This may seem like an impertinent question, but do any of you who design games find that your personal beliefs affect what you design?

I'm a farily recent convert to the Church of jesus Christ and latter-Day Saints (aka the Mormons). We're talking a little over two years in the Church. Anyway, I try not to prosletyze when i write, because that would be rude to my readers, most of whom are not LDS. Yet I keep finding allegories to my own spiritual struggles creeping into what i write.

When I wrote the Ghost Tamer Miyaki setting for HeartQuest, for example, I didn's realize until llater how allegorical it was. The main adversary is a Demon King whose goal is to extinguish Hope from the human heart. The heroine has the power to "tame" the Troubled Dead and send them to their next lives in peace. Since I was working in anime.manga, I had to use the Eastern concept of reincarnation rather than the LDS concept of the Spirit World, but the point is still there. Miyaki is forgiving those souls that could not be forgiven during their time on Earth. This is a central Mormon precept -- that even after death, the dead still have a chance to be redeemed through the efforts of the faithful.

In the new book I'm working on now, the enemy lives in a world without even the concept of joy or pleasure. They see Earth, where people can be happy, and out of sheer jealousy they seek to destory it. One of the enemy leaders defects, however, goes to Earth and organizes resistance. In the LDS faith, we think of Satan (or, as we refer tpo him, The Adversary) as a spirit that cannot know love, joy or happiness and so seeks to destroy it on Earth. His motivation is, again, jealousy over what he cannot experience himself. The story is transplanted to Japan and the actual events do not follow theology, but the allegory, however unintentional, remains.

Maybe it's because the ideas resonate so powerfully to me. Surely it's subconscious prompting. It might even be spiritual prompting. What I'd like to know is whether the religion (or lack thereof) of an RPG's creator will usually affect its content. I'd be especially interested to hear the opinion of the designers of heavily occult games such as Sorcerer and Little Fears. I'm also curious about what part personal belief (religious, philosophical, political or otherwise) plays in the creative process of RPG designers.

Look at a three-pronged outlet. Do you see a face? Do the three holes arrange to make two eyes and a mouth? Fact is, it's not a face, is it?

I see two things going on here, Michael and you needn't worry about any of them.

First is you are in this religion and you will see things from that angle. You will see thing in your work and the work of others that seem to support or directly contridict your religious worldview. This happen, but often you may be seeing a face in an outlet.

The other, and more profound point is that you are who you are. You know what you know. from the overflow of your heart and mind come your truest artistic expressions. People can speak at length about what they know but when it's something they don't, they have to fake it. We people fake it, it's usually pretty obvious. (e.g. note how several scene in the Dungeons & Dragons movie were recognizeably from other films [Indiana Jones, etc] The scriptwriters knew little or nothing about D&D and watched a bunch of movies to try to figure out what the script should be. They faked it and everyone knew they did)

I can understand not wanting to preach to people. I personally find using a published RPG as a conversion tool to be suspect. (I think religion is a very personal thing and I find it highly unlikely that someone would gain religion from a pamphlet) But the RPG you designed is designed by you and this is also part of who you are and what you express when designing a game.

So don't worry about putting your religious values into the subtext of your games. It winds up there because it feels natural to you and as you gain a following it will feel natural to your fans.

Whatever you do, don't fake it.

Jack Spencer Jr wrote: The other, and more profound point is that you are who you are. You know what you know. from the overflow of your heart and mind come your truest artistic expressions. People can speak at length about what they know but when it's something they don't, they have to fake it. We people fake it, it's usually pretty obvious. (e.g. note how several scene in the Dungeons & Dragons movie were recognizeably from other films [Indiana Jones, etc] The scriptwriters knew little or nothing about D&D and watched a bunch of movies to try to figure out what the script should be. They faked it and everyone knew they did)

I can understand not wanting to preach to people. I personally find using a published RPG as a conversion tool to be suspect. (I think religion is a very personal thing and I find it highly unlikely that someone would gain religion from a pamphlet) But the RPG you designed is designed by you and this is also part of who you are and what you express when designing a game.

So don't worry about putting your religious values into the subtext of your games. It winds up there because it feels natural to you and as you gain a following it will feel natural to your fans.

Whatever you do, don't fake it.

I believe there are some truths that are universal or cross-cultural. It also sound like you've done your homework on Japanese culture. Speak from your knowledge on it. That's my best advise.

Michael wrote: What I'd like to know is whether the religion (or lack thereof) of an RPG's creator will usually affect its content. I'd be especially interested to hear the opinion of the designers of heavily occult games such as Sorcerer and Little Fears. I'm also curious about what part personal belief (religious, philosophical, political or otherwise) plays in the creative process of RPG designers.

