This article was inspired by our collaboration with Gates of Krystalia! Check out the game and grab your copy on Kickstarter here.
One of the difficulties that Catholics within the gaming hobby sometimes face is balancing interest in any given game with potentially harmful influences on one’s mental and spiritual wellbeing. What specific bits of content are too far is a matter of personal virtue and circumstance, but the matter is worth considering no matter what you play. Fortunately for us the TTRPG genre of tabletop games is fundamentally whatever the players make of it, as even the most specialized rulesets and settings can be altered to suit your group’s needs. Those who simply want setting material to use right out of the gate will still find themselves stuck with the initial dilemmas and I understand that, but for those who love to make their own settings or at least are willing to put in the work this can expand your horizons exponentially. And in this article, I intend to share some ways you can bring isekai into a reflection on more edifying themes.
Please note that this article is not a matter of declaring that all Isekai role-playing games should or must conform to these observations. A Catholic group should feel free to run whatever setting allows them to honestly create experiences that generate meaningful and healthy reflections on truth, and a good group knows how to depict troubling topics without endorsing evil. Nor do I want to insinuate that the settings that exist in books like Gates of Krystalia are somehow worse for not considering some of the points I am about to make, just less immediately useful to our site’s core demographic. Honestly, the setting of Lumina is arguably one of the tamer RPG settings I’ve seen. With that out of the way, let’s begin with an overview of what “isekai” even is.
The Definition and Development of the Isekai Genre
The name isekai is a Japanese word that means “another world”, and by that you can probably figure that the main subject is about ordinary people going on extraordinary adventures in other worlds. However this is not sufficient to truly understand this particular genre, as stories of this nature have existed for millenia. No one is out there calling Alice in Wonderland or The Chronicles of Narnia classical isekai literature, that’s for sure. Narrowing the focus down to just anime about this subject doesn’t help either, as older television series like The Vision of Escaflowne and other world-swapping works are only called isekai in retrospect. To truly see the modern origin of this genre we have to look to the highly influential 2012 anime series Sword Art Online. This was a show about how a nerdy games enthusiast gets trapped inside the world’s first VR MMO, and finds himself becoming one of its strongest and most influential players in the fight to escape back to the real world (given that their headsets were rigged to fry their brains if they died in-game). The important part about this setting is that it happens to be the perfect place for the protagonist’s skillset to make him top of the food chain, despite it being relatively niche and specialized in reality.
This experience of arriving in an alternate world where you’re quickly equipped to rise to the top is the core fantasy of most isekai, and is what the huge wave of shows that followed aimed to build upon. The genre continued to use worlds that operated on RPG logic to appeal to gamers’ fantasy of having their hours of grinding translate to success, although this often now took place in full-on alternate worlds as opposed to literally inside a game. Other notable changes from Sword Art Online include death and reincarnation becoming the most common means of entering into the new world, blander protagonists for the audience to impose themselves onto (impressive given the protagonist of SAO was already quite self-insertable in some respects), and the dynamic of the groupie girls orbiting the monogamous main character being changed to explicit or implicit polyamory in some cases. Most isekai didn’t follow this template to the letter obviously, in fact your ability to create an interesting enough unique gimmick was the lifeblood of the more successful shows, but these are the tropes that most commonly define this genre.
Now that we know what the isekai genre generally entails, I’ll go through some of the more notable tropes and explain where your tabletop group can adjust them to fit with Catholic themes. I already addressed the topic of harems in the review of Gates of Krystalia, so check that out if you’d like some more info on that topic. I will also provide some sample pieces of world-building you could use as a part of your own settings, if you’d like them. You could link all of these bits of prose together in their totality, but you might get more out of writing your own ideas and using my examples to fill gaps where necessary.
Journeying to the New World
The first point of discussion is how the characters cross over into an isekai world, as this might be the most potentially troubling element of the genre as a whole. Namely the reincarnation trope might seem innocuous at first glance, but it does have implications which don’t bode well for the more neurotic among us. After all if you were a down on you luck nerd who consumed endless stories about how this similar guy turned his entire life around after literally dying, can you honestly say that would not tempt you to start a pattern of suicidal ideation? It’s true that Christianity also posits an infinitely better final destination after death, but unlike isekai stories this destination is not unconditional and it is nobody’s place to decide when this life they have been gifted by God should end.
If you’re in a more stable group this might be a non-issue, but generally I highly recommend finding other reasons your characters reach the isekai world. The genre itself is thankfully pretty flush with ideas for you to draw from: be it an MMO, a summoning, a portal, a supernatural event, or the many other ways to bridge the gaps.
In this world great and terrible dark forces have often threatened peace throughout the ages, but it is not often that we face them alone. Great heroes with incredible powers often rise from obscurity to fight alongside us in our hour of need, and though they look no different from any of us, many have admitted to being from lands further than we can imagine. Whether an order of mages summons them in secret or God sends them to us is unclear, but their aid has been indispensable all the same.
