D&D in the 80s, Fads, and the Satanic Panic

[Orius]

Well, while @Snarf Zagyg 's initial premise that the Satanic Panic probably didn't cause the initial 1984 crash seems to bear out, I think that it may have hampered any recovery. Or more like TSR let it hamper a recovery. TSR didn't seem to engage in any sort of strong pushback, and certainly once the Stackpole report came out, they could have gotten strongly behind that especially as the biggest player in the RPG industry. Instead, they went with appeasement, and income stayed pretty flat. Nor did it help that they did things to alienate their core audience.

 

[James Gasik]

Oh hey, does anyone remember that time the California Highway Patrol pulled over some guys with Vampire: the Masquerade books in their trunk?

 

[Mannahnin]

That's mostly my recollection of the time too. The whole Satanic Panic thing was primarily an American thing and a lot of it was a reaction to the cultural shifts and conflicts of the 70's. The Church is very much an international organization. I do remember them using some of the talking points, but I think that they were taking advantage of it for their own ends, probably competing with evangelicals and fundamentalist Protestants for influence over conservative Christians. The Church also tends to be more rational minded about things as well.

England definitely had some religious busybodies as well; I remember reading about some similar Satanic Panic activity in the pages of Game Master magazine (an English publication) in the 80s too. Probably more reactionary Anglicans than Catholics at the time, though.

all my players that could afford them bought several books. Also in the mid 80's you could go to a gaming store and they'd have 20 or 30 modules, supplements for D&D and AD&D, Dragon magazines and Dungeon Magazines. I don't think lack of stuff to buy, or players not buying was an issue. The first half of the 80's they were everywhere pushing thier product and then the second half of the 80's it was like they vanished into the woods. Maybe it was all the infighting you read about between Gygax and TSR staff and his wife. I don't know. something went really wrong though. I think part of it was they retreated from half the country trying to not be "SATANIC. To be fair in the 70's when they were smaller they almost tanked over a half dressed princess on a module. After that they may have been afraid of fighting with parents and churches and hurting thier public image.

"half dressed princess on a module"? Are you thinking perhaps of the nude figure on the altar from the cover of 1976's Eldritch Wizardry? I don't recall there being a lot of controversy over it.

Eldritch Wizardry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Or maybe the kerfuffle over Palace of the Silver Princess, in 1980?

Palace of the Silver Princess - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I started playing regular games of D&D in 1979, while in high school. So, obviously, I was playing AD&D 1e during "Satanic Panic" years, but other than having heard some of the stories and reactions - it was distant news for me, something I never personally witnessed. I was in the US Army from 1983 unti 1987, so I played plenty of TTRPGs, not just D&D, and never encountered a Satanic Panic issue. Even after I got out, I found a group right away in my hometown, and played with them over 20 years. The Satanic Panic issues was something I was aware of, but in no way directly impacted me.

I think it only rarely impacted adults. It was mostly kids impacted, whose parents were overly credulous and misled by sensationalist news stories and preachers bearing false witness. I've known a number of folks over the years whose books got taken away, tossed or burned. My folks were supportive, but we had a few older relatives who thought D&D was bad, and I remember a fill-in babysitter (in her 50s) when I had recently acquired my first set, who repeated the steam tunnel myth to me when I talked about the game.

 

[MGibster]

Oh hey, does anyone remember that time the California Highway Patrol pulled over some guys with Vampire: the Masquerade books in their trunk?

Wasn't that on an episode of Real Stories of the Highway Patrol?

 

[Reynard]

Oh hey, does anyone remember that time the California Highway Patrol pulled over some guys with Vampire: the Masquerade books in their trunk?

Remember when the NSA raided Steve Jackson Games and seized computers and everything related to GURPS Cyberpunk?

 

[MGibster]

I think it only rarely impacted adults. It was mostly kids impacted, whose parents were overly credulous and misled by sensationalist news stories and preachers bearing false witness. I've known a number of folks over the years whose books got taken away, tossed or burned.

There were probably plenty of parents who weren't so concerned about the Satanic part, but were more concerned about the alleged suicides and anti-social behaviors brought on by D&D, heavy metal, etc., etc.

 

[MGibster]

Remember when the NSA raided Steve Jackson Games and seized computers and everything related to GURPS Cyberpunk?

Remember? It was the cornerstone of Steve Jackson's marketing for years!

 

[Mannahnin]

I had forgotten that Bruce Sterling made his 1992 book The Hacker Crackdown, about the events of 1990 (the raid on Steve Jackson Games among them) available for free online. The introduction is a lovely little piece, and still pretty much about us today.

http://www.mit.edu/hacker/introduction.html

This is a book about cops, and wild teenage whiz-kids, and lawyers, and hairy-eyed anarchists, and industrial technicians, and hippies, and high-tech millionaires, and game hobbyists, and computer security experts, and Secret Service agents, and grifters, and thieves. This book is about the electronic frontier of the 1990s. It concerns activities that take place inside computers and over telephone lines.
A science fiction writer coined the useful term "cyberspace" in 1982. But the territory in question, the electronic frontier, is about a hundred and thirty years old. Cyberspace is the "place" where a telephone conversation appears to occur. Not inside your actual phone, the plastic device on your desk. Not inside the other person's phone, in some other city. The place between the phones. The indefinite place out there, where the two of you, two human beings, actually meet and communicate.

Although it is not exactly "real," "cyberspace" is a genuine place. Things happen there that have very genuine consequences. This "place" is not "real," but it is serious, it is earnest. Tens of thousands of people have dedicated their lives to it, to the public service of public communication by wire and electronics.

The Hacker Crackdown

 

[Jer]

My folks were supportive, but we had a few older relatives who thought D&D was bad, and I remember a fill-in babysitter (in her 50s) when I had recently acquired my first set, who repeated the steam tunnel myth to me when I talked about the game.

My mom was supportive. My dad didn't think much of the Satanism nonsense but also didn't see how it could possibly be worth the money for a game and so I'd get flak for that from him sometimes. But at least neither of them were worried that I was falling into Satanism.

But what I remember is the Satanic Panic folks making D&D sound a whole lot edgier than it actually was. They'd paint lurid pictures of D&D being this:

When the reality was vastly different...

 

[Bedrockgames]

In my neck of the woods, people were more up in arms about the devil and heavy metal than they were with D&D. My mom supported our D&D hobby, but banned all heavy metal and rock. In fact, I remember one discussion how she banned Huey Lewis and the News because of "I Want a New Drug" song. Didn't matter us trying to tell her it was literally the opposite of pushing drugs; she wasn't having it.

It was all three where I lived. Piece of Mind was forbidden in my house due to the song Revelations. I think it often boiled down to where you lived and what social circle your family was part of (as well as what TV programming they watched). Was allowed to listen to Stryper and Petra though lol. I had it easy though, I knew kids who weren't allowed to watch shows like Full House.

First I have ever heard of Huey Lewis being banned lol