It’s our one hundred fiftieth episode, and we are excited! We’ve got a lot of people to thank, of course, and spend a couple minutes at the top of the show doing that. We’ve also got a touch of podcast business, and a mention of a recent episode of the Marengo Holy Happy Hour radio show that Peter appeared on to talk about gaming and Saving the Game. Finally, Grant has a specific shoutout to give to his friends Patrick and Tyler for helping with his Vampire game questions. (If you want a chance to play in their incredible games, by the way, check out The Gauntlet!) Oh, and there’s an airhorn.

Our incredibly timely Patreon question comes from Kenning, who asks “What is your favorite episode of this podcast so far?”

After our Scripture readings, we start in on our topic proper: Why we love games! Our answers are mostly about stories and experiences, but also systems, community, self-exploration, and more. Naturally, we want to hear yours as well!

Also mentioned in this episode: The Miskatonic University board game; Epidiah Ravachol, A Scoundrel in the Deep, and Worlds Without Master; One Shot’s actual play of A Scoundrel in the Deep; LoadingReadyRun; and Adam Koebel.

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11, John 13:35, Acts 2:46-47, Hebrews 10:23-25

Krissi Woodward joins us again this episode to help Grant and Jenny speak a little less, since they’re both pretty sick in this episode, and to talk about character backstories with everyone! Krissi’s been on a few previous episodes can be found on Twitter as @d20mom.

We catch up a bit and talk about our upcoming streaming schedule over on Twitch, and then answer a question about fictional characters we’d want to GM for from Patreon supporter Richard Lorenz. Then after our Scripture readings, we dive into character backstories: What makes a good background, common pitfalls, some general advice, and the methods we each use for coming up with backstories for our characters.

Scripture: Genesis 37: 19-26, Isaiah 43: 18-19, Acts 9:1-6, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

This week, we’re talking about positive metagaming! First, we catch up a bit and recap what games we’ve played recently (including Peter’s terrifying encounter with a flock of seagulls and Jenny’s Beyond the Wall game.) Then, Grant goes on for a while about the Link to the Past Randomizer race at AGDQ 2018 (seriously, it’s fascinating.) We also answer a simple question from Patreon supporter Francisco, who asks if we prefer roller coasters or 4D immersive movie rides.

Then, after our Scripture reading, we delve into various ways players should be metagaming at their table. (No, seriously, ignore or correct Wikipedia’s outdated opinion on this.) We cover everything from facilitating productive play, to buy-in, to content management, and much more. Enjoy, share, and as always, comment below!

Scripture: 2 Kings 6:15-17, Proverbs 25:25-27, Acts 23:6-10

I have a small admission to make: I’ve been feeling frustrated and dissatisfied lately. Some of this stems from ongoing anxiety issues I’ve got, and some stems from everyday life: Work, family, costs of living, and so forth. Some of it stems from producing a podcast—not that I mind, obviously, but scheduling guests and editing shows eats up time. All that said, though, the source of much of this pervasive dissatisfaction has been very hard to pin down.

A few of you may remember that I tried picking up oil painting last year. I’d been looking for some time for a creative outlet, because I was feeling stifled and frustrated by a lack of creative production (I thought.) That … did not work out. I still love the idea of painting, but with two young children who need lots of attention in my life right now I don’t have the time to teach myself something that uses up expensive supplies whether you paint well or paint poorly. Oil painting was only one attempt, though. I tried writing poetry. I looked very seriously into setting up a pottery studio. I’d previously mentioned learning how to make stained glass, and my wife and I bandied that around a bit. I’d been weighing buying a Wacom tablet to try digital painting (thinking that easy access to an undo button would relieve a lot of the pressure and stress of painting with actual paint.) None of these were feasible, and those that were didn’t really seem to ‘click’ when I tried them. The struggle to find “the right outlet” to dispel this vague sense of creative stagnation, and the broad sense that things should somehow be better, only added to my frustration!

About two weeks ago, though, I had a small epiphany while doing the dishes and talking with my wife Krissi. I realized that I wasn’t looking to learn something creative. I was looking to learn something—to re-engage the love of learning I still identified with, but had let fall dormant over the past few years. I’d originally defined the problem, and thus the set of potential solutions, incorrectly from the moment I started looking at it; and I’d spent over a year frustrated because the solutions weren’t right for the actual problem.

This sort of error is pretty common, to be fair. Introspection is difficult for most of us at the best of times. When we’re unhappy, frustrated, and dissatisfied with our current condition, we’re even less likely to be able to clearly analyze our situation and correctly define the problems facing us. And when we’re dealing with other people—say, in a regular gaming group, or at church and in church groups—our relationships with people in those groups complicate this sort of analysis even further.

