About a week ago, I mentioned to a German colleague that I played D&D, and mentioned how I didn't really have much of a chance to play it when I was in Middle School or High School because people in my area still thought that it was devil worship (this was early 2000s Nebraska. They really hold on to those things, I guess). After confusing the colleague because it sounded incredibly crazy that people would react that way, and getting the urge to watch the campy anti-D&D propaganda film Mazes and Monsters (it's so terrible I find it amusing), I looked up a video about the history of it, and it's been on my mind a few days.
Do any of you guys have memories of this happening? Do you laugh about it now? ...Has it inspired more 'demonic' campaigns that you played? :P
In Canadian we didn't have much of an issue. I had friends from the USA in the 80's that suffered under the church and parents who didn't understand the game. There was a lot of misinformation that was also going around about the game. People were blaming suicides etc on the game as well. Seemed they all had something new to blame.
The only issue we every ran into was starting in 1981 and we wanted to start a D&D club at school. Our English teacher supported us but the school would not let us call it a D&D group (Strange). We changed the name to War Gamers Club and that made everyone happy.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Having grown up in the 80's I have some very clear recollections about D&D being "the devil's game", played by satan worshippers, and that it would cause you to want to murder your parents. Was around the same time that several bands were accused of putting satanic messages on records that could be heard by playing them backwards. Judas Priest being the most notable of those. I had a friend who's parents would not allow him to stay the night at my house due to the fact that it was known we would play D&D at my house on sleep overs. Luckily my mom was very open minded and didn't buy into the negative hype being propagated by various religious groups. For the most part I kept a very low profile about my gaming in general as it wasn't popularly accepted for a VERY long time.
Western Missouri chiming in here - I grew up in the 90's and I definitely heard about these things but never experienced myself. At least not in a serious manner. Then again my family didn't attend church, or church events, and we didn't really have friends or acquaintances that did. Other than my Grandma. Now she made comments on several occasions when I was growing up, but I sat down with her one time and explained that we were the good guys, defeating the bad guys (I believe I used the word Demons) using swords and axes, and magic granted to us by the Gods. The only issue she had was that is was Polytheistic after that. But she never shunned me or anything.
Went to high school in rural Ohio about 10 years ago. Had a friend who ran a D&D game and I remember pretty well at least one kid who overheard us talking about it saying "don't you know that game is Satanic?"
Her parents were in high school in the 80s and never let that one go I guess.
Rural Ohio here too (Is everywhere in Ohio rural...?) I knew a guy back in the day who had all of his D&D books BURNED by his mother when she heard from a 'reliable' source that the game was actually a form of devil worship ...
Southern California but in the rural part, started playing in the 90s and when my very Catholic mom found out she flipped. She had been told it was full of demonic summoning rituals etc., but my mom is a person who likes to see these things for herself and asked if she could see the books before I was allowed to go back and play with my friends again. A week later she huffs over to me, places the books on my desk and says "This is ridiculous, this is just NERDY, you are a NERD!! There are no spells in here just math and fantasy books it's BORING." and after that she never had a problem with my gaming again. Flash forward to today, she actually wants to make a character and play in an upcoming game this should be comedy gold.
I started playing in the late nineties and then in the early 2000's started with 2E and 3E, growing up in rural eastern missouri i had overheard on a couple occasions that people were concerned that my friends and i played dnd, but all of our parents seemed to support it. My parents weren't very religious and a few of my friends were (mostly baptist) but they didn't care as I guess they figured we weren't really harming anyone and it was better than going out and partying/drinking like other kids in HS. Was pretty amusing though when you heard people say that DnD was satanic.
I started playing D&D in the early 80's with an uncle and his friends in Seattle. In 85 we moved to Texas and as a teen with long hair dressed in all black that played D&D things became difficult to say the least. I actually got kicked out of one school for being a "devil worshiper" and we wound up having to move to another town because our house kept getting vandalized and the cops would not do anything about it. We moved to a larger city and things were not too bad, but in that tiny little town they believed that D&D is satanic whole heartedly.
