There's Powerful Deviltry at Work Here...

[Mercule]

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=necronomicon

Yup. I've got a copy sitting on my (gaming) shelf at home. I occasionally use it for names and/or plot ideas.

I must have picked it up 15+ years ago at a B. Dalton's. Today, it's barely worth whatever I paid for it back then, other than as a curiosity. No matter how long I chant the formulas, I can't seem to summon any Great Old Ones.

 

[JohnSnow]

One last (relevant) comment and I think I've said all that I should in this thread.

BADD was effectively dissolved with Ms. Pulling's death in 1997. As far as other groups concerned about D&D's corrupting influence, I think they've decided there are bigger issues than attacking a game.

There are still people who attack Harry Potter as being a corrupting influence, even though most people would laugh that off. And it is not my perception that Dungeons & Dragons would, these days, be perceived as being any worse.

On the other hand, the Sci-Fi Channel was apparently worried enough about Harry Dresden's pentacle necklace to not have it show up on the show, so I may be mistaken about what the popularity of Harry Potter books says about how accepting the public is. I guess I just want to believe people are sensible and tolerant, and can recognize the difference between fiction and reality.

On the other hand, as I said earlier, my fiancée is a pagan, so my opinion is probably a little biased.

 

[Mallus]

HP Lovecraft's fictional tome was so powerful imagined that there are gamers that don't realize the Necronomicon doesn't exist.

Wait a minute, Tolkien's Middle Earth was "powerfully imagined", Lovecraft's Necronomicon was... not.

 

[Nifft]

Wait a minute, Tolkien's Middle Earth was "powerfully imagined", Lovecraft's Necronomicon was... not.

Both have spawned numerous references and imitations.

How ... not?

Cheers, -- N

 

[BadMojo]

No matter how long I chant the formulas, I can't seem to summon any Great Old Ones.

You need to use more blood.

 

[JohnSnow]

Wait a minute, Tolkien's Middle Earth was "powerfully imagined", Lovecraft's Necronomicon was... not.

I believe what Celebrim meant is that because of the "shared universe" nature of Cthuluism and the Necronomicon, it was widely referenced in books written by many different authors. Some of those books were presented as pseudo-historical accounts, in the same vein that Bram Stoker's Dracula was not a story so much as a supposed "diary."

The inclusion of the Necronomicon in so many stories (many of them in the style of articles or diaries) with a modern, occult setting led many people to believe it was a real book they were referencing. Because references to it were frequent, it caught on in people's imagination.

As such, many people were unaware that the book was, until about 1980, a complete fabrication. And the book that was eventually published with that title is quite dissimilar from the book all those Lovecraftian stories were mentioning. However, that publication lent further factual credence to the fictional mythos.

By contrast, Tolkien's Middle Earth was powerfully-imagined, but was never presented as anything but complete fiction. It was a very well-realized fictional modern myth. On the other hand, had Tolkien and a dozen other writers written more articles about the translation and their research into the history of Middle Earth, some people might have come to believe that it too was real.

 

[Mallus]

Both have spawned numerous references and imitations.

So has Dianetics/Scientology.

Does that make Scientology 'powerfully imagined'?

<pauses for a few seconds to consider how wealthy/powerful the Church of Scientology is>

Ok, so maybe Lovecraft's Necronomicon is powerfully imagined, but, like Scientology, that doesn't stop it from being powerfully silly. It's the flat-out dorkiest take on demonology that I, or my 16-year self that actually bought the damn thing, could ever imagine, barring perhaps the previously mentioned Shadow Hearts series of PS2 games.

<runs and hides from Tom Cruise's lawyers>

 

[JohnSnow]

{snip post mentioning the Church of Scientology}

*Ahem*

As hard as it is for me to admit it, Scientology IS a religion, and as such, the CoC forbids us from discussing it, including whatever personal views we might have about it. So you might want to alter that before one of the mods sees it.

<---Can't believe this thread has gotten him to defend Scientology.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

*Ahem*

As hard as it is for me to admit it, Scientology IS a religion, and as such, the CoC forbids us from discussing it, including whatever personal views we might have about it. So you might want to alter that before one of the mods sees it.

<---Can't believe this thread has gotten him to defend Scientology.

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, JohnSnow defending Scientology - mass hysteria!

Clearly, the end times are upon us.

 

[Mallus]

As hard as it is for me to admit it, Scientology IS a religion.

Not to me. I'm half German

Well, actually a 1/4 German.

Also, it can be scientifically proven that nothing both John Travolta and Kirstie Alley believe in qualifies as a religion, especially if it contains references to alien warlords and nuclear bomb-strapped volcanoes.

edit 1: unlike say, the veneration of Haruhi Suzumiya, which *is* a religion.

edit 2: heh, waddya know... I got people to defend Scientology. It's Miller time! small-batch bourbon time!