My parents and grandparents saw D&D as something that got kids to read and exercise their imaginations and do math voluntarily on weekends, therefore they thought it was a Good Thing. They were also liberal-minded (in the old sense of the word) so the artwork never bothered them. I was lucky that way with games and comic books and genre fiction.

Quote from: Dumarest;969906Tipper Gore?

What I meant was, I was in the D.C. metro area and then San Diego and never encountered this "D&D = Satanism" stuff at all. Maybe because I've always been in large cities? Was it a small-town Bible-thumping hellfire-and-brimstone Baptist thing?

In my neck of the woods, it was a "small town but not too small" thing, and very hodge podge even then.  Essentially, it was usually a travelling outrage gambit, by someone that wanted to get people riled up, so that they could build up a reputation and get invited to the next gig.  Rural areas typically didn't have big enough churches to attract that sort of thing, though every now and then one nearby would get a trial run.  A slice of the Baptists (which I am) would get a bit more than their fair share because of the way Baptists are organized (or rather, not all that organized compared to even Methodists).  Crazy travelling guy wouldn't have gotten invited to local churches in our area because not only were we too small but also because the Baptists were the D&D players there.  We got our travelling guy on other subjects, and being so small, usually someone more honestly motivated. Most of them were just fine (not crazy), and it really only depended upon how interested you were in what they had to say whether it was worth attending or not.

Interestingly, the only pushback I ever encountered of that nature, until the Panic was mostly over and I was grown (but that's a different crazy travelling guy story)--was school and city librarians.  It wasn't a religious thing, but apparently that D&D somehow offended their pedagogical views.  I never did understand exactly why, when they were trying to get people to read, and the D&D players were more bookish than average.

Quote from: Dumarest;969897I also went to Catholic school in the early 80s and nobody cared a whit whether we played D&D or not. I'm always curious about where this "Satanic Panic" happened, as it never seemed to be anywhere I was. Was it a rural thing?

They weren't too happy at my Protestant boarding school in Belfast, ca 1985. It was just the matrons though, the Masters (teachers) didn't know or care. But it was a few years later I met a boy I GM'd a session for whose parents really believed that stuff. (He was so happy when his 14th level Barbarian killed a ghoul - ok saving the world maybe wasn't the best intro adventure)

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;969944D&D players were more bookish than average.

I hereby present to you the Understatement of the Century Award for Excellence and Achievements in the Presentation of Something as Being Less Than It Actually Is.

Quote from: Dumarest;969906Tipper Gore?

What I meant was, I was in the D.C. metro area and then San Diego and never encountered this "D&D = Satanism" stuff at all. Maybe because I've always been in large cities? Was it a small-town Bible-thumping hellfire-and-brimstone Baptist thing?

Yes. In Britain it was the more conservative & rural places like Northern Ireland, east Anglia, parts of Scotland. Mostly same places that believed in Satanic Child Abuse AIR.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;969944Interestingly, the only pushback I ever encountered of that nature, until the Panic was mostly over and I was grown (but that's a different crazy travelling guy story)--was school and city librarians.  It wasn't a religious thing, but apparently that D&D somehow offended their pedagogical views.  I never did understand exactly why, when they were trying to get people to read, and the D&D players were more bookish than average.

A few years back I provoked extreme outrage from the ex-military bag-checker at the entrance to the Imperial War Museum. He took grave offence to the D&D books in my bag. Why, I have no idea.

Quote from: S'mon;969956A few years back I provoked extreme outrage from the ex-military bag-checker at the entrance to the Imperial War Museum. He took grave offence to the D&D books in my bag. Why, I have no idea.

I would love to know what he found objectionable. Which books were they?

Quote from: S'mon;969955Yes. In Britain it was the more conservative & rural places like Northern Ireland, east Anglia, parts of Scotland. Mostly same places that believed in Satanic Child Abuse AIR.

AIR = ?

Quote from: Dumarest;969954I hereby present to you the Understatement of the Century Award for Excellence and Achievements in the Presentation of Something as Being Less Than It Actually Is.

I'm glad you liked it.  Now consider that the tone of the entire post was consistent to that level, including when I used "crazy".  :eek:  And I'd never even heard of "Satanic Child Abuse" before.

