An Ordinate List of Christian RPGs

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Mosker said:
GM: Yeah, we can just have a slaughter-session if you like. You want to raid the town, kill inhabitants and take their stuff ahead of the divine wrath? Go ahead.
...
Click to expand...

“…if you spend three days studying the holy text or debating with your religious political officer, you can easily justify it in front of the god…. I mean god will take what he wants, right?”
 
Lalato said:
Two D&D 5e settings that I'm aware of...

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com www.drivethrurpg.com

Click to expand...

Yeah, the Adventurer's Guide I would say that fits as "Christian", even though I feel like they missed the boat in a few places, most glaringly making the 4 playable races - Human, and then... Giant, Nephilim, and Rephaim. Essentially near synonyms and all viewed as evil...
And John the Baptist, the Water Druid is kinda hilarious right along with Sampson, the already blinded jawbone wielding Nazarite Barbarian.

But, Apocalisse I broke down earlier in this thread, I would call it "biblically inspired" but certainly not Christian.
A. You can play as part of the evil or religiously neutral faction.
B. The setting premise starts off biblical and then goes off the rails. Like we get perpetually frozen in the middle of the end times events. We have horsemen who hang around for decades and just a perpetual spiritual war, no anti-christ (that I am aware of), no Son of Man returning to rule and end the battle. Just decades of unending battle turning the world into a wasteland.

Not saying it isn't a fun concept to play around with. I just question whether it fits the bill?
 
opaopajr said:
You'll be surprised how many people conflate children toy slingshots (or tiny, tiny slings) with slings in general. That would be my guess about ranges to 15' and 30' max.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was picturing the author's only experience with slings being rubber bands held between fingers in elementary school
 
opaopajr said:
You'll be surprised how many people conflate children toy slingshots (or tiny, tiny slings) with slings in general. That would be my guess about ranges to 15' and 30' max.
Click to expand...
That is the exact thought that crossed my mind. I wondered if he was thinking of a handheld slingshot. Let's all imagine an adolescent David approaching Goliath with that thing. Makes him feel more annoying and bratty. :hehe:
 
Lalato said:
The same folks that did Adventurer's Guide to the Bible have their own Apocalypse related book...

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com www.drivethrurpg.com
Click to expand...
Yes, they did, and it would qualify from what little I know.

On at least the Warlock, they continued in making clearly bad guys "not so bad" and changing existing characters to shoehorn in a D&D concept. In this case, they twisted Watchers. Yes, Daniel mentions "holy watchers", but the watchers they are referring to are the ones that openly rebelled out of selfish desire to take human wives, have sex with them, and have their own children. Those guys are supposed to be locked away in Tartarus/the abyss in chains until the final judgment. But in this case, they are well-meaning patrons for Warlocks.
The Watchers are an ancient race of celestials who have lived among mortals since the dawn of creation. Placed on earth to watch over the mortal races, the Watchers broke their vow to God and began meddling in human affairs. The Watchers do not mean to oppose God, but they also do not have strong enough faith to trust in God's ultimate plan. As a result, they cannot help but gift certain mortals with cosmic powers in order to tip the scales. To make a pact with a Watcher is highly dangerous, but warlocks have never been known to play it safe.
Click to expand...


Oh, and apparently a Pilgrim may find being in the presence of the almighty God in heaven boring because their "embracing of the journey", suddenly shifts in description to a wanderlust.

I know I sound grumpy. I'm actually more chill and tolerant in practice, but this is an old-school forum where people usually give their more open thoughts, right? :smile: I promise, if I were in a group who wanted to play one of these, I would be able to go along and stay quiet about my conceptual misgivings unless it were conversationally appropriate. :grin: I truly believe Red Panda has genuine intent and I'm sure people will have their own critiques about my own project.
 
I don’t think D&D would work well for a biblical game. There needs to be a greater spiritual component to the game other than just spells or rituals. I just don’t think the chassis fits.
 
Armchair Gamer said:
They might assume bodies that might have hit points, based on the limits placed on them by Providence, but destroying those bodies would typically do less harm to them that tearing off clothes would do to us.
Click to expand...
Yes it would be a form of spiritual fatigue. I was thinking more along the lines of taking any actual damage to their true forms from physical weapons.
 
