The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Long review, folks. Better get started! Imagine the following scene…

Schisma, a slime dragon whose very spirit was infecting a nearby town, broke her way through the surface of the bog, sensing footsteps, seeking trespassers.

Before her cowered four foot-sore and battered humans, and a very muddy wolf. Focusing slightly, Schisma’s view of the scene changed. Though the humans were covered in mud-stained travel clothes, her eyes saw them attired in painfully bright armor. Lightraiders! Schisma reared out of the mud, and spread her wings, splattering the Lightraiders with rotted vegetation and muck.

"Lightraiders! I know you! I smell you and see you! He has sent you to slay me, I know it," she said. Her fetid breath made the humans wince. She laughed.

"Where is He now, mewling Lightraiders? He has sent you out, unprepared, to do his dirty work and has abandoned you. He fears us! He calls us liars, but we are the ones who brought the greatest truth of all to Talania. Cry to Him, stupid warriors, cry to him to save you," she roared. Schisma heaved herself from the muck, and slowly crawled towards the humans. In her Dragon-sight, she saw the youngest raider’s armor dim as her words took effect. Good. Break one, and the rest will fall.

The four Lightraiders were prepared for her tactic, but were still shaken. The eldest, Dougal the Wolfsoldier, motioned for the group to move back a few paces. Dougal kept a firm grip on his wolf companion, who was growling and pulling towards the dragon, hungry for battle. The Spirit must be prepared before the body entered the fray. He spared a smile for his young companions. "Remember! Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace! Memorize the WordRune. Keep its meaning in your hearts. That is the only way we will win through," he said.

At that moment, a soft light glowed through the blasted trees of the marsh. A gentle-eyed man in glowing robes appeared a few dozen yards away. He strolled towards the Lightraiders. "Dougal is correct. You have stood firm, and remembered my runes and teachings. I shall not let the dragon have your souls," he said, in a quiet voice that was somehow heard clearly by all. "Come to me."

Schisma howled in terror and rage. "Here? Him? Impossible…" The dragon seemed to sink down in the mud, bellowing in anger. Pilgrim, the youngest of the Raiders, gasped with relief and ran towards the beckoning figure. "OverLord! Thanks be for your mercy! Protect and save us!" Dougal shouted for him to return, but Pilgrim was already gone.

The vision of the OverLord faded as suddenly as it appeared, revealing a second dragon, this one with blue-tinged scales. A Dream Dragon! It reached out with one lazy taloned hand and seized Pilgrim, who screamed incoherently. He drew his dagger and struggled uselessly against the dragon. Behind them, the Slime Dragon reared its mud caked head and roared with laughter. The remaining Lightraider companions broke rank and sprinted through the bog, not caring that they were now alone…

Apologies for the lurid prose, folks. You’ve just stepped into the world of Dragonraid, one of the strangest RPGs ever printed.

Basics, Setting and System

Might as well say it now. Dragonraid was an RPG put together by a Christian publisher in the early 80s’, intended to provide an holy alternative to horrible Satanic games like Toon, Traveller, and, worst of all, the abominable creation known as Bunnies and Burrows. I purchased my copy online from www.dragonraid.net.

The game is set in the fantasy world of EdenAgain. (Hmm… I wonder if there’s a hidden meaning in that name?) EdenAgain is a planet almost entirely ruled by evil dragons, except for a small area known as "The Liberated Lands," where the deity known as the OverLord still holds sway. The OverLord created the universe, and still rules most of it, though he struggles constantly with an evil red dragon known as Abbadon. The evil dragon has infected members of many races on many worlds. The twisted members of these otherwise good races - Goblins, Orcs, Cave Spiders, and others - are exiled from their home worlds to the captured lands of EdenAgain. There, they are free to wallow in their own crapulence, as Mr. Burns put it.

Players take on the role of Lightraiders, specially trained human servants of the OverLord. They journey to the Dragonlands to spread the teachings of the OverLord among the humans ruled by the dragons. Occasionally, they are also sent to fight the irredeemable servants of the Dragons.

The character generation system is rather unusual. In addition to physical stats, skills, and the like, players have spiritual ratings in traits like Love, self-control, and Patience. They also have ratings in Spiritual Armor that reflect their ability to resist foul enchantments and which limit the potential level of their spiritual traits. The rating in Sword of the Spirit also limits the ability to use powerful Word Runes. (see below) High ratings will allow the players to acquire animal companions and special powers.

Evil enchantments, in addition to possible physical effects, change the characters personality. For example, evil goblins have a poisonous saliva that causes victims to become more cruel as time goes on, finally becoming sadists. Others are more subtle - some force the players to lose scores in Patience, for example, or Peace, making the character edgy and irritable. The enchantments can be resisted by memorizing Word Runes - appropriate passages from the Bible. In the scene above, Dougal resisted the fractiousness of enchantment of the Swamp Dragon with a Word Rune. The need for scripture memorization is the most obviously Christian, and controversial, element of the game. I’ll deal with this again later.

The game comes with a ten-sider and an eight-sider. These are called the Starlot and the Shadowstone, respectively. The ten-sider, is used for player rolls only, and the eight-sider is used exclusively by the servants of darkness. Thus, the game favours the servants of goodness… right? Well, kind of. The monsters tend to have some pretty beefy combat skills.

Success and failure is determined with a combination of basic opposed rolls and a difficulty level/ability rating grid. Damage is done in hit points. A basic system, but easily grasped and understood.

