Archive-name: games/roleplay/part2aăLast-Modified: 3/29/93ăăA new section, about this topic has been added, Part 2b. It discusses in ăgeneral the fight GAMA and specifically Mike Stackpole have been winningăagainst BADD and other antigaming groups.ăă[due to popular demand (i.e. some have complained that part 2 of the generală FAQs was too big), I have removed the questions about gaming/evil/satan/etc.ă into a separate FAQ. Numbering begins at 1. ]ăă1: I have a problem with a friend of mine. He is active in his church andă feels strongly that any Fantasy Roleplaying Game is Evil. What can Iă tell him?ăăA0: Roleplaying is an escapist activity that requires a good imagination,ă but it is not recommended for those with a poor grip on reality. Ită does not make weirdos, it simply attracts them. That aside...ăă I have five different answers for you. You can pick and choose,ă depending on which one is most applicable to your own situation.ăăA1: tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Deus Imperator) replies:ăă Tell him this story:ăă A young boy with STRONG roots in christianity became disenchantedă with religion in general as he grew up. He fell into veryă antisocial behavior (thieving, pyromania). While in high school,ă he ran across a kid who knew a LOT about magic, and played D&D.ă Our disturbed hero fell in with this crowd, and soon was playingă D&D regularly. He always played evil characters.ăă Now this poor soul never really read for pleasure. In fact, *all*ă that he had read for the past three years was _First Blood_ andă _Rambo_. One of the players recommended the Dragonlance series toă him. He loved it, empathizing with Raistlin 100%. He read theă first book in one night, bought the next two, read BOTH in oneă night, and begged his DM to give him more. His pleas wereă granted: Thomas Covenant; Dune; David Eddings; Tolkien. Soon thisă maladjusted youth began writing himself, specializing in poetry.ă He expanded his reading range, including such great works as Lesă Miserables, all of Joyce, and, oh yeah, the Bible. Indeed, oură wayward youth regained his faith, and now this year published aă book of poetry, dedicated to me: The DM. True story.ăă Oh, yeah. For what it's worth, he wants to become a priest.ăăA2: DDK2@psuvm.psu.edu (Dan Kopes) replies:ăă Have the religious "friend" read _Le_Morte_D'Artur_ by Maloryă (or Steinbeck's version). And then have him watch the Familyă Channel's animated version of the Prince Valiant comic. It's onă Mondays at 8pm.ăă Yes, you read right. Pat Robertson's Family Channel is running aă new show based on the Prince Valiant comic. It's a little cheesyă but it would be a good way to show a religious person that theă Arthurian Legends are not satanic literature. Because it is fromă these stories that most frpg's formed. Dragons, knights, damselă in distress... all of these came from the Arthurian Legends. So,ă if one set of armored warriors, pious priests, and knowledgeableă wizards are OK to read, then why isn't another group?ăă I made a list of crucial elements that were in the first severală episodes of Prince Valiant, all of these are also the backbone ofă most RPGs:ăă 1) Evil baron defeats good guys and exiles them from their home.ă - What!? A religious channel is saying that the bad guys win?!ă - In FRPs this is the plot hook that sets the good guys intoă doing something to regain the home.ăă 2) Prophetic dreamsă - sounds like Robertson's channel is delving into mysticism.ă - Used in FRPs to nudge the adventurers into going the rightă way.ăă 3) Spell casting - by swamp witch and Merlină - It seems it's OK to pretend that spells exist in stories...ă - One of the spell casters is a good guy so this throws out theă idea that magic is evil or satanic...only some of it is.ă And the good guys do NOT use the evil magic.ăă 4) Authority figures can be evil and corruptă - another baron suppresses his people and forces the blacksmith'să daughter to marry his wimpy brother.ă - In FRPs this sets up a lot of adventures...the good guys haveă to overthrow the abusive leader.ăă 5) Monsters are real and dangerous to let live...ă - The very first episode had a giant lizard, probably meant as aă dinosaur or dragon.ă - In FRPs monsters as opponents are a staple in an adventurer'să diet. They have to be killed/defeated for the greater good.ăă Now, have your religious "friend" watch this show which isă broadcast nationally on a religiously affiliated network.