Role play and Catholicism

From what I’m aware of the issue the Chirch has with the game isn’t because it’s a role playing game but because it has elements of the occult in it. I’m sure if it lacked these things then the Church wouldn’t see an issue with it as it’s not opposed to fantasy; for example, Lord of the Rings.

Maybe you could create a Catholic Role Playing game? Now that would be cool to see.

 

I'm a pretty big non-video gamer (board games, TCG's, RPG's etc) so I find this topic really fascinating. I have played a short D&D campaign before and I've listened to a few live-play D&D podcasts. I think the idea of D&D being something Christians should stay away from stems from the so-called "satanic panic" of roughly the 70's - 90's.

There is definitely occult and pagan stuff in the game - references to pantheons of gods and the use of magic that is sourced from those gods. My initial instinct is to say "well, it's harmless to pretend to take part in that stuff" but then again PMO is pretending to participate in sexual immorality and most of us in this section of the forum agree that even just viewing P is immoral.

But then again as Christians, and particularly as Catholics, we are called to engage with the world while being careful not to get consumed by it's immorality. After all Christ ate with prostitutes and tax collectors and mixed it up with some of the most sinful people in society. So isn't it valid to say that we should be finding a way to get involved with people who play D&D? I know there are plenty of gamers out there who have never spoken to a Catholic and entirely get their view of us from secular media and so they end up with a highly distorted view of the faith. But can we play the game in a way that doesn't involve sin or tempt us to sin? That I'm not sure of. My best speculation is that maybe you could be a non-magical character, or if you can find a group that is comfortable with it, be a character like a Paladin or Cleric that is actually devoted to the Christian religion in the game.

Perhaps I will see if there is any guidance out there from actually Catholic clergy/theologians on the subject.

Last point - I do know of a crowd funded Christian game called Deliverance. It's a strategy board game and it's a lot like what you're describing. The player characters are all angels sent to Earth to defeats demons, help saints, save souls, etc. As of today the website says purchasing is closed and they're getting copies out to their backers sometime in 2023. I didn't buy a copy (yet) but might do so if I can find a group to play or convince my wife it wouldn't be weird for me to play it with my son. Here's the site:

https://deliverancethegame.com/

 

Not necessarily, I mean if it’s not harming our souls then that too would suffice for recreation, which is a virtue. There are a couple of stories to drive the point home… one day a hunter is said to have met St. John the Evangelist who was looking at a bird on his hand. The hunter asked John why he would waste his time staring at a bird instead of contemplating divine things, to which John replied “Do you as a hunter keep your bow drawn at all times?” The hunter said “No. It would lose its elasticity”, to which John replied that this was the same for his mind on divine things. The next story was of a saint who was playing billiards and when asked what he would do if he knew that the end of the world would be in one hour, he replied he would continue playing billiards.

The point of these stories is to illustrate that we as humans cannot keep our mind fixed on religious things 24/7 so we need recreation. The main thing we want try to do always is remain recollected. Being recollected is why the saint wouldn’t stop playing billiards, because he did everything with Jesus, even his games.

 

This is a good explanation. Thank you.