On Race Options and Transformations in General
Protagonists changing their form entirely is another fairly common trope in the isekai genre, something Gates of Krystalia emphasises in particular with its large selection of races. One might be tempted to write this off as purely for reincarnation-based stories but it’s actually not that hard to justify. Traveling the other world often has a mystical element, so using that as a basis to change into an elf or a fox-person in the process isn’t that difficult. This is even easier in MMO style stories, where the races are just reflections of what the protagonists selected while creating their avatars.
As for what moral reasons we could have to engage with race-changes in isekai stories, there’s plenty of different directions to take with it. You could use it to impose certain challenges on the protagonist related to the themes you wish to explore, such as making them into an angelic being that all the common people instinctively look to for guidance and forcing the hero to grapple with great expectations. You could also use a race change to emphasize parts of a protagonist’s personality and force them to reflect on who they are as a person. For example a protagonist who enters the setting as a demon-esque race as a reflection of his tendency to be cruel and manipulative might realize it’s harder to dupe people when his true nature is manifestly shown in his new biology. That in turn might begin a hopeful and redemptive arc about recognizing his sinful conduct and atoning for it, or maybe a tragic arc where he gives into his worst nature and dies alone in depravity. There’s way more potential here than you think!
The heroes who come to this world cannot enter into it as they once were due to what we believe to be a divine edict, and thus each one arrives with their memories mostly obscured and their bodies greatly changed. Those who appear as one of the myriad races generally happen to be people whose dispositions match those of the race in question, although their fundamentally human nature often causes differences in behavior to arise. Others retain human forms but instead gain radically different traits, such as a scrawny scholar arriving as a muscle-bound warrior, or a bitter delinquent attaining a more righteous spirit. Those heroes who encounter a crystal called a Mirror of the Soul see their partially-forgotten selves reflected back at them, and this is always an occasion of great surprise and self-examination.
On the Protagonists’ Ultimate Goals
One particular feature of isekai storytelling that seems rather consistent is the lack of a real commitment to giving their stories an ending. Some of the earlier ones did manage to do actual endings, but for the most part the story is often structured around merely being an excuse to get the protagonist onto their slice-of-life power trip as quickly as possible. Even in stories without reincarnation where the hero is given a mission to defeat a demon lord to get home, or he or she ostensibly takes the initiative on going home regardless of any quest, those endpoints quickly become buried under other matters to the point where they effectively stop mattering. This isn’t a moral problem in itself but it is rather lousy writing, and in the worst case scenario this can inadvertently stifle your characters’ growth and turn them into Puer Aeternus. Strongly consider giving your stories a clear end goal to avoid this. The desire to return home seems particularly meritorious from a Catholic perspective, as role-playing the hero’s desire to return to his or her world of origin is a great parallel to humanity’s universal longing for our true home in Heaven at God’s side. Even if there is no way to return though, be that due to the reincarnation clause or some other one-way ticket reason, you can at least spin a story about living up to one’s vocation or finding peace in letting go of one’s old life. Whatever you do, just have an end in sight!
The heroes from another world cannot actually say much about their homeland. They describe their memories like impressionist paintings: they can remember their world in broad strokes but most of the details are lost to them. Each one feels an undeniable longing for the places they picture in their minds however, and different heroes grapple with this in different ways. Some find ways to settle down after their initial quest and suppress this longing one way or the other. Others spend their entire lives seeking a way home and never retire from their heroic life. Plenty of these ones eventually disappear entirely, though whether they truly found a way home or simply perished where none can find them is known to God alone.
Meditating on The Power Fantasy
In a related topic that cuts to the heart of the matter, how can the subject of power be approached in the isekai genre responsibly? This is arguably the point of greatest contention between conventional intent and morally engaging storytelling, because the power fantasy is ultimately the core of what appeals to the most diehard viewers of this genre. The short answer is that there isn’t actually a problem with power being given to the heroes in and of itself, but it does need to be approached correctly. First thing to understand is that power is not a corrupting force like many generally insist, for if that were true then God would have to be the most corrupt being in existence since He is omnipotent. Rather, power is a magnifier for what already lies in the heart. This explains why there are powerful people who live nobly just as much as some people in power with unchecked sinfulness get enabled. It is this magnifying aspect of power that should be brought to the forefront when role-playing these fantastical heroes.
