Help Me Convice Someone D&D Isn't Evil

[maddman75]

This would be my plan of attack

- Ask her to provide such research so you can see for yourself. SHow her the research above showing that RPGs are harmless, even beneficial (I seem to recall one that showed the teen suicide rate amoung roleplayers was several times lower than the general population). In all likelyhood, this will do no good. But, you did try it her way and she was unreasonable.

- Have your parents and the parents of your group call the principal and demand to know why their kids are being kept from playing harmless games after school. Angry students gets you no where. Angry parents are a different story. This may work, but will make the VP really dislike you.

- If that doesn't get you anywhere, just play at someone's house or a library.

As for RPGs and teenagers, I'm very thankful that I had D&D. Me and my friends weren't really the 'freaks n geeks' types. More like the angry rebellious youth types. We did a lot of stupid stuff, and the time spend RPing kept us out of trouble. Things would have turned out much differently if we didn't play games.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Check out this link:

CAR-PGa

 

[Magius del Cotto]

What I'd do: Along with what everyone's saying here, I'd bring along a copy of the Player's Handbook. Use this to show her the benefits of being evil (really none, as far as I know) and the benefits of being good (being able to play a Paladin, for one). From her attitude, I'd say refrain from showing her the DMG or MMs, because she'd immediately see all the evil stuff in them and say, "Ah-HA! These books talk about evil stuff and thus D&D is bad."
If nothing else, you can call it a Simulation for Exploring Other Cultures (so what if it happens to be one that has no simblance to those today?). That accurately fits the bill for most D&D games, and if they're more violent than she'd like? Well, that's part of the cultural exploration. You can't assume that all the cultures in the world are peaceful, and if you simulate living in that culture, you can learn a lot about how that culture would react to events and how you could bring about a peaceful resolution when dealing with them. Yes, I know it's all a load of bull, but from what you said, she probably won't be able to tell the difference.
Of course, it sounds like everyone's already mad at her, so why not go ahead and do everyone a favor and set the ball in motion to get her transferred out? I mean, you wouldn't have to point out this particular foible, just something that everyone knows she's done (the Homecoming/Prom thing would be a good start), and use that to do your job for you.
Well, that's my 3 cents worth. Bye now.

 

[jgbrowning]

Don't game at school. Game in a public library conferance room after school or on the weekends. Weekends would be best, and almost any parant would like their children to hang out in libraries. Libraries also have a great advantage of a huge pile of source material... needa picture? good chance you can find it at a library.


joe b.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

My .02

The AP has the power, and intends to wield it in an abusive manner. You can't do anything about that by yourself.

I don't think she will be convinved by any research you show her (too close-minded). And I don't think showing her the book(s) and/or the game itself will help.

I work for a large school district. Your best asset in this situation is parental units. Bureaucrats in positions of power are fairly well insulated. But the one thing that gets their superior's attention is parental contact/pressure. In a smaller school system (as I imagine you have in Babblingbrook), just a couple of parents can exert great pressure on "the system."

But choose your battle(s) carefully. It can be very tiring for all involved to "fight the system" and if more important issues crop up later, you may be too tired to fight another fight.

You know, a Scrabble board makes a good battlemat; the tiles can be the PCs and NPCs and monsters; and if she-bitch pokes her head in to check on you, it looks like you're playing Scrabble.

Good luck.

Mike Myers (Austin Powers, Wayne's World) used to play D&D. No wonder he's so...... EVIL!

 

[AngelTears]

I am sorry but I have to respond.

I have been playing role-playing games for the past ten years, and I have bene an active in LARP and RPG groups. Starting as two weeks from now I am going to be in the National LARP Board of Finland. This means I am going to have to answer questions like this.

Rule no. 1 Never, ever, after someone has refused you a certain activity, do you go behind their backs and do it anyways. You are merely confirming their suspicions with actual acts, and you should abide by their decision no matter how wrong you feel their opinion is.

A person with a very strong opinion will not change their opinion, even if you give them tons of "positive research material."

This however, does not mean that you should geive up on having a gaming club. There are several avenues open to you.

