a younger audience for folks from my generation with kids can share the hobby with them) I think might be an effective form of education; it allows kids to explore socialization from a removed position, and encourages creative problem solving. Even if what an RPG was teaching was just "how to have fun with an RPG".

So from a design perspective I've always rather admired Dragonraid because of what it attempts to do. And I think if the game was written to appeal to a general audience it might have pushed some game design in different directions.

I agree with whomever just said that the reason Dragonraid failed was that it's audience was, at that time, majorly Panicking about supposed Satanicking.
This was aimed at the core demographic for VHS tapes of Bible Man. And at the time any "medieval fantasy game" was suspect because most of the folks BADDing didn't have any clue what D&D was.

I think it's appeal though is even further limited by adopting elements particular to specific forms of Christianity - the inclusion of a Rapture narrative perhaps being the most obvious. Which to me screams midwest and south US protestant denominations. (Actually, come to think of it, the only place I've seen physical copies Dragonraid for sale in person is those Christian bookstores ubiquitous in US malls at the height of Mall Culture. That's probably why I associate it with Bible Man tapes.

I think there was also a Christian CCG during the initial Magic TG craze that intrigued me while window shopping, anyone else remember that or what it was called?

Anyways, the closest general audience equivalent to Dragonraid that I can think of, the recent Green Knight RPG released as a film promotion, did not seem to catch favour. Though I think it was only available through direct order, so probably never reached a wide audience.

With Dragonraid, I like the concept of Virtues as your game stats (though I'd probably go with the Seven Holy Virtues to give it a more "medieval vibe"). I actually think the setting concept is kinda fascinating (but then I'm an Evangelion fan). The abandoned souls of post-Biblical Apocalypse worlds invading a new planet. Actually not far off from some of Kult's Gnostic setting details. In fact, I could see running a campaign where that information is yet to be discovered, so this alien invasion is perceived, from the medieval Christian lens of the settings inhabitants, to be demonic manifestations.

I never think of Dragons as that sort of Evil though. More a selfish, greedy, reptilian evil, that isn't born of malice so much as viewing people the same way medieval peasants viewed animals they hunted for food. But I'm persnickety about certain fantasy concepts.

I think I'd instead have each Dragon essentially embody one of the seven deadly sins. It's on-point for the Christian themes, without making Dragons satanic. (Yeah, yeah, I know there's that dragon mentioned in the Bible's surprise drug-trip ending, but unless it has multiple heads and is being ridden by a Heavy Metal cover reject, I don't think it's fair to associate them with the Infernal. #notalldragons).

But greedy Dragons, wrathful Dragons, glutinous Dragons all carry that medieval fairy tale vibe that I like in my fantasy.



Ultimately while I'm not opposed to the use of Bible verses as spells (mainly because there's a lot of Medieval folktales that essentially feature that concept), I think the attempt to integrate the educational goals was a bit clunky and creates this non-diegetic experience (especially if followed through, as instructed in that video, to lessons on the passages from the Bible that verse is from). I'm not even objecting to the goal of using the game to teach about the Bible. But I think it could have been integrated into the game better. Have the adventures demonstrate the lessons as they play out, with player character choices serving to illustrate the underlying ethical framework of the setting.

Here's where I think the Green Knight RPG did it better, presenting adventure design based upon a series of ethical choices. This would be a good structure for an RPG aimed at solo play, come to think of it, because it presents a branching path that is concise enough to be handled as a CYOA, but outside of those two dichotomies, there is potentially sandbox-level player freedom.

And if you wanted to keep the Bible Study aspect of the game, you could even, in-setting, have Bible Passages used as parables to show how to overcome the monsters. Thar would even be internally consistent with the antagonist's origins.


TL;DR - It's 3 am and I just wrote way too much about Dragonraid.
This post brought to you by Scotch - "The bog water that gets you high".
 
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I think there was also a Christian CCG during the initial Magic TG craze that intrigued me while window shopping, anyone else remember that or what it was called?
That would be "Redemption"
I had a started deck and played it on a number of occasions with my brother. Had biblical heroes trying to save lost souls. The goal was to save more souls first. I wonder if I still have it somewhere, haven't seen it in a decade. Apparently it's still sortof going: https://www.cactusgamedesign.com/redemption/


I heard of Dragon Raid for the first time this weekend (I believe) at the Renfrew, ON Christmas market. He is playing at their church in the Ottawa area with teens. He was talking about a new version being in development.

We talked a bit about my long history of playing wargames, boardgames and RPGs at Churches a bit. Fondest memory is a long running Simple Superheroes game that I got to play in.
 
I played Dragonraid and enjoyed it well enough at the time (circa 1988).

I played Redemption as recently as a few years ago; my family has quite a few cards. It's not an outstanding game but it's fun enough.
 
Deliverance the boardgame is RPG adjacent as it's a dungeon crawler (think D&D big box games like Drizzt, Ravenloft....). As for purpose, I met the designer at some local playtest events spent some time in the development forums, but when other topics came up in his forums prior to the KS--credit card retreated to another time zone. Phew. Money better spent. Shelves less jammed.

ADDENDUM/EDIT: I often play, have no problem with games within and outside of the tradition I was raised in...and preaching alone is not a barrier to enjoyment/recommendation...this was different. (And maybe best I delete this post altogether)
 
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