The Good

Despite the somewhat controversial premise of a game intended as an instruction tool for a specific religion, there is a lot to like about Dragonraid.

First of all, you get a lot of bang for your buck. The boxed edition is jam packed full of goodies. For your $24 you get: the Rule Book, New Player Briefing, Adventure Master Manual, the LightRaider Handbook, three adventure modules, character cut-outs, "battle grids," dice and crayon to colour in the numbers(!), character creation worksheets, and an Introductory cassette tape(!).

Dragonraid first saw print in 1984, and so far as I can tell the version being sold today is simply left over from the original print run. Consequently, the quality of layout and style of the game is consistent with RPG products being put out at that time. However, the production values are surprisingly high. The cover and interior art is excellent - water colour paintings, for the most part. Someone really dumped a chunk of change into the production of Dragonraid.

The introductory audio tape is also a very good idea, in my opinion. It gives an basic overview of the game world, and walks the players through character creation and combat rules. There’s little danger of misunderstood rules. The rules themselves, though basic, are quite serviceable. Some modifications would be needed for anything beyond a basic fantasy setting, though.

They physical look of the game aside, the setting does have a lot going for it. There is a great deal of potential in the premise of playing ordinary people facing insidious. Most of the adventures would take on elements of espionage, as the players covertly spread the word of the OverLord among the fallen peoples.

Or, you can turn it on its head. The Dragon Slaves are mostly very well off. The Dragons keep them well-fed and clothed to distract them from spiritual matters - maybe it’s the OverLord who’s the bad guy? Maybe his Lightraiders are nothing more than brainwashed cultists, or at best, backwards reactionaries who refuse to live in the modern world. Perhaps the OverLord has been defeated, and the LightRaiders are simply his only way of hurting his enemies. Door to Door evangelists with swords!

For the most part, I like Dragonraid. Though it may be a response to "evil" games like D&D, it stands very well on its own. Any Christian will tell you that, as a kid, adults tried to lure them to "cool" Christian alternatives to secular behavior. You like rap? Well, here, try some DC Talk! You like heavy metal? Listen to Stryper! You want to go to a Halloween party? Why not come to the church for a Holy Spirit Party! For the most part, these alternatives are consciously watered-down version of the real thing. They are, in short, crap. As William Booth once observed, The Devil has all the best tunes.

Dragonraid is not like that. Let me reach desperately for a metaphor. Stryper and DC Talk are like that annoying "cool" Christian kid who has an earring, wears a WWJD bracelet, and tries desperately to fit in, while staying apart. He grows up to be an atheist, or an annoying youth pastor with a guitar. Dragonraid is the quiet, well-scrubbed type of guy who’s polite to everyone and doesn’t try to fit in. He reads CS Lewis. He grows up to be a social worker or city councilor, or what have you. You may not agree with what he has to say, but you can certainly respect him.

The Bad

The game is not meant to convert role-players to Christianity, but it is definitely meant for Christian players. It was intended as a "safe" alternative to "evil" games. (Dungeons and Dragons is mentioned in the intro section of the game, but is actually not criticized.) Unless your group is either A) Christian or B) open-minded enough to play in a game that uses very strong Christian imagery without feeling uncomfortable, they are unlikely to enjoy Dragonraid. Good luck running a game in Iran, chum.

The introductory adventure has elements appropriate only for very young or stupid players. The first challenge they face involves a troll who tries to lure the players away from the door they are supposed to go through to start their mission. He offers them tickets to a beach, a line of credit at a fancy clothing store, or magic potions that make them feel happy. I can’t imagine anyone being particularly challenged by that.

The adventures get better, but tend to be very linear, if kept as written. For example, the players meet an ogre guarding a mountain pass. The adventure as written does not allow them to bypass him through stealth or trickery, or even simply run past him or attack him. They have to talk to him

Some other small points…

The man speaking on the introductory audio tape is doing so very clearly and distinctly, with ev-er-ee sill-la-bull stressed. It’s a small beef, but I quickly found him annoying. He sounded like he was reading a primer for small children. (See the orc. See the orc die. Die, orc, die.)

The guy on the cover looks like an older version of the dad on Seventh Heaven.

Some of the evil creatures have really lame names that immediately give away the nature of their respective dark enchantments. Worry-warts? Fluster Beasts? Greedoes? Gah.

The big problem, though, is the requirement that players memorize Word Runes, which are simply passages from the Bible. It’s great as a teaching tool for Sunday School, or in a group of Christian players, but that’s about it. I can’t imagine playing a game that required me to memorize excerpts from The Koran. Heck, I wouldn’t fancy the idea of playing a game that required me to rattle off verbatim portions of any text. There are literally dozens of Word Runes in the game - good luck learning them all.

The Last Word

I’m a Christian. Used to teach a teen Bible class, even. My players, with the exception of one rather lapsed Catholic, are not. They did not want to play Dragonraid. I can’t blame them. However, I would have loved to play this game when I was growing up. It would have been an excellent, and fun, tool for Sunday School teachers, I’ll bet. I would have kept playing "Satanic" games like Call of Cthulhu and D&D, of course, but I would have loved Dragonraid. I’m still kicking around the idea of starting a campaign with some folks at my church.

It’s a good game in its own context. It’s well executed, well made, and comes in a nice big box. What more can I say?