Give the gift of D&D

[Orius]

Maybe it's just because of having lived through the major anti-D&D days of the 80's, with all the D&D=Satan sentiment from a lot of religious groups, but I'd truly be interested if these games would end up going to children or would end up being sidelined as too "controversial"... sort of like putting a toy gun in the donation box.

I think it's a great idea, myself, passing on D&D to kids as an outlet for creativity and as an inspiration for them (I know it was that way for me too), but I'm curious if the people running these charity drives will really see it that way.

I'd agree somewhat. I mean, the whole "D&D is Satanic" angle is pretty much dead in modern pop culture, but there's a lot of silly people out there who think it's unwholesome in one way or other. I could very well see charities in certain communities or run by certain organizations throwing a Basic D&D box out. If I were to give a copy of the basic game to kids as a gift, it would be kids whose parents I knew fairly well enough to know that they'd have no problems with the gift itself.

 

[pogre]

Our church does birthday baskets for kids at the children's home. These are kids who are in the homes because they have not been placed with foster parents. Not the kids faults at all, many times mom and dad are in prison or rehab clinic, or unfortunately sometimes dead.

I throw a D&D basic game in the boys' baskets - the home SPECIFICALLY asked me not to put them in the girls' baskets despite my mild protests. Anyway, the church received a hand written letter thank you from an 11-year old boy who specifically mentioned the cool D&D game.

There are a lot of opportunities like this where you can know the game is not being filtered out due to "moral" concerns.

 

[diaglo]

I'd agree somewhat. I mean, the whole "D&D is Satanic" angle is pretty much dead in modern pop culture, but there's a lot of silly people out there who think it's unwholesome in one way or other. I could very well see charities in certain communities or run by certain organizations throwing a Basic D&D box out. If I were to give a copy of the basic game to kids as a gift, it would be kids whose parents I knew fairly well enough to know that they'd have no problems with the gift itself.

i know of at least 2 college age gamers in the Atlanta area who in the past 4 years with the newer editions got pressure from their parents to give up the game.

believe what you want about pop culture and angles... but some people are just slower to catch on to the fads.

 

[Buttercup]

This is a great idea, whose power might be enhanced by donating core books to public libraries -- so that kids who get into the game with the Basic Set have a free pathway for moving deeper into the hobby.

EDIT: The D&D/FR novels are certainly popular at my local public libraries - it'd be cool if kids who were checking these out could also check out a PHB and start making their own heroes!

I happen to know of a public library that has quite a few copies of the core books available for check out. Mine. They're easy to get. What isn't so easy for libraries to get are D20 books by 3rd party publishers. If someone were to ask me, for instance, what I wanted them to donate to my branch, I'd ask for Midnight, Conan, Blackmoor and Freeport. Of course, I wouldn't say no to another PHB or six.

But then, in the past 60 days I've hired a children's librarian and a teen specialist who both play D&D. Perhaps my library has a higher geek quotient than most.