Testament

[GestaltBennie]

In case you hadn't heard (and cared), my next game, a d20 game set in the Biblical lands of the Old Testament is going to be produced in April by Green Ronin. You can find information for it here

Scott Bennie

[Jeff T.]

Ooh, the ultimate in controversy. An RPG based on the bible. The religious extremist will love that.

Will this be 'preachy' in any, Scott? I guess meaning, will there be an "overlying Christianity/Judaism is right and good" and anything is else bad? And what will a prophet of the God of Israel be able to do? Will they be just like your standard RPG cleric or something different? Perhaps performing miracles? Should you have a decent amount of biblical knowledge to play?

Just curious, not trying to start a Holy War or anything.

P.S. I like that Sam Wood's working on it. He's one of my favs.

[Edsel]

This could be good or bad. Of course most anything is either good or bad. It's an interesting idea.

I'm just not sure what to think? It has at least aroused my curiosity.

[Storn]

Congratulations Scott. That is very cool.

[GestaltBennie]

Originally posted by Starlord
Ooh, the ultimate in controversy. An RPG based on the bible. The religious extremist will love that.

Will this be 'preachy' in any, Scott? I guess meaning, will there be an "overlying Christianity/Judaism is right and good" and anything is else bad? And what will a prophet of the God of Israel be able to do? Will they be just like your standard RPG cleric or something different? Perhaps performing miracles? Should you have a decent amount of biblical knowledge to play?]

The preachiness will come from the DM. If you play from an Israelite perspective, then God *is* right and the ungodly are wrong. If you play from another perspective, then things are not quite so cut and dried.

Prophets are a prestige class that can attach onto any other class (who meet the skill and feat requirements), as Prophets can come from all walks of life. Their powers center around revelations and divinatipns they're also the only people in an Israelite centered campaign who can raise the dead. Levite Priests are similar to normal priests, but are freer in spell selection; also, instead of turning undead, they cast out demons from the demonically possessed.

Having Biblical knowledge would be an asset in an Israelite centered campaign.

Scott Bennie

[GestaltBennie]

Originally posted by Storn
Congratulations Scott. That is very cool.

Thanks Storn. Much appreciated.

Scott Bennie

[Delthrien]

I pre-ordered my copy from Amazon last week. I also ordered a couple of Neil Gaiman novels to tide me over 'til it ships... Should be an interesting gaming experience after I finish reading American Gods"...

I look forward to reading it, Scott.

Very cool!

[Hermit]

This is very bold. Very cool. I think I like it.
I'm a bit traditional myself though, so I'll probably just have a long haired character grab a jawbone and start whaling on someone.

[Jeff T.]

Originally posted by GestaltBennie
The preachiness will come from the DM. If you play from an Israelite perspective, then God *is* right and the ungodly are wrong. If you play from another perspective, then things are not quite so cut and dried.

Prophets are a prestige class that can attach onto any other class (who meet the skill and feat requirements), as Prophets can come from all walks of life. Their powers center around revelations and divinatipns they're also the only people in an Israelite centered campaign who can raise the dead. Levite Priests are similar to normal priests, but are freer in spell selection; also, instead of turning undead, they cast out demons from the demonically possessed.

Having Biblical knowledge would be an asset in an Israelite centered campaign.

Scott Bennie

Thanks, Scott. Congrats by the way.

Now get back to work on the new VIPER book!

[Herolover]

I had heard about that book and didn't have an interest in picking it up. Now that I know who wrote it I am going to have to look for it.

[GestaltBennie]

A preview for the book is now available at www.greenronin.com.

Scott Bennie

[JohnTaber]

Very cool Scott. Knowing your work it will rock!

[Blue]

Bible? Pfffah. They totally ripped off Highlander when they wrote that

Actually this sounds kinda fun. I'll be an apostle with ninja capabilities and webshooters. Now *that's* old testament, baby.

[GestaltBennie]

As a final word of spam :-), it should be on store shelves this week.

Scott Bennie

[Polaris]

Scott,

I just read this thread, so please forgive how late my reply is.

Before I go further, let me say that I do NOT mean any offense to anyone's beliefs or sensibilities.

I have taught at two different (quite different) Christian universities, as well as public universities and colleges. The difference is as stark as one could imagine. When I am teaching at a private (religiously owned) university (I teach at a Catholic University, a Quaker University, and have recently been talked to about teaching some at a Mormon University), there is a belief in what one Dean told me is "one truth--God's truth". Any discussion in pursuit of truth necessarily is a pursuit of God's truth, and can therefore not contradict the principle of "integration" (and the pursuit of God's truth... ie, we could bring in Christianity, any other religion, science, philosophy, etc in the pursuit of truth without violating 'academic freedom').

My first term at a local public college (and this is not at all against public colleges... I graduated from a public university, and do believe the quality of education to be roughly equal, and mostly a determinent of the students and individual professors), our history teacher (tenured, by the way) was FIRED (or pushed into 'early retirement') for bringing his religious views into class. I have known other professors that have done so with impunity.

The point of this long post is that in the religious school (where many of the students are of similar faith), there was not much concern about offending people. In the public college (where the beliefs were as varied as one could find in this country), someone got fired for offending the relgious beliefs of some.

You, my friend, are a VERY brave person for taking this assignment! The Bible represents some of the best stories and "myth" (Myth here meaning a belief that affects many other people, and NOT that a myth as in a story that is untrue) out there... it is one heck of an idea for a role playing game.

Polaris