ă Robertson himself has spoken out against Fantasy Roleplayingă Games, but he broadcasts a TV show that is very similar to mostă FRP campaigns.ăăA3: Many people seem to think that Fantasy Roleplaying is inspired byă black magic and Necronomicon-like grimoires. In fact, J.R.R.ă Tolkein's _Lord of the Rings_ and _The Hobbit_ and the world ofă Middle Earth, which are primary influences on almost allă Roleplaying games, were primarily inspired by Christiană (Catholic, to be precise) ideas.ăă J.R.R. Tolkein was a devout Christian, and a close friend of C.S.ă Lewis, one of the great Christian thinkers of our (or any) time,ă and writer of the fantasy and science fiction classicsă (respectively) The Chronicles of Narnia and the trilogyă comprising "Out of the Silent Planet," "Perelandra," and "Thată Hideous Strength." Some of Lewis's work in "That Hideousă Strength" is acknowledged inspiration from Tolkein's writing (notă to mention a large dose of Christian theology).ăă Yes, Virginia, Christianity and fantasy can coexist.ăă Another FRP-like Christian fantasy is _The Faerie Queen_ byă Edmund Spenser, with the Red-Cross Knight and other allegoricală characters engaging in typical FRP exploring and monster killing.ăă Roleplaying gamers should also emphasize that their games există in a moral world (that is, of course, if their players do notă regularly play evil or psychopathic characters) and thată wrongdoing and skullduggery usually rebound on the bad guys.ă Despite the fact that TSR strongly discourages evil playeră characters -- providing scenarios that are aimed almostă exclusively at good and neutral alignments -- most critics thinkă that players are all thrilling in immoral deeds. They don'tă realize most of us play the good guys, in the white hats, whoă ride off into the sunset after the last scene.ăăA4: Finally, one of the things that humans enjoy the most is tellingă or listening to a bashing good story. Jesus was well known foră telling stories, as have been many very holy men and womenă through history.ăă Fantasy Roleplaying Games are just another way of tellingă stories, which may or not be objectively good, but are generallyă enjoyed by the participants and certainly involve lots ofă bashing.ăăA5: In case you are being persecuted by those who think they areă only doing the christian thing by trying to convert you fromă what they see as a satanist or evil conspiracy to the onlyă right and true way you may find the following arguments to beă useful.ăă Pierre Savoie of CaRPG supplied the following refutations ofă commonly quoted "facts" used by the anti-roleplaying set.ăă The original claim of a teen committing suicide due to D&D was aă hoax. In 1979 James Dallas Egbert III disappeared from Michigană State University, as described in a book by the detective on theă case, William Dear (THE DUNGEON MASTER, 1984, Ballantine,ă biographies). Dear rambles a lot and he may be dramatizing tooă much, but he made headway not from talk about D&D played ină underground "steam tunnels" on the campus, but only after heă contacted a man who was keeping boys as young as 11 in hisă apartment, who claimed to know where Dallas was. It turns out theă boy was 16 years old and in his sophomore year, a genius but alsoă lonely, on drugs, and gay. He "ran away from it all", got stonedă down in those tunnels, and staggered over to the home of a gayă friend. This person got nervous when later the police searchă started, and Dallas was shuttled from gay to gay until he endedă up in Louisiana with "friends". It could have been a prostitutionă ring involving juveniles.ă Dear's only concern was to bring the boy back, so he kept theă facts hidden for 5 years until he wrote the book. For thată reason D&D continued to be blamed, esp. nine months later whenă Dallas committed suicide (probably out of embarrassment). Iă don't know how far to trust Dear's account, particularly becauseă of his choice of title to "market the book better".ăă The very first published anti-D&D writings were from the Rev.ă John Torrell in 1980 (Christian Life Ministries, now calledă European-American Evangelistic Crusades, in Sacramento, CA).