A Note on D&D
Oct. 22nd, 2007 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maychorianFirst: good news! I made baklava yesterday and it turned out quite well, though I did mess up one step so I'll have to make it again and see if it comes out any better. I took some to my parents' house yesterday evening so my family could eat it for dessert, and all pronounced it fantastic, especially Mom and Andrew. I'll take some tonight to Huntington for the consumption of my wizard, barbarian, druid and DM friends.
Secondly, I thought I might as well address a certain issue about D&D now, though I will also, of course, talk to people in person if they ask, as I have done in the past. It comes up quite often and I thought I might as well write an entry here so I have something on record. And it will help me put my thoughts in order, as writing always does.
This issue is, of course: Dungeons & Dragons is Satan's Game! It will draw you deep into fleshly lusts and destroy your brain as you are swallowed by El Diablo! You'll become a pagan, seduced by the dark side, believing in all manner of evil witchcraft! Demons will inhabit your SOOOOUUUULLLLL!!!!
Well, something like that, anyway. I overstated it for comedic purposes, but a lot of people really do seem to believe that.
I still giggle to myself about my sister Bethany's knee-jerk reaction a couple of years ago. We were working in the kitchen, chatting, and I mentioned that I was playing Dungeons & Dragons with some friends at my college. And she immediately gasped and cried, "Laura! Sinner!"
Like, she didn't even think about it. That was just how to she felt about D&D, and she was absolutely horrified and shocked that I would even think of playing that demonic game, never mind actually doing it. I laughed at her then and still laugh about it now, because it was just so instant. (I'm sorry, Bethany, I'll try not to laugh at you in the future. Your thoughts and opinions really are important to me, really!)
Of course, I am not immune to this Midwest-conservative-tradional-denomination-Christian mentality. I used to believe that D&D was inherently dangerous and bad. My first novel, a fantasy Lewis/Tolkien/White rip-off which I started when I was thirteen, had a character who became a new-agey kind of wannabe-sorcerer satanist because she played D&D with some evil, evil friends. No, they weren't even evil, evil friends. They were ebil, ebil SEDUCERS.
I don't think I've quite yet convinced my mom that it isn't dangerous, really. The fact that I'm not doing a good job of getting to church regularly might contribute to that, but the two issues are really quite unconnected.
So anyway, what changed my mind? Well, for one thing, D&D is fun!
I mean, c'mon. I've always loved fantasy. Lewis, Tolkien, anything I could get my hands on. Star Wars, my main teenage obsession, has a lot in common with fantasy, too, more so than it does with SF, really. I never had any trouble reconciling those loves with my Christianity. Harry Potter? No problem! (Until those books started sucking, anyway.) Casual magic in videogames and books? Whatever, as long as it serves the story! Lord of the Rings movies? Best thing ever! Yeah, yeah, the Bible says you should not suffer a witch to live, and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and I do believe the Bible and I believe that people trying to pursue real life magic have deep, deep problems and should see an exorcist, but in fiction? I'm all for it, with very few reservations.
And sitting around with some of your best buddies, making up a collaborative story that's often very character-driven? Heck, yeah! How can that be anything BUT awesome?
I mean, really. I play with a bunch of other Christians. Several of us are writers, so making up stories and characters is the most fun thing we can do, anyway. The fact that it's a game and only one person has to come up with an actual plot makes it a lot easier to keep moving forward instead of getting bogged down in minutiae. (Though that still happens anyway.) You get to explore and use skills and get better at what you do and make jokes all the time. The world is constantly evolving, often affected by your own actions, and if your DM is good you get to do all kinds of fun, fun stuff, like fight dragons. (Yes, my DM is good. Very good.) Interaction with your team is constant.
It's a social activity. It's a character-based game. It's all about making something cool with three or four other people.
Basically, it's all about who you play with. This is what Josh H. (Kazn the Loud) says to people who question him about it, and it's very true.
Yeah, sure, you can do dangerous stuff with D&D. Yeah, you can do weird, depraved stuff with D&D. Yeah, you can bury yourself in the world so far that you forget who you are. You can even just be stupid. But not the people I play with. We're not having enormous orgies on the couch or Satan parties in the kitchen. We're having fun. (And you can do that without orgies and Satan.)
