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Author Topic:   D&D and satanisim
crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 2 of 164 (99008)
04-09-2004 10:22 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Yaro
04-09-2004 9:56 PM


So, I was wondering if phatboy, or any christians who still subscribe to this belife, have ever actually looked into the game before branding it, and it's players, as 'satanists by proxy' or somesuch?
Of course they haven't. I assume they think "role-playing" a sorcerer involves actually dripping a pentagram in sheep's blood right there on the table. Never mind that that tends to ruin your character sheet.
Any Chrisitans here who think D&D is satanic, I'd be happy to run a game for you. I'll even figure out a way to represent the Christian God as a game deity for you to bop unbelievers into your church.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 5 of 164 (99030)
04-09-2004 11:39 PM


While we're waiting for Christians to jump in, why don't we all talk about our characters? I usually play Roderick Van Helter, a dashing fighter/rogue with an eye for the ladies.

Replies to this message:
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 Message 8 by Macavity, posted 04-10-2004 12:36 AM crashfrog has replied

  
crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 7 of 164 (99034)
04-09-2004 11:52 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by Yaro
04-09-2004 11:48 PM


And like a really good D&D session goes, we spent most of the time "role-playing" and not rolling dice.
Word. Though sometimes you gotta throw down, kick in the door, and put some loathsome abberations to the sword, you know? I love playing the role but dungeon crawling is fun, too.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 9 of 164 (99040)
04-10-2004 12:39 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by Macavity
04-10-2004 12:36 AM


Also, I've taken to collecting rule books and supplements for 3rd edition---which, BTW, is the best edition yet. My most recent purchase is the Underdark supplement.
The only experience I've had with Forgotten Realms is the NWN campaigns, but those were fun. I'd pick up the FR sourcebook but it's like 40 bucks.
I'm all up into the Oriental Adventures book (I played a great Legend of the Five Rings campaign before they went to d20), but that's the only supplement I have.
What is Dark Sun? Isn't that part of the Forgotten Realms stuff?

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 21 of 164 (99141)
04-10-2004 8:51 PM
Reply to: Message 19 by One_Charred_Wing
04-10-2004 2:33 PM


As long as you don't get so into it that you believe it's really happening or want to REALLY get into magick then I think you'll be okay.
Anyone looking to the Player's Handbook as some kind of occult manual is looking to be sorely disappointed. Here's a typical arcane spell:
quote:
Magic Missle
Evocation {Force}
Level Sor/Wiz 1
Components V,S
Casting Time 1 action
Range Medium
Targets: Up to five creatures, no two of which can be more than 15 ft. apart
Duration Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
A missle of magical energy darts forth from your fingertip and unerringly strikes it's target. The missle deals 1d4+1 points of damage.
...
And even if the black mage thing would bother somebody, who says you can't play as some sort of Holy Warrior that believes in the Christian diety?
I imagine that the Christian God (Yaweh, the Lamb God, the Fisher of Men) would be Lawful Good, and administer the domains Law, Good, Healing, and Protection. His favored weapon would be the whip (used by Jesus to clear the temple) and his sigil would be the Cross, obviously.
So why is Dungeons and Dragons any different?
I don't know why any of the fantasy genre, which is more or less all based on Tolkien, would be any different. What's the difference between Gandalf or Merlin and Harry Potter?

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 24 of 164 (99165)
04-10-2004 11:59 PM
Reply to: Message 22 by geetar
04-10-2004 9:46 PM


I have never played or seen, (15+ years playing) a game where God of the bible was the only god
Can we presume that you believe the Bible to be Satanic, then? After all the point of the Old Testament is not that God is the only God, just that he's the biggest one. (If you missed that, there's a few passages you need to read a little more closely.)
No "God" involed = Satan. And I don't know if it does have a place in a christian's walk with God.
Well, fuck, by this reasoning, neither does anything you're not doing in a church. Walkin in a park? Satanism, if you're not doing it for God. Helping your mom take out the trash? Satanism, if you're doing it for her and not for God.
It's just a game. You play it in fellowship with your friends. Isn't fellowship something Christians are supposed to seek?
[This message has been edited by crashfrog, 04-10-2004]

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 34 of 164 (99347)
04-12-2004 12:41 AM
Reply to: Message 33 by TechnoCore
04-11-2004 10:12 PM


Now I'm into LARP, live action role playing, you know dressing up and act out everything in the woods in 1:1 scale
Anyone here done that ?
Played some Vampire: The Whatever LARP, it was ok... nothing like what I think you're talking about.
I made foam padded swords (of a number of different types and cultures, including foam padded katanas, which I've never really seen) for my Gaming Society and became the unbeaten champion. That's about it. What you're talking about sounds like hella fun.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 41 of 164 (99536)
04-12-2004 10:10 PM
Reply to: Message 36 by Dan Carroll
04-12-2004 12:16 PM


