D&D mentioned in Australian paper

MerricB

Eternal Optimist
Supporter
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/31/1156817034534.html?from=top5

Not about D&D, but it gets a mention. I love the dating:

Sydney Morning Herald said:
Devil in the detail: Vatican exorcises Harry Potter
Linda Morris Religious Affairs Writer
September 1, 2006

THE Vatican has never been a fan of Harry Potter, but its chief exorcist has gone one step further and condemned J. K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard as downright evil.

"Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil," says Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope's "caster-out of demons".

The books contained numerous positive references to the satanic art, falsely drawing a distinction between black and white magic, he told the Daily Mail in London. In the same interview, Father Amorth said he was convinced that Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were possessed by the devil.

Last year the Pope, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, described Harry Potter as a potentially corrupting influence.

The Vatican's criticism comes as two Australian academics suggested a new generation of spiritual seekers was using popular fiction and medieval myth to reinsert magic and enchantment into their lives.

Dr Lynne Hume and Kathleen McPhillip, editors of a collection of academic essays on popular spiritualities, said sacred religious texts were being superseded by medieval myths, comics and fantasy literature.

J. R. R.Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series had all inspired interest in spiritual spin-offs.

Pagans had borrowed from the Discworld series peopled by dwarfs, witches and fairies, while young men had shaped their living fantasies on comic book heroes and Star Wars narratives. Role-playing games of the 1990s such as Dungeons and Dragons spurred interest in acting out fictional characters and events.

The vampire subculture - bigger in the US than in Australia and splintering from the Goth movement of the 1970s - borrows more from Anne Rice's broody, immortal and powerful figure of Lestat in the Vampire Chronicles than Bram Stoker's figure of old. That subculture, Dr Hume said, consisted of vampire role players, but also people who believed they were vampires.

Adam Possamai, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Western Sydney, said the two-in-one figure of Clark Kent and Superman was attractive because it mirrored conflicting impulses to conform or stand apart.

Dr Hume said in the vampire subculture reality blurred with fiction. "Instead of making more attempts to fit in to society at large, many vampire fans exaggerate their difference."
 

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MerricB said:
RPGs of the 90s such as D&D...

Cheers!

Oh, ok. I was thinking of dating in the boyfriend/girlfriend sense. If anything they should have said roleplaying games of the 70's or 80's since that was when D&D first came into the mainstream (or just left the date reference out completely!).

Olaf the Stout
 

caudor

Adventurer
And all this time I thought Harry Potter was just a protagonist in a children's story...

We are all doomed. DOOMED, I say. :eek:
 

Agent Oracle

First Post
J. R. R.Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series had all inspired interest in spiritual spin-offs.

Pagans had borrowed from the Discworld series peopled by dwarfs, witches and fairies, while young men had shaped their living fantasies on comic book heroes and Star Wars narratives.

There are no faeries in disc-world! Pixies, yes, but they're just gnomes that are very angry with a strong nationalistic tendency! And the witches barely do any magic (seriously, there might be one spell in the entire book, if even that) they more often get by on raw grit! and the Dwarves are just now undergoing a sexual revolution, the females are finally revealing the fact that they are women!

Role-playing games of the 1990s such as Dungeons and Dragons spurred interest in acting out fictional characters and events.

Bad dating aside, how is this different from Drama? where people act out fictional characters and events? I dare argue that roleplay originated with Thespis back in 534 (or was it 535) BC, when he started doing a one-man show during the Dionysus festivals...

Dr Hume said in the vampire subculture reality blurred with fiction. "Instead of making more attempts to fit in to society at large, many vampire fans exaggerate their difference."

Reminds me of a T-shirt i saw... "You laugh at us because we're all the same, we laugh at you because you're all different." I think it was in Warm Subject?
 
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Jack of Shadows

First Post
Arg!

I'm restricted by the rules of the forum from posting my full opinion because it would involve discussing religion AND politics. So I'll just say, what a poo poo head.

Jack
 

Kae'Yoss

First Post
Agent Oracle said:
There are no faeries in disc-world!

What about the Lords and Ladies? Okay, the Gentry only appears twice, and ince it is in one of the "Discworld books for Children", but the Fair Folk's there. One of the most awesome descriptions of Elves ever.

Oh, damn! I've said the E-word. Have to get near iron now!
 

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