It was totally a thing during the satanic panic. There’s an infamous Chick Tract about d&d that I was genuinely given by cult missionaries when I was a kid.
Don’t forget Tom Hanks first leading role in the movie Mazes and Monsters, originally titled Dungeons & Dragons, but forced to change it when TSR sued them.
Chick tracks all feel like a parody of reality, the man was very disturbed, there’s a whole track about a seemingly normal couple and their seven year old daughter, and when missionaries come teach them about Jesus they ask if it’s wrong that they sexually abuse their daughter, after being told that it is in fact wrong, but luckily they can be totally forgiven through Jesus, they decide to be Christians and say the magic words that make you saved, then they promise their daughter to stop abusing her, and all of this is played like it’s really wonderful Jesus is here to save people who molest their kids for years from consequences.
In addition to what others have said, sadly the myth persists among some people. I have a good friend who I used to play Magic: The Gathering with. I had been playing for years before I met him (since 3rd edition) and had a pretty decent collection, and he invested a lot of money in cards in the next few years.
At one point I was moving away to a place where I didn’t know anyone and needed to travel light, so instead of selling my collection I gave them to him.
I ended up coming back to my home state and we became roommates. Then he became ‘born again’ and instead of giving me those cards back, he burnt them all.
I’m not really mad at the guy for it, he was doing what he thought was right, but I do regret giving him the cards in the first place.
It was a real moral panic in the 80s or 90s. To be fair, it’s one of the less deadly moral panics of the 90s. It got a lot of steam when a private detective was hired to find or investigate a troubled teen and found he had committed suicide, and he wrote a book about it and instead said he had become delusional after playing D&D, thought he was the fictional character of RPd and tried to do things his character could do, but killed him. Eventually enough people pointed out the absurdity of the story and people who knew the kid had grown up and made it very clear he committed suicide intentionally and was never delusional, the author then acknowledged he made up the story, but even more perplexing, claimed the teen met him before the suicide, he made it sounds like mere moments before, confessed to drug abuse, and said he didn’t want his parents to find out, so asked him kindly to make up a cover story for his actual actions and motives to protect his family from, or maybe just his mom. Anyway. A lot of people took this seriously, but if you’re even slightly aware of what tabletop rpgs are like is like claiming a high schooler who played too much soccer became delusional and thought he was a soccer ball, and kept trying to inflate himself until he died. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying if that did happen, playing too much soccer wasn’t related to the delusional mental health disorder.
I ran my school’s D&D club in Highschool. At one point my Grandma came along to watch me and my Siblings while my parents were out of the house for a month and when i told her that i’d need picked up later on certain days for D&D club, she went off on this long rant about how ‘D&D is satanic’ and then something about how ‘Obama eats babies’. To this day i’m literally shocked she believes that junk.
Pearl-clutching “christians” used to be deathly afraid of anything with even slightly negative undertones. “Dungeons? Dragons? That’s the devil! Away Satan! Our children are making pacts with the devil!” Satan was historically represented by a dragon in Christian mythology.
Don’t forget the woman whose son committed suicide so she created an anti-D&D group called Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons. Her group described D&D as “a fantasy role-playing game which uses demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings.”
Her group described D&D as “a fantasy role-playing game which uses demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings.”
She was religious and this is from the early 80s. It’s not even in the top ten most batshit things she said or wrote. From an early 80s Christian conservative standpoint homosexuality is basically just a more narrow category or sex perversion. She was also one of the big voices in the Satanic Panic in general and considered a subject matter expert, including writing things like interrogation guides for law enforcement.
Here’s a couple of examples of her lunacy:
THE WHO WHAT WHENWHEREAND HOW OF TEEN SATANISM
WHO
1. Adolescents from all walks of life.
2. Many from middle to upper middle class families
3. Intelligent
Over or Under Achievers
Creative/Curious
Some are Rebellious
Some have low self esteem and are loners
Some children have been abused (physically or sexually)
WHEN does this occur?
It appears the ages most vulnerable are 11-17WHERE?
1. Public places such as rock concerts, game clubs in communities or at school.
2. Private parties at a friend’s home.
HOW?
1. Through Black Heavy Metal Music
2. Through fantasy role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons (R)
3. Obsession with movies, videos, which have occult themes
4. Collecting and reading/researching occult books
5. Involvement with “Satanic Cults”, through recruitment
6. Some are born into families who pratice “satanic cult rituals”
TWO BASIC PRINCIPLES APPLY HERE “Law of Attraction” and the “Law of Invitation”
WHAT can be expected?
