I didn't know whether to post this under gaming or under faith and religion but I ultimately decided on gaming. The reason I mention the faith and religion portion is because I will be speaking on a panel at Gen Con on faith and gaming!

For those of you who don't know, I'm an old time Dungeons and Dragons player and enjoy RPG's. I've played on and off for over twenty years but took a hiatus for a time while I was under the influence of a more "fundamentalist" view of the Christian faith. However, through study, prayer, reason and common sense I came to realize that these games are not incompatible to faith and, in fact, promote a more social aspect of our culture than many other things.

That's right! We have a culture developing that doesn't see much "face-to-face" interaction and I find that absolutely horrendous. Most RPG's and other tabletop games that I enjoy are meant for people to have fun and socialize and that's one of the reasons I enjoy them to such a degree.

Well, back to Gen Con, as I mentioned I will be speaking on a panel concerning faith and gaming. The social aspects of gaming and how they can strengthen a community of faith will probably be the areas that I will mention. I don't expect to have a huge amount of input on the panel because a very important guest will be on the panel......Gary Gygax! For those of you who don't know him, Gary Gygax is the creator of Dungeons & Dragons and has become more open about his faith over the past few years. It will be both a pleasure and an honor to meet this gentleman and discuss the important aspects of faith and gaming.

If you're able to attend Gen Con, please look me up. I plan on having a good time and hope the same for you. If you don't attend, remember that any tabletop game is a great social outlet. It's also an awesome way to spend more time with your family and friends.