As for your question itself, the only evil bred by D&D is four or five hour arguments about the semantics of the rules for each and every die throw, which can only breed hatred.
The leaders of our gaming society double as rules adjudicators, whose rulings are final. We take that responsiblity pretty seriously and we've been known to make rules rulings that are immediately disadvantageous to us in a game we're playing, just for fairness.
I'd say it works pretty well. Rules-lawyering isn't so bad if you all agree to appoint the lawyer.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 42 of 164 (99540)
04-12-2004 10:14 PM
Reply to: Message 39 by Yaro
04-12-2004 2:30 PM


One thing I could never get into with Computer or Console RPG's was MMORPGs. They are so boring. I don't think anyone has done those right.
From what I've heard, the upcoming World of Warcraft might just be your thing. They're getting rid of the boredom, I guess.
Anyone here play Muds?
Never got into em. I don't like text-based games.
Try Neverwinter Nights. You might find the experience a lot like the MUD's you're used to.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 49 of 164 (99833)
04-14-2004 12:43 AM
Reply to: Message 48 by Wertbag
04-14-2004 12:03 AM


Now, the question becomesif a person "innocently" works an authentic ritual that conjures up a demon, or curses someone; thinking that they are only playing a game-might not the ritual still have efficacy?
Players don't do the rituals. Their characters do.
If Bob, with a a 7 Clr, casts "Magic Circle Against Evil", he doesn't actually get out of his chair and draw a circle on the floor in powdered silver. He just says that his character does.
Erosion of family values-the Dungeon Master (DM) demands an all-encompassing and total loyalty, control and allegiance.
What the hell is he talking about?
Boy, I'm glad we got a bunch of bs from people who have no experience with the game. That was really useful.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 51 of 164 (100355)
04-16-2004 7:31 AM
Reply to: Message 50 by TechnoCore
04-16-2004 7:01 AM


Everquest definatly falls into category 2. The gameplay is soo boring. You do the same thing over and over again, and do it slowly, just so you can get to the next level. But beeing at that level is no fun in itself. It is the hunt for the next level that is the reward.
Did you ever play "Progress Quest"? (Maybe "play" isn't the right word...) It takes the leveling fun of Everquest and removes the tedium of actual gameplay. And it's free! Go to Progress Quest.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 59 of 164 (115621)
06-16-2004 4:36 AM
Reply to: Message 57 by custard
06-16-2004 4:18 AM


WRROOONG! It IS an allegory of Christianity.
Well, it has a bitheist theology, I guess, but I don't really see much in the way of allegory.
Who's the Christ figure? Frodo? Aragorn?
Maybe the SM makes it more clear, but I couldn't make it all the way through.
It's much closer to being a rip-off of Athurian legend than a retelling of the New Testament. Your milage may vary, I guess.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 61 of 164 (115651)
06-16-2004 7:53 AM
Reply to: Message 60 by custard
06-16-2004 4:46 AM


That he doesn't actually get physically killed isn't so important as he is spiritually killed and has to go into the West to be 'resurrected.'
Ok, yeah, I can kind of see that... I dunno. It's tenuous at best, if you ask me. But you're entitled to your interpretation.
Anyway that doesn't seem so much like ressurection as it is like assumption - like how Jesus is assumed into heaven. But that's a Catholic quibble.
I'm not really seeing the Arthurian 'rip off' unless you refer to the whole Return of the King with the Cool Sword theme - which is an old Anglo-Saxon theme.
Aragorn = Arthur
Gandalf = Merlin
Narsil = Excalibur
From stuff I've read about Tolkien part of what he was doing was attempting to create a uniquely British mythology, like the Arthur stuff before the French influence. Maybe not a "rip-off", but I could see it as an attenpt to fuze arthurian-style romanticism with loosely Christian themes.

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 65 of 164 (115672)
06-16-2004 8:43 AM
Reply to: Message 62 by custard
06-16-2004 7:58 AM


Tolkien was trying to create a unique sort of British mythology, but as an Anglo-Saxon scholar, he used a lot of themes and ideas from that mythology.
Oh, I totally agree. I mean, do I even have to mention Wagner's Ring Cycle?
Point taken about Tolkien and Catholicism. Though, if you looked hard enough, you could find Christian themes in Dude, Where's My Car?

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 68 of 164 (115680)
06-16-2004 9:06 AM


While we're on the subject, you guys should check out the Lords of the Rhymes.
Hobbiton, it's on! Seriously... a Gollum beatbox?
This message has been edited by crashfrog, 06-16-2004 08:09 AM

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