Dangerous Several Decades Ago

I said to my friend, Jon, a couple weeks ago that D&D is a great way to love people. I wound up repeating that line to other people, and now that I’ve heard myself say it out loud a few times, I’m absolutely sure of it.

I don’t know how D&D ever got a bad rap, because getting a bunch of teenagers to sit in the house stone cold sober and talk on a Saturday night is just about every parent’s impossible dream.

We’re not teenagers, but that’s totally what we did last Saturday. My Sunless Citadel game is so popular, at last count, 11 people wanted to play. We had seven on Saturday, and everyone had a good time, even though Borag the half-orc barbarian died a horrible, icy death. Oh, sweet Borag.

Apparently, like comic books, I'm attracted to anything that was irrationally considered dangerous several decades ago.

Straight-up proselytization via D&D is out. But, you know, good riddance. Instead, Jesus-worshippers get an opportunity to hang out with non-Jesus-worshippers and deal with all sorts of moral and ethical situations from this fantastic angle, with zero "witnessing" heebie-jeebies.

No one has to say "Jesus." It would be embarrassingly redundant. He's obviously there in the way his followers act and interact. And since the whole game is about interaction, there's plenty of opportunity for him to show up.

Look, this isn't Narnia. There's no Christian "theme" to the game any more than there is in real life.* There's just you and me making choices and loving our neighbors. And killing monsters and taking their stuff.


*Of course, real life is entirely Christian themed, but that forest is so very big, it's understandable that you'd see only trees.