Testament was a shockingly cool and playable RPG. It is not, however, Christian, as it depicts a pre-Christian era and makes no attempt to shoehorn in a Christian conceptialization of the setting.

Dragonraid always fascinated me. It's a game by, and for, all the Ned Flanders of the world. I grew up in Oklahoma in the 1980s and I was constantly surrounded by Christian versions of things. Christian hard rock, Christian-opoly, Christian T-shirts with parodic pro-Christian slogans, Christian karate studios.
 
Armchair Gamer said:
They might assume bodies that might have hit points, based on the limits placed on them by Providence, but destroying those bodies would typically do less harm to them that tearing off clothes would do to us.
Click to expand...
Endless Flight said:
Yes it would be a form of spiritual fatigue. I was thinking more along the lines of taking any actual damage to their true forms from physical weapons.
Click to expand...

This is similar to how I handle this in Allies of Majesty. The material beings pose absolutely zero threat to beings of a spiritual nature and realm. If they manifested in a natural form and stood in the middle of a nuke, it would be like Luke Skywalker getting blasted all to heck by the walkers only to emerge unscathed. If they wanted to maintain the appearance of being legit human, they might visually display a bleeding wound if they were stabbed or something. But no actual harm can come to them from a material source.

I give them effectively 3 different health bars. Endurance, Resolve, and Passion. These are 3 of the 6 Basic Attributes.
Endurance is tied to the ability to press on as in taking continual action with one's form/body. Their spiritual form can be harmed by other spirits, lowering their Endurance to the point where then can no longer press on to take action. Since they maintain the appearance of a body in the spiritual realm, this plays out like someone be beaten until they cannot continue.
Resolve is their strength of will. Resolve can be worn down and a being's will can be broken so that they don't have the strength to put up resistance to others.
Passion is their emotional drive. Resolve is more a defensive attribute, whereas Passion is more of an offensive or active attribute. Still, you can sap another's drive to the point where they cease to care any more.
Any of these three are a path to the spiritual character being defeated or to defeating one's spiritual foes in the game. No one dies and they can recover, but they are temporarily defeated.
 
pawsplay said:
Testament was a shockingly cool and playable RPG. It is not, however, Christian, as it depicts a pre-Christian era and makes no attempt to shoehorn in a Christian conceptialization of the setting.

Dragonraid always fascinated me. It's a game by, and for, all the Ned Flanders of the world. I grew up in Oklahoma in the 1980s and I was constantly surrounded by Christian versions of things. Christian hard rock, Christian-opoly, Christian T-shirts with parodic pro-Christian slogans, Christian karate studios.
Click to expand...
I've heard these statements about Testament. The writer of Testament commented on the thread at some point and I tried to reply, but he didn't reply back or didn't see it. It would love to talk with him. I bought the pdf and have looked over it.

I think there might have been a clarification that Jewish/biblical counted for this thread. I had questioned it Testament counted for the reason that I think it allowed for other Ancient Near Eastern gods/pantheons to be equally real and not strictly the Hebrew YHWH.

I can only imagine how being surrounded by "Christian" everything would have changed my perspective. I got just enough of it that I grew a distaste for the (plethora) of things that were lower quality knock-offs of secular things repackaged to either financially exploit Christian convictions or were legit to offer people who like [X], but have some moral objection to be able to buy [lesser quality Christianized X] and feel better about it. I feel if you want to do something, do it quality and don't pretend to have noble motives is you really just see an opportunity to make money.
 
Diastello said:
I think there might have been a clarification that Jewish/biblical counted for this thread. I had questioned it Testament counted for the reason that I think it allowed for other Ancient Near Eastern gods/pantheons to be equally real and not strictly the Hebrew YHWH.
Click to expand...