Quote from: Dumarest;969897I also went to Catholic school in the early 80s and nobody cared a whit whether we played D&D or not. I'm always curious about where this "Satanic Panic" happened, as it never seemed to be anywhere I was. Was it a rural thing?

I knew Catholic school kids in my area (SW Ohio) and they never experienced any pushback on D&D. It was just the Evangelical types that were an issue. My impression is that the Catholic Church didn't give a damn about it, but is communities were the controversy existed, some local churches might have just tagged along.

Our school D&D club was a victim of Satanic Panic, but the school never actually banned it. We still played during recess and toted our books around openly.

Quote from: S'mon;969956A few years back I provoked extreme outrage from the ex-military bag-checker at the entrance to the Imperial War Museum. He took grave offence to the D&D books in my bag. Why, I have no idea.

Totally unrelated, but I want to pass along a story provoking outrage with D&D in an inadvertent fashion. Back before I could print hex paper off the Internet, I was looking to get some. There was a stationary store I passed on the way to work, so I thought I might give it a shot. As I browsed the man working asked if he could help. I told him offhandedly that I was looking for hex paper. He turned cold with anger and said he did not carry such things in his store.

His reaction seemed really weird, but I left. It wasn't until I was half a block away that it occurred to me "hex paper" wasn't common terminology, and they guy seemed to read it as having something to do with "hexing", like I was buying some ingredient for witchcraft.

Quote from: Baulderstone;969968Back before I could print hex paper off the Internet, I was looking to get some. There was a stationary store I passed on the way to work, so I thought I might give it a shot. As I browsed the man working asked if he could help. I told him offhandedly that I was looking for hex paper. He turned cold with anger and said he did not carry such things in his store.

His reaction seemed really weird, but I left. It wasn't until I was half a block away that it occurred to me "hex paper" wasn't common terminology, and they guy seemed to read it as having something to do with "hexing", like I was buying some ingredient for witchcraft.

You'd think he's ask what kind first. Or maybe he thought you asked for sex paper. In which case he should definitely have asked what you meant.

Quote from: Dumarest;969958I would love to know what he found objectionable. Which books were they?

Mmm, probably 3e I guess, might have been 4e (this would be ca 2010 around the time I switched). Pretty sure it was the words "Dungeons & Dragons" he objected to, so I'm guessing he'd had a sermon on it.

Quote from: Willmark;967800Just when you think the grogs can't get any "groggier" then surprise you yet again.

What the actual fuck was that?

That was a man who never actually wrote an RPG claiming his rpg was more popular than mine.

The thread as a whole was also proof of the OSR Taliban. The attitude Estar keeps trying to pretend never existed.

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;967844(Grognardia put me off the OSR

Yes, it did that for a TON OF PEOPLE who would otherwise have been natural allies of the OSR. But the Taliban didn't give a fuck because they were too busy sucking his cock while he told them how sophisticated and special they were being for doing so.

He was Swine who despises them, and they fell for it like the naive nerd suckers they've been all their lives.

Quote from: CRKrueger;967858It still exists as a stereotype, as a mythical strawman one can trot out to demonize and criticize a whole group of people who do not meet the definition.  Look at  the Appendix N thread.  Supposedly, there's this group of people out there who "worship" Appendix N like it's their Holy Text, or subject it to "Talmudic" study, like they are you or Gronan, who actually have spent years studying real Holy Texts as an academic and spiritual endeavor.  The idea is idiotic and ludicrous on its face.

Appendix N is currently literally being used by radical sociocon-reactionary elements of the anti-SJW Right to make an elaborate argument that all Sci-fi and Fantasy written after 1960 is Stupid and Degenerate.

QuoteJmal hasn't made a Grognardia post for five years, because he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his own cocksucking fans and even when he was, he was challenged on his own blog.

Fixed your omission.

QuoteIf I started calling BoxCrayonTales or FVB a "Narrative Nazi" or Jay Little the "Forgian KKK Grand Wizard" people would look at me like I was nuts, and they'd be right, because it's crazytalk.  Yet someone says "OSR Taliban" and people just say "Oh yeah, one of those" as if those people actually exist.

That should tell you something.