Moms who banned DnD

[Sirius_Black]

I was severely troubled by this man's intensity. My parents were certainly in favor of it. So I took it to the best authority I knew -- I asked my local priest.

He took me aside and asked me one simple question, "Do you FEEL it's evil?"

I told him absolutely not and explained the virtues of the game. "Then there's nothing wrong with it."

I wish every soul in need had a priest like that to turn to. I'm sorry you became a target for one individual's mental instability. However, talien, from the post I just read, you turned out more than a-okay and I'm willing to lay odds that said art teacher is still as disturbed if not more so.

Thank you for sharing that story.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Nah, I think most of us assume the majority of Christians are as embarassed by these bozos as the rest of us. After all, isn't one of the Dragonlance authors very much a Christian?

As a mom, my biggest worry about D&D is keeping my OTHER gaming books--like Delta Green away from the kidlets. "No, this is NOT like the Monster Manual, you can't read it."

Well, you may consider it a majority of Christians - but, I recently saw an article somewhere about the huge rise in numbers of evangelical Christians over the past few decades in America, so much so that things that used to be considered a nice myth 50-100 years ago (the virgin birth of Christ) is now considered hard fact by many Americans. The article was decrying the loss of the scholarly/intellectual side of many Christian churches.

 

[KnowTheToe]

What really gets me is people still today give D&D that stigma of it being bad! I still can't believe the ignorance of it!. I work at a law firm and have mentioned my gaming in passing afew times and you should see the looks I get! For educated people they sure can be dumb sometimes!

Gallo22

I kills me as well. A man who dresses as a woman or even get surgury changing some anatomy is mentally healthy while he explores his identity, but D&D is still looked at as dirty by schools and the press, not to mention churches, but they are not big on the transgender thing either. Even though bullying is getting all kinds of press, people still don't like dorks and they perceive D&D as dorkish.

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, Shadow, I'm aslo from Southern Illinois, and your mother sounds an awful lot like my mother, and my Uncle (dad's brother) was/is also into D&D in the late 70s-early 80s. You from anywhere near Salem, Il?

You're not... the same person posting under two different names, are you?

 

[CrusaderX]

Well, you may consider it a majority of Christians - but, I recently saw an article somewhere about the huge rise in numbers of evangelical Christians over the past few decades in America, so much so that things that used to be considered a nice myth 50-100 years ago (the virgin birth of Christ) is now considered hard fact by many Americans. The article was decrying the loss of the scholarly/intellectual side of many Christian churches.

Ummm...such things have never been considered a "nice myth", at least not by the largest Christian denomination on the planet (Catholicism).

It's also rather silly to think that a Christian (who, y'know, believes that Christ actually rose from the dead) would automatically equate miraculous events with myth. Christians by definition strongly believe in the miraculous, so that's hardly a stretch.

But I realize that this thread isn't big enough for such a discussion.

 

[Stormfalcon]

Ummm...such things have never been considered a "nice myth", at least not by the largest Christian denomination on the planet (Catholicism).

It's also rather silly to think that a Christian (who, y'know, believes that Christ actually rose from the dead) would automatically equate miraculous events with myth. Christians by definition strongly believe in the miraculous, so that's hardly a stretch.

But I realize that this thread isn't big enough for such a discussion.

True, this is drifting farther into religious territory than it really should. However, I should point out that there are evangelicals that have no problems with RPGs as well. I'd be categorized as such and I know others who are as well, just as there are mainliners who fall into either the pro or con camps on RPGs.

 

[night_lord]

chick article

I just read the Jack Chick article...what a laugh. It reminded me lots of anti-LDS tracts that I've read (they take something and really twist it). I mean he quotes stuff from the rulebooks and twists how it works. Oh well. I enjoyed how he had this list of people who commited crimes or commited suicide who played D&D. This is so foolish I mean there are people from all walks of life that kill themselves or somebody else, most have never played D&D.
Anyhow because of the discussions here I went and talked to my mom because and asked her why my father and her banned me from playing D&D. It was a good talk and my mom admitted that D&D wasn't evil and what she had heard was just hearsay. Anyhow thanks for the posts I have really enjoyed these stories...to bad there are guys like jack chick out there still.

 

[Caliber]

My mother not only didn't ban D&D when I started playing, but actually paid to send me to D&D Class during the summer! I'll never forget it. It was run by a guy named Wes Ives. He seems like just the kind of guy who would be an ENWorlder, so if you're out there, Wes, thanks a ton. I played a Thief and I had a Portable Hole. Good times.

OMG! I've taken the same class! Where was it being offered when you took it?

To be more on topic ...

I never suffered from DnD = Satan-ism, but I had a friend who did. I invited him to play once but his mother forbade it. I guess she didn't mind other games we played though (Doom for example ... )

My family was pretty ok with it (my mom bought the books at my request) because my uncle had really been into it too. He led the gaming group at his high school, and was actually featured on the news as the head of the "local satanic cult"!

Its funny that the news reporter that "exposed him" still reports today, and actually lives not far from me.

 

[Gundark]

well sorry to keep this dead horse alive. but I got looking around this chick guy's site. We D&D gamers shouldn't feel lonely apparently he doesn't like mormons, jehovah's witness, catholics, muslims, budists, and hindu.. Anyhow there is an anti D&D cartoon as well on his site http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp it's good for a laugh. My favorite part is when the girl casts a spell on her dad to get him to buy her more D&D stuff. Man gotta learn that spell

 

[Macbeth]

Thanks for the stories. this is by far the most interesting thread I've read in a long time. I don't have much to contribute myself, my parents are christians, and I am too, they were fine with me gaming, and they thought the creative aspect of the game was great, but no unusual stories to tell. The preist at our church had a son who played D&D, and he was largely indifferent to it.