Holy Rollers: Be Not Afraid – Oct 21-24, 2024 @ ARC Retreat Center. Register now for early bird prices! Includes meals, lodging, and materials for 3 days and nights of learning, gaming, and rest. This fall, clergy and people of faith will join together again for an epic 3 days and nights learning, resting, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. With a mix of gaming, learning, and rest, this retreat will allow you to explore the connections between life, faith, and the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Holy Rollers: Be Not Afraid will explore faith & gaming practices, how to overcome barriers ..read more

Given that a number of politicians, including our former president, said today that celebrating day as the Trans Day of Visibility is an assault on Christianity, I feel that it is important as a Christian to say a bit on this Easter night about why supporting trans people and celebrating trans joy is not only good, but godly. Last fall, I had the joy of leading a group through a book study of Austen Hartke’s amazing book Transforming: The Bible & the Lives of Transgender Christians. Here’s what we learned. Sobering Statistics of Real Human Need This should come as no surprise, but being tr ..read more

Ever since 2016 I have operated this gaming ministry as the “Dungeon Master Pastor”. It worked because it was just me, doing things on the side as a vocational hobby. I was a pastor and a dungeon master and was interested in what might happen if I crossed the streams a bit more intentionally. I’ve written blogs, created some resources, hosted events (like the amazing Holy Rollers retreat), taught, and generally been a part of the ttrpg community. But over the last couple years, and especially over the last few months, I’ve been feeling that it’s time for a bit of an identity update. More and m ..read more

Recently the Dice Dragons (www.dicedragons.co.uk) provided me with a few sets of their dice and four dice trays and asked for an honest review. I once again recruited our willing and excitable Roll for Joy youth to help me with the review. Check out the video below. The Foldable Dice Trays Each of these dice trays is made of a nice quality polyurethane leather and sports the striking Dice Dragons logo. The logo is probably one of my favorite logo designs and matches the D&D aesthetic to a T. They fold flat and snap together with metal snaps. The youth preferred the slightly larger hexagon ..read more

The Saint and the Sultan Lately I’ve been diving into the history of my dog’s favorite saint, Francis of Assisi, and I have been inspired by his example in both my life and in my tabletop roleplaying games. I’ll make the D&D gaming connections in a minute, but first I want to dive into Saint Francis. Normally known for loving nature and blessing animals, I was surprised to learn about a less remembered part of his legend – meeting with the Islamic Sultan Malik al-Kamil at the height of the Fifth Crusade, when the rest of the European Christians were arrayed in bloody war against him. Paul ..read more

Recently the Mystery Dice Goblins (https://mysterydicegoblin.com/) provided me with three of their Mystery Dice Bags and asked for an honest review. To help me with this, I recruited some willing youth from our Roll for Joy D&D Youth Group. Check out the video below. (Apologies for the poor camera work and sound, that’s what you get sometimes when working with youth!) Each of these dice sets contain a full set of seven color-coordinated rpg dice. While the packaging is difficult to open, we loved the artwork on it. The beholders and the dice mimic were fun and beautifully done. Once we go ..read more

A little while back, I polled various members of the D&D and TTRPG community with some very big picture questions. This was done in a very unscientific way with an online survey and no control group and its own share of additional problems. One of the problems was that these questions were a bit different than the usual surveys you see go around. They were designed not to review a product or to even map out gaming behavior in any sort of in-depth way. Instead, they were meant to capture a sense of the hopes, frustrations, and lives of the people in this community in a fuller way. The tried ..read more

After a recent comment, I decided to whip up 24hr versions of my Time Tracker Sheets. I love using this simple tool for running my games. It helps in so many ways and has just the right stuff for what I need. If I’m running at the table, I like the version with a built in encounter tracker space. 24-time-on-the-marches-with-encountersDownload When I run games online with Roll20, I use their digital initiative system so the Time Tracker clocks are all I need. 24-time-on-the-marches-only-timeDownload I hope you find them as helpful as I do! 24-time-on-the-marchesDownload ..read more

Last month began my 10-month fellowship with Luther Seminary’s “Seeds Project,” and just a little over a week ago I got my first in-person cohort experience. We are 16 beloved and diverse people from a broad range of racial and ethnic identities, geographic contexts, denominational affiliations, theological beliefs, and life experiences. The ministry work that we are doing is equally broad and wonderful. Being a part of this cohort might be the first time in my life that I’ve ever had ‘imposter syndrome’! My cohort fellows are doing some really cool, amazing, and important work. Part of the fo ..read more

I have a little table tool that I use for every single session. It helps me track time, encounters, and gives me enough room that I can take whatever notes I want. Here it is. I use the blank space next to the initiative box for marking hit points, effects, etc. DMP Time + encounter trackerDownload I keep the sheets in a binder and it makes it really easy to remember past sessions ..read more