Do fantasy and paganism go together, or should they stay separate?

[Mallus]

Doesn't faze me in the least. If that business model works for a particular game store, by all means do it.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

It seems to be that gamers can be of any religion, but somehow pagans in general tend to be attracted to the fantasy genre. I agree it would be a stranger sight to have a FLGS selling Bibles. It would be even stranger if they sold both Bibles and pagan literature...

Why? Seriously. There are bookstores which sell, well... books. Bibles. Books about mysticism. RPGs. Cookbooks. Why would it be strange to see them side by side? I don´t get this.

 

[Arnwyn]

I was really curious what other people’s experiences are. Does your FLGS sell books on “real” witchcraft?

No.

Do you know D&D players that practice any form of paganism?

No.

How related are D&D and paganism?

Not at all, AFAIC. (But that's probably just my ignorance talking. Though, TBH, I'd like to stay ignorant on this particular topic...)

Do they (sometimes) go together, or should they stay separate?

Separate, please.

 

[Particle_Man]

Of the gaming stores I know, one is gaming and nothing but, one is a few game books in their comics book store, one is a few game books in their Really Big Bookstore, and one is probably closer, with armour, gothy costumes, swords, books on witchcraft, dice, gaming etc, but I think the rpg games (tabletop) are a small part of what that store is about.

As for my friends, many of one of my gaming groups are Pagan, but many of the other 3 gaming groups I am in are Christian or Atheist/unknown. [Edit: Wait, a few are Hindu (well one is not exactly orthodox Hindu, since he eats McDonald's hamburgers). None have a problem with the gods as given in any particular game we play (although one DM went 2nd gen Dawnforge and has old characters from campaign X become the (NPC!) gods of campaign Y).

None of my friends have trouble confusing reality with the fictional game, AFAIK.

If I had to guess, I would imagine that many/most Pagans are gamers, but not many/most gamers are Pagans. I got no data to back this up.

 

[Clavis]

I can also add that in my experience the association between Wicca/paganism/occultism and gaming is much stronger among females than males. Every single female gamer I know is either also a Wiccan or neo-pagan of some form.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

None of my friends have trouble confusing reality with the fictional game, AFAIK.

This is the important part.

 

[alleynbard]

I can also add that in my experience the association between Wicca/paganism/occultism and gaming is much stronger among females than males. Every single female gamer I know is either also a Wiccan or neo-pagan of some form.

I find this interesting actually. Of the female gamers I know one is Episcopalian Christian, one is Jehovah's Witness, one is Unitarian, one is neo-pagan, and one is agnostic/atheist.

I think the correlation might be higher for you because there are more female neo-pagans/Wiccans than males on average. So if you know more neo-pagans the ratio between males and females might be naturally higher. But there might be other factors at play there that I am not aware of, so take that as you will.

I can't imagine there is a major association between neo-paganism and interest in fantasy anymore than there is an association between my love of fantasy and my own Deism. But I might be wrong in that regard.

 

[White Tornado]

I've noticed that gamers in their 30s tend to be also interested in non-mainstream religions, especially pagan/occult ones, while I've noticed no such tendency in younger gamers. I think it may have to do with growing up in the 80s, when D&D was often considered "evil". A lot of kids I knew started playing D&D because of its evil reputation, as an act of rebellion. D&D was heavily associated with the Heavy Metal scene, and a certain percentage of the metalheads of my generation developed an interest in Wicca and paganism. Those same people tended to be the ones who kept gaming, although many moved on to Vampire after the 2nd Edition "cleaned up" AD&D.

Younger gamers seem to have grown up more with video games and Magic:The Gathering, neither of which had the same rebellious edge, and at a time when metal had mostly lost it's fascination with the occult. That might partially explain why those under 30 seem to have no association between gaming and the occult, while a majority of gamers I know over 30 do.

That's a very interesting idea. I am 22 and came to D&D from Magic: The Gathering and computer games. To me, D&D is somewhat nerdy, somewhat cool ('cause in my high school, some of the most popular kids played D&D), but not evil, occult, rebellious, or pagan. It is to my mother, but she grew up with the idea that dancing was evil, too.

The shopkeeper mentioned in the OP was definitely a metalhead, and definitely over 30, so I think Clavis got something here.

Of the four female gamers I know, one is wiccan, one is agnostic, and two are christian. For some people paganism may lead to D&D or LARP, for others boyfriends have done miracles ^_^

 

[billd91]

Why? Seriously. There are bookstores which sell, well... books. Bibles. Books about mysticism. RPGs. Cookbooks. Why would it be strange to see them side by side? I don´t get this.

You do see them side by side in major bookstore chains. So that's not weird at all.

But I suspect what he's thinking about are the smaller bookstores, the niche bookstores. Most bookstores that I've seen with a Christian section of any size bill themselves as Christian or "Family" bookstores and are on the evangelical side. Most of them don't seem at all inclined to include anything Wiccan or neo-pagan and, I suspect, would probably refuse to stock them. Kind of hard to evangelize for one religion when you've got information on the competition, so to speak.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

My experience is directly counter to Tilenas, perhaps because it is experience, and that's all I'm saying about that aspect of the discussion.

I suspect there is some correlation between those "interested in religion" and those "interested in fantasy". G. K. Chesterton thought there was, about a century ago. And "interested in religion" can range from all kinds of believers to various academic or other interest. You don't need a dog in the fight of "True Myth" or "mere myth" to like fantasy, but it is fairly rare, I think, to like fantasy and be bored by the mythic.

As to the store, as a Christian gamer, I have no issue with it. It's a business, and the guy takes his positions/risks as he sees fit. If enough people find it distasteful (for whatever reason), then it will cause his business to fail--end of problem. If enough people don't, then his business will prosper with whatever other ability he brings to it--no problem. Either way, it is self-correcting.

It wouldn't stop me from buying from him, on the face. (If I was being "preached to" every time I came in the store, that would stop me buying. But the same would be true on any number of religious or political topics--even ones that I agreed or associated with.)