D&D 5E Raise your hand if your mom...

My old man played ODnD just before I was born and while an infant. Mom never cared for it bc he was out with his buddies playing. I never knew he played until 20 years later or so. I recall the 80s thing, and my grandmother buying into everything she hears from the tv evangelists, so it was a topic of conversation briefly. If anyone would have had a problem, it would have been her.

It never clashed with my christianity in the slightest, tho my 4th grade daughter has a small like of Cthulhu mythos games and stuff that I keep an eye on and balance out with good conservative moral guidance in daily life.

Then we have this weekend, was running Phandelver at game store, and a middle school kid no older than 11-12 walks up and shows interest. I flip him a 1st level wizard and walk him through the game. Liked his enthusiasm, wanting to cast shield at his feet and use magic missle to do a rocket jump up to a ledge. Maybe with a fireball, but sadly not magic missile. He had a blast and went home with a character sheet and his player tent with the advice to find the basic rules online and play with his friends.

I can only imagine, however, the conversation when he got home...

Mom: Hi honey, how was Card Fight at the game store today?
Kid: I played dungeons and dragons.
Mom: Oh, what did you do?
Kid: We went around a cave decapitating goblins because a guy in town was paying 1gp each for them. I froze one goblin's head and he fell over and it shattered into large chunks, but we used twine to hold the pieces together. A guy set himself on fire with an oil flask trying to get the bad guys. We carried the heads back to town in the back of our wagon and dumped them on the shop keeper's porch to get paid.
Mom: ...

I only started playing D&D as an adult. I honestly didn't know anyone who was playing D&D as a kid so I was never exposed to it. I had heard about D&D but it was really just background noise.

There was only one time that I remember my mom ever saying anything to me about it. Looking back now, I can see she was caught up in the 80's Everything is Satanic craze, but in my household D&D only got one mention. I remember my mom taking me aside and telling me and my sister that if anyone ever asked us to play Dungeons and Dragons that we should politely tell them no. No Dungeons and Dragons and no Ouija Board. I think that was the first time I had ever heard of D&D because I remember when she told me about it, I had no literal clue what either were. I conjured up some image of D&D as some game like Mouse Trap (you know, like how the mouse would be trapped in a cage?). But like I said, no one was pushing D&D so I never thought twice about it.

My friends, on the other hand, have some pretty hilarious stories. One told me about how his grandmother found his books and flecked holy water all over them. D&D to them had to be played on the serious down low. They would break their books out when their parents left and try to time their games until they'd return.

Oh, yeah. I started playing in 3rd grade (right in the middle of my KISS period). A friend's parents played and he had the newly released Monster Manual. The first monster I ever met? Tiamat. Got the original (Holmes) Basic Set for Christmas, or maybe my birthday just before that.

By the '80s my parents were big in the born again/evangelist period and Mom didn't like it at all. I found out later it was a big topic of discussion at therapy and such. To her credit she didn't stop me. As a senior in high school when we took a trip to Israel I was far more knowledgeable, and had no concerns about being pick-pocketed or haggling, unlike the rest of our group. She was impressed.

Jerusalem sparked off a lot of ideas too, it's amazing how old sections of the city (many newly accessible due to excavation) are literally buried under the current city. Reminded me of Sarbreen under Ravens Bluff.

Ilbranteloth

In my country there are very little people who play RPGs.

I got a bit into trouble when I bought a copy of Final Fantasy VIII (recently, some kid in Spain killed his parents and the whole thing got connected to FF, for some insane reason).

My mom made a fuss about it, but once she saw the actual game, promptly stopped.

I didn't get much encouragement from my folks when I started playing Pen & Paper RPGs, they just thought it was silly. As the years went by, they learnt more about these games (mostly from me) and now they still don't understand what's going on but have no problem with it.