The Bible is a living breathing work that brings us real life drama and unique insights into the human condition. No place is this more true than a case study into the more than 40 zealots who thought they were doing God a favor by plotting to kill Paul the Apostle. We read about them in the book of Acts 23:12-14.

No doubt they were sincere and passionate about their quest (probably just as devoted as Saul was before the Christ-encountered name change), but also sincerely mislead. They too (just like Saul), sought the approval of the Jewish leadership to validate their mission. Here is where we see the ugly side of human nature play out. The council upon entertaining this request should have corrected these men and redirected them to the Law which they profess to follow. Unfortunately, they used this as an opportunity to squelch their former agent Paul, and in their minds deal a serious blow to this new threat to their sense of comfort and order.

You would have thought that they may have learned something about this “New Way” when after having its leader, Jesus Christ, crucified, it exploded in scope following His miraculous Resurrection. One of their own even predicted that this would happen if they felt that by mere murder and collusion they could control this movement. No, some people never learn and are so blinded by self interest that they refuse to acknowledge the obvious.

In Redemption, we bring to life these nameless collaborators.

We call them “Doomed Conspirators,” because they are not identified by a single leader. They were a true grass roots campaign. Here we see a public declaration of a murderous act with the provision of self destruction if the plot is not executed successfully. Noble to be sure, but also very dumb. So, do we find out what happens when, before they can carry out the sinister deed, their plot is discovered and Paul is whisked away by the Roman guard? Unfortunately, no. It is safe to assume that these oaths are taken seriously with grave consequences.

They are as generic as they come, and fit perfectly into the Mob theme. So it was easy giving them those 2 identifiers. Next, we had to capture the flavor of their story and blend it into the thrust of the new set, so we see the nuance of their special ability coming into play. If you want to keep those doomed conspirators around for another block you may want to supply your own missionary and use “Christian Suing Another” from the Apostles set to bring him into battle. Then you can do something very useful, like shuffle away any Lost Souls you don’t want to see rescued in the near future. The low defensive number should give you initiative for most blocks, and the added benefit of Curse search and flexible banding will allow you some creative uses for these poor misguided knuckleheads.

Although I asked for this card’s inclusion into this set, it’s special ability was a collaboration from several play testers, and I want to applaud their input and suggest that this is exactly how the creative process works to bring God’s Word from text to playing hand.

Its a real joy and labor of love to bring the Bible to life in this format, and I look forward to meeting up with all of you at many future events.

To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies, please visit Three Lions Gaming!

By JohnM

As a Youth Pastor in Chicago in the early 1990's you get exposed to a lot of different things. There was culture clash between old school & grunge with an apathy for the conventional. In this environment we discovered CCG gaming. It was so popular we held tournaments at our youth room and turned them into evangelistic outreaches. We played the Decipher games and made many long lasting connections with the overall gaming crowd. We made the trek up to Milwaukee WI each summer for GenCon and the hour and half ride to and from turned into an impromptu faith sermon complete with gaming analogies and a captive audience. It was awesome. (Incidentally only after the fact did I come to learn that Rob & Cactus had a booth at the show while I was there but we did not connect). At the end of 1999 we felt the call to move back home to New England and sought out the gaming community there. This next youth group that we began featured something called Gamers Gauntlet. It was at this juncture we discovered Redemption CCG. It was a monthly gaming day at our youth facility were our teens could invite their friends for gaming of all kinds ( including sports) with an evangelistic component. We would fund raise for good causes and from that effort Gauntlet Games was born. I have been a Cactus Game Design distributor since 2005. In 2006 I began to run the Gauntlet Games/ Cactus booth at Creation Northeast. I have presented at many outreach shows over the last 9 years including SoulFest in NH, GenCon, TotalCon, Southern New England youth conventions, Morningstar bookstore chain and lots of other gaming expos. I love meeting up with the Redemption community all across the country. I consider this community my extended family, my tribe. I have been at every National tournament since 2003. I was asked to join the leadership team in 2008 and perform tasks ranging from Nationals Judging & detail management, play-testing and card development as well as representing Cactus in the Northeast. To me, its a great responsibility taking God's word and translating it into a game format. It may be the only exposure some may ever have to the Bible. I look at it not just as a game that we play but as part of our larger mission. I look forward to where God wants to take this community in the coming years and what impact we can have on the mission of expanding His Kingdom.