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

[David Howery]

OTOH I also remember Time-Life's series about all the fantasy stuff having a demon summoning ritual in it, and a few of us got some chalk one day only to find that we couldn't inscribe a very circular circle on the ground, soooo no luck for us.

I dunno, I'd say you were awfully lucky that you didn't summon a demon....

 

[the Jester]

I dunno, I'd say you were awfully lucky that you didn't summon a demon....

Caution prevailed when we saw how wobbly and not-circular our magic circle was.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

OTOH I also remember Time-Life's series about all the fantasy stuff having a demon summoning ritual in it, and a few of us got some chalk one day only to find that we couldn't inscribe a very circular circle on the ground, soooo no luck for us.

You need a peg and a bit of rope.

Don't ask me how I know this.

 

[Mind of tempest]

The Satanic Panic never really stopped. D&D just stopped being popular enough to be the main target. IIRC, Harry Potter got the brunt of it after D&D.

you had bits of it descended movements attacking pokemon in the 90's bits in the 2000's past that it becomes undiscussable on these forums, I know it well as I did it for a piece of work for getting into university as I find my own nation's moral panics incomprehensible.

 

[Mannahnin]

And set right here in Victoria BC, no less.

It made being a Pagan around here an interesting experience in the late 80s and through the 90s, but rarely gets mentioned these days that I know of.

Yeah, it was definitely an interesting wrinkle growing up in the pagan community back then. Back when we knew people who had bricks thrown through their shop windows, or had their neighbors call the police on them while they were holding services on their own land (on a large wooded property).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I remember holding "seances" on the playground in elementary school. Surprisingly enough, not one teacher seemed to care or notice. Probably because we just looked like a bunch of kids sitting in a circle. Not much different from when we were playing D&D.

Also, Time-Life Books' The Enchanted World series is delightful. Also, filled with nightmare fuel:

Yeah, I was in 7th grade in 1983. I remember my kind old lady English teacher, Mrs. Bowman, showing me one of the flyers with all the "D&D teaches ASSASSINATION! VOODOO! DEMON SUMMONING! etc" on it and asking me about it. I laughed, but it was definitely a thing that affected our local culture. I believe they tried to ban playing D&D at recess and lunch, but it never took with us.

OTOH I also remember Time-Life's series about all the fantasy stuff having a demon summoning ritual in it, and a few of us got some chalk one day only to find that we couldn't inscribe a very circular circle on the ground, soooo no luck for us.

 

[Orius]

I remember that one. I had it statted out too but never used it.

 

[MoonSong]

Wow, and to think I felt very hardcore because we'd tell each other horror stories during break... How naive I was...

 

[corwyn77]

I guess I'm lucky that none of these anti-D&D people have even heard of GURPS, my system of choice. Imagine the fun they'd have with some of those titles: Voodoo, Thaumatology, Spirits, Cthulhupunk, Magic, Illuminati and Religion.

 

[Cadence]

I guess I'm lucky that none of these anti-D&D people have even heard of GURPS, my system of choice. Imagine the fun they'd have with some of those titles: Voodoo, Thaumatology, Spirits, Cthulhupunk, Magic, Illuminati and Religion.

Granted comics were blamed for everything from kids stealing airplanes (iirc) to drugs and violence and the seduction of innocents (and not particularly satanism), but the Comics Code Authority is interesting to look over too. I thought the first two entries about the 60s-70s particularly sad/funny.

Comics Code Authority - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org