Bible Chronicles - A Christian RPG

A studio by the name of Phoenix Interactive has started a new RPG Kickstarter called Bible Chronicles: The Call of Abraham. The goal of the project is to raise $100,000.

Follow Abraham as he is challenged to leave his homeland and trust in the promise that he will become the father of many nations. Adventure alongside him in this epic role playing adventure as you choose your path in the course of history.

Travel to ancient lands and take part in the action and excitement of Abraham’s life. Fierce battles, honor and glory, and the destruction of ancient evils await you on your path as you choose how your own story will play out.

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Now it has to said keep the replies civil as any time you mention religion it gets out of hand.I will be watching this thread.

More information.

It's really good that he has this hell of a co-moderator. Couldn't have done without him.

Anyone who's read the Old Testament can tell you that it is full of violence so it'll be interesting to see how the developers handle this. A Bible video game targeted at familys needs to be pretty tame in it's content so it'll be interesting to see how this develops.

If the stretch goals are met and we see a PS3 release I may consider it...

-d

The PnP RPG Testament by Green Ronin showed that a Biblical RPG can be really entertaining, and its historical aspects regarding the many cultures surrounding the ancient Lavant are really interesting. I did create a Biblical MMOG for NWN sometime ago whose architecture, and even dungeons, I ended up putting in my Wheel of Time server when I managed to get it back.

I can't find a link for the original game but here is a review link.
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9706.phtml

The above poster is right about the OT - I set mine around the time of Joshua which was a bit of a mistake because that time is a little too spelled out to make a flexible system. There's enough room in the the time of the Judges to have a wide variety of possibilities.

It should be interesting to see what happens. Many that have tried to make a decent MMOG or even Pnp RPG have largely failed. Testament was really good.

Abraham? Christian?? HELOOOO... this is THE founding father of the Jewish faith! Muslims harken back to Abraham as well. But it's a Christian game and only pastors and "ministry leaders" were consulted? What a missed opportunity. Well, at least the characters aren't all white and speaking in King James' English.

As for the game itself... they are showing off the game by having the character do a fetch quest.

Zloth said:

Abraham? Christian?? HELOOOO… this is THE founding father of the Jewish faith! Muslims harken back to Abraham as well. But it's a Christian game and only pastors and "ministry leaders" were consulted? What a missed opportunity. Well, at least the characters aren't all white and speaking in King James' English.

As for the game itself… they are showing off the game by having the character do a fetch quest.

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I'm assuming it is being made from a Christian perspective because it is being made by Christians. Given the different accounts of these events between the religions, it would end up not making much sense if they tried to incorporate everyone's view. It is an interesting idea. There aren't too many Christian themed games from recent times that I can think of, the Adam's Venture series being the exception.

Horrible title screen. Bad graphics. Blah.

I'm a minister in real life and is it wrong that I hope this fails?

Halleulah!!! It's about time! Finally a video game company that realizes that the problem with modern RPGs is that they aren't preachy enough..,

OK, but in all seriousness... Although I'm not religious at all, and in fact believe that organized religion has done the world exponentially more harm than good, I honestly wouldn't be opposed to a "Christian RPG" if (a) the game was actually well made and enjoyable to play and (b) it didn't seem that the developers were trying so hard to prosthelytize players; but instead used the art of storytelling to subtly impart the values / morals of their religion. Unfortunately this game appears to fail spectacularly at both of these things. It seems the developers one and only goal by making this game is to "stir a hunger for god's word"... and not make a game that is actually good in it's own right... An RPG taking place about 4,000 years ago in Egypt / Mesopotamia could be very interesting and a welcome change from the all too familiar fantasy medieval Europe setting ... But I definitely don't want to play one that just rehashes bible stories in a blatant attempt to jam Christian fundamentalism down my throat.

I have a feeling the majority of people who back this won't even be gamers, but rather parents who don't have the foggiest idea about video games but want something that further indoctrinate... err I mean, instill wholesome values in their children.

Here's my loony idea: Somebody needs to go all in and make an RPG where you play the character of Jesus.

Seriously.

