1980s Dungeons and Dragons Breakdown. Satanism And The Occult. Another take on something that didn't happen in my Los Angeles. Not that I'm a denier or anything. It's just that D&D was understood to be a fantasy wargame for nerds at the time.
[video=youtube;lfa6SEI0N5s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfa6SEI0N5s[/youtube]
We just had a satanic panic thread a couple of weeks ago.
I was playing D&D at the time, and my impression was and is that the satanic panic was very region dependent. It was big deal in some places and had no impact at all in others. And by "region dependent" I don't mean regions of the country, or even state by state variations. It was more like county by county.
Quote from: Dimitrios;1113627I was playing D&D at the time, and my impression was and is that the satanic panic was very region dependent.
Not only did it vary by region but it overall effect has been vastly overblown in the last two decades. If it wasn't for the constant belly-aching by RPGers, no one would even remember it.
Quote from: hedgehobbit;1113631Not only did it vary by region but it overall effect has been vastly overblown in the last two decades. If it wasn't for the constant belly-aching by RPGers, no one would even remember it.
This^
I'd lose a few levels wrestling with that succubus. That's all I got.
Quote from: hedgehobbit;1113631Not only did it vary by region but it overall effect has been vastly overblown in the last two decades. If it wasn't for the constant belly-aching by RPGers, no one would even remember it.
I believe that the issue is currently being astroturfed, to draw attention away from the Woke Problem.
Quote from: RandyB;1113639I believe that the issue is currently being astroturfed, to draw attention away from the Woke Problem.
Got it in one. Not the first time its been revived for similar reasons, either.
Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1113646Got it in one. Not the first time its been revived for similar reasons, either.
I watched 20 seconds of that video before that dude's voice and delivery turned me off forever...can you expand on this?
Quote from: Brad;1113647I watched 20 seconds of that video before that dude's voice and delivery turned me off forever...can you expand on this?
I didn't need to watch the video. It's "Whataboutism" in reaction to the anti-Woke activity among RPG players.
Goddamnit, just read the fucking Pulling Report (http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html) already......
So many of these YouTube "experts" can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground yet people think that they are valid sources.
Quote from: RandyB;1113639I believe that the issue is currently being astroturfed, to draw attention away from the Woke Problem.
[video=youtube;l8o5fxnDUjs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8o5fxnDUjs[/youtube]
Quote from: jeff37923;1113654Goddamnit, just read the fucking Pulling Report (http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html) already......
So many of these YouTube "experts" can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground yet people think that they are valid sources.
It didn't happen in a vacuum, either. It was one piece of a greater whole.
Quote from: jeff37923;1113654Goddamnit, just read the fucking Pulling Report (http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html) already......
So many of these YouTube "experts" can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground yet people think that they are valid sources.
Just like Boomers watching 60 Minutes. Imma like these dudes couldn't report their way out of a paper bag and my older relatives were all like "mah Wallace poser!"
Quote from: RandyB;1113657It didn't happen in a vacuum, either. It was one piece of a greater whole.
True and to be fair, someone's mommy burning their kid's D&D rules because she believed the hysteria is in no way comparable to the effect on those people arrested for (or even worse convicted of) imaginary Satanic sex crimes.
Quote from: Anthony Pacheco;1113677Just like Boomers watching 60 Minutes. Imma like these dudes couldn't report their way out of a paper bag and my older relatives were all like "mah Wallace poser!"
I don't think that this is a Millenial vs Boomer or any other generational issue because you have people of all age groups masturbating their favorite subject on YouTube. I think it is more of a, "dumbass didn't do their required research into the subject matter" kind of issue and that crosses ALL generations.
Quote from: Dimitrios;1113627I was playing D&D at the time, and my impression was and is that the satanic panic was very region dependent. It was big deal in some places and had no impact at all in others. And by "region dependent" I don't mean regions of the country, or even state by state variations. It was more like county by county.
Jesus lets play this tired game again then.
Its not even just regional. In the same town you can and probably will get a shotgun pattern of Panic and Nothing. Think of it as akin to RPG.net. I've been over there since nearly the start and never had a single problem and havent even seen any moderators acting poorly. Others have run into it practically right out the gate.
As noted in the other thread. I gamed with my group for years before BOOM Satanic Panic happened and one vanished after a priest was asking questions of our group about him, twos mom freaked out and fled cross country to "escape". And the library incident.
Quote from: hedgehobbit;1113631Not only did it vary by region but it overall effect has been vastly overblown in the last two decades. If it wasn't for the constant belly-aching by RPGers, no one would even remember it.
You are a gibbering idiot who has no idea of the hell some were put through.
Cecil Says looks like the kind of person that gives RPG gamers a bad image
Quote from: Omega;1113698You are a gibbering idiot who has no idea of the hell some were put through.
