As most of you know, I recently went to GameStorm 11 to represent us, the Christian Gamers Guild, and I am also on ConCom for the event. We had 500 pre-registered members via pay-pal, with a total turn out of over 700, and sold all our room blocks in the hotel. I was in charge of scheduling RPGs, and I scheduled over 119 events. I also ran six games and was on seven panel discussions, and we also did a worship service. Guest of Honor were Any Collins and Rob Heinso from WOTC. We also had Greg Gordon (EarthDawn & upcoming MM2 from WOTC), Jonathan Tweet (WOTC, 3E author), Anthony Prior (white wolf), Rhiana Wulf (white wolf, privateer press), and Mike Selinker (loneshark games, the guys behind Rob Bell's Society of Virtue web-based RPG), Mike Poundsmith (Cyberpunk, Teenage Advengers, Hollow Earth, etc.), and Ed Greenwood & Monte Cook poped in to bug Rob at one point, but didn't stay, just popped in to say "hey". We also, as we do every year since 2005, had Dead Gentlemen Productions come down and screen their latest endeavors. This year it was "Dorkness Rising", the sequel to "Gamers".
Now the fun part; Details:
A> Special Events:
1> How to Host and Run a Weekly Game Night: This panel was neat, as we had
Aaron Curtis (one of the three founders of GameStorm and a host of a weekly boardgame night at his home, and is the keeper to the GameStorm and OSFCI game libraries in his basement garage... it has over 400 titles in it and counting), Andy and Kristen Loonie (Loonie Lab Games, makers of Fluxx, Aquarius, Trailer Park Life, etc.), Al Bedlow (20 year Air Force retiree, and game demo guy for Mongoose(and SBC)), and myself. And we talked mostly about what makes great game nights and hosting experiences and what doesn't. Saturation points, bad gamers, expectations, etc. It was a good panel. Andy and Kristen Loonie are excellent panelists that really know their stuff on this issue. They have had a weekly game night with between 15 and 30 people at their home for over 20 years.
2> Gaming and Religion: During this panel we discussed the various positive
aspects of gaming and religion in general. The panel consisted of Rhiannon Louve, a self-described Contemporary Pagan, and Mike Selinker, whom didn't indicate what he was faith wise but implied that he was a "leftist Christian" (his words not mine) by virtue of his work with Rob Bell, and myself. However, Jonathan Tweet was in the audience as well, and was full of questions, for me in particular. Oh, by the way, before I forget, Dave, Mike says Hi! Mike talked briefly about Citizens of Virtue and some of the stereotypes that people have about Christians, and Christians have about gaming in general. I started to talk about the history of Christian RPGs, and the definition of what is a "Christian RPG" and the various views on what that term means, but then go bunny trailed by Jonathan's questions about the Guild. Then I took some time to explain who we are here, and our statement of neutrality in gaming and so forth. Then we got into a discussion of the nine point alignment system and it's impact on gaming and how it serves as a great point of discussion. Jonathan didn't come right out and say it, but he seemed to agree with our panel's assessment that removal of it from 4th Ed. was a mistake. I explained that one of the main conclusions that I drew from our Guild discussions was the Law means Obedience; and Chaos on the Good side means Liberty and freewill, and Chaos on the Evil side means License and abandon. But I drove home the point that God is above such distinctions, and used Christ's statement on Mark 8 about beware of the Levin of the Pharisees and Herodians (the conservatives and the liberals... the lawfuls and the chaotics). So Jesus had to have been Neutral Good... good by any means necessary. Not to mention the fact that He is the Creator, so the whole "nature thing" is His. Mike brought up the three "different" "horse thief" stories in the Bible, where Jesus tells his disciples to get him a horse. The Matthew story says that the diciples took a horse and were stopped and asked why they were taking the pony and they tell the person it was because Jesus the Meshiah needed it. The other story, Mark, just says they took the horse. I interrupted and corrected him and told him that the third story gives us a better picture (yeah, Luke!), were Jesus gives them DETAILED INSTURCTIONS on were to FIND the horse that God had prepared for them to get. So it wasn't three different stories, but before I could finish my sentence (which would have been, "but the same story told by three different authors with three different goals in mind for relating the information"), Jonathan Tweet interrupted me and said "Yes they are" and Mike kept going... so I was polite and let him finish, as a did agree with the point he was making. That we as Christians sometimes see things in our own little box, and if it's outside that box, it's not valid. I would have liked to have debated that point because I would have walked all over them on it, but it wasn't the point of the panel (it wasn't a debate), and I'd rather make friends then be a jerk. I wasn't there to hurt anyone's feelings or attack their faith.