But before that, I suggest that you address your parents with the situation, and ask their opinion on the matter. Another option open to you is by bringing it up at a PTA meeting.

Bring some RPG material with you, and be prepared to rationally describe why you think a gaming club would be important in the school, and what exactly is role-playing since most parents don't really know. Whatever you do don't go into personal attacks, since that is low, and shows you to be childish.


Another way, is asking the local library for help on setting up a gaming club. Most libraries have drives to make youth read more, and any inkling in that direction is taken with a lot of good wil.

I suggest you also see if there is a cultural commitee or some kind of organization which is responsible for culture (like drama clubs) in your town. You might also be able to get a financial sponsorship from said organization, or at least free space for running the club .

As I said first. Whatever you do is: when someone refuses you something don't go behind their backs and do it anyways. You are showing an unusual lack of trust and lack moral integrity, which is your strongest card in this situation.

EDIT: Typos and poor wording

-Angel Tears

 

[Drawmack]

IANAL but I am a gaming activist and I am someone who took on the school, when I was a teenager, and won.

From what I see you have got three opitons:
a) Suck it up and play at home on the weekends. I think you've pretty much decided against this one.

b) Go the subversive route and play some historical RPG to start so you can call it educationall then work in D&D. I do not recommend this because you could very well wind up on the wrong end of an expulsion case, and they would have all the legal ground they needed to pull it off.

c) Fight her. If you want to do this I have some information and suggestions below that can help.

1) Find teachers that role-play. I suggest getting a couple of IRPG bumper stickers and labeling your books with them. The teachers will then find you.

2) Find some parents that role-play. I suggest putting up flyers in your local game store explaining your plight in calm reasonable language. Then give them your phone number or email address where they can contact you.

3) Get all the information you can to back up your case. Make sure it is well-founded and not just opinion. (the only opinion piece I would have in my research is this one http://members.aol.com/MarkJYoung/confess.html) However if you use that piece spend some time on his site and figure out why I told you to have that one.

4) Contact your local gaming activist organization. http://www.theescapist.com/advocacy.htm is a good place to start.

5) Locate a lawyer in your area who specializes in fighting the school district, it is best if he used to be a teacher and got his law degree just to fight the school district (as was my case) but anyone who can make them squirm should be good enough.

6) Research obscure local laws, I can almost garentee that there is some sort of discrimination code she is breaking.

Okay now that you've got all that here is what you do with it.

1) Take your research to her immediate supervisor. If that works you are done but watch yourself cause you can bet that she will be.

2) Gather the teachers and parents that you have gotten on your side and take the PTA to the school board (99% chance this one will work and will probably get her reprimanded and possibly removed from duty)

3) Grab your local gaming activist organization and your lawyer and go for the throat.

But do it in that order and stop as soon as you succeed.

some advice, stay cool and stay calm. Do not give them anything ANYTHING by way of your behavior that could possibly be used as ammunition against you.

 

[Oogar]

You have laid some needed platform down. You have an approved game club. You have a place where you can play and meet others who like playing games. You have a club where you can bring new people into the fold. Simply stated, play your Scrabble and Monopoly, but INVITE the people that you like to join you in weekend gaming. This is a chance to draw the best you can find into a hobby you love.

AND, at the same time...

Follow up on some suggestions here. Gather your information, Make other contacts among the teachers (find any who have played in the past, and might be willing to support a positive point of view about the game). Also, see if she would be willing to allow other RPGs. After a few months or even the rest of this year (I fought for things at my college that only became active after I left, no one remembers me for it, but I feel good about helping those future students), take steps to see if she might reconsider allowing an existing club, in good standing, to add this game into the list of approved activities.

If you were to do it again...

My high school days had a Science Fiction and Fantasy club, and we just gamed for the joy of it (RPGs were not in the charter). Heck, a friend and I would run dice-less story telling games just for the fun of it between classes. Hard to get in trouble if ya got no books or dice. Try to not list D&D if you can help it. "d20" or "Story Games" or "RPGs" can save you lots of trouble.

If you want to be snotty, ask to join the Drama Club and start games as "Acting Exercises".

 

[boxstop7]

It never ceases to amaze me...