My gaming groups have historically been excellent. Aside from my very, very first campaign (which I think was some weird Palladium game with a college gaming club? There’s a half-remembered story for an episode someday…) every group I’ve joined was mostly made up of my good friends—even the avowedly terrible games. I’ve never had to resort to pick-up games with strangers, whether on forums or that ancient, arcane rite of posting a flyer on my FLGS’s bulletin board. And the ties between us as friends have stayed much stronger than the tie to any one specific game or campaign.

That’s not to say I haven’t been frustrated by our group’s games, though. Good GMing is an art form which requires practice, but the same is true of being a good player. Some games were atrociously bad for obvious reasons. Others had subtler weaknesses—a strong concept but weak collective execution, or a mismatch between player goals and GM goals that went unstated and unaddressed. One of the things we stress on Saving the Game is clear, healthy communication between game participants as people at (and away from) the table. If I learned anything from those struggling games (and some went on for several years) it’s just how important that is. Our Fellowship game has been particularly good for this lately, perhaps because the Overlord’s player has never GM’d before and actively asks for help and feedback.

That’s the thing: Right now, there are people playing games they don’t enjoy because they can’t or won’t open up to the other players and tell them that something’s frustrating them. Even some who will do that won’t then ask the group to help pin down what the real problem is. Without support, they’ll misidentify the problem, and either take drastic action which breaks an otherwise fixable game (or group), or create a cycle of frustration as solution after solution fails.

If only this were limited to games.

My wife’s much wiser than I am, of course. That’s why she’s been teaching herself Japanese in her limited spare time these past few months.

Krissi’s been a full-time mom for five years, with one brief stint of employment before Kid #2 came along. We have great kids, and watching children grow up and be awesome is incredibly rewarding, but it’s also sort of a trap. Aside from going to the gym, grocery shopping, and taking the kids to school and such, she rarely gets to leave the house. She gets no time for herself during the day, because everything really does revolve around the kids. Diapers, meal times, naps, constant noise and demands for attention … it’s exhausting. (Don’t think I don’t know what you do for us, dear. You’re fantastic.) Going to the gym is fine physically, but she’s needed to do something for her mind for a while now.

Why Japanese? A few reasons: A love for anime; a long-standing desire to travel to Japan; and deep curiosity about a language far removed from the Romance languages we’re more familiar with, especially her high-school Spanish. Perhaps some other reasons as well. Regardless, she’s buckled down and learned a great deal in a short amount of time. And I can tell you that she’s been much happier with herself. Our five-year-old daughter noticed, too. She asked to learn a language, without any prompting from us other than a conversation we had about language families. (She thought the idea that languages could have families was hilarious when she overheard Krissi and me discussing them.)

After sampling a few languages at a very basic level (thanks to the magic of YouTube), and probably watching one too many episodes of Dora the Explorer, she selected Spanish. She loved it, and has since stuck with it far longer than I ever expected. Her pride in learning something was palpable, and infectious. Our house had suddenly turned multi-lingual, with everyone learning a new language (even the one-year-old.) Except me, because I hadn’t rediscovered that learning is fun yet.

It wasn’t until Krissi asked me, not what creative hobby I might want to try, but what I wanted to learn that everything clicked into place. And then I couldn’t shut up about it.

I’ve never been the sort to bounce from congregation to congregation, looking for “the right church”. I’ve seen plenty of people do so, however. Too many of those give up on going to church altogether. Most can’t explain even to themselves what they’re really hoping to find at “the right church,” and so their reasons for quitting particular churches and moving on often seem trivial. Their excuses typically mask a more difficult-to-explain disquiet: If you can’t clearly and correctly explain what you’re looking for, you’ll almost always end up looking for the wrong thing.

Often, these people are scratching around the edges of deeper questions about God and Christ and His relationship to them that they’re uncomfortable openly scrutinizing. Too many Christians shame those struggling with their faith into covering up their doubts, rather than acknowledging those questions and seeking to help the doubtful find answers and strengthen their faith. “Believe” and “have faith” are twisted into “don’t question” and “say the right things.” The full richness of God is emptied of meaning. Is it any wonder that the hurting and the doubting struggle to find what they really seek, when they cannot?

If we can’t help each other ask questions, can we ever hope to help each other find answers? If we can’t ask the most important questions about God, engaging our intellects and opening up our hearts, can we ever hope to hear or understand His answers?

I started teaching myself Korean the weekend before last—한글, or Hangul.

