An international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games
David Millians, Editor
Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA
millians.david@paideiaschool.org
A REQUEST
From Member Serban Ionita
I am the editor in chief of The RPG Gazette blog. I am also an MA student at the University of Bucharest, and I am trying to build my career around the study of TTRPGs
I plan on applying for a Fullbright scholarship for my PhD, and I was curious to find out if there are any professors that would be interested in taking me on. My PhD thesis will center around the influence of Dungeons and Dragons in the broader geek media landscape,
Thank you.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Indie Game Developers Network 2026 Diversity Scholarship is now open for applications.
The Diana Jones Awards are also open for nominations.
ARTICLES
Adam’s Educational Electrum
March 2026
Welcome to my educational contribution to the monthly CAR-PGa newsletter! For those readers out there who work for or support schools, districts, or youth, I am flattered, humbled and grateful for the chance to share a modest trinket of treasure to help you on your instructional quests. This might be a gaming resource, a full out TTRPG, or a particular educator’s story.
Sterling Harris is a high school English teacher at Western STEM Magnet High School in Louisville, Kentucky (Jefferson County Public Schools). I first met him a few years ago when I learned about his “flex course” (as student extracurricular opportunities at Western are called) for Dungeons & Dragons. Harris shared that in the fall of 2025, he was planning to do what I describe in Polyhedral Pedagogy as a “Full Infusion”: a creative writing elective where D&D was the DNA of the instruction. I pledged to visit him once the class had a few months of settling in.
As promised, I visited the class last October. To say I was impressed was an understatement. I was so inspired, I not only wrote about the experience in depth for Next Generation Learning Challenges, but I uploaded our post-observation interview to YouTube!
If you’ve ever wondered whether TTRPGs can be academically rigorous, immerse students in social-emotional learning, and help them authentically apply durable skills, Harris’s class is Exhibit A. I hope you find the time to read or listen to his story.
Until our next time together at the table,
Adam Watson
(CAR-PGa Board Member since January 2026)
Adam Watson is an award-winning public school educator, writer, and frequent presenter of professional development at regional and national conferences such as Gen Con, Serious Play, and GAMA Expo. In 2022, he launched Kentucky Educators for Role Playing Games, sharing how TTRPGs can positively impact student learning. His book Tabletop Role-Playing Games in the Classroom: Infusing Gameplay into K-12 Instruction was published by McFarland in 2025. For more about Adam, visit his personal site.
Dungeons & Christians
By Kelly Jeau Larson
This will be about the Christian point of view. I wholeheartedly understand if you have a different religion or none at all.
Some Christians that I know feel strongly that role-playing games, Dungeons and Dragons in particular, are demonic and should be avoided by Christians. Other Christians disagree, saying there is nothing wrong with the game and are in one or more groups that play these games regularly.
“Is Dungeons and Dragons safe to play as a Christian? What is your take on these kinds of games? Can you point me to any scriptures that might pertain to issues like this?”
This comes from a YouTube site run by Tim Hatch.
It seems a couple of years ago, these “ignorant” opinions appeared in greater volume once again. There are other sites, less than a year old, as well. I am surprised!
As for “RPG” or TTRPG being safe or sin? I made the counter-argument to my church (and later family) way back in 1979/81. Is a VCR safe or sinful? Is Monopoly safe or sinful? Consider today’s technology. What you stream, view, and listen to, is it safe or sinful?
With respect to Monopoly, you may ask, “How is that boardgame a sin?” Simple, really. You are playing around the table to make YOUR friends and family homeless. No money! No property! They are homeless. Is this something God would approve of? Is this what Jesus talked about as a good thing to do to others? What about just being good? When does any game go too far? Is there such a thing as going too far with respect to games?
By contrast, at least the way I have ALWAYS run a TTRPG, are people, friends, and family, sitting around working together for safety and profit, to gain wealth and protect this fictional land their characters all live in. If a TTRPG is not being run this way, then we are aiming for sin. I never permitted a player’s character to fight or kill another to gain experience points or treasure. We have plenty of monsters and foes to deal with, run by the Dungeon Master, for such things.
Godliness and scripture are not being followed if you are having player-versus-player situations. Teaching and running TTRPG, where cooperation is key, are much-needed social skills. If you can run your TTRPG and have no issues with the Son of God walking in and asking to sit down and play with you and yours, then yes, you are doing fine.
The above argument of mine had me kicked out of church and under house arrest.