I started playing D&D in the early 80's with an uncle and his friends in Seattle. In 85 we moved to Texas and as a teen with long hair dressed in all black that played D&D things became difficult to say the least. I actually got kicked out of one school for being a "devil worshiper" and we wound up having to move to another town because our house kept getting vandalized and the cops would not do anything about it. We moved to a larger city and things were not too bad, but in that tiny little town they believed that D&D is satanic whole heartedly.
I was first introduced to D&D in the 6th grade in 1981 in Oklahoma. Our school had actually purchased the basic set, and our English teacher showed it to us. A bunch of us were interested. No one knew what it was or how to play. There was no division between nerds and other groups. Everyone wanted to figure it out. In 7th and 8th grades, things settled down and some of us stuck with it. Then the Satanic Panic hit. The stuff disappeared from the school library, and our folks were telling us how we were playing with witchcraft and entertaining devils. I hid my D&D books and notes like other teenage boys hid **** magazines. My mother still thinks the game is "dangerous," but I run a game for my daughter and nephews, and no one freaks out.
At the time, I couldn't believe that people I had looked up to were so willing to judge this thing I loved. Clearly they either hadn't read the stuff or they grossly underestimated most kids' ability to differentiate between reality and a game.
I played my first game of D&D in the fall of '76. I started working in the game industry in 1978 - here are three of my many anecdotes:
1) I Had my store picketed by some small-minded folk who thought that role playing was evil.
2) I once gave a deposition to a defense lawyer in a criminal case giving my "professional opinion" that role-playing was not a gateway to criminal activity.
3) I was asked to be the Adviser for a newly formed Explorer Post (a Boy Scouts affiliated group for young adults) that was to be focused on gaming. When the higher-echelon of the Scouts organization in our area found out this would include D&D, they nixed it immediately. Turns out, this leadership was made up mostly of members of a not-to-be-mentioned religion that is still influential in Scouting today!
I first played D&D in the winter of 74-75 after trying to be like Evil Knievel and landing in a hospital bed for over a year. I live in Lansing Michigan close to MSU things were quite until James Dallas Egbert ran off the local police rounded up us "Dungeons and Dragons cultists" their term for anyone who played D&D. We were held for several hours of questioning without parental notification or lawyers even after we asked for lawyers. Well my dad came looking for me carrying a strap as I had promised to be home right after school. My dad was many things but tolerant of lies was not one of them. So after he carted me home he called his lawyer who paid the Lasing Police and the school some visits. Next thing I know dad volunteered our basement for gaming and saw that we had food and drink. All was quite for a while when the school "guidance counselor" and the psych teacher showed up and started threatening my dad with violence . Psych teacher knew Karate and dad knew Sam Colt and the county sheriff. Mom called him at home and came out with deputies and hauled the "guidance counselor" and the psych teacher off to jail. No good judge let them go for reasons that baffle us even today. The school made my existence a nightmare until graduation. Fast forward 30 some years and today I am a preacher and I still play D&D as well as a host of other games. Strangely I did not have trouble at church over gaming it was the state that gave me grief.
I first played D&D in the winter of 74-75 after trying to be like Evil Knievel and landing in a hospital bed for over a year. I live in Lansing Michigan close to MSU things were quite until James Dallas Egbert ran off the local police rounded up us "Dungeons and Dragons cultists" their term for anyone who played D&D. We were held for several hours of questioning without parental notification or lawyers even after we asked for lawyers. Well my dad came looking for me carrying a strap as I had promised to be home right after school. My dad was many things but tolerant of lies was not one of them. So after he carted me home he called his lawyer who paid the Lasing Police and the school some visits. Next thing I know dad volunteered our basement for gaming and saw that we had food and drink. All was quite for a while when the school "guidance counselor" and the psych teacher showed up and started threatening my dad with violence . Psych teacher knew Karate and dad knew Sam Colt and the county sheriff. Mom called him at home and came out with deputies and hauled the "guidance counselor" and the psych teacher off to jail. No good judge let them go for reasons that baffle us even today. The school made my existence a nightmare until graduation. Fast forward 30 some years and today I am a preacher and I still play D&D as well as a host of other games. Strangely I did not have trouble at church over gaming it was the state that gave me grief.