Why Korean? A few reasons: I knew the script was well-designed, which would make learning easier. I knew nothing else about it, which made me very curious indeed. I watch a lot of professional esports, which Korean players often dominate; and while I don’t want to come across as the worst sort of Korean fanboy (much as Krissi doesn’t want to come across as a weeaboo), the possibility of reading Korean esports news did intrigue me. Perhaps some other reasons as well.

I debated several different languages, bouncing ideas off my wife and weighing my options. The finalists were Korean, Chinese (of some variety), Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. (A fun, if not exactly complimentary, fact about myself: If I’d picked Japanese too, I’d immediately have started competing with Krissi in my head and ruined the joy of learning for its own sake—for both of us.) Perhaps one day I’ll come back to those; they all have their own appeal.

So far, it’s been a delightful process. I can’t say I’ve learned much Korean in a week and a half, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I have learned in that time. I can feel old mental muscles limbering up, stagnant rot washed away by clear water. My wife and I excitedly compare Japanese and Korean grammar (and Android keyboards for our respective languages.) I have something new to look forward to every day—something fulfilling. Something that reminds me of one of the most wondrous passages in all of Scripture, which gives me shivers every time I read it:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

 

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

 

—Acts 2:1-12

It seems I needed to be reminded of what that does mean: “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.” (Acts 2:25-26) Very likely, I’m not alone in that.

So speak up. Ask questions without assumption, and do so together in trust and fellowship. Most of all, be ready to hear hard questions rather than to silence them—and to each other help find answers. The Lord has given us tongues with which to share them.

The image featured in this post is “Pentecost” by Jean Restout II, 1732.

In this episode, Grant and Peter discuss naming characters and renaming characters! We kick things off with a conversation about the games Grant’s playing right now—Pugmire, Fellowship, and No Thank You, Evil!—and attempt to answer a question from Patreon backer Rich about play-by-post gaming. Then after quite a lot of Scripture (and really, it’s a small sampling of what could have been used for this particular topic) we start in on the difficult art of naming your character: Why it’s so difficult, what goes into a character’s name, and different ways to come up with the right name. Then, we discuss renaming characters—an underutilized dramatic tool for both players and game-masters. That segues into additional names for characters, and when these new names might be added. Finally, we wrap up with a brief discussion on the weight of a name.

The sermon Grant mentioned as inspiring this topic—and a much weightier topic to come—can be found here. Again, we strongly recommend listening to it! Special thanks to Rev. Justin Cazel.

Scripture: Genesis 17:3-6, Genesis 41:50-52, Isaiah 62:1-2, Matthew 1:20-21, Matthew 16:17-18, Acts 13:6-11, Revelation 2:17

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. – Acts 10:34-35

Gaming, as we have stated many times before, has the potential to be a powerful tool for good. You need look no further than our dear friends at The Bodhana Group to see that.

It also has a dark side.

If you’re unfamiliar with Saving the Game, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this post. My name is Peter, and along with my co-host Grant, I do a biweekly podcast about tabletop roleplaying games and collaborative storytelling from an explicitly Christian perspective. We agree that part of the responsibility of speaking about gaming from a Christian perspective is helping the gaming community be friendly, welcoming and most importantly safe for everyone, Christian or not.

Grant and I have been progressively more disturbed by a steady trickle of stories of people who aren’t like us (white, middle-class, middle-aged men) being given the cold shoulder, mocked, and even intimidated or abused by gamers, sometimes to the point where they leave the hobby or never even give it a chance. There was a time when I didn’t really know this problem was there – to the point where I got into at least one argument about the extent of the problem a few years back.

Sadly, I’ve been shown just how limited my perspective was, and what I saw during that process grieved me deeply and made me not a little angry.

We spoke about this with Mike Perna back in Episode 66 when we addressed the topic of gatekeeping, but unfortunately, in that episode, I think we wound up mostly preaching to the choir – our listeners, when we’ve met them in person and talked to them online, have been kind, gracious folks (actually, we’re kind of counting on that, but more about that later) and not predisposed to gatekeeping.

Which is why we want to listen to and share your stories.

If you have been treated badly by gamers, or someone else in the larger hobby, we want to hear what you have to say. In hearing your story, passing it on to our listeners, and talking about it, we hope to equip our listenership to notice the warning signs of gamer abuse and intimidation and stop it before it really gets started or just plain stop it if it’s started already. And frankly, the less you’re like Grant and me, the better. We want to hear from people of different ethnic backgrounds, women, people with non-traditional sexual orientations and identities, people with disabilities, people who aren’t neurotypical, people with differing worldviews, and anyone else who has a relevant story to tell. And, if you’ll let us, we’d like to share your experiences with our community in an episode (or maybe two) we’re chomping at the bit to record as soon as we’ve got some stories to share and your permission to do so.