I was locked away by order of the family church until I’d submitted to God’s truth and would repent, the Truth being that role-playing games were an outlet for sin. What sin? All of them.
Communion with demons; marriage with devils; planning the death of others; putting curses on people; and lustful thoughts are regular circumstances as part of those games.
I was made an example for a few reasons:
- I was on my way to being a minister.
- I had my own local ministry with church kids all around my age (I was 16 in 1979). We prayed, studied scriptures, visited people who were stuck at home, and so on.
- I was working on my own role-playing game, my rules and campaign world, under the name Hourglass Games. I knew it was a great tool to teach moral and ethical values without preaching the gospel.
- I was running a DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS RPG, but I didn’t like the rules and arguments surrounding them. I had even spoken with and gotten to know Gary Gygax himself. He explained and answered questions about D&D/AD&D.
I would NOT give my science fiction and fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, PLUS my own writings to the churches’ “Holy Bonfires,” where church members were to come to repentance and toss these demonic touchstones into this fire that was prayed over. Sometimes, my church congregation reported hearing screams when an object was tossed in. Like, Sports card collection (another Satanic item). How? Anything YOU have an overabundance of in your life, above God, is Satan worship. If you had a few things, obviously not founded in witchcraft (cat or owl statues and the like), that was fine.
I wasn’t fine.
Others who were avidly into a sports team and had a large collection were equally not fine. Or a large collection of animals, like cats, dogs –whatever. These all had to be tossed into that fire for this was your god, or in theological terminology, idolatry, henotheism or even in some cases, monolatry.
The church’s argument was that perhaps some people are being deceived and do not realize that, by collecting all those items (fill in the blank here), they are now worshipping their GOD.
Truth? In a manner of speaking. Yes, a person who is not keeping the Sabbath day holy, not studying God’s word, not living a Christ and or Apostle walk of life as shown in scriptures, they are not living a true walk of faith. Whose fault is this? The pastor or minister, if they have not preached the Gospel to their congregation. And no one can do this unless they have educated themselves on the topic. These videos, today, some admit they have not, or others obviously have no idea of the subject of TTRPG, even being confused about it, but will ignore this and just speak against it anyway.
And that was my issue. I had. I knew what I was speaking about, but they knew nothing of Dungeons & Dragons (Advanced D&D in my case) or how such a platform could be used to teach right from wrong, ethics, and morality.
Bottom line, I had been locked away for twenty years. Not free until I was 37. Then my family taught me to get my driver’s license and all else you need to find employment. Why? Because of two major events. One that my Mom received a cancer diagnosis, and the second was that the family business I was forced to work for also went under due to the state regulations changing massively. Both events opened the door for me but let me into a world I no longer could relate to.
Satanic panic? No kidding! But also permitted them to take full advantage of this and free labor. Or, slavery. A man cannot simply escape without money, identification, and a car.
Towards the end of this, since I could correspond via the U.S. Mail, I did, with Paul Cardwell Jr. from CAR-PGa (Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games), an international network dedicated to researching all aspects of role-playing games. He made me the head of the Wisconsin network and published many of my articles. I think you may know of them.
As you hopefully can tell, I take this topic seriously, for obvious reasons. It cost me everything that others take for granted. No one, no not one, can relate to this situation. I’ve tried to explain it. Twenty years of house imprisonment by church arrest means the world moved on without you. You literally become an alien to your own civilization.
Key scriptures that addressed Dungeons and Dragons in a round about manner included:
Old Testament
- Exodus 22:18: States, “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” If they are on our side, we let them live; otherwise…
- Leviticus 19:31: Advises against turning to mediums or spiritists, as this defiles. Another item we do regularly, as needed, to gain a clue or better.
- Leviticus 20:27: Dictates that a man or woman with a ghost or familiar spirit should be put to death. I never encountered this situation or ran a TTRPG with this one.
- Deuteronomy 18:10-12: Forbids various occult practices such as divination, soothsaying, sorcery, casting spells, and consulting spirits, calling them an abomination to the Lord. And we are all guilty of this one in a TTRPG.
- 1 Samuel 15:23: Compares rebellion to the sin of divination (witchcraft). Again, we have a spell like this. But the other side of this was used to keep me in check. “Rebellion”.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6: Notes that King Manasseh practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. A repeat of why such things are evil.
New Testament
- Acts 19:19: Describes how new believers who had practiced “magic arts” burned their related books publicly as a sign of their commitment to Christ. Why the church had a Holy Bon-Fire to burn all the idolatry items in the congregation’s lives.
