TSR Jim Ward: Demons & Devils, NOT!

In the very early to mid '80s religious nongamer people discovered AD&D had magical spells and demons and devils in its rules. The problems started with Sears and Penny's retail stores. TSR was selling thousands of Player Handbooks and Dungeon Master's Guides every month to both of those companies. I know this because I was in sales and inventory control at the time.

Six ladies wrote to Sears and the same six wrote to Penny's home offices telling those two companies of the evils of AD&D. They expounded on children learning to throw demonic spells while they summoned demons in their basements. The writers claimed that they would never buy a thing again from those two companies if the companies still sold TSR games. Just like a light switch those two companies stopped selling TSR product. The companies were offered things like Boot Hill, Tractics, and Gamma World, but they weren't interested. The stopping of sales from those two huge companies was a hard blow to take for TSR.

---

Author's Note: When I write these articles for EN World I'm trying to present an honest look at my memories of those times. There was enough wild and crazy things happening at TSR that I think the readers should be entertained. I freely admit that there might be dates and times that I don't have correctly related. However, I never try to exaggerate the facts or actions of others. I was in the thick of things and part of the design group and middle management for most of the 20+ years I worked there. If I make a mistake in the writing of these memories, I'm sorry and the mistake was unintentional.

---

Things proceeded and the bible belt southern states started doing book burnings. Those always elated Gary Gygax because he thought every player who had their books taken away would go back and buy the books again.

Gary went on some of the talk shows to speak about the value of the game. He was an excellent champion for the company. One of his arguments, that I really liked, was his baseball analogy. He would say, “When a criminal hurts someone with a baseball bat are you supposed to blame baseball?” That would make the naysayers sputter every time.

Duke Siegfried, Uncle Duke as he liked to be called, ran news interview classes for the middle management of TSR; these were people who had a chance to be interviewed out at conventions. I can especially remember one of the training sessions. Duke role-played the part of Johnny Carson. Don Snow was to be the TSR representative getting interviewed. Terri Quinn was in marketing at the time and her job was to distract Don. While Duke interviewed Don about D&D, asking questions to make the game look bad, Terri went to work on Don. Acting all the way, poor Don was torn between the distraction of Terri and the questions of Duke. At the end of the scenario Duke explained that set ups like that were common for news people and we needed to be on the look out for such things. I can remember thinking that scenario could never happen.

Six months later I was at a convention in Atlanta when a reporter started quizzing and flirting with me about the evils of AD&D and its harmful effects on children. I started out all smiles and really enjoying the woman's company and her style. Suddenly, remembering Duke's lesson, I became grim-faced, and gave out the bullet-point facts Duke had prepared us with if we were interviewed. She didn't get the interview she wanted from me.

Conventions for awhile became a trial for us. Religious people would come up to the TSR booth and start arguing with us about the evils of D&D. I'm proud to say we soon found an answer for them. I have a friend Dave Conant who worked in the typesetting department. He didn't get out to many conventions. Gen Con in August was a convention everyone working for TSR went to and did 40 hours. One Gen Con in August a particularly nasty gentlemen was berating the sales woman at the show. They didn't know what to think of the dude and wanted to be polite. I knew exactly what the guy was doing. He wanted to get 15 minutes of fame as a person concerned about the evils of D&D.

I was on my way over to give the guy the bums rush, when Dave showed up. He had taken his cross out of his shirt and started calmly talking to the guy. Dave established that the guy had never read one bit of the TSR material. The man only knew what he had heard from others. Then Dave started asking the guy questions about what he thought was wrong with the game. Dave was able to quote bible versus as he calmly and gently completely tore apart the guy's argument. I had always been impressed by Dave's technical skills, but I became even more impressed with his logical argument. From then on we had at least two religious TSR people at every convention. It was amazing how quick those anti-TSR people stopped coming at us at those shows.

Time passed and TSR started working on AD&D 2nd edition. By then I had come to a realization. At conventions I had been in on many discussions about the evils of AD&D. Literally every single person coming up to argue about the game had never read one word of the books. Their argument when questioned about that fact was “We don't need to read about Satan to know he is evil.” So I came up with an idea. In second edition I ordered Zeb Cook to develop a new name for Demons & Devils.

Baatezu/Devil & Tanarri/Demon were born in second edition. Zeb did a terrific job of putting all that together.

We still had the same type of demons and devils but we called them completely different names. The word spread out that TSR had taken out all of the demons and devils in the game. Technically that wasn't true at all. But again like the click of a light switch the arguments and comments stopped. TSR picked up lots of new accounts in the Bible Best of the south. Every time it was mentioned a TSR person would tell them the company didn't have devils any more. It pleased everyone at TSR that the company didn't get any grief on that topic.