...how the bastion of ignorance prevails. Here's another angle you may want to consider: Ask your AP if she's planning on banning school plays and other productions. If D&D is "evil", surely acting is "evil". For what is D&D, really? A bunch of people getting together for a session of improptu, albeit structured, acting. Her objection has its roots in ignorance, and unfortunately the ignorant tend to cling to their bliss. I agree with everyone else in that you're not likely to change HER opinion. However, I think I can provide an anecdote that may offer another alternative...

When I was in high school, our school board was overrun with fundamentalist conservative Christians (read: religious right, Pat Buchanon types). These people were grade-A whack-jobs. One board member took a black permanent marker to her son's fourth grade textbooks, blotting out any casual or overt reference to Darwn, evolution, the dinosaurs or dates prior to the birth of Christ, b/c they simply "never existed" and were "lies perpetuated by the minions of Satan to undermine God's good work". She ignored the bevy of SCIENTIFIC evidence to the contrary, b/c scientists were also Satan's minions. Another board member proposed (and nearly got passed) an amendment to the school charter stating that a family was "a man, married under God's grace, to a woman and their biological offspring". This "family" was to be the only family type recognized by the school for PTA meetings, school board meetings, and pretty much anything else the school was involved in. This meant that kids like me (divorced parents), kids who had been adopted, and kids living with other relatives were excluded from a lot of stuff, just b/c we didn't have a traditional nuclear family.

What's the point of this babbling? Easy enough. After a very short while, we got sick of the board's antics. Most of us (the student body) protested at school board meetings by lining up and speaking to the board and community. A fairly large group of students staged a walk-out. Parents were outraged. The whole fiasco garnered attention from some national news sources (anyone local to the Harrisburg, PA area should remember the Eliabethtown school board incident from the mid-late 90's). As the community banded together and the teachers threw in their support, we managed to force most of those board members to resign and rescind anything they had passed during their short tenure.

This is a battle you can win, but it won't be easy. You've got to be diplomatic, well-informed, curteous and mature beyond your years if you want to make any headway. Outfox the bear. As others have said, make her play your game. As was said before, being an angry kid will do nothing but undermine your goals. She (and likely others around her) will be likely to pull rank with the "what do kids know...adults know best" crap. Be patient, be vigilant, but be civil and play by ALL the rules of the system in which you're working. If she's as bad as you say, and there's a lot of other people (teachers, parents, etc) who feel the same way, you may want to seek her resigntion if the consensus feels she's doing more harm than good. But if you pursue this avenue, DO NOT pursue it on your grounds. Seeking her resignation is something the parents and teachers must be responsible for. Any attempt by you will be seen as just another pissed off teen who didn't get his way. Then they'll start patting you down for weapons every day and making you learn and eat in isolation so you don't go postal on the rest of your school.

I sypmathize with you. I truly do. People fear what they don't understand. We probably can't make them understand, and I don't know if I'd even want them to understand. But we can make them see that we have th same rights and freedoms as they do. Dogma often thinks it has more right than it does. Tread lightly and gather support. Be ready for a fight, but never lose your cool. And keep us posted!

Best of luck, Trevalon!!

~Box

 

[jontherev]

How silly. One of my best friends is a Catholic Priest (I'm definitely not Catholic, fwiw). His favorite movie is Fellowship of the Ring. He's played the LotR card game before, though never actually D&D or any other RPG. He also played Diablo and other CRPGs. You see, he actually has a brain and can realize the difference between reality and fantasy. Bird Watching can be evil too if the person doing so is evil themself. Semi-rant over.

Good luck. My suggestion is to play outside of school and avoid possible suspension/expulsion. For good or ill, students don't seem to have many rights in school. Some high school boy here in GA got in-school suspension recently and could not play in the homecoming football game because he gave his girlfriend a PECK on the forehead. Need I mention the national stupidity of Zero Intelligence (er, I mean Zero Tolerance). People getting suspended for having a 1/2" long plastic toy gun on there keychain. But, then again, I'm no lawyer, so this isn't a professional opinion. I would call a lawyer AND talk to your parents about this first.