ă Torrell claimed that "these players go nuts with it! They startă confusing fantasy with reality." That's an ironic claim in viewă of his own published "political" views in his newsletter, THEă DOVE. In 1986 to the present, he claims that Ronald Reagană secretly surrendered the U.S. to the Soviet Union at the Icelandă Summit in 1986, with a five-year transition period before theă Russians assumed complete control. Well, guess who surrendered toă whom! He has also claimed that George Bush's membership in theă Order of Skull And Bones fraternity at Yale means that he hasă devoted his life to Satan! Torrell also claimed that the logo foră the Seoul Olympics was a cyclic "666" symbol, and many otheră inanities. A perfect conspiracy theorist. Torrell's radio showă got kicked off one radio station for making anti-Catholică remarks, but he wound up on another station.ăă The famous woman who claims her son killed himself due to D&D,ă Patricia Pulling of Richmond, Virginia, is in league with someă pretty questionable people. It seems she's a sort of guestă director of the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV)ă run by Dr. Thomas Radecki from near Chicago. This man has put oută loony claims that people are severely influenced by violent actsă seen on TV, and counts the number of violent acts per hour.ă According to his criteria, The Smurfs average 13/hr.! He alsoă says tickling, snowball fights, Donald Duck cartoons, theă Christian Broadcasting Network, etc. are all bad for the mind,ă and that anger should be suppressed because "only God has theă right to be angry", in flagrant opposition to the catharsisă theories of his psychiatric discipline.ă Now, every issue of THE NCTV NEWS has a margin column where aă "partial list of endorsers" is listed. Notice that it'să "partial", so they want to bring out what they feel are the mostă notable names who "support" them. One of these names is Prof. J.ă Phillippe Rushton of the University of Western Ontario, ină London, Ontario, Canada. This professor published his theories ofă a "race hierarchy" where Blacks were rated inferior to Whites,ă and both ranked below Orientals. He got some of his funding fromă an American group called the Pioneer Fund, which is said to beă racist.ă And yet he is listed as a notable endorser of Pat Pulling andă Thomas Radecki from 1985 to at least 1989! This raises theă possibility that various little "causes" such as D&D-bashing areă really to raise funds for what REALLY interests these groups...ă hatred and racism.ăă The only Catholic tract against the game of D&D had to be pulledă out of religious bookstores--because of its sources ofă information. This was called "Games Unsuspecting Peopleă Play--Dungeons and Dragons" by The Daughters of St. Paul Press ină Boston (light green cover, sub-digest size, 24 pages or so) andă authored by Louise Shanahan.ă Originally this was from a Canadian Catholic magazine called OURă FAMILY in Battleford, Saskatchewan, re-made into a tract.ă However, two of their "sources" of information on the game wereă the Rev. John Torrell and also Albert James Dager (who callsă Catholicism the "Babylon Mystery Religion", claiming it's a mixă of true Christianity and Babylonian rituals such as communion andă the confessional). Since both of these were anti-Catholic, theă tract was discontinued, and the DSP will no longer accept anyă manuscripts from Louise Shanahan! She obviously didn't researchă these sources sufficiently.ă I did, and gleefully pointed it out to the publisher, whichă withdrew the tract.ăă In the book CRUEL DOUBT by Joe MacGinnis, he seems to claim thată D&D was the link between Chris Prichard and the friends he askedă to help him kill his step-father. In fact, they ALSO went to theă same school (North Carolina State) and lived in the SAME dorm,ă but these common factors were somehow not considered contributoryă to their conspiracy the way D&D-playing was. The motive for theă killing, in these recessionary times, was greed for ană inheritance, not drugs or game-playing.ă Interestingly, a lot of attention is focused on the 70 cases aă year in the U.S. of kids who murder their parents. The number ofă parents who murder their kids in the same time is 2000! (see INă PURSUIT OF SATAN)ăă If videos of Sean Sellers (a teen on death-row in Oklahoma) areă presented on THE 700 CLUB as testimony of the link betweenă violence and D&D, it is only because videos are all they can comeă up with. They can't link up with him live--because he no longeră claims that D&D caused his crime!ă In a letter dated Feb. 5, 1990 from Sean Sellers to game designeră Michael Stackpole, Sellers concluded with, "Personally, foră reasons I publish myself, I don't think kids need to be playingă D&D, but using my past as a common example of the effects of theă game is either irrational or fanatical."