This post, in a fairly haphazard
fashion, marks the beginning of what will probably prove to be a semi-regular
blog concerned with the most important things in my life: my faith, my work...
and Dungeons & Dragons. The intersection between theology and faith on the
one hand, and a
game which was virulently protested by the evangelical Christian right on
the other, is a whole fascinating topic in itself; but one I’ll leave for
another day. (The occasional religious antagonism – for want of a better term –
on some D&D blogs is another thing I’d like to talk about;
not to criticise them, more to help me understand.)
Seeing as I’m due to start a new job as
a university chaplain, and am in the process of finishing a PhD in Theology and
Ethics, my faith and my work are pretty closely intertwined right now. But what
about D&D? I plan to talk in more detail in future posts about my own
playing experiences, the campaign world I’m currently DM’ing in, and the group
I DM for (which, probably unusually for a group DM’ed by a Methodist theologian,
is made up of six atheist and agnostic chemists). I love D&D as a game – as
escapism, competition, communal story-telling, and what have you – but I also
love thinking about the various ideologies and worldviews which have
contributed to the game over the years, and which bring their own
interpretations to the game today. (For example, I’m planning on writing something
about exegeting someone’s political beliefs from how they interpret D&D’s
(in)famous Law-Chaos/Good-Evil alignment system).
Anyway, that’s enough preamble, and
more than enough flame-bait. Next up: the first post proper, where talk briefly
about the theology of Stanley Hauerwas and try to relate it to the OSR’s*
laudable love for random tables. I know, right?
P.S. The blog title, “Beasts and
Saints,” comes from the name of a lovely little collection of myths about the
early Christian monks – known as the Desert Fathers (and Mothers) – and the
supernatural relationships they were said to enjoy with all sorts of wild
animals and strange desert creatures. The idea of a small group of people,
wandering into the wilderness to confront whatever awaits them there, is very
D&D, I think – even if they’re journeying for reasons more to do with
spirituality, and less to do with making money, than your average PC.
*For readers who might not be familiar
with D&D, I’ll be adding explanations of any new acronyms at the end of my
posts here. For example:
D&D – come on, seriously?
DM – Dungeon Master. The person who
acts as referee for the game. Might also be referred to as GM (Game Master), or
some variant thereof if you’re playing a D&D hack which needs to
demonstrate how very different it is to D&D.
OSR – Old School Renaissance/Revival/Rules/Rwhatever
you like, really
No comments:
Post a Comment