- Galatians 5:19-21: Lists “idolatry and witchcraft” among “acts of the flesh,” warning that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Self-explanatory.
- Revelation 21:8: In the final judgment, “sorcerers” are mentioned among those whose destiny is the lake of fire. ditto
And others, the list was and remains very long.
In conclusion. Yes, a role-playing game can be an outlet for sin. It can be for making money (once upon a time), and certainly entertainment and education!
A VCR can be a sin or entertainment. Today, what you stream on your phone or whatever electronic tool you use. If it is child porn, is that a sin, a necessary evil, or entertainment? I say sin for this one with no doubt!
Monopoly was, as I said above, an argument I used to call it a sinful game. You are making, as the goal, your friends and family homeless. By contrast, in a role-playing game, you should cooperate with friends and family for a common goal of prosperity. Physical sports are a whole different situation. The psychology is in and of itself different. Physical teams have much more at stake (an audience of fans to keep happy), and yes, this may counter my point of view to some. While intellectual teams can admire each other just as much for a clever idea brought up by a team member that saves the whole team (or individual member). But no audience to applaud such actions, just the team themselves. And this makes it a higher form of sport, which is why I believe all players need to cooperate at the table.
Scripture highlights that evil imagination originates in the heart and leads to sinful actions, urging believers to “cast down” (2 Cor 10:5) such thoughts. Key verses, including Genesis 6:5, Proverbs 6:18, and Romans 1:21, warn against impure, proud, or wicked imaginations that are considered detestable to God and contrary to his will.
Know your scriptures. Have wisdom. Be educated.
So are role-playing games, uhm, tabletop RPG, good or evil according to scriptures? Are they evil imaginations going on? Or is it a game of cooperation and pooling skills, as I said earlier? In my game, I would have no issues with the Son of God sitting down and joining in as a player.
I am not a conservative, but I am also not a liberal. I am a person who believes the truth lies between them. I have been persecuted by both sides, and this is why today I have my perspective.
NEW MATERIAL
This is a compilation of articles and other resources that have come to the editor’s attention over the last month. Everyone is welcome to send bibliographic information about anything you discover that fits the mission of CAR-PGa and this newsletter.
Aloi, Jacob (2026 Feb 26) How a Dungeons & Dragons meetup turned into mutual aid during ICE operations. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/26/dungeons-and-dragons-meetup-turned-mutual-aid-ice-operations. Dragons, Dungeons and Drinks provides comfort and community organizing.
Bradford, Shelby (2026 Feb 11) Tabletop Role Playing Games Make Science an Adventure. https://www.the-scientist.com/tabletop-role-playing-games-make-science-an-adventure-74069. Teaching with TTRPGs.
Brown, Oliver (2026 Feb 10) Dungeons and Dragons-inspired game breaks down social barriers for neurodivergent kids. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-11/dungeons-and-dragons-inspired-game-for-neurodivergent-kids/106321560. Dragons of the Spectrum is a game to encourage confidence and social skills.
Campbell, Stephanie (2026 Feb 10) Review of Let’s Go to Roomino. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2026/02/10/review-of-lets-go-to-roomino. Almost limitless introduction to dungeon exploration for young gamers.
Campbell, Stephanie (2026 Feb 17) TTRPGkids @ SXSW EDU 2026. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2026/02/17/ttrpgkids-sxsw-edu-2026. March 9-12 in Austin, Texas.
Chan, Khee Hoon (2026 Feb 27) Several Kickstarter United members have been laid off three months after labor strike. https://www.rascal.news/several-kickstarter-united-members-have-been-laid-off-three-months-after-labor-strike. Filing Unfair Labour Practice charges.
Cooper, Jordan (2026 Feb 2) Playing Dungeons & Dragons boosts brain function, research shows. https://vegoutmag.com/news/r-tns-playing-dungeons-dragons-boosts-brain-function-research-shows. Examines recent research for impact on Mental health, cognitive skills, and social-emotional development.
Didymus-True, Mike (2026 Feb 19) Tabletop industry veteran Ryan Dancey loses Alderac COO job after saying AI can generate game ideas as good as some of his company’s designs. https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/02/19/tabletop-industry-veteran-ryan-dancey-loses-alderac-coo-job-after-saying-ai-can-generate-game-ideas-as-good-as-some-of-his-companys-designs. AI debates, excitements, and fears shake up Alderac and beyond.