3> Gaming and Satanism: During this panel we gave out a handout that
contained several links to various websites that dealt with the issue of Satanism and Gaming, including Mike Stackpools Pulling Report, the CGG FAQ (if you all haven't read our own FAQ that Mark and Lynette wrote, you need too), and an article on Moral Panic (http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art9-roleplaying-print.html). The panel consisted of Myself, Rhia, and Anthony Pryor, whom stated that he was a Agnostic currently attending a Unitarian church. The first thing we did is spend about 5 minutes stating that Satanism in Gaming is a dead issue from two decades ago, and most leaders in the church now days are from our generation, and have more serious concerns about Gaming. I boiled them down to 5, and we discussed them. 1> False Religion, 2> Magic/non-Christian Supernatural (which is really a sub-category of #1), 3> Violence, 4> Adult Content, and 5> Obsession. And I termed them as valid concerns, not condemnations. Andy Collins poped in for that one, but only briefly.
4> Getting the most out of GameStorm. I won't bore you with this one...
5> History of Gaming (I came in really late to that one). Rob Heinso, Greg
Gordon, Anthony Pryor, Jonathan Tweet, and Andy Collins were also on the panel, but only Greg, Rob, and Anthony choose to sit up front on the panel table. Rob lead the discussion and gave a history of gaming up to now, and then questioned us about what games were paramount in our gaming development as players/GMs. After the panel and had Jonathan sign my 3E PHB, 3.5PHB, my wife's 3.5E PHB (which he left an interesting comment to her in) and my D&D Adventure Guide from the boxed set (I also had Andy sign it along with my 4e PHB and my wife's 4e PHB). He then cornered me with a lot of questions about Christian Gamers, the Christian Gamers Guild, and so forth. I asked him what his religious affiliation was, and told him it wasn't to vilify anyone, but simply have more facts. We want to stand for the truth and not vilify anyone. That's not what we are about. He said that he was raised Lutheran and then left and became an Atheist, and now goes to a Unitarian church, but considers himself an Atheist still. He asked me about how I knew that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson are Christians, and I told him it was because they told us, and in fact we had some conversations with Gary in particular. And mentioned Gary's struggle with his Christology, as leaning Arian, but that he stated plainly to me in an e-mail that he was not affiliated with the JWs in any way. He asked me what I thought the percentage of gamers were Christians. I told him that it was in my experience that a lot of gamers are Christians, at least out here. Probably more so then the general population. Out here only 4% of the population is "Churched" in Washington and Oregon ("Churched" being defined as someone whom claims to be a "Christian" and attends church at least twice a month, so that includes Mormans, JWs, etc.). According to the 2000 Barna report (which is really old now), 80% of America is "Christian", of which only 38% claim to be "Evangelical", and only 50% of "Evangelical". When I talk with gamers, I think those numbers are much higher in the gaming community. And he asked my why I thought that was. I told him that I thought it was due to the relationship that Gaming has with Myth. I disagree with Moyers on most things, but his study on the relationship with Myth and motivational drives in people was spot on. RPGs are an imaginative interactive expression of Myth. Also, the need to explore Wordlview issues is an important part of Christian experience. That's why TV shows that deal with worldview issues like CSI, Law & Order, SVU, 24, Criminal Minds, ER, etc. do so well. Entertainment media that ignores or avoids worldview issues doesn't do well, while media that explores worldview issues does well. Gaming, when done right, ALWAYS explores worldview issues. And thus is attractive to Christians once the concerns are dealt with. He missed the panel on Satanims, and so I recapped it for him. Anyway, it was great to chat with him at length about a subject I love... my faith! He seems to have a lot of knowledge on religious history and so forth.
6> Worship Service: This year, because I was so busy with preparing for my
panels and games and being on ConCom, I let Chris Weedin of Crucifixion Games run the whole service. We didn't do any singing this year, but instead did more of a "Sunday school" format. I opened in prayer. Then we each told a> our name and where we are from, b> our church we attend, c> what games we are playing, d> what you would like God to help you with, and
e> what game genre we would like to be in. For e> I said Bela Sara; because
in reality, if all I had to worry about was feeding my horses rather then fighting monsters or getting shot at, that would be great. We then paired up and did an exorcise using Horror Rules (shameless plug on his part), to design the "Perfect Christian". And then came back together and discussed it. Then I closed in prayer.
