I had two close calls back in the day.  A teacher at my elementary school saw the 700 Club report and tried to shut down the game group.  Cooler heads pointed out that the D&D nerds were all getting good grades and none of us were troublemakers.  Since she got nowhere with the administration, she tried appealing to us directly to stop running with the devil.  Seeing as D&D was the only thing we had going for us, it didn't work.

Of all the parents of my game group, Dave's mom was the most skeptical of the game.  At one point she became outright hostile and threatened to throw away all of the D&D books in Dave's room.  I was rather upset when Dave reported this back to me, as he was borrowing all my stuff to DM a campaign!

You know, I wonder if there's a copy of that 700 Club report out there anywhere.  It'd be a hoot to watch.

I never had a problem with my parents, but one friend went through a bout with his mom (who never seemed terribly religious; I think she simply had "mommy control" issues) and another friend read some guys inspirational book and quit on the spot.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstYou know, I wonder if there's a copy of that 700 Club report out there anywhere.  It'd be a hoot to watch.

This isn't it but I think this is in the same spirit.

My mom is a deeply religious person.  My dad... goes through phases of fervor.  I can't recall any significant incidents of, "that game is the devil". There were some conflicts about it, but only related to it's impact on my education not my moral wellbeing.

Nope, never experienced it personally, then again I was basically out of the house by '83, probably before the craze started. And the religious mix of my area (suburban area of a major mid-atlantic city) didn't correspond very closely with what I imagine to be the base of BADD and other 80's nonsense.

Closest thing was one time when I was about to head over to a friend's house and my father overheard me on the phone saying I would bring "the stuff", meaning some gaming materials. He asked me what sort of "stuff" I was talking about--he wanted to make sure it wasn't drugs. Which was (a) fairly ridiculous, I didn't even touch alcohol until college, and rarely after that, and (b) easily answered, I just told him what I meant and that was that.

I did see some Jack Chick comics at a store in Connecticut once, during or shortly after college. They were funny, apparently unintentionally. How I wish I'd bought them--I think I've heard they're valuable now.

My dad? Geeky as hell and not conservative in any sense of the word. But I think he attributed my less than perfect grades to DnD.

My stepmom? Never said anything. I figure she realized it didn't matter one way or another.

My mom? Thinks I need to get a life, but has never stopped me.

Never had a problem with it.  Probably helped that I was a Trekkie and going to science fiction conventions before I started role-playing and was more into Traveller than D&D.  Never saw any signs of "D&D is the Devil's work" in my neck of the woods.

Nope. I started gaming at school at 12 - actually, just shy of it - and then when my mum asked me what I wanted for my 13th birthday, I asked and got the AD&D books. All the other stuff I bought with my pocket money, and later own earnings, as far as I recall.

It was just never an issue. If I was reading a lot, there was the occasional, "shouldn't you be outside having fun?" but then when I did go outside it was, "you shouldn't be out so late, you should be at home studying" or whatever.

For most people in Australia in the 1980s, roleplaying was neither understood nor feared.

Never had a problem on my end. The only smallish problem my mum had with the game were the kids I was gaming with were much older - I was 12 and they were around 16 -17. "Why don't you game with kids your own age", she said. Looked over at kids my own age - not much roleplaying and more importantly no girls - "Don't know anyone my age who plays mum" says I.

Regards,
David R

My parents were just glad I had some kind of extracurricular outlet - I was a bit of a bookworm in school.

Dad didn't mind me gaming at all, he used to obsessively read WW1 Pulp magazines back when he was my age and just thought that gaming was along the same lines. Mom got a little nutty about me gaming and would insist that it was a Bad Influence on me until she saw me deep in Gearhead mode creating a starship using Classic Traveller's High Guard, she decided the game couldn't be all bad if I was using so much math.

(God Save Traveller!)

My Middle School gaming buddies and I used to get bothered by the chief student Baptist nabob of the school and her minions about D&D when we'd be playing during recess, but that was about it. Chalk it up to life in Tennessee in the '80s

My mother always used to go on at me about how I should get out of the house, get some friends, and meet a nice girl.

I sure showed her! :suicide:

I grew up in Salt Lake City and most of my fellow players were Mormon.  There was not a whiff of "D&D is the devil."  My mom thought is was ok, dad just thought it was a bit of a waste.  Some kids got bugged by their parents the same as they would for any bookish pursuit.

Quote from: NicephorusSome kids got bugged by their parents the same as they would for any bookish pursuit.

Having experienced this myself as a kid, I still don't get the motivation behind it. I wonder if it's an American thing.
And why are so many dads down on fun?