Frane, Alex (2026 Feb 17) The Rise of Public Tabletop Role-Playing Games. https://www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2026/02/tabletop-role-playing-games-portland. Centering game play at TPK Brewing in Portland, Oregon.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 Feb 20) US board game industry eyes lengthy refund war following tariff decision. https://www.geeknative.com/226046/us-board-game-industry-eyes-lengthy-refund-war-following-tariff-decision. Clarifying costs and cleaning up the mess.
Henderson, Kylie (2026 Feb 16) Science reveals board game lovers share one surprising personality trait that predicts their future. https://lundy-projects.co.uk/board-games-personality-traits-science-reveals-surprising-future-predictor. Healthy minds and habits drawn to games or benefiting from them.
Hutton, Christopher (2026 Feb 8) Geekify’s Neopets TTRPG Beta Draft Slammed by Designers for Looking Too Much Like D&D. https://www.ttrpginsider.news/p/news-roundup-neopets-baldur-s-gate-and-wrestling-belts#geekifys-neopets-ttrpg-beta-draft-s. Major IP project may be missing the mark.
IsaacIsAfraid (2026 Jan 29) Afraid of Communities – Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene & LFG. https://afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/afraid-of-communities-indonesian-tabletop-rpg-scene-lfg. History and trends.
Jesthehuman (2026 Feb 9) No ICE in Minnesota is LIVE. https://www.rascal.news/no-ice-in-minnesota-is-live-done. Creators supporting Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
Kim, Tae Wan (2025 Dec 19, Volume 28, article number 9) When work becomes a game: the moral costs of gamified labor. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-025-09885-8. Engagement and efficiency and the loss of moral agency.
MacDougall, Nico (2026 Feb 6) January 2026 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective. https://ttrpg-spider.blogspot.com/2026/02/january-2026-ttrpg-crowdfunding.html. Notable rise in fundraising, unclear effect of AI-based projects.
Maas, Jennifer (2026 Jan 29) Brennan Lee Mulligan & Matt Mercer | GMs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JtUPBkYQOY. Discussing Dimension 20 & Critical Role.
Marks, Aaron (2026 Feb 11) Five Tiers of RPG Publishing. https://cannibalhalflinggaming.com/2026/02/11/five-tiers-of-rpg-publishing. Based on annual revenue.
McInnis, Lucas (2026 Feb 1) Islanders can explore ‘no-holds-barred’ imagination at role-playing game nights. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-peers-alliance-tabletop-role-playing-games-9.7067262. Inclusive game gatherings at Prince Edward Island libraries.
Morris, Dave (2026 Feb 20) Dwarf days. https://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2026/02/dwarf-days.html. Memories of the early days of Games Workshop and White Dwarf magazine.
Morrissey, Russ (2026 Feb 10) WotC Continues D&D’s Advance To Digital First Brand. https://www.enworld.org/threads/wotc-continues-d-ds-advance-to-digital-first-brand.717851. Many media beyond the game.
Morrissey, Russ (2026 Feb 10) Hasbro CEO Says AI Integration Has Been “A Clear Success”. https://www.enworld.org/threads/hasbro-ceo-says-ai-integration-has-been-a-clear-success.717852. Largely for business applications. More discussion by Andrew Girdwood of Geek Native.
noise sans signal (2026 Feb 16) The category that Bloggies are missing. https://noisesanssignal.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-category-that-bloggies-are-missing.html. Highlighting the less practical creations.
Notestine, Clayton (2026 Feb 9) This year’s Bloggies Nominees. https://www.explorersdesign.com/this-years-bloggies-nominees. Almost 100 posts and a new category.
Prichep, Deena (2026 Feb 13) Dungeons & Dragons, long played for fun, is being explored for therapeutic potential. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/13/nx-s1-5678657/dungeons-dragons-long-played-for-fun-is-being-explored-for-therapeutic-potential. Working with trauma and our better selves.
© Copyright 2026 by the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGa), ISSN 1071 7129. The CAR-PGa Newsletter is a monthly publication. For more information contact David Millians, Editor, Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA, phone (404) 808-1070, fax (404) 377-3491, email millians.david@paideiaschool.org. Back issues are available. Contributions of material from the membership are urged, and the byline is responsible for content. Deadline is the last weekday of the month, email preferred. Permission is granted to copy anything in the Newsletter, provided we get a credit line in the publication copying it, and it doesn’t have someone else’s copyright on it. Information, including details on joining CAR-PGa, can be obtained on the Internet at car-pga.org.