You could have skill trees, powers (miracles), quests, dialog (lots of it), companions that you go out and recruit, and you play Jesus through many of the situations that are documented in the Bible, but you could also take some creative license and create similar scenarios during periods of his life that aren't as well documented.

Obviously, you would need to build in ways to get through the game with very little combat. And yet, you could still make combat part of the game, if that's how you choose to play him. Your challenges would be in getting through situations in ways that are in line with Jesus' faith and philosophy.

You could allow for a variety of endings in how your character ends up, ranging from getting crucified and immortalized, to being just another average joe who approached problems the same way as everybody else, to killing everything in your path and wielding the power of God to be overlord of all the land. 8^) But the twist is that you make it so that the ending that we are all familiar with is very hard to achieve, and only happens if you _really_ play your character like Jesus would. Sort of like taking Ultima IV to its logical conclusion. If you could do that in a way that would draw parallels with our modern life and make some "Christians" realize that the way they are living their day-to-day life now has nothing to do with the actual teachings of Christ, you could have something kind of powerful.

But I'm probably just crazy...

Is this a propaganda game? I'm serious. The theme itself could be interesting if done in a non-indoctrinating way.

The video itself did not seem to say too much about that, at least I did not notice.

I don't think the graphics are bad. It already seems to look okay for an indie game (seriously, some people need to keep their inner graphic whores in check) and is even nearly finished.

Here's the problem:

An RPG is about role-play. And decisions. And consequences.

What if, as Abraham, I decide to turn on the Jewish people? What if I decide to forsake God? What if I decide to not have faith and choose my son over a deity who would direct me to slay my firstborn to prove my faith?

Will they allow me? Doubt it.

To make it "Christian" they will have to have it on rails so we make the predictable outcome that keeps it "Christian."

And what does that mean? Christ transformed (and split) the Jewish faith for his contemporaries. He divided people (to this day) on who and what he claimed to be.

This wasn't part of the Hebrew Scriptures. Abraham's profound change was he was a Mono-Deist in a time where everyone believed in multiple gods and to claim there was one God over all struck most as insane and untrue. Abraham chose to trust this was true and that this god was God - one and only and that all others were false.

After watching the rudimentary video - heck, the title screen alone: I doubt these developers are grasping the complicated nuances that would make this intriguing b/c it would make them uneasy to challenge the concepts that shape the Christian worldview and, more importantly, would be uneasy to let roleplayers decide to distort and shape this worldview and reap the consequences proscribed in the Bible (are they going to have God kill Abraham every time the player decides to forsake God - b/c that is what the Hebrew Scriptures would indicate - that or God forsaking Abraham back and allowing him to punish himself and everyone else by becoming a lost people like others described in the HS)......

Frank is not an Egyptian name. And some of those others are also questionable.
No mention of time travel or whatnot.

If you're making a historical RPG, no matter if it's based on religious or other texts, at least get the background right. Or drop the idea and move the whole thing onto USA soil. Just stop with the mcdonaldization already!
I'm not supporting this travesty.

When is the RPG based on the Iliad coming out ?

I think the idea is quite good, but like others have said, I see little opportunity for roleplay unless they take some creative license and change some parts of the story and allow for more player interaction. Something like Expeditions : Conquistador...

Fantasm said:

Here's my loony idea: Somebody needs to go all in and make an RPG where you play the character of Jesus…

But the twist is that you make it so that the ending that we are all familiar with is very hard to achieve, and only happens if you _really_ play your character like Jesus would. Sort of like taking Ultima IV to its logical conclusion. If you could do that in a way that would draw parallels with our modern life and make some "Christians" realize that the way they are living their day-to-day life now has nothing to do with the actual teachings of Christ, you could have something kind of powerful.

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That is a great idea, actually.

I think that sounds like a very boring and restrictive game, to be honest.

Now you can rewrite biblical history!

Abraham kept calling Sarah his sister, so I think he must be from Kentucky

Alrik Fassbauer said:

When is the RPG based on the Iliad coming out ?

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Warriors: Legends of Troy was released in 2011... (might not be 100% fitting with the Iliad, but it's based on it).

I wonder if we get to go to hell in this game ?
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Oh well must be pretty bad since religion usually sells and so far they are not getting much in the ways of supporters. Maybe games are anti christian ?