That is insane! I first heard of D&D in the 80’s, well meaning people at church warning me of this game I’d never heard of, and I imagine they’d only heard of through Jack Chick comics. I went to boarding the school the next year and discovered that you didn’t become a Satan worshipping baby killer. I also discovered it can be very addictive so dad banned me from playing it. I’ve recently had the opportunity to pick it up again for the first time in 30 years. (In between I wouldn’t have had anyone to play with anyway, but I do listen wistfully to others my age who have decades of stories and experience.) Also a pastor and been very tentative about introducing it to church, but my senior pastor (I’m on a team), who is younger, doesn’t care so I figure the world has mostly moved on.
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About a week ago, I mentioned to a German colleague that I played D&D, and mentioned how I didn't really have much of a chance to play it when I was in Middle School or High School because people in my area still thought that it was devil worship (this was early 2000s Nebraska. They really hold on to those things, I guess). After confusing the colleague because it sounded incredibly crazy that people would react that way, and getting the urge to watch the campy anti-D&D propaganda film Mazes and Monsters (it's so terrible I find it amusing), I looked up a video about the history of it, and it's been on my mind a few days.
Do any of you guys have memories of this happening? Do you laugh about it now? ...Has it inspired more 'demonic' campaigns that you played? :P
In Canadian we didn't have much of an issue. I had friends from the USA in the 80's that suffered under the church and parents who didn't understand the game. There was a lot of misinformation that was also going around about the game. People were blaming suicides etc on the game as well. Seemed they all had something new to blame.
The only issue we every ran into was starting in 1981 and we wanted to start a D&D club at school. Our English teacher supported us but the school would not let us call it a D&D group (Strange). We changed the name to War Gamers Club and that made everyone happy.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Having grown up in the 80's I have some very clear recollections about D&D being "the devil's game", played by satan worshippers, and that it would cause you to want to murder your parents. Was around the same time that several bands were accused of putting satanic messages on records that could be heard by playing them backwards. Judas Priest being the most notable of those. I had a friend who's parents would not allow him to stay the night at my house due to the fact that it was known we would play D&D at my house on sleep overs. Luckily my mom was very open minded and didn't buy into the negative hype being propagated by various religious groups. For the most part I kept a very low profile about my gaming in general as it wasn't popularly accepted for a VERY long time.
This little gem too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEdlTj47xgo
Western Missouri chiming in here - I grew up in the 90's and I definitely heard about these things but never experienced myself. At least not in a serious manner. Then again my family didn't attend church, or church events, and we didn't really have friends or acquaintances that did. Other than my Grandma. Now she made comments on several occasions when I was growing up, but I sat down with her one time and explained that we were the good guys, defeating the bad guys (I believe I used the word Demons) using swords and axes, and magic granted to us by the Gods. The only issue she had was that is was Polytheistic after that. But she never shunned me or anything.
Went to high school in rural Ohio about 10 years ago. Had a friend who ran a D&D game and I remember pretty well at least one kid who overheard us talking about it saying "don't you know that game is Satanic?"
Her parents were in high school in the 80s and never let that one go I guess.
Rural Ohio here too (Is everywhere in Ohio rural...?) I knew a guy back in the day who had all of his D&D books BURNED by his mother when she heard from a 'reliable' source that the game was actually a form of devil worship ...
Southern California but in the rural part, started playing in the 90s and when my very Catholic mom found out she flipped. She had been told it was full of demonic summoning rituals etc., but my mom is a person who likes to see these things for herself and asked if she could see the books before I was allowed to go back and play with my friends again. A week later she huffs over to me, places the books on my desk and says "This is ridiculous, this is just NERDY, you are a NERD!! There are no spells in here just math and fantasy books it's BORING." and after that she never had a problem with my gaming again. Flash forward to today, she actually wants to make a character and play in an upcoming game this should be comedy gold.