7> Gaming and Morality: This panel was not about weather gaming was moral
or not, but about what GMs can do to encourage players to exorcise morality in the game. Josh "Skull" Dixon (Indie Hurricane, cross roads of eternity), Travis Brown (indi Hurricane, cross roads of eternity), Chris Weedin (Horror Rules), Al Bedlow (former demo man for WOTC, WizKids, and currently demo man for Mongoose, 20 year Air Force retired), and myself were on the panel. We first talked about our baseline for morality. That Faith is a key factor in what a persons' baseline for what is good and evil. Then how that extends out into society in general, and what we all as Americans hold to as far as norms for morality based upon Judeo-Christian ethics. We then discussed the 9 point alignment system a little bit, and the Paladium alignment system. Then Chris' Horror Rules Morality system (which we all agreed was really Cool!). Sinful, Selfish, Moral, and Saintly. Any of which could be Good or Evil. A Sinful character could be "good" in terms of society if done right (Hitler in 1930's Germany), and likewise a Saintly character could be "evil" in terms of society (Jack Bauer in 24). Then we discussed how to set the tone for a game, and how that plays into helping players to play more moral characters in the game. And then we talked about ways of enforcing the moral code, whichever one we use in character development, in the play context. It was a great discussion.
8> GMs, Good and Bad: This is the panel that I was scheduled to be on with
Andy Collins, Al Bedlow, KC Humphry (Panty Explosion, Game Lab, Indie Hurricane), and Rhiannon Louve. I ended up not being on the panel as the Browns' had to leave early and I wanted to run my Savage Worlds Marines game for them. So I blew off the panel and ran a short 2 hour op for the Browns and their friends with them, before I ran the scheduled version. So I don't know what happened or who was on the panel. Which is too bad, as I kind of wanted to get to know Andy Collins a bit better, and ask him about his religious background for the record. Same goes for Rob Heinso. But the Savage Game as a kick.
B> Games:
1> Stuff I Played; Aquarius: I got to sit down with the Chair of GameStorm,
Beverly Block (who is also in my weekly 4th Edition game with her fiancé' Stephe, who was in charge of Reg), and Kristen Loonie and Kristen taught us how to play Aquarius, which has been out of print for several years, but is coming out new this fall in a 10th anniversary edition (which we got to play the prototype of). It was a fun card game that has a strategy for both kids level of play to hard core strategists.
2> Stuff I ran: I ran seven game. AD&D 2nd Edition (2 events). Claymore (2
events). Savage Worlds: Hyperdrive, based on the BBC Wales comedy/scifi show that had a brief 12 episode run. Savage Worlds: Space Marines vs. Al Quada Zombies, which is a fun little blend of Modern Ops and fantasy/scifi cliché. And my "Phase Fudge" Raw Recruits game, based loosly on DragonStar's Raw Recruits adventure, but with a more multi-genre net.
C> SWAG I won: 4th Edition Adventures Vault, signed by Rob Heinso. 4th
Edition Martial Power, signed by Rob Heinso. 4th Edition P1 Adventure. Cyperpunk 2024 (new printing), signed by Mike Pondsmith, and three Cyberpunk supplements. A brand new copy hot off the press of classic Travler, hardbound, with all the new updated artwork and tables. We'll need to get Mark Miller to come down from Tacoma next year as an industry Guest so I can get it signed. And 6 pink flamingo minis from Kristen Loonie promoting their Trailer Park Life game.
Conclusion: I would have liked to get to talk with Mike Pondsmith, Andy & Kristen Loonie, Monte Cook, Rob Heinso, Andy Collins, and Ed Greenwood about their religious background/affiliation or lack there of for the record. But at least I got to chat with Jonathan Tweet, Rhiannon Lovue, and Anthony Pryor on faith and gaming maters. I also was able to meet a new Baptist brother and fellow gamer there, and catch up with some of the others. Meeting and chating with the Brown's every year in person is also nice.
Thank you to all of you whom prayed for me, as I know that the Holy Spirit was using me, and I was more accepted by the industry people then I figured I would be as a result. I pray that God used me for His glory there, and that I had an impact.
Peace,
Rodney E. Barnes M.Div.
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