ă Remember, people on death row are opportunists. They will claimă that UFOs tampered with their brains and this caused them toă kill. They will claim most anything to get parole, and who cană blame them? Of course, as more judges and wardens areă D&D-players, such a claim will not be possible within 10 years.ă In this case, concerning D&D, familiarity will kill the contemptă against the game rather than 'breeding contempt'. Only distanceă and ignorance breed contempt against the game. The more the gameă is known, the less people make claims against it!ăă TSR Inc. does a little to debunk anti-D&D claims, and ană organization of game manufacturers called the Game Manufacturers'ă Association (GAMA; c/o Greg Stafford; Chaosium Inc.; 950A 56thă St.; Oakland, CA; 94608) has done a lot to research these claims.ă However, there is now a fan-based organization I helped to foundă in 1988 called the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playingă Games (CAR-PGa). The principal people are as follows:ăă William Flattă 8032 Locust Ave.ă Miller, INă 46403 tel. (219) 938-3382 [very dedicated to the issue becauseă his father assaulted him for playing D&D, with a vacuum cleaneră pipe]ăă the Rev. Paul Cardwell, Jr.ă c/o Hippogriff Booksă 111 E. 5th St.ă Bonham, TXă 75418 [a gamer who prefers Chaosium-style rules, author of theă MYTHWORLD game, and an ordained United Methodist ministeră (teaching, not preaching) aged 58!]ăă Mr. Pierre Savoieă 22-B Harris Ave.ă Toronto, ONă M4C 1P4 CANADA tel. (416) 690-6985 [age 30, analytical chemist byă trade. I initially kicked off CAR-PGa with some diligent researchă on the exact groups which criticize D&D. Sometimes jokinglyă called "Head of Research" in the organization because I have 5ă feet deep of files and correspondence on the subject.]ăă The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation did a radio show on theiră AM network in the "Ideas" series, Canada's most intellectuală radio program, entitled "Dungeons and Dragons" (aired May 29,ă 1991). It concluded as follows:ă "The National Coalition on Television Violence and BADD sayă they have a hundred and twenty-five cases of D&D-linkedă deaths. Only forty of these cases have been published and halfă of those are anonymous.ă The ones they do cite details for have no causal link withă games. In every trial where Mrs. Pulling and Dr. Radecki haveă appeared, always as expert witnesses on the defence side, theă defendants were convicted anyway, and in no case adjudicatedă by the courts has gaming ever been implicated in any crime."ă This is not some schlock show, and transcripts are offeredă for most of their programs, including this one, for 5 Canadiană dollars per airdate. To order, indicate the title and airdateă of the show and send CDN$5 or equivalent to: CBC IDEASă Transcripts; P.O. Box 500, Station "A"; Toronto, ON; M5W 1E6;ă CANADA.ă I assisted a little in the research for the show, and you mayă find it a refreshingly positive broadcasting of the facts aboută game-playing.ăă There are at least two books in print so far which debunkă anti-D&D theories in the context of "Satanism". These are:ăă SATANISM IN AMERICA: How the Devil Got Much More Than His Dueă by Shawn Carlson and Gerald Larue, 1989 by Gaia Press (P.O.ă Box 466; El Cerrito, CA; 94530-0466; tel. (415) 527-9414) Ită is spiral-bound, 280 pages and the price is $12.95ă (Californians add .94 tax) plus $1.50 postage.ă 50 of these pages is a special appendix by game designeră Michael Stackpole of Chaosium Inc. directly dealing with theă anti-D&D claims.ăă IN PURSUIT OF SATAN: The Police and the Occult by Robert Hicksă (1991 by Prometheus Books; 700 East Amherst St.; Buffalo, NY;ă 14215; tel. (716) 837-2475). Hardcover, 420 pages, US$23.95ă plus maybe $3 postage. 25 pages devoted to D&D by thisă criminal analyst, plus additional chilling references. Foră example, in Chicago there is a wing of the Hartgrove Hospitală called for the Center for the Treatment of Ritualistică Deviance. It's influenced by silly Satanism seminars, and oneă of the criteria for being a potential patient is "heavyă involvement in fantasy and role play [sic] games". Therefore,ă a young teen can be "hospitalized" here with the consent ofă his parents for being a D&D-player--all legal and proper!ă This book was given a favourable review in an editorial in theă July 1991 DRAGON, by Michael Stackpole, who curiously did notă mention his own involvement with the first book.]ăă --> generic!pnet91!pro-micol!psavoie@zoo.toronto.eduă (Pierre Savoie; Micol Labs BBS; Toronto. A.k.a. DRACONIAN)ăă