We’re doing this because we sincerely believe that our listeners are a good place to start changing the community from the inside out. If you want us to keep your story anonymous when we record, but still share it stripped of names and locations, we will. If you want to come on the aforementioned episode and actually talk to us about your experiences, we’d be humbled and grateful. After all, God wants everyone brought into community, and that starts with love, acceptance, and a willingness to defend those who are being mistreated or oppressed.

To contact us, you can use any of the following options. Please let us know if you don’t want us to share your story on the podcast or on social media, or if you want to remain anonymous when we do so; and if either of those are true, please use one of our more private channels.

• The comments section below
• Our “Contact Us” page
• Email us at hosts [at] stgcast [dot] org
• Twitter
• Facebook (either as a message or on our page directly)
• Google+

If some other means or format is better for you, of course, let us know. We want your story, and we’ll happily work with you to help you get it to us.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. – Romans 12:9-13

If you are one of our many beloved gamer doppelgangers out there, we’d like some help from you too:

1. First and foremost: If you have a friend or family member who has been through this phenomenon we’re describing, please put them in touch with us.

2. Second and only slightly less important: Start doing some research of your own into this problem. If you’ve been blessed as I have been to game with a diverse group of people since day one and then your primary internet gaming “family” is the oasis of love and compassion that is the greater Fear the Boot community, you may find it hard to believe that the problem exists, so steel yourself and start looking.

Our goal in this project is to shine some light into the darker corners of our hobby until, well, frankly, the light is normal.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:28

Former Methodist minister and current Wizards of the Coast writer James Wyatt joins us to talk about designing pantheons for fantasy settings! James is a long-time D&D writer with a multitude of major credits, and he’s currently writing for the Magic: the Gathering creative team. That experience shows in this conversation, which covers the qualities of well-designed pantheons, their essential natures, and a multitude of design details relevant to your campaign world. We also talk about Shadows Over Innistrad and “The Lunarch Inquisition“, James’s recent story set there; Plane Shift: Zendikar, which turns that Magic: the Gathering setting into a home for D&D 5th Edition adventures; the paradox of the Cross; our first “gaming curriculum” episode; and Thursten. We talk a lot about Thursten. Enjoy!

Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:17, Job 4:15-17, Acts 17:22-26

Grant and Peter reprise Episode 60’s “Gaming Curriculum” topic, with another set of suggested media! These are things we think you should read, watch, play, or experience away from the gaming table which will make you a better player and gamemaster. Check the full show notes below for links to everything we mentioned during the show! Plus, we spend a lot of time talking about Clockwork Empires—reflecting how much time Grant’s been putting into the game.

Don’t forget that we’re raising funds for The Bodhana Group, which uses tabletop RPGs in cognitive therapy applications for hurting children. For more details, visit our fundraiser page or listen to Episode 25, where we interviewed Bodhana’s Executive Director and learned all about the great work they do. If you want to help them, please consider giving to them this holiday season!

Scripture: Proverbs 22:6, Acts 8:26-31

Settings

• The Earthsea series of novels, by Ursula K. le Guin
• Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler
• Extra History, by Extra Credits
• Crash Course, by John & Hank Green
• The Fallout series of games, by Bethesda Game Studios

Plots

• Phone Booth, directed by Joel Schumacher
• Sojourn and other anthologies
• The “Doc Savage” series of novels, by William G. Bogart and others
• The “Arthurian Saga” by Mary Stewart
• Radiant Historia, by Atlus Games

Characters

• The Overwatch trailer and characters, by Blizzard Entertainment
• Princess Mononoke, by Hiyao Miyazaki
• The Mass Effect series of games, by Bioware
• The Discworld series of novels, by Sir Terry Pratchett

Theme

• Spec Ops: The Line, by Yager Development
• The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont
• Ponyo by Hayao Miyazaki and The Little Mermaid by Ron Clements & John Musker
• Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse

Other Recommendations

• The Boy Scout Handbook and the Army Field Manual, among other practical guides
• The Riverworld series of novels, by Phillip José Farmer
• Peter’s “Gaming Curriculum: Extra Credit” and “Gaming Curriculum: Extra Credit, Part II” blog posts
• Freakangels, by Warren Ellis & Paul Duffield
• The MacGuffin Factory podcast, by Innroads Ministries
• The Guin Saga, by Kaoru Kurimoto
• Table Titans, by Scott Kurtz