niceness

The Church of Nice

It's no secret that many Christians have lapsed from our ancient, masculine faith into the modern Church of Nice. To defeat the Death Cult, the Church will have to tie on the head band, spit on her hands, and make some messes. TTRPG enthusiast and fellow Catholic theologian Rick Stump…
November 7, 202325 Comments
Western RPG

West vs West

Here at this blog, we're inclined to frame the crisis facing the West as a spiritual battle between Christendom and the totalizing Death Cult seeking to destroy it. But just yesterday, a reader pointed me to a post that examines our civilizational decline through the lens of video RPGs, which…
September 26, 202315 Comments
Virtual Force

Virtual Morality

A reader writes: There's a question I've been wondering; admittedly, it's not an issue of great philosophical importance, but still, one that I'd like answered; it has to do with video games. Recently I've heard arguments from Priests against the whole idea of violent video games and, to a certain…
June 20, 20236 Comments
Veil of the Void

Veil of the Void Yggdrasil

Vikings and mecha, you say? Look no further ... The Realm of Riachtan has long been at relative peace. There haven't been any major wars or galactic-wide threats to shake up the norm for quite some time. That is all about to change, however, as whispers of Ragnarök are on…
June 9, 2023
Monastery

Return to the Monastery

The mech genre poses several pressing questions and challenges for creators - and that goes double for game devs. Allow ground-up mech construction, or minute modification of stock templates? Dumb fire-and-forget rockets, or Macross missile spam? Granular wargame strategy or white-knuckle dogfights? To answer these and other burning questions, Mildra…
May 31, 2023
The Forest Calls

The Forest Calls

Gaming books don't get enough exposure on this blog, which is a huge oversight given the overlap between my audience and TTRPG players. By way of a course correction, here's a little something for you to check out: The Forest Calls! The Wilderkind is a supplement for Castles & Crusades,…
May 23, 20234 Comments
dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves

Accidental Death & Dismemberment

... is sorely lacking in the new D&D movie. Which, after all, is based on what at its heart a risk and resource management game. People assured me that this film adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons - the 4th overall, though it's a reimagining/reboot - doesn't insult its audience with…
May 4, 202319 Comments
Pokemon Cards

And the World Laughs With You

"Safety" is a major sacred cow of the secular cargo cult that has seized control of the West. Of course, twisting ordinary, benign words to have peculiar liturgical connotations is the primary way in which Cultists signal their religious affiliation to other Cultists. So they don't mean "safety" as normal…
March 30, 202314 Comments
Blue Dragon

How PCs Took Down JRPGs

File under: Gaming Ground Zero. And thanks again to author David V. Stewart for sliding this item across my desk. We've covered the descent of JRPGs from their peak in the 90s. Recently, legendary Final Fantasy director Hironobu Sakaguchi explained how Western RPGs dethroned Japanese game devs from their place…
March 16, 202319 Comments
Game Prices 1

The Price of Fun

A frequent complaint you hear from gamers these days is the rising cost of games - especially when you factor in the scummy DLC and games-as-service models. But a running theme of this blog is putting current events in historical perspective. So it must be asked: Are video games that…
February 10, 202314 Comments