1. Obsession with occult entertainment
2. Minor to major behavior disorders
3. Committing crimes and status offenses such as:
A. Running away
B. Graverobbing (such as bones)
C. Breaking and entering to steal religious artifacts or sometimes stealing small items to prove loyalty to the group
D. Defacing publicorprivatepropertyusing “Satanic Graffetti” or related Graffetti
E. Threatening to kill (self or others, self mutilation is very common)
F. Aggression directed towards family, teachers and authority figures
G. Contempt for organized religion
H. Supremist attitudes
I. Kidnapping or assistance in kidnapping
J. Murder
K. Suicide pacts among members of the group
WHAT can we do?
1. Document all information relating to occult involvement (even if it does not appear relevant at the time)
2. Keep an open mind
3. Stay objective
4. Never assume that an individual is acting along until all other information surrounding the caseand individual has been fully investigated.
5. If individual is involved in “satanic activity,” he/she will deny a great deal to protect other members of the groupas well as the “satanic philosophy”.
6. Have a team approach, work with a therapist, a clergymen and other helping professionals.
7. Educate the community so that potential tragedies might be avoided.
Oh man, do you hsbg any idea how homophobic the entire world used to be? It’s actually pretty progressive and understanding she said ‘‘homosexuality’’ and not a slur.
You know as a rule I try not to judge people’s actions when their mourning. No one thinks clearly when their mourning. There is a limit though and that woman found it years ago.
Pearl-clutching “christians” used to be deathly afraid of anything
Used to be? Harry Potter was 30 years after DnD started and you had jesus jizzers freaking the fuck out about witchcraft. Nowadays some of them believe democrats are literal demons from biblical hell bringing about the end times.
People actually think D&D is Satanism? I thought it was a meme
It was totally a thing during the satanic panic. There’s an infamous Chick Tract about d&d that I was genuinely given by cult missionaries when I was a kid.
https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=0046
Don’t forget Tom Hanks first leading role in the movie Mazes and Monsters, originally titled Dungeons & Dragons, but forced to change it when TSR sued them.
This is parody, right ?
The Sithrak tracts are much more informative anyway
https://www.oglaf.com/sithrak/
Here I go down the oglaf hole 😏 again
Chick tracks all feel like a parody of reality, the man was very disturbed, there’s a whole track about a seemingly normal couple and their seven year old daughter, and when missionaries come teach them about Jesus they ask if it’s wrong that they sexually abuse their daughter, after being told that it is in fact wrong, but luckily they can be totally forgiven through Jesus, they decide to be Christians and say the magic words that make you saved, then they promise their daughter to stop abusing her, and all of this is played like it’s really wonderful Jesus is here to save people who molest their kids for years from consequences.
Wtf
Sadly, no. It was quite real. I was given some while trick or treating as a kid.
Truly The Greatest Country In The World™ !
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3625970/ Dark Dungeons, the movie
In addition to what others have said, sadly the myth persists among some people. I have a good friend who I used to play Magic: The Gathering with. I had been playing for years before I met him (since 3rd edition) and had a pretty decent collection, and he invested a lot of money in cards in the next few years.
At one point I was moving away to a place where I didn’t know anyone and needed to travel light, so instead of selling my collection I gave them to him.
I ended up coming back to my home state and we became roommates. Then he became ‘born again’ and instead of giving me those cards back, he burnt them all.
I’m not really mad at the guy for it, he was doing what he thought was right, but I do regret giving him the cards in the first place.
It was a real moral panic in the 80s or 90s. To be fair, it’s one of the less deadly moral panics of the 90s. It got a lot of steam when a private detective was hired to find or investigate a troubled teen and found he had committed suicide, and he wrote a book about it and instead said he had become delusional after playing D&D, thought he was the fictional character of RPd and tried to do things his character could do, but killed him. Eventually enough people pointed out the absurdity of the story and people who knew the kid had grown up and made it very clear he committed suicide intentionally and was never delusional, the author then acknowledged he made up the story, but even more perplexing, claimed the teen met him before the suicide, he made it sounds like mere moments before, confessed to drug abuse, and said he didn’t want his parents to find out, so asked him kindly to make up a cover story for his actual actions and motives to protect his family from, or maybe just his mom. Anyway. A lot of people took this seriously, but if you’re even slightly aware of what tabletop rpgs are like is like claiming a high schooler who played too much soccer became delusional and thought he was a soccer ball, and kept trying to inflate himself until he died. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying if that did happen, playing too much soccer wasn’t related to the delusional mental health disorder.