 

[teitan]

That is both crazy and frightening. Literal witch hunts in the late 90s. I wonder if any of the D&D playing celebrities have to deal with stuff like this in this day and age..?

There are still "Witch Hunts" today. Even the Panic isn't gone. I got a manager politely terminated at a job about 14 years ago because she was telling some of my co-workers that I was a devil worshipper and to avoid me including a girl I was dating. Not because of D&D but out of religious prejudice. My fraternity has a constant stream of hagglers about our supposed Satanic practices. Go on Youtube and you can find preachers talking about the OTO and how you have to join to get a record contract as a rapper and then you get abused and other things in exchange for the money, drugs and power you receive. Plus accusations like Pizza Gate.

 

[dave2008]

My fraternity has a constant stream of hagglers about our supposed Satanic practices. Go on Youtube and you can find preachers talking about the OTO and how you have to join to get a record contract as a rapper and then you get abused and other things in exchange for the money, drugs and power you receive. Plus accusations like Pizza Gate.

I have almost no idea what your trying to say here.

 

[teitan]

I have almost no idea what your trying to say here.

That witch hunts are real. That religious zealotry is a thing for many communities to face. The Satanic Panic is a thriving industry bent on rooting out heresy and innocent people are targeted because of prejudices. Google Gaiaguys and you’ll see an example of the things I’m talking about or google Jay-Z Thelema. Search YouTube. Google Leo Zagami.

 

[wingsandsword]

I always wondered how the naughty word D&D was claimed to promote occultism when its main schtick was "I kill things like demons to steal their loot."

Honestly, I suspect a more "logical" argument against D&D one could use, could be something like "Playing those tabletop games distracts players from society" or naughty word like that.

Like D&D is a Gameboy or something.

The arguments that it promoted occultism involved the following:

1. A total lack of understanding of what the game actually involved.

2. Really bad theology.

3. A culture of the time that often claimed that pretty much all of popular culture was "Satanic", but since people were less familar with D&D than other things similarly demonized as "Satanic" in the early 1980's (like the Proctor and Gamble Corporation, Heavy Metal music, Star Wars, and He-Man).

Seriously, there were people at the same time in the early 1980's who tried to claim that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was "Satanic" (the argument being that only God is the "Master of the Universe", so anyone purporting to be the "Master of the Universe" otherwise is trying to usurp God's place and is thus Satanic). There were people trying to say Proctor and Gamble were "Satanic" by some elaborate conspiracy-theory filled interpretation of their corporate logo and trying to interpret it as a Satanic symbol. Heavy metal was often called Satanic for some imagery that it sometimes invoked, which they often embraced to play to a rebellious image. Star Wars was often called "satanic" because fundamentalists considered all "magic" like the Force to be "witchcraft" and thus evil.

When combined with the fact that RPG's were a new hobby and that your typical preacher or middle-American housewife had no clue what playing the game involved, all they needed to be told was the game involved casting spells, summoning demons (the fact that there were spells like Cacodemon in the 1e PHB that explicitly summoned fiends) and was something kids got together around a table doing and well, paranoia and misunderstanding could create a dangerous mix.

Also, as I noted, some people mistook gaming miniatures for religious idols.

Using dice also made them think the game involved gambling, which was also forbidden.

Also, a common religious argument used was a Bible verse saying that to think of committing a sin is as bad as actually committing it. . .so if you're pretending to cast a spell. . .that's the same as casting a spell. . .and since all "spells" are evil, satanic witchcraft (in their worldview), then playing the game is sinful. Also, that would apply to playing a Cleric of any non-Christian religion, as you'd then be pretending to play a character that worshiped another God.

 

[Dire Bare]

The arguments that it promoted occultism involved the following:

1. A total lack of understanding of what the game actually involved.

2. Really bad theology.

3. A culture of the time that often claimed that pretty much all of popular culture was "Satanic", but since people were less familar with D&D than other things similarly demonized as "Satanic" in the early 1980's (like the Proctor and Gamble Corporation, Heavy Metal music, Star Wars, and He-Man).

Seriously, there were people at the same time in the early 1980's who tried to claim that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was "Satanic" (the argument being that only God is the "Master of the Universe", so anyone purporting to be the "Master of the Universe" otherwise is trying to usurp God's place and is thus Satanic). There were people trying to say Proctor and Gamble were "Satanic" by some elaborate conspiracy-theory filled interpretation of their corporate logo and trying to interpret it as a Satanic symbol. Heavy metal was often called Satanic for some imagery that it sometimes invoked, which they often embraced to play to a rebellious image. Star Wars was often called "satanic" because fundamentalists considered all "magic" like the Force to be "witchcraft" and thus evil.