Allow your isekai protagonists to pursue the things they desire most in their hearts through their newfound power (be it justice or selfishness), represent the consequences of their actions fairly, and in turn give the protagonists a chance to reflect on the results and either change or double down on what they’re doing. Instead of a world that unconditionally loves these heroes because of their strength, let that respect be born of fear if they are misbehaving. Maybe even escalate those feelings to resentment if things don’t improve! This will make your isekai world feel much more alive and believable, rather than just like a playroom for your protagonists to wreak havoc as they see fit. It’s a departure for the genre as a whole, but it is also explored in at least a few existing anime anyway so it is worth striving for. Generally speaking I like more hopeful characters and encourage exploration of paragons, but you could even give these characters flaws brought on by sudden power which they have to truly confront for the first time.
The heroes who enter our world are generally beacons of hope, but our history isn’t entirely populated with saints. Some old stories tell of times when a ‘hero’ would use their opportunity to conquer lands unjustly, indulge their basest appetites, or even strike deals with devils. Such villains are always eventually killed by the great effort and sacrifice of our great knights and sages, but their deaths are cold consolation for the damage they caused. Do not be tempted to trust these figures unconditionally. The benefit of the doubt is fine, but never put them above accountability.
Jesus in Another World?
Lastly, Christians are low-key known for a degree of discomfort in starting the fantasy role-playing hobby due the the conflict of wanting to play clerics but disliking the thought of embodying one subscribing to a fake religion. I would know, I was one of them! If you think this might be a point of contention for you or your players, could you run an isekai game that makes use of the one true religion as a spiritual backdrop? Well… yes actually! The isekai genre already presupposes the parallel existence of our world as a part of the fiction, which means God, Jesus, and His Church all canonically exist. And if God has dominion over all creation, it stands to reason He would have dominion over the isekai world too. Therefore while crowbarring Catholicism into your fantasy setting isn’t usually a good idea, the cosmological assumptions of isekai actually support this move. While more direct parallels between the real and isekai worlds aren’t usually a feature of the genre (with a few exceptions that ride the line between isekai and alt-history fiction), it is still a relevant idea you can explore.
As for how you go about this, it depends on what your group’s goals are. A distinctly Catholic playgroup might be okay with plopping The Church right into whatever setting they’ve created, perhaps with either some benign adjustments to the doctrine that account for the more fantastical elements of the setting (only up to a certain point of course) or limiting player character options that would cause a break with doctrine. The former is almost certainly better accomplished with heavy allusion to real Christianity though, where the religion of the setting is technically fictional and probably calls God and Jesus by different names but borrows enough of the moral teachings and aesthetic trappings to still feel like a literary exploration of the Catholic faithful (hence dodging the potential issues of circumstantial doctrinal edits). Of course it is also very likely you’ll be playing in a group with a mixture of faiths present, which means you should be ready to incorporate your ideas more subtly. The most important thing is that you’ve come together to play a game, and not a lot of non-Catholics sit down to debate moral theology while dungeon-delving. This doesn’t mean you can’t gently include thought-provoking scenarios which are pro-Catholic, and you certainly aren’t obligated to continue playing with someone if they make the game hostile to teachings of the true faith, but striking that careful balance will let you reach more hearts than if you try to bluntly proselytize. In short, know your audience!
The Kataholos Church is the true institute of faith in our land, tasked by God to preach the salvation of all the races of the world through forgiveness of sins and devotion to the divine son Jesu who died and rose from the dead to make redemption possible. It has stood for generations as one of the foremost forces against the troubles of our world, with their priests and paladins being constantly at the vanguard in times when darkness rises. Interestingly some of the heroes from afar claim that this church bears striking resemblance to one in their hazy memories, and even choose to ally with it believing God to be working through both churches.
Conclusion
With that I have covered all the major topics of the isekai genre which one might wrestle with when writing a setting suitable for play in faithful company. Whether you take a little or a lot, everything or nothing from this article for your home game, I hope it has at least given you some perspective on how to examine the tropes from genre fiction in a constructive way. Above all do not be afraid of taking wonderful roleplaying books and bending the rules to put your own spin on it, as it will challenge you to be creative and make the experience provided to your players wholly your own. One of our key roles here at Catholic Game Reviews is to help people glorify God in all that they do like Colossians commands, and I hope this article stands as a particularly good resource for that.
Thanks again to Gates of Krystalia for inspiring this article! You can try before you buy using the Downlad Demo button on their official site just by sharing your email: https://www.gatesofkrystalia.com/
I’d also like to share the video essay What’s the Point of Escapism? by Pilgrim’s Pass as it’s a compelling watch on the nature of isekai’s relationship to standard fantasy worlds, and a huge inspiration for a lot of the stuff that I’ve written here. I’m going to give this a 17+ warning as he does engage in some swearing and crude humor at points, and doesn’t shy away from discussion of some of isekai’s more explicit negative contents, but he is Catholic and a lot of his points are worth your time. (Disclaimer: I am a $1 tier Patreon supporter of Pilgrim’s Pass, but this recommendation is purely my own.)
