Encountering anti-D&D sentiment

[hexgrid]

I didn't realize you'd written for WotC or TSR.

Don't all d20 products say right on the cover that they're useless without D&D rulebooks? Sounds like writing for Dungeons & Dragons to me.

 

[HiLiphNY]

Here in New York City, we are a bit more up front about folks who feel it necessary to comment on our personal choices. I believe it would go like this:


Lady, first of all, I didn't ask for your opinion. Second, why don't you go F*ck yourself and get out of my store.


Heh!

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

There's a similar thread here:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=104244&page=1
And an article from my hometown paper last June illustrating the sort of mindset that is still encountered where D&D and RPG's in general are concerned:
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/061...610040007.shtml

 

[devilish]

In my jetlag-induced torpor, all I could think to reply was, "It's just about as dangerous as poker, ma'am. And cheaper, too."

HA HA ! HA HA HA!!HAHA ! You're not serious are you? Cheaper than
poker!?!?!?!?!?

Napfor
[BAD ADVICE]
You say she comes in monthly --- for her prescriptions.
You should turn to her and say "Y'know people you
take anti-depressants/blood-pressure pills/hemmorhoidal cream/
whatever-her-medicine-is make my skin crawl. Such a dependency
on chemicals is unhealthy!"
[/BAD ADVICE]

-D

 

[jmucchiello]

I've found that for a lot of people, "take on the part of a character" equates with dressing up and running around. Many I meet think D&D is the same as LARPing. Getting over that hump is the first challenge. I usually compare it to games most people know and understand. "It's no different than pretending to be a detective or real estate developer in games like Clue and Monopoly, only a lot more detailed. You play it sitting at a table; you decide what you want to do; and the rules tell you what happens."

Wait! Are you saying you've met people who have heard of LARPing but not heard of D&D? <boogle> Or perhaps you mean that after you describe D&D, they come away with an impression that we (not they) would call LARPing. That I can buy.

 

[fredramsey]

Too bad ignorance isn't painful.

 

[wingsandsword]

Is there anything he can't turn into 'original D&D is superior'?

"I was walking down to the grocery store today when I saw a man walking a small dog. (The original rules for small dogs set out by Gary Gygax were of course far superior to the d02 rules.) At the store I purchased my groceries and the clerk got upset when I told him he should be using the original D&D 'gp' prices rather than these newfangled d02 Modern 'dollars'..."

Purchase DC's for d20 Modern, Purchase DC's. (*sigh*, the Wealth system is the only part of d20 modern I dislike).

But honestly, there are people who still cling to bad stereotypes about D&D they learned 25 years ago from daytime TV talk shows, bad movies of the week, Chick Tracts and misinformed preachers, they're going to have them until the day they die, and pass them along to people along the way if they can. You can't change everyone's mind about something, especially something with a lot of emotional charge to it. Until his dying days (in the mid 90's) my Grandfather still used racist epithets to describe the Japanese he fought against in WWII (and griped loudly when I called them "Japanese" instead of anything that Eric's grandma might disapprove of).

Yes, there are people who think that Harry Potter is evil and satanic (and some schools and libraries have banned or tried to ban those books), that Lord of the Rings is evil, and simply put, anything having anything supernatural in the world even in literature or pretend in any way is pure Satanism. I even had the preacher at the church I used to attend tell me that mere mortals praying and healing with a touch was satanic, because only God could work miracles and any faith healing or man-made miracles that happened after the biblical era was Satan at work.

Yet another reason I moved away from that small town and to a city, even a small one.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Too bad ignorance isn't painful.

Nope, that's a good thing. We're all ignorant about something, and I think sometimes we're(we be gamers) very hypocritical with things. While I agree that people thinking D&D is Satanic is foolish, we've had threads here on ENWorld with people looking down on LARP, older(or newer) versions of D&D, and other games in much the same way. Sure, not as extreme, but the idea is still there.

 

[Voadam]

I had a similar experience, not D&D related, but similar.

I was at the grocery store and the teenage checkout clerk said "You shouldn't buy this dog food, they do animal testing. You should boycott them." I just sort of looked at him with a "what?" look and didn't say anything as I kept putting my groceries up for him to scan.

Three minutes later in the parking lot I burst out laughing as it hit me. It's dog food! I want them to test it on animals. It is a good thing if they test their food formulas before mass selling it.

Well maybe it was only slightly similar, but it was amusing to me.

Don't let it get you down.

 

[takyris]

My secret weapon is my reverse-hippie field. I can pretty much just say, "Yeah, I pretend to kill demons and slay dragons that are trying to hurt innocent people, like a hero. Also, in real life, I'm a non-drinking, non-smoking, drug-free christian who gives to charity, goes to church every Sunday, and has never made love to anyone except the woman I'm married to... and I'm willing to swear to that in Christ's name. Can you do the same?"

The fact that I actually out-moralize most of them by conservative midwestern standards of measurement almost always throws them for a loop.