When combined with the fact that RPG's were a new hobby and that your typical preacher or middle-American housewife had no clue what playing the game involved, all they needed to be told was the game involved casting spells, summoning demons (the fact that there were spells like Cacodemon in the 1e PHB that explicitly summoned fiends) and was something kids got together around a table doing and well, paranoia and misunderstanding could create a dangerous mix.

Also, as I noted, some people mistook gaming miniatures for religious idols.

Using dice also made them think the game involved gambling, which was also forbidden.

Also, a common religious argument used was a Bible verse saying that to think of committing a sin is as bad as actually committing it. . .so if you're pretending to cast a spell. . .that's the same as casting a spell. . .and since all "spells" are evil, satanic witchcraft (in their worldview), then playing the game is sinful. Also, that would apply to playing a Cleric of any non-Christian religion, as you'd then be pretending to play a character that worshiped another God.

Good summary.

"That culture" is still around, although less prominent in the media. I'm not convinced that the folks engaged in the Satanic Panic were anywhere close to a majority, or even large minority, of folks at the time . . . but the media latched on to the sensationalist BS with glee and convinced otherwise reasonable people to look askance at the game. My parents never tried to burn or toss my books, and they allowed me to purchase them with my allowance in the 80s, but it was clear to me as a kid that they'd rather I find some other hobby . . . they were concerned. Now they are huge "Game of Thrones" and "Witcher" (tv shows) fans!

 

[David Howery]

ya know, growing up in rural MT, I always thought that the people there were pretty devout Christians.... but after comparing them to some of the stuff I've been reading here, they now look like a bunch of lackadaisical heathens. Yeesh.

 

[Enrico Poli1]

The satanic panic is a strange thing. My uncle-in-law has been gaming since 81 or so and he's a priest.

I play since the 80s, I love the game, and I'm proudly Roman Catholic. But I'm not stupid or naive.

The game actually IS a gateway to occultism for many. I personally know a couple of players that took that road.
It cannot be denied that some elements of the game, such as the spells, were taken directly from the hermetic tradition by Gygax himself.

We could actually ask the people of this forum, who's fascinated with wicca, occultism, satanism, and see the results.

Ironically, in the Paizo Occult Guide they start the book writing: "here the price could be your immortal soul". Exactly.

 

[Parmandur]

I play since the 80s, I love the game, and I'm proudly Roman Catholic. But I'm not stupid or naive.

The game actually IS a gateway to occultism for many. I personally know a couple of players that took that road.
It cannot be denied that some elements of the game, such as the spells, were taken directly from the hermetic tradition by Gygax himself.

We could actually ask the people of this forum, who's fascinated with wicca, occultism, satanism, and see the results.

Ironically, in the Paizo Occult Guide they start the book writing: "here the price could be your immortal soul". Exactly.

Coming from much the same place as you are, I'd say this reverses the causality: some people interested in occultism are interested in D&D, more than the reverse. If anything, I've known more vocations to the priesthood caused by role-playing Clerics.

I've known too many young Dominican Friars with elaborate D&D collections and sophisticated Thomistic analysis of the game...

 

[wingsandsword]

I play since the 80s, I love the game, and I'm proudly Roman Catholic. But I'm not stupid or naive.

The game actually IS a gateway to occultism for many. I personally know a couple of players that took that road.
It cannot be denied that some elements of the game, such as the spells, were taken directly from the hermetic tradition by Gygax himself.

We could actually ask the people of this forum, who's fascinated with wicca, occultism, satanism, and see the results.

Ironically, in the Paizo Occult Guide they start the book writing: "here the price could be your immortal soul". Exactly.

Hermetic magic, occultism and wicca are not satanism.

Not everything supernatural or magical that isn't firmly rooted in Judeo-Christian belief is "satanism", although you are providing a good example of that mindset.

. . .and if you thought that statement about the price being your immortal soul was anything other than tongue-in-cheek humor, you may need a major re-calibration of your own sense of humor.

 

[billd91]

The game actually IS a gateway to occultism for many. I personally know a couple of players that took that road.
It cannot be denied that some elements of the game, such as the spells, were taken directly from the hermetic tradition by Gygax himself.

Honestly, if it is, then their previous religious affiliation probably wasn't fitting their spiritual needs and they're looking to replace or supplement it with something better, less patriarchal, more open, any number of things that is a better fit for them.