Jenny and Peter oversee the promotion of our ongoing series on gamifying Biblical figures with one of the most difficult yet: Samson! Though his story is found in the Book of Judges, Samson is a notorious and often actively awful outlier among Biblical figures. He’s a drunken, womanizing barbarian who only occasionally interacts with God, and often seems more like Heracles or other mythic figures. What, then, can we learn from Samson and his story? And what can we take back to the gaming table?

Scripture: Judges 13:2-5, Judges 16:28-30

Due to illness, it’s another short bonus episode this week; but Jenny and Peter are talking about Gideon, so it can’t be all bad! Gideon’s a fascinating figure from Judges 6-8, who (like so many others in Scripture) serves the Lord faithfully while remaining familiarly human. His story and character contain some very gameable elements, and we cover those here. Enjoy!

Scripture: Judges 6:11-16, Judges 8:22-25

We’re back with a follow-up to our previous episode on mass combat! This time around, we’re talking about actually roleplaying in a mass combat scenario, and treating war and conflict as a setting for more traditional roleplaying. First, though, we plug Peter’s blog posts, and especially his heavy metal D&D setting design series and his most recent post on Horvu. (Happy Horvu, everyone!) We then tackle a question from Patreon supporter Richard, who asks us about Bible stories as one-shot games.

After our Scripture reading, and making fun of Grant’s inability to upload the correct file for STG 123, we dive right into mass combat as a roleplaying setting and opportunity. We make sure to include plenty of examples, and touch on a few common pitfalls as well. Enjoy!

Scripture: Judges 12:4-6, Jeremiah 51:27-29, 2 Timothy 2:3-7

After over two years as a two-person show, Saving the Game is proud to announce our new permanent host Jenny Dickson! This is her first episode, and she’ll be joining us going forward.

The episode starts off with an introduction of Jenny and then moves into our Patreon question about hacks and drifts, and then the three of us dig into our main topic: limiting the evil of villains in games. We cover why to do it, how to do it, and what effects it has on the story you’re telling.

Scripture: Exodus 5:6-8, Judges 3:13-14, Revelation 3:14-19

Links:
High-Heel-Face Turn on tvtropes.org
Star Wars in Traveller
The Fugitive
Episode 17: Lines and Veils

Undertale

Grant and Peter handle the first of two topic voted on by Patreon backers: Anti-Heroes. After tackling another great Patreon backer question, the hosts dive in, and as it turns out, this is a more complicated and controversial topic than you might think. The episode covers everything from Biblical figures to Sherlock Holmes to Rincewind to The Punisher with some advice (and cautionary notes) for gaming along the way.

Scripture: Judges 3:15-21, Luke 22:55-61

Links:
Anti-Hero page on tvtropes.org
Save Against Fear 2016
Two Types of Paladin
Episode 25

Peter and Branden will be holding down the next couple of episodes—Grant’s got some medical issues and can’t podcast for a while. But we’ve got extra STG-related content to make up for it! Peter was on Episode 2 of the Crossover Nexus roundtable podcast (as was Mike Perna of Game Store Prophets), so give that a listen too. We also have a new logo, courtesy of Ruben at 3d6 Design; it looks awesome, so thanks very much, Ruben!

After that news (and a little bit more), we get down to business: Talking about oaths and vows in games. We define oaths, vows and pledges; discuss the dangers of vows; and then explore the gaming and roleplaying opportunities such promises provide us as GMs and players.

Scripture: Numbers 30:2; Judges 11:30-32, 34-35; Matthew 5:33-37