Lorthyne's Back

 

Hey Gamegrene!

For those of you who may or may not remember me, I was pretty heavily involved with the community here on Gamegrene for several years. I recently disappeared from the site for a period of two years to serve as a full-time representative for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the states of West Virginia and Virginia, which required enough focus of attention to leave behind role-playing entirely.

But, I'm back! So, expect to see me commenting and writing pretty regularly again.

I've thought about writing an article that summarizes my experience as a full-time proselyting missionary and possible connections to the role-playing experience, but I'm not sure if that would be too off-topic or not.

Is there any interest in such an article?

Rather than an article about your experiences or church specifically, why don't you write an article about things to think of when you play a priest? Most PC priests travel and could be considered missionaries. You could tie it into the Roving Hospital I wrote a while back and add some nice perspective. Personally, I HATE that most people play priests as cardboard characters who can't be bothered to actively preach the gospel that they belong to. What's worse, at least to me, is that most PC priests have God Granted magical powers. Yet they do nothing other than Heal and Fight (on occasion). Why would a God grant one of It's representatives here on (insert world name) magical powers if they don't increase It's power base by converting people? Doesn't make sense to me.

So you can give some pointers to playing a priest. It'd be even better if you had served in a foreign country, but I guess Virginia will have to do. ;-)

Done, and done, Calamar. It's in the works.

Hi Lorthyne, your return is most welcome. Add me to the list of folks who are annoyed by clerics who are roleplayed with a distinct lack of commitment (being at least able to remember the name of your god, their holy symbol, sacred colours, special days and preferred sacrifices are good starting points). A particular irritant for me is the frequently held attitude that paladins are the uber-holy, uber-righteous zealots who act as the party's conscience but clerics are somehow......less so.

(In a sense it ties into the wider issue of how to encourage people to roleplay. Characters with arcane power such as wizards and sorcerers shouldn't get a free ride in this respect either.)