I don't think God has a problem with it, either.
This is all wrapped up in some Christians' perception of fantasy in general, I think. But that's another essay for another day. (Some people even have a problem with fiction. Fiction! Just fiction! It boggles me completely.)
Secondly, I thought I might as well address a certain issue about D&D now, though I will also, of course, talk to people in person if they ask, as I have done in the past. It comes up quite often and I thought I might as well write an entry here so I have something on record. And it will help me put my thoughts in order, as writing always does.
This issue is, of course: Dungeons & Dragons is Satan's Game! It will draw you deep into fleshly lusts and destroy your brain as you are swallowed by El Diablo! You'll become a pagan, seduced by the dark side, believing in all manner of evil witchcraft! Demons will inhabit your SOOOOUUUULLLLL!!!!
Well, something like that, anyway. I overstated it for comedic purposes, but a lot of people really do seem to believe that.
I still giggle to myself about my sister Bethany's knee-jerk reaction a couple of years ago. We were working in the kitchen, chatting, and I mentioned that I was playing Dungeons & Dragons with some friends at my college. And she immediately gasped and cried, "Laura! Sinner!"
Like, she didn't even think about it. That was just how to she felt about D&D, and she was absolutely horrified and shocked that I would even think of playing that demonic game, never mind actually doing it. I laughed at her then and still laugh about it now, because it was just so instant. (I'm sorry, Bethany, I'll try not to laugh at you in the future. Your thoughts and opinions really are important to me, really!)
Of course, I am not immune to this Midwest-conservative-tradional-denomination-Christian mentality. I used to believe that D&D was inherently dangerous and bad. My first novel, a fantasy Lewis/Tolkien/White rip-off which I started when I was thirteen, had a character who became a new-agey kind of wannabe-sorcerer satanist because she played D&D with some evil, evil friends. No, they weren't even evil, evil friends. They were ebil, ebil SEDUCERS.
I don't think I've quite yet convinced my mom that it isn't dangerous, really. The fact that I'm not doing a good job of getting to church regularly might contribute to that, but the two issues are really quite unconnected.
So anyway, what changed my mind? Well, for one thing, D&D is fun!
I mean, c'mon. I've always loved fantasy. Lewis, Tolkien, anything I could get my hands on. Star Wars, my main teenage obsession, has a lot in common with fantasy, too, more so than it does with SF, really. I never had any trouble reconciling those loves with my Christianity. Harry Potter? No problem! (Until those books started sucking, anyway.) Casual magic in videogames and books? Whatever, as long as it serves the story! Lord of the Rings movies? Best thing ever! Yeah, yeah, the Bible says you should not suffer a witch to live, and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and I do believe the Bible and I believe that people trying to pursue real life magic have deep, deep problems and should see an exorcist, but in fiction? I'm all for it, with very few reservations.
And sitting around with some of your best buddies, making up a collaborative story that's often very character-driven? Heck, yeah! How can that be anything BUT awesome?
I mean, really. I play with a bunch of other Christians. Several of us are writers, so making up stories and characters is the most fun thing we can do, anyway. The fact that it's a game and only one person has to come up with an actual plot makes it a lot easier to keep moving forward instead of getting bogged down in minutiae. (Though that still happens anyway.) You get to explore and use skills and get better at what you do and make jokes all the time. The world is constantly evolving, often affected by your own actions, and if your DM is good you get to do all kinds of fun, fun stuff, like fight dragons. (Yes, my DM is good. Very good.) Interaction with your team is constant.
It's a social activity. It's a character-based game. It's all about making something cool with three or four other people.
Basically, it's all about who you play with. This is what Josh H. (Kazn the Loud) says to people who question him about it, and it's very true.
Yeah, sure, you can do dangerous stuff with D&D. Yeah, you can do weird, depraved stuff with D&D. Yeah, you can bury yourself in the world so far that you forget who you are. You can even just be stupid. But not the people I play with. We're not having enormous orgies on the couch or Satan parties in the kitchen. We're having fun. (And you can do that without orgies and Satan.)
I don't think God has a problem with it, either.
This is all wrapped up in some Christians' perception of fantasy in general, I think. But that's another essay for another day. (Some people even have a problem with fiction. Fiction! Just fiction! It boggles me completely.)
