Quote from: YamoBig thumbs-down for the old dude with the oily complexion and demon gang rape fetish, though.

Quote from: StuartI thought the older GM's comments about getting into his players' heads was a bit unsettling -- particularly the annecdote about the female player with the Paladin...

Quote from: YamoBig thumbs-down for the old dude with the oily complexion and demon gang rape fetish, though.

Quote from: SosthenesOn the other hand, I'm not particularly fond of Hickman's view of Christian morals in RPG's, either.

QuoteYou wrote Dungeons & Dragons(r) games for many years. How could you support that 'wicked and demon-worshipping' game?

The game itself is not an evil thing -- it's what people do with it that is often wrong.
Dungeons & Dragons(r) was started by a man by the name of Gary Gygax back in the mid-seventies as an offshoot of miniatures wargaming. It quickly took on a wide college fandom and became something of an icon during the 'eighties. It was during that same time that a great resurgence in christian churchs took place in a return to spirituality. Zealots supporting the game and the churches came into conflict with a great deal of miscommunication on both sides.
The main problem, from my perspective, was not that D&D(r) was an 'evil' game but that it failed to take much of a moral position AT ALL except to insist on a vague adherance to the comic book code. It was a game where 'anything you wanted' could happen. Role playing games can be powerful tools for behavior modification. To my mind, it was rather like giving power tools to two year olds: huge potential without any guidance.
I cannot speak for others who design these games but I can say with assurance that the games I designed while there always took a very carefully calculated moral slant and tried to teach positive values as central to their design. I would strongly admonish others who design their games to look beyond the illusory dream itself to the message that their games convey. I also strongly admonish anyone who is playing these games to carefully select only those settings and scenarios that espouse positive moral structures. I also recomend my 'Ethics in Fantasy: Morality and D&D' article for a more indepth treatment of this subject.
The bottom line? The games I designed were always carefully crafted morality tales that reflected my own Christian beliefs -- as for anyone elses, you should participate in them with open eyes.

Quote from: StuartActually... I don't see anything to disagree with. I'm going to check out his article.

Quote from: RPGPunditThe point is that neither Gygax nor Hickman have allowed this to pervade their actual games.