"Golden" Age of Modules
Gary,
I hope you had fun on your trip. (I'm figuring by the time you get my message you would have returned)
Thank you for answering my previous question with the limited time which you had. I really do appreciate it, especially when I figure that it is the time of the most prominent person in the gaming industry. (I know that you have regarded yourself as just another gamer, but frankly I would still be playing chess and the wargame "1776" if D&D never came to being. In fact, my father once gave me heck for getting my brother into D&D, but thanked me for it years later. For my father to switch positions, that it an impressive task.)
And you did answer the question in the manner that I meant to ask it. Yes, D&D has the slaying of evil monsters and demons and devils running through the games. This practice goes back to the 1st edition rules. However, there is a difference between having witchcraft, demon, devil, and devil in a game and actually bringing in rules for sadism, rape, self-mutilation, and demonic worship. I agree we have had evil clerics in our campaigns (like Keep on the Borderlands) that have grotesque images and bizarre rituals, but we never went into steps and rules for the demonic worship. As you said, we gamers already have an unearned reputation to try to correct outside the gaming community.
As a follow-up to the unearned reputation of "being agents of Satan promoting suicide" (none of which is even close to the truth), how did you handle keeping your cool when these people were going through the witchhunts of the early 1980's? If I remember right, you and D&D were up there with Heavy Metal for the eventual downfall of our civilization. I remember thinking at the time that the accusors were insane, and I would have strangled them on sight because they were saying thing that even a teenager (me) knew were lies.
I do have another question. It has to do with the early modules that were released for D&D. To me, these modules were such fantastic adventures that more recent modules just are not in the same league as them. Do you have a reason for why these modules are so much better than the more recent modules? Sometimes I wonder about this, but I have not put my finger on it yet.
Take care.