Necromancer Games Under Fire?

[smiteworks]

The only angle that makes sense is if they could prove that every campaign he runs ends in a TPK.

On a more serious note, I do think the sort of biased viewpoint on D&D impacts a number of us in the workforce today in our professional careers. I am definitely a little reserved about who knows that I'm an avid gamer and I only share information about it with other co-workers who are also gamers. There are always those in an organization that will view this as a negative. These same people are normally the same sort who view tattoos as a sign of being unfit for leadership. It's really pretty sad. I make sure not to do anything gaming related when I'm at work and even on break and definitely never on corporate computers, networks or printers. By the same token, I don't FB or otherwise for similar reasons. It's easy enough to save this for the evenings and it would be a huge stretch for anyone to insinuate that my abilities to do my job are even minimally impaired.

 

[kitsune9]

In my professional life, I kept my hobby gaming in the closet. In the division that I work for now, it's far more open, but I have in the past worked for companies where if it was found out that I was a gamer, I would be immediately fired because only IT/programmer folks do that "kompuuter" stuff, grow beards, look scruffy, wear jeans, etc. The finance guys must be immaculately professional 24/7, no exceptions. We manage the finances of multi-million projects and clinical trials, no fun and games allowed here.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Clark, if you're reading this, we support you in whatever you choose to do. You have been a force for good in this hobby and we appreciate all the hard work you have done and, hopefully, will do in the future.

Everybody in every gaming group I've been in for the past five years has been envious of my Eldritch Sorcery book. It kicks ass. Apparently, Frog God games still has some for sale.

We wish you the best of luck in this difficult time.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I sort of regret that there's a link to the Spokesman Review article on Enworld. It's giving them outrage clicks, which is undoubtedly more than half the reason they posted this garbage in the first place.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

This IS the country that made Judas Priest defend their lyrics in court, after all...

OTOOH, JP wasn't held accountable for the kid's suicide, so maybe cooler heads WILL prevail again.

A minor point of clarification:

Judas Priest didn't have to defend its lyrics, which would be odd since the song was a Spooky Tooth cover and thus Gary Wright wrote the song. (Which would have been funny to see court; Wright also wrote "Dream Weaver," notoriously successful bubblegum.) Judas Priest was sued for putting in backwards lyrics with a suggestive message for the listener to kill himself. The judge ruled (erroneously) that the alleged hidden message wasn't subject to First Amendment protection. Thus the trial focused on whether or not the band recorded a backwards message and whether this message asked the listener to kill himself, both of which were of course silly and found as such.

 

[Jester David]

This is hilarious.
It's like arguing Regan would be a bad president because he might confuse acting with reality and suddenly think he was a football player.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Underneath the skin of this badly-written article contains a legitimate contention: was Clark Peterson dealing with RPGs on taxpayer time and, really more of an issue, dealing with other business (selling RPGs) on taxpayer time? Unfortunately, this is twisted with the usual sensationalism of the content of his posts, which is irrelevant to the real issue.

 

[Tom Strickland]

I coincidentally stumbled across this within the past couple of weeks:

"Dungeons and Dragons is a tragic and tangled subject. It is essentially a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft." "On top of that, the second issue is that the materials themselves, in many cases, contain authentic magical rituals." "There is hardly a game in which the players do not indulge in murder, arson, torture, rape or highway robbery."
http://www.chick.com/articles/dnd.asp

The "cartoon" is here in all of its horrifying drama:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

Why, I just had NO idea!

Actually, the former sites were referenced by this pro-gaming site (theescapist.com) and that is how I learned about them [which is sometimes what happens when you search about the Web for all things D&D]:

Dark Dungeons
http://www.theescapist.com/darkdungeons.htm

And if you are not scared away by now, an "advocacy" FAQ:

http://www.theescapist.com/basic_gaming_faq.htm

Note: I did not do more than briefly glance at all of the above material, pro or con, but I did find several allegations to be "over the top". I endorse or warrant nothing from the above, but provide it as "food for thought" if any are so interested in indulging, and because of this thread subject and some comments.

However, I did rather enjoy a quote from an article at theescapist:

"Abusus non tollit usum. (Abuse does not take away use.) "

And to the point of the article regarding the gamer judge: I already emailed my family and friends about this. A couple of points I'm interested in sharing:

[Regardless of what that person did] "look at the slant regarding "make-believe" gaming, probably to boost the civil case--but at what cost to public perception"

And, I had bold-ed phrases from more complete quotes, but assemble now just the crunchy bits for sake of emphasis:

"...disturbed by how involved Peterson has been with role-playing games and related activities..."

"...caught up in the world of role-playing games."

"...level of immaturity..."

"...Orcus, a character described as a bloated, 15-foot-tall demon with ram-like horns, bat wings and a long tail with a poisonous tip..."

"...he imagined being transformed into a Smurf, the fictional blue creatures that inhabit mushrooms..."

"...got hooked on fantasy games..." [while young, below 13 certainly]

"...ghosts and mad scientists to werewolves, vampires and witches."

“We don’t know if he’s demon lord in the courtroom or if he’s Judge Peterson in the courtroom"

 

[dd.stevenson]

I coincidentally stumbled across this within the past couple of weeks:

"Dungeons and Dragons is a tragic and tangled subject. It is essentially a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft." "On top of that, the second issue is that the materials themselves, in many cases, contain authentic magical rituals." "There is hardly a game in which the players do not indulge in murder, arson, torture, rape or highway robbery."
http://www.chick.com/articles/dnd.asp

Chick's articles are old, hilarious, and well-known to rpg geeks. There was a kickstarter for a deadpan dramatic reanactment of his cartoon a while back. Come to think of it, one of Necromancer Games' adventures featured a misguided thief named Black Leaf.

 

[Nightfall]

As for the article, please... Everybody knows Orcus is ruling in Hell, not making rulings in Iowa.

Actually it's the 133rd layer of the Abyss. Hell is for those wimpy devil guys.