This is a great opportunity bust out this gem from 1996.
It's a parody comedy, making fun of the radio programs at the time that warned of the dangers of dungeons & dragons.
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
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Whenever I've seen/heard this, it's always been this version with visual :P Still hilarious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-leYc4oC83E
I started playing in the late nineties and then in the early 2000's started with 2E and 3E, growing up in rural eastern missouri i had overheard on a couple occasions that people were concerned that my friends and i played dnd, but all of our parents seemed to support it. My parents weren't very religious and a few of my friends were (mostly baptist) but they didn't care as I guess they figured we weren't really harming anyone and it was better than going out and partying/drinking like other kids in HS. Was pretty amusing though when you heard people say that DnD was satanic.
I started playing D&D in the early 80's with an uncle and his friends in Seattle. In 85 we moved to Texas and as a teen with long hair dressed in all black that played D&D things became difficult to say the least. I actually got kicked out of one school for being a "devil worshiper" and we wound up having to move to another town because our house kept getting vandalized and the cops would not do anything about it. We moved to a larger city and things were not too bad, but in that tiny little town they believed that D&D is satanic whole heartedly.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
I was first introduced to D&D in the 6th grade in 1981 in Oklahoma. Our school had actually purchased the basic set, and our English teacher showed it to us. A bunch of us were interested. No one knew what it was or how to play. There was no division between nerds and other groups. Everyone wanted to figure it out. In 7th and 8th grades, things settled down and some of us stuck with it. Then the Satanic Panic hit. The stuff disappeared from the school library, and our folks were telling us how we were playing with witchcraft and entertaining devils. I hid my D&D books and notes like other teenage boys hid **** magazines. My mother still thinks the game is "dangerous," but I run a game for my daughter and nephews, and no one freaks out.
At the time, I couldn't believe that people I had looked up to were so willing to judge this thing I loved. Clearly they either hadn't read the stuff or they grossly underestimated most kids' ability to differentiate between reality and a game.
Greetings All...
I played my first game of D&D in the fall of '76. I started working in the game industry in 1978 - here are three of my many anecdotes:
1) I Had my store picketed by some small-minded folk who thought that role playing was evil.
2) I once gave a deposition to a defense lawyer in a criminal case giving my "professional opinion" that role-playing was not a gateway to criminal activity.
3) I was asked to be the Adviser for a newly formed Explorer Post (a Boy Scouts affiliated group for young adults) that was to be focused on gaming. When the higher-echelon of the Scouts organization in our area found out this would include D&D, they nixed it immediately. Turns out, this leadership was made up mostly of members of a not-to-be-mentioned religion that is still influential in Scouting today!
Bill W.
I first played D&D in the winter of 74-75 after trying to be like Evil Knievel and landing in a hospital bed for over a year. I live in Lansing Michigan close to MSU things were quite until James Dallas Egbert ran off the local police rounded up us "Dungeons and Dragons cultists" their term for anyone who played D&D. We were held for several hours of questioning without parental notification or lawyers even after we asked for lawyers. Well my dad came looking for me carrying a strap as I had promised to be home right after school. My dad was many things but tolerant of lies was not one of them. So after he carted me home he called his lawyer who paid the Lasing Police and the school some visits. Next thing I know dad volunteered our basement for gaming and saw that we had food and drink. All was quite for a while when the school "guidance counselor" and the psych teacher showed up and started threatening my dad with violence . Psych teacher knew Karate and dad knew Sam Colt and the county sheriff. Mom called him at home and came out with deputies and hauled the "guidance counselor" and the psych teacher off to jail. No good judge let them go for reasons that baffle us even today. The school made my existence a nightmare until graduation. Fast forward 30 some years and today I am a preacher and I still play D&D as well as a host of other games. Strangely I did not have trouble at church over gaming it was the state that gave me grief.