When the Rules Change

Back when I first started this blog on December 23, 2008 I was trying to bridge the gap between Christians and folks who played D&D. In that goal, I think I made a difference, tiny as it may have been. I think I can say that mine was a small voice in a grand choir that was the Golden Age of TTRPGs.

On September 10th, 2025 the rules changed.

We are now in a Dark Age and I feel compelled to try and communicate how I believe we got here.

In the almost 2 decades(!) I have been spilling electronic ink in this corner of the internet, the Oppressor/Opressed Dialtectic of Critical Theory has permeated virtually every walk of life. In our own hobby, I need only point to WotC’s warning label on all their legacy titles:

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

This statement divides our community into two camps: the Oppressors (those who lived, played, and wrote during the formative years of D&D), and the Opressed (those who produce the latest version of D&D). This bifurcation can be found everywhere, in all parts of life.

The fundamental flaw in the Oppressor/Opressed Dialtectic of Critical Theory is that the categorization is not only arbitrary, but based on what we are instead of what we do. I am a grognard. I was a D&D nerd in the 70s. There is nothing I can do to change that.

As a consequence, what is evil and what is good gets divorced from action and activity. Goodness is no longer a function of what a person does, it is a function of what they are. The consequence of this shift in morality is, as we saw last week, deadly, tragic, and terrifying.

This is why we all saw the celebrations over a father getting brutally murdered in front of his small child. This is how assassination is now a good thing.

I don’t know about you, but I remember when Assassins in D&D had an alignment requirement of evil.

It is hard to see a way out of this darkness.

I can tell you that we all can experience a unity with each other in Christ that cannot be found anywhere else, but my guess is that is not an answer most of you are ready to hear.

One thing that I have learned to see in my many years as a convert to Orthodox Christianity is that God expresses Himself fractally throughout His creation. In other words, the ultimate that is Christ can be partially experienced in various ways throughout human experience. One such experience is our hobby.

When done right, RPGs cross bridges. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, what language you speak, or what edition of D&D you play. Our love of this hobby and of this game crashes through all of those barriers to unite us in a small, but significant, way. We play. Together.

If we do emerge from this Dark Age, it will be because we refuse to accept that evil acts can be celebrated as good. It will be because we overcome our differences because we love to actively play this game we love together. It will be because we will look back together at WotC’s statement above and remember how foolish we were to let the Golden Age end.