I think the beliefs of a writer come out somewhere and in some form no matter what they do. Whether or not it's significant enough to matter to other people is questionable. I think many people latch onto their favorite games because they agree with some of the subtext inserted (consciously or not) by the author.

Regarding manga specifically: I have a friend who works as an editor for TokyoPop (US manga publisher) who has told me about debates on Manga and how some people swear that the only "true" Manga is produced by people who live in and grew up in Japan. An American who lives there now, or who grew up reading manga, isn't capable of producing "true" manga in the eyes of those people. When it comes to those people, you're already dead in the water, Michael.

But I think the issues you're exploring are not specifically Mormon, or even Christian or Western. The concept of evil powers attempting to extinguish hope is a human one. I can't imagine any culture having trouble relating to that one (even if they might choose a slightly different method for expressing it).

Furthermore, you're writing for an English-speaking audience. They might actually appreciate some deep and partly-obscured Western ideas in the material, since they'll relate to that.

I think your right that your beliefs effect what you write. It's commonly known to to be true for writers, I don't see why RPG's would be much different. My question would be,

'Why is this a problem?'

I don't think even prosletizing in a game is really wrong, although you have to accept that it may restrict your potential audiance some what. Another thing is:

n the new book I'm working on now, the enemy lives in a world without even the concept of joy or pleasure. They see Earth, where people can be happy, and out of sheer jealousy they seek to destory it. One of the enemy leaders defects, however, goes to Earth and organizes resistance. In the LDS faith, we think of Satan (or, as we refer tpo him, The Adversary) as a spirit that cannot know love, joy or happiness and so seeks to destroy it on Earth. His motivation is, again, jealousy over what he cannot experience himself. The story is transplanted to Japan and the actual events do not follow theology, but the allegory, however unintentional, remains.

jdagna wrote: I think the beliefs of a writer come out somewhere and in some form no matter what they do. Whether or not it's significant enough to matter to other people is questionable. I think many people latch onto their favorite games because they agree with some of the subtext inserted (consciously or not) by the author.

Regarding manga specifically: I have a friend who works as an editor for TokyoPop (US manga publisher) who has told me about debates on Manga and how some people swear that the only "true" Manga is produced by people who live in and grew up in Japan. An American who lives there now, or who grew up reading manga, isn't capable of producing "true" manga in the eyes of those people. When it comes to those people, you're already dead in the water, Michael.

But I think the issues you're exploring are not specifically Mormon, or even Christian or Western. The concept of evil powers attempting to extinguish hope is a human one. I can't imagine any culture having trouble relating to that one (even if they might choose a slightly different method for expressing it).

Furthermore, you're writing for an English-speaking audience. They might actually appreciate some deep and partly-obscured Western ideas in the material, since they'll relate to that.

Hi Michael,

If I may.

I don't think you really have a choice in this matter.

You're allowing yourself a chance to dither when you could be working. I don't mean this as an attack on you. I've done it myself. I might be wrong, but I think I recognize the symptoms.

The truth is this: you're going to write what you're going to write. You'll either do it for the right reasons or the wrong. You'll either write from your instincts, or write to appease what you think other people think is right. You'll sell it as hard as you can or you won't. People will respond to it or not.

C.S Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. And I know a good three dozen people who loved the books as children... And then got all angry and pissed when they realized years later he was a devout Christian. They didn't want a Christian allegory. They wanted a great story.

Well, they got both. That their getting upset says something interesting... But I've never been able to figure out what.

What's clear though is the Lewis wrote from his faith and his truth (and the strange place where these two things didn't line up exactly right) and people responded to it. Different people responded in different ways for different reasons.

How people responded wasn't his business. His job was to get it down on paper.

You can do the same.

Do it.

Sincerely,

Christopher

damion wrote: I would be interested in a case where someone converted between religions, had a strong belief in each and the impact upon their games. All the people I know who have changed religions have not had strong feelings for one of them though.

Michael Hopcroft wrote: Then what about all the quality material coming out of Korea? What about Fred Gallagher, for crying out loud?

Michael, it sounds to me like you're trying to please everyone all at once. The purists are willing to rule you out of "true manga" based on your birth certificate. It doesn't matter whether this is fair, logical or anything else. But you insist on trying to please them, even though they apparently can't be pleased. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I don't know how big an audience the purists are, since I'm only marginally interested in manga or anime. I suspect they're small (purists usually are) and that you'd be better off catering to a more appreciative market segment, especially seeing as your own inclinations tend in that direction.

Michael Hopcroft wrote: This may seem like an impertinent question, but do any of you who design games find that your personal beliefs affect what you design?