Well, going by the account of Moses, those religions were "real" enough, they just weren't correct. I guess there is a theoretical objection to using a cleric or priest class for followers of Set, but there isn't a mechanical one. In one plausible historical belief system, they were just lesser spirits, and in the view of people who were Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, the Egyptian gods and such were just manifestations of the Devil.
 
pawsplay said:
Well, going by the account of Moses, those religions were "real" enough, they just weren't correct. I guess there is a theoretical objection to using a cleric or priest class for followers of Set, but there isn't a mechanical one. In one plausible historical belief system, they were just lesser spirits, and in the view of people who were Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, the Egyptian gods and such were just manifestations of the Devil.
Click to expand...
Yes, thanks. Good points. I was not speaking in-depth to avoid a rabbit hole with people who might not want one. :shade:

[enter rabbit hole]
So, technically speaking, if we are going from an ancient Hebrew view, the other gods are angelic princes assigned to rule the nations after YHWH confused the human's language after the tower of Babel incident. He divided the nations and gave them gods that he knew would become corrupt, just like later on he gave Israel Saul as their king, knowing he would become corrupt. At that time, he gave Israel the king they wanted (having rejected YHWH as their king). Back after Babel, he gave the nations the gods they wanted (having rejected YHWH as their god). Later God called out Abraham to start a people he would claim as his own inheritance among the nations, showing he hadn't given up on relationship with humanity.

The spirits behind the idols of these foreign gods are demons, evil spirits, or unclean spirits. They are the disembodied spirits of the slain giants/nephilim, the hybrid bastard children of the rebellious watchers (pre-flood) who manifested to take human women and have children. These children should not have existed, resulting from a breach of the divide between the spiritual and material realm. (Side note, this is the same sin from Sodom and Gomorrah, not homosexuality. Reference, Jude 1:6-7, "strange flesh", homosexual would be "same flesh".) The spirits of the giants were consigned to remain on the earth, having no place in heaven. Their role and desire is to torment humanity and later most were locked away in the abyss and the remainder were given over to be commanded by Mastema (one of multiple possible names used for the satan figure) to aid him in his job of testing humanity, tempting them away from YHWH and his Law. The evil spirits draw the people to worship idols representing these gods (elohim, plural) that are not God (elohim, singular, but written as a plural of majesty). So, the foreign gods are created beings who have their kingdoms thanks to human rebellion and YHWH's response to it.

So, are these gods originally named Anat, Ba'al, Dagon, Marduk, etc.? It is more likely that these are monikers and personas chosen by these corrupt angelic rulers and their cohorts as they solicit worship.

This is all background lore for Allies of Majesty, the game I am currently producing. But it doesn't have to be set in ancient earth. Allies can be played in any time, including modern or even near future. The spiritual landscape is the same except post-Christ (Christus Victor), the spiritual princes of the nations are technically lame ducks, trying to hang on to power by delaying the spread of the gospel thereby delaying their dethronement and final judgement. But, the people of the nations are now free to expatriate from the rule of their former gods and enter the Kingdom of God.
[rabbit hole complete]
 
Last edited:
I've always felt that the David vs Goliath story is kinda dumb. Like... once you know what a sling can actually do, you realize that David was probably 50 yards away from Goliath and essentially sucker punched him before Goliath could do anything.

Not saying it isn't a sound/good strategy for David. Just saying that the story makes it seem like this kid did this amazing thing that had never been done before. I guess what I'm saying is that David had a really good PR team to frame the story the way they did. ;)
 
Lalato said:
I've always felt that the David vs Goliath story is kinda dumb. Like... once you know what a sling can actually do, you realize that David was probably 50 yards away from Goliath and essentially sucker punched him before Goliath could do anything.

Not saying it isn't a sound/good strategy for David. Just saying that the story makes it seem like this kid did this amazing thing that had never been done before. I guess what I'm saying is that David had a really good PR team to frame the story the way they did. ;)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I hear you! It's less about how awesome of a warrior he was and more about painting him as a possible candidate for being the "anointed" (messiah/christ mean "one smeared with oil") by slaying a "seed of the serpent" and maybe being the awaited "seed of the woman" who would crush the head of the serpent. Goliath was painted in many ways literarily to be connected with a serpent to reinforce this. We already went though it with Saul, defeating a king names "snake" (Nahash). Then when Saul failed, we see David anointed and Saul shrinks away from this new seed of the serpent, meanwhile, David boldly goes out to fight him. We know David also ultimately failed to be that promised seed, but literarily, they were painting a hope of it for the reader/hearer.
 
