The boys talk about their recent bouts of gaming, as well as their plans for Halloween. Naturally, we talk about what games are great for those Halloween game nights, and discuss the nature of Halloween for those who claim Christ (which we may have already done in the past – but I site the title of this episode in response to any and all comments)
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Hey Guys,
Sorry to hear you didn’t like We Didn’t Playtest This At All (or whatever it’s proper title is). Though it’s been a while, I enjoyed it. It did have issues, but overall I thought it was fun. I think the downside was a lack of different cards to keep changing up outcomes. After a bit you knew what to expect.
Regarding Halloween, I think the area many Christians take exception with Halloween, is the glorification of evil. True, there are some that look at it from the standpoint of spiritual warfare, but there are also many who have seen the acceptance of truly gruesome and horrific images as normal and/or acceptable. I think we all can acknowledge the desensitization of children.
Growing up, I was not allowed to go trick or treating, but wanted to. As an adult I’ve participated in haunted houses and the like. What has actually made me examine my (and my families) participation is seeing the continued escalation of gore and general darkness. Now that in and of itself isn’t so bad, but seeing younger parents (I’m in my mid 30s) bringing young children (under 10… some under 5) into these places boggles my mind. When challenged, you’ll hear many say that it’s just part of Halloween or even that they’re going to see it eventually anyhow. It’s one thing for an adult to get a scare, but another for a child to be in tears.
Now, I know you two are not advocating any of that.. rather the opposite I’d imagine. My comment is the enthusiastic attitude towards “evil” that is paraded and even lauded this time of year. It’s not just about little kids dressing up, but the desire “be” evil, or the ok to be evil if just for a short time.
Being gamers, I think we can all name people who live Halloween every day, and it’s not for the candy. While that’s not everyone, it does start being “ok” somewhere. Additionally, I’d hate to be a stumbling block for others who don’t know what lines I draw and where, but simply look that I participate.
That being said, my wife wants to dress them up, and I’m ok with that but I certainly maintain “fun” rather than “scary.”
Regarding evil RPG characters, we’ve more or less banned them in our home games. For us, RPGs are a leisure activity. For us, evil characters we’re entirely too destructive to the campaign. The only exceptions is when the PCs all know that a character is evil, but trying to turn over a new leaf or a PC became evil, but is struggling. Even then it can be difficult because the party (if they are playing their characters) most often will either abandon the evil character, kill the character themselves for evil acts (or mistreatment) or otherwise turn them in.
Now, that being said, evil PCs can be hilarious to watch and bring interesting interaction. In many games we have dumped alignment save for “good” and “evil”. I think it makes the characters perceive their characters differently. Good PCs are actively working for the betterment of people while evil PCs are consumed by utterly selfish motives and unrepentance. The GM under these scenarios assigns the alignment, rather than the characters picking. Depending on the game, there are effects. Anyhow, characters all typically do something evil or questionable and that’s ok to a degree. If I am a GM (sorry I play Rifts a lot, so the term used is GM rather than DM) I look for the character’s reactions and thoughts and most importantly.. their actions moving forward. MOSTLY however, we play for adventure.
God Bless,
-RC
RC,
I (Luke) think you make a great point about gore and violence. I tend to avoid these as I just don’t enjoy them. It is appalling to me to see parents taking their children to violent and scary movies. While it is probably not the right fit for this show the general moral degradation of society is what is really frightening. I have two daughters, one of which is crossing over into tween territory, and I am very strict with what they can watch. Even shows on Disney and PBS cross my line never mind anything in primetime. I have fond memories of The Cosby Show, The Wonder Years and a dozen other shows that I watched with my family growing up. We don’t have much of that any more. Thank goodness for Duck Dynasty. Faith, Family, Ducks FTW!
I haven’t even listened to the show, but I had to respond.
RC…you PLAY Rifts? I didn’t realize anyone actually played that…isn’t the standing joke that it is the greatest game no one has actually played?
I picked up a couple of the World books, Japan, England and maybe an adventure one, at a thrift store once (a dollar apiece!) and about once a month I find my son (17) just leafing through one of them. The other day, I over hear my son and his friend: “And you can, basically, upload your essence into a giant, robotic DRAGON!” “That’s awesome!”