I ran my school’s D&D club in Highschool. At one point my Grandma came along to watch me and my Siblings while my parents were out of the house for a month and when i told her that i’d need picked up later on certain days for D&D club, she went off on this long rant about how ‘D&D is satanic’ and then something about how ‘Obama eats babies’. To this day i’m literally shocked she believes that junk.
Don’t even get started on back tracking of albums in the seventies…
Pearl-clutching “christians” used to be deathly afraid of anything with even slightly negative undertones. “Dungeons? Dragons? That’s the devil! Away Satan! Our children are making pacts with the devil!” Satan was historically represented by a dragon in Christian mythology.
Don’t forget the woman whose son committed suicide so she created an anti-D&D group called Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons. Her group described D&D as “a fantasy role-playing game which uses demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings.”
checks notes so… the same as the bible?
I think the Bible fails on the role-playing game front and I don’t remember any voodoo, but otherwise yeah?
No no, there’s a lot of make believe power sets you can pretend to have in there.
That she included homosexuality in that list really says a lot about her
She was religious and this is from the early 80s. It’s not even in the top ten most batshit things she said or wrote. From an early 80s Christian conservative standpoint homosexuality is basically just a more narrow category or sex perversion. She was also one of the big voices in the Satanic Panic in general and considered a subject matter expert, including writing things like interrogation guides for law enforcement.
Here’s a couple of examples of her lunacy:
THE WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE AND HOW OF TEEN SATANISM WHO 1. Adolescents from all walks of life. 2. Many from middle to upper middle class families 3. Intelligent Over or Under Achievers Creative/Curious Some are Rebellious Some have low self esteem and are loners Some children have been abused (physically or sexually) WHEN does this occur? It appears the ages most vulnerable are 11-17 WHERE? 1. Public places such as rock concerts, game clubs in communities or at school. 2. Private parties at a friend’s home. HOW? 1. Through Black Heavy Metal Music 2. Through fantasy role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons (R) 3. Obsession with movies, videos, which have occult themes 4. Collecting and reading/researching occult books 5. Involvement with “Satanic Cults”, through recruitment 6. Some are born into families who pratice “satanic cult rituals” TWO BASIC PRINCIPLES APPLY HERE “Law of Attraction” and the “Law of Invitation” WHAT can be expected? 1. Obsession with occult entertainment 2. Minor to major behavior disorders 3. Committing crimes and status offenses such as: A. Running away B. Graverobbing (such as bones) C. Breaking and entering to steal religious artifacts or sometimes stealing small items to prove loyalty to the group D. Defacing public or private property using “Satanic Graffetti” or related Graffetti E. Threatening to kill (self or others, self mutilation is very common) F. Aggression directed towards family, teachers and authority figures G. Contempt for organized religion H. Supremist attitudes I. Kidnapping or assistance in kidnapping J. Murder K. Suicide pacts among members of the group WHAT can we do? 1. Document all information relating to occult involvement (even if it does not appear relevant at the time) 2. Keep an open mind 3. Stay objective 4. Never assume that an individual is acting along until all other information surrounding the case and individual has been fully investigated. 5. If individual is involved in “satanic activity,” he/she will deny a great deal to protect other members of the group as well as the “satanic philosophy”. 6. Have a team approach, work with a therapist, a clergymen and other helping professionals. 7. Educate the community so that potential tragedies might be avoided.Oh man, do you hsbg any idea how homophobic the entire world used to be? It’s actually pretty progressive and understanding she said ‘‘homosexuality’’ and not a slur.
You know as a rule I try not to judge people’s actions when their mourning. No one thinks clearly when their mourning. There is a limit though and that woman found it years ago.
Used to be? Harry Potter was 30 years after DnD started and you had jesus jizzers freaking the fuck out about witchcraft. Nowadays some of them believe democrats are literal demons from biblical hell bringing about the end times.
Can’t fix stupid.
Christianity as a religion encourages fear and paranoia. None of this is accidental.
Thought. In the 80s and perhaps still in early 90s.