Last edited:
Most of the major figures in Biblical history, with rare exceptions, had definitive character flaws and the Bible did not hide them. The scriptures almost goes out if it’s way to point them out at times. “Hey lets not forget how drunk Noah got after the Ark landed!” Adam, Moses, Abraham, David, even many of the apostles and disciples like Peter and Paul. God always worked through them to achieve his goals.
 
pawsplay said:
Dragonraid always fascinated me. It's a game by, and for, all the Ned Flanders of the world. I grew up in Oklahoma in the 1980s and I was constantly surrounded by Christian versions of things. Christian hard rock, Christian-opoly, Christian T-shirts with parodic pro-Christian slogans, Christian karate studios.
Click to expand...

download.jpg
 
Endless Flight said:
Most of the major figures in Biblical history, with rare exceptions, had definitive character flaws and the Bible did not hide them. The scriptures almost goes out if it’s way to point them out at times. “Hey lets not forget how drunk Noah got after the Ark landed!” Adam, Moses, Abraham, David, even many of the apostles and disciples like Peter and Paul. God always worked through them to achieve his goals.
Click to expand...
Very much so. What holy book of that time era trying to prop itself up verifies a resurrection by the testimony of women?

Very self-deprecating stories. But there is a point to it. Real flawed people that fail needed God to come down as human to fulfill the vacant human role that they couldn't. Daniel's son of man.
 
I remember in the states, particularly Utah and Texas, all the malls had an obligatory Christian bookstore, and going in there was like walking into a parallel dimension. The CDs, games, and toys were hilarious. That's where I first encountered Bibleman, which I recall was still being sold on VHS tapes. One store I remember also sold VHS tapes of mainstream films that had been edited for "Christian" audiences (which I imagine must have been somewhat harsher than ABC Monday Night TV Movie edits).
 
TristramEvans said:
Yeah, Kult's mythos diverges quite significantly from anything recognizeably Christian I'd say
Click to expand...
The Essenes were Gnostics Jews but Jesus may have been influenced by them, and there are gnostic Christians (like Philip K Dick for example), so Kult should qualify..
 
TristramEvans said:
I remember in the states, particularly Utah and Texas, all the malls had an obligatory Christian bookstore, and going in there was like walking into a parallel dimension. The CDs, games, and toys were hilarious. That's where I first encountered Bibleman, which I recall was still being sold on VHS tapes. One store I remember also sold VHS tapes of mainstream films that had been edited for "Christian" audiences (which I imagine must have been somewhat harsher than ABC Monday Night YV Movie edits).
Click to expand...

Growing up here in Texas, I used to frequently ride my bike down to "Martus Christian Books" up the street. They had a big spinner rack of Chick tracts, which I would stand and read through fairly often. I'm sure the clerks didn't mind me doing that because they thought I was learning to be a good, moral, God-fearing child. The reality was that I was an atheist (even as a child) and viewed them as over-the-top bizarre horror comic books. I enjoyed reading them the same way I might have done with Eerie or Creepy or Vampirella magazines. I still have a little collection of ones that I have found "in the wild" (left in public places so evil atheists will find them and possibly convert after reading them). They are a nice complement to my collection of "paranoid conspiracy theorist" flyers I have gathered over the years.
 
Parkaboy said:
The Essenes were Gnostics Jews but Jesus may have been influenced by them, and there are gnostic Christians (like Philip K Dick for example), so Kult should qualify..
Click to expand...

