Israeli army frowns on D&D (merged)

[Flyspeck23]

As someone for whom the politics of that region is my academic specialty, I'd love to go toe to toe on you on that, I'm going to respect the house rules on this one. I hope you -- or a mod -- would do the same with that post.

My sentiment exactly.

 

[reveal]

 

[Nisarg]

RD&D stands for Real D&D. I am not sure on how it came about, but in israel it is essentially synonimous to LARP. It came to the fore with Russian immigrants, so I suppose it is a translation of their own term for it. In practice most RD&D games have very little to do with D&D, and are usually more freeforms. The russian players are renowned for their martial skills, so personal ability tends to be important
That said this is all from hear-say, as I'm not in the scene (but one of my friends is).

So how much of this news could actually have to do with some latent anti-russian sentiments in Israeli public perception? I was under the understanding that a lot of israelis have been everything from a little resentful to downright prejudiced against the russian jewish immigrants...

In other news, D&D is now mandatory after-prayer activity in all Hamas cells.

Nisarg

 

[kolikeos]

yet another good reason for me to go live in the us before im 18

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

BTW you get discharged if you're in a "self-awareness" group like IM or, I believe, Vipassana.

For belonging to a meditation group? Have these people studied any Japanese millitary history? If I were running an army, I'd practically require it... this seems like kicking someone out of the army for having a membership to a health club...

 

[Algolei]

Game enthusiasts are aware of their problematic image in the army and prefer to maintain their anonymity. Many of them are from the former Soviet Union, where the game is very popular.

Communists!!!

"D&D, the extended red menace." We must locate these individuals and smite them with our +1 holy maces!

 

[Sarellion]

Holy against communists doesn´t work. Thats on the communist - capitalist axis. You need the greedy enhancement to deal extra damage to communists.

 

[Algolei]

Huh, no wonder that NDP recruiter kept getting back up.... :\

 

[Yair]

In other news, D&D is now mandatory after-prayer activity in all Hamas cells.

Now there is an image...
I have no idea if it's a anti-russian-discrimination residue, I just know that is the current situation.

For belonging to a meditation group? Have these people studied any Japanese millitary history? If I were running an army, I'd practically require it... this seems like kicking someone out of the army for having a membership to a health club...

I think the idea is that these types of groups make the person develop attachment to a foreignly-led group, and the army fears the guru will command the soldier instead of his commanders. That doesn't mean they're right, but that's the party line. IIRC.
(At this point I could go on on the people that do get accepted despite following certain spiritual leaders which are, apparently, legit... but I won't.)

 

[Darkness]

Well, one of the most villainous armies around frowns on D&D? So what? They probably don't want to go near anything that may, by chance, tackle moral dilemmas. Thinking soldiers might ask uncomfortable questions.

As others have said, please keep modern-day politics out of EN World discussions. Thanks!

For everyone who does want to discuss political aspects tangential to this issue, I'd recommend checking out threads about the same topic in Nothingland or RPG.net. (The RPG.net link will ask you to log in with an rgp.net account proving you're at least 18, BTW.)