And what if a tiny number of people were "put through hell" thirty years ago? That has no bearing on anything happening today. If you were talking about something happening today, like the Nazi panic, that would be a different story.
Quote from: RandyB;1113650I didn't need to watch the video. It's "Whataboutism" in reaction to the anti-Woke activity among RPG players.
SJWs in the hobby will hate the video.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1113713SJWs in the hobby will hate the video.
Anybody will hate the video. I got about 10 seconds in and couldn't stand the guy, regardless of his topic.
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1113718Anybody will hate the video. I got about 10 seconds in and couldn't stand the guy, regardless of his topic.
Democrats don't watch YouTube videos.
Best quotes from the comment section of the video!
I never heard of D&D until my mom told me it was evil and I wasn't allowed to play it, so of course I got into it asap.
I still play Dungeons and Dragons and yes, screams can be heard when you throw your friends miniatures into fire.
In Austria they play Dungeons and Daughters.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1113744In Austria they play Dungeons and Daughters.
Burn! :D
I like Cecil. :) And ever since his "Goodbye Horses, Goodbye Star Wars," mix I likez him 'more better'. (I also find his style of fumbling-sardonic humor to be hilarious... and he has an insightful read on people, with also a forgiving nature to those he befriends.)
Unclench folks, it's just a youtube deliberate 'fail-whale' 80s retrospective drunk commentary, which has some nice biting moments. :D
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1113721Democrats don't watch YouTube videos.
Are you brain damaged?
The whole "D&D is satanic" thing only really affected people who grew up in very conservative religious families, mainly evangelicals but also the non-liberal catholics.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1114404The whole "D&D is satanic" thing only really affected people who grew up in very conservative religious families, mainly evangelicals but also the non-liberal catholics.
A tiny subset of those, plus later a slice of "mainstream" churches with bad choices in guest ministers.
... and those that truly are trying to raise the Lord of Hell from the Pit.
Quote from: tenbones;1114430... and those that truly are trying to raise the Lord of Hell from the Pit.
Dude, but the guy always brings
SNACKS!
Quote from: jeff37923;1114451Dude, but the guy always brings SNACKS!
Like you, I undersold the value of my soul. But damn, Doritos are probably worth it.
It's true. I always bring snacks.
Quote from: hedgehobbit;1113631Not only did it vary by region but it overall effect has been vastly overblown in the last two decades. If it wasn't for the constant belly-aching by RPGers, no one would even remember it.
I disagree here. I remember teachers banning the books being brought to school and a friend of mine had to get rid of his books because his dad bought into some of the hype after the kid in michigan went missing.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1114404The whole "D&D is satanic" thing only really affected people who grew up in very conservative religious families, mainly evangelicals but also the non-liberal catholics.
Not really. It got ahold of families way outside those demographics. Stackpole and others have commented on just how widespread the problem got outside the religious circles.
Quote from: Omega;1114739Not really. It got ahold of families way outside those demographics. Stackpole and others have commented on just how widespread the problem got outside the religious circles.
Having been a kid during that period, I can only recall one person around me who was really affected by all that. Though I guess there may have been other kids interested in D&D who were never allowed to get into it because of the panic, so you have to count those losses as well.
On the other hand, there was a lot of the lure of the forbidden in it, which made it more appealing for certain kids to play (especially the stoners and the ones into heavy metal). The 80s rumor that playing D&D would make you a satanist was WAY better than the 90s rumor that playing D&D would make you a lifelong virgin.
The Satanic Panic had a small effect on the RPG hobby where I lived (suburbs of a major Canadian city). A few kids had parents who wouldn't let them play, or who took their books away.
But people who weren't there also need to understand that this was in the context of SF/Fantasy stuff being considered really weird and unhealthy for reasons that had nothing to do with religion. If you were still reading books about elves and spaceships when you were older than about 12 years old, parents, teachers, and other kids considered you immature and socially stunted. The same way they would a teenager sitting on the sidewalk playing with tonka trucks and making vroom-vroom noises. It's probably difficult for younger people to understand, but back then being outside the mainstream was considered unhealthy, and authority figures had little tolerance of deviance. There was no 'you do you' back in 1982.
So me and my friends got much more grief from wider society for being immature nerds carrying monsters manuals around than we did for playing a game that offended conservative religious sensibilities.
The effect of the Satanic Panic, even limited to the RPG hobby, wasn't just parents taking away rulebooks or schools banning the game in after school clubs. Law enforcement was taught to see D&D rulebooks as one kind of evidence of satanic crimes (along with intelligence and creativity); although I doubt that D&D was ever the only evidence, lives were actually ruined by baseless prosecutions.
https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/satanic-panic-documents/