Gnosticism is at least as divergent as Judaism and Islam from mainstream Christianity theology that I'd consider it a separate religion. For all I know, that may be true of (an assumed historical) Jesus's personal beliefs; certainly some of the apocrypha leans towards gnostic ideas, but I'd say that on a fundamental level, Gnosticism isn't compatible with what I'd call "Nicaean Christianity".

 
carpocratian said:
Growing up here in Texas, I used to frequently ride my bike down to "Martus Christian Books" up the street. They had a big spinner rack of Chick tracts, which I would stand and read through fairly often. I'm sure the clerks didn't mind me doing that because they thought I was learning to be a good, moral, God-fearing child. The reality was that I was an atheist (even as a child) and viewed them as over-the-top bizarre horror comic books. I enjoyed reading them the same way I might have done with Eerie or Creepy or Vampirella magazines. I still have a little collection of ones that I have found "in the wild" (left in public places so evil atheists will find them and possibly convert after reading them). They are a nice complement to my collection of "paranoid conspiracy theorist" flyers I have gathered over the years.
Click to expand...

There was an elderly couple in Salem that used to spend their retirement hanging out at the main bus station downtown all day and passing out Chick tracts. They were sweet, kindly people, that had no idea the ironic entertainment value my friends and I got from the little comics, but it was like one of my favourite things. I guess they ordered these things in bulk, and every week they'd have a different one. Despite the nature of Chick Tracts, they were never "fire and brimstone" about anything, just kind old people trying to do their part to, uh, Save the world I guess.
 
carpocratian said:
Growing up here in Texas, I used to frequently ride my bike down to "Martus Christian Books" up the street. They had a big spinner rack of Chick tracts, which I would stand and read through fairly often. I'm sure the clerks didn't mind me doing that because they thought I was learning to be a good, moral, God-fearing child. The reality was that I was an atheist (even as a child) and viewed them as over-the-top bizarre horror comic books. I enjoyed reading them the same way I might have done with Eerie or Creepy or Vampirella magazines. I still have a little collection of ones that I have found "in the wild" (left in public places so evil atheists will find them and possibly convert after reading them). They are a nice complement to my collection of "paranoid conspiracy theorist" flyers I have gathered over the years.
Click to expand...

I genuinely am of an age to have seen those Chick Tracts in the wild of public bathrooms. :gooselove: I thought they were just precious. I would have kept some, but they were from public bathrooms (yes, plural), and honestly who knows where they've been and what they touched. :crossed: I used toilet papered hands to open them like it was an explosive text and then later realized it was nowhere near as dirty, raunchy, and filthy as I was hoping... but still too dirty by bathroom locality to bring home. :angel:

TristramEvans said:
There was an elderly couple in Salem that used to spend their retirement hanging out at the main bus station downtown all day and passing out Chick tracts. They were sweet, kindly people, that had no idea the ironic entertainment value my friends and I got from the little comics, but it was like one of my favourite things. I guess they ordered these things in bulk, and every week they'd have a different one. Despite the nature of Chick Tracts, they were never "fire and brimstone" about anything, just kind old people trying to do their part to, uh, Save the world I guess.
Click to expand...

:worried: *gasp!* So it was them leaving those in the bathrooms!:hurry: For shame! :crygoose:
 
carpocratian said:
Growing up here in Texas, I used to frequently ride my bike down to "Martus Christian Books" up the street. They had a big spinner rack of Chick tracts, which I would stand and read through fairly often. I'm sure the clerks didn't mind me doing that because they thought I was learning to be a good, moral, God-fearing child. The reality was that I was an atheist (even as a child) and viewed them as over-the-top bizarre horror comic books. I enjoyed reading them the same way I might have done with Eerie or Creepy or Vampirella magazines. I still have a little collection of ones that I have found "in the wild" (left in public places so evil atheists will find them and possibly convert after reading them). They are a nice complement to my collection of "paranoid conspiracy theorist" flyers I have gathered over the years.
Click to expand...
Ah, Chick Tracts. Now we're hitting all the oldies.

I was a Christian, but also found them compelling in the same strange way. I could clearly see they were propaganda, yet I felt compelled to read them similar to rubbernecking while driving by a horrid car accident. Maybe just to try to understand what was going on in his head?
 
Last edited:
SJB said:
A clear winner, based on title alone.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com www.drivethrurpg.com
Click to expand...

Odd decision to have the players playing Angels in Sodom and Gomorrah where they would just be bystanders. It is Lot and his family in S&G who have all the interesting moral dilemmas to deal with

Edit: Oh, I see this is by design. A poor design choice.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top