so what do you think?

[kaibrightwing]

So what do think about Dungeons & dragons?
I have been playing for eight years and have three active game i am running. All of my friends are christian. Are we evil because we are playing, am i evil because i play? The game is about normal people joining together to fight evil like undead, evil gods, good people who turned evil and my story plots that keep the palyers wondering what is happening. so how is that evil?
Really the whole goal of play D&D is just to have fun and be entertain so is that evil or wrong and if so than that tells me alot about the.... well that tells me what i already know and it is sad to know that.

[blueraven]

I get a lot of people telling me off because I'm a Christian and love to play EverQuest. True I mostly play so I can meet other people and just have fun. I probally won't word this right because I am in a hurry to log on But for me its just a game like any other game. Its suppose to be fun and bring others together, at least thats my opinion. I'm not as 'hard-core' as most addicts to EQ are but as long as I can have a good time playing with my friends I'm happy. But like I said thats my opinion. I don't see how playing a game can be evil if you know the differance between the world of fantasy and reality.

[Stephen]

I think D&D like many things changes with the person....Some can play...some can not....its all about how the Lord leads you...how He makes you feel....Its not really something that you can ask other people because there not the Lord. I hope this thread does not turn into another arguement either.....Seriously pray about it, if the Lord convicts you...don't play, if He does not....then you have your answer.

[kaibrightwing]

yes that is true but why is it that myfriend and i are still being attacked by other christian about playing a game and why is it always getting ugly D&D comes in to talks it is alway a heated yelling at each other over it?

[Stephen]

Because many people find the fantasy area a dark place....Some people have been sucked in by it, and once they get away from it hate it. Some, hate in ignorance. Like I said...if you have prayed about it...its between you and the Lord. Don't worry what others say.

[madphilb]

Most people attack things out of ignorance.

I was in high school in the early 80's, and D&D was somewhat in it's hey-day (or something like that), it also was a time where, since it was very popular (like pokemon and harry potter have gone through), it's been attacked by many Christian and so-called Christian groups.

Much of the information that was spewed forth at the time (and in print) was either wrong or only half-true. Many times they'd say something was in the game, and I knew it wasn't. Many of the arguements where rather poor, relating mostly to a "guilty by association" type of tactic.

I think that a couple of things govern the acceptabilty of D&D as played by Christians:

1) Who's the crowd you play with? For me this was the main reason I haven't played it since a few years after I moved down here. The only people I knew who played, well.... turned out years later the guy is a satanist! Needless to say, since I wasn't a... 'cuze my language... bad***, well... I took some riticule.

2) Your personal view/attitude/acceptability of the whole "magic" thing... D&D is based in a fictional world, and I've yet to see hard proof that the magic system is based off of this worlds magik, however I haven't been looking either.

3) Your play style. I've usually taken the approach of playing somewhat how I would play if I was there, however I've been know to do things in games like Icewind Dale that I wouldn't do in real life... it is only a game after all I personally don't recommend playing characters outside of how we should normally live our lives. But you'll have to feel that one out on your own.

4) Most importantly, what is God telling you? Most of us know what is wrong, we're real good at pushing that aside when it's something we want to. Part of what we need to do as Christians is learn to listen to God in all things (Lord knows I'm not perfect on this).


One last thing, have you ever heard of "DragonRaid ?" It's a Roleplaying game for Christians... sadly I've not had the opportunity to play it (or even own it yet, though I might order it soon).

My biggest problem is finding people to play with... sadly while I might be able to talk my way into a game of D&D with the guys at EB (those who play), I'd have to think/pray about even considering it since I don't belive any of them are believers (though it might make a good witness)... in most Christian circles (i'm an "older" fella) it doesn't seem that people in my "age group" do much in the way of playing this sort of thing (yet there are plenty of people my age in the "secular" world who do, go figure). This was my problem with the Redemption card game.

Oh well... Hope my rambling was good for something

PHIL

[WhiteÃ…ngel]

I am also ancient and used to play D&D and AD&D and watch the cartoons for it... I would use my drawing skills and create the characters and character sheets for people for money ( yes we wrote them out on paper and erased when stats changed .. archaic as that sounds ... LOL)

Some of the problems I see stem from the same issue I have with hardcore gamers like myself... willpower to quit!

I harp a lot in these threads about wasting time. That is the main concern I have for games other then content. How much time is spent on things like "Evercrack" that could be spent on more important things.

The other concern was for Dorks like me who would loose our minds when one of the characters we took so long to develope dies ( obsession ) .

If you can keep the game play of either kind in check and the content within limits, then there is nothing wrong with it. it strengthens our creativity and I heard recently on the news, that it is proven that gamers have better hand eye coordination for future trade type jobs.

I look forward to helping anyone who is willing to create a moral and christian type thought provoking game ... whether coded for a gaming system or pc or even a board type game.

[kaibrightwing]

since my group i play the game for entertainment its a game for fun. I writing stories base off some of the game adventures we had and write stories about my game world which in the D&D groups online and in the city is surprisely gaining populiarly. My dreams to be a writer of stroies from my world and from the gaming world of forgotten realms.
My grandmother who is..... how can i say this "very christian" where im christian can play games with any level of blood and gore and have no problems with. But my GMother look at me as evil so my GMother has no idea that im playing the game, and if she did she has said nothing about and make her the greatest in my world. my life in game happen because where im from i was not like by people of my age so i got into game to make friend D&D, battletech, shadowrun, and other RPG's was my way to escape from the reality of life and making friends and it open a skill to write stories. So gaming to me is my life and in the eye of the father at the military base i live at im a very evil person you is like my friend is going to hell. Well in a good side if im going to hell: lived in hell michigan and it did froze over ever year it can't be that bad.

[Technomancer]

In my experience D&D is no worse than many other pastimes like playing cards or watching TV. Like anything else, all it needs is good sense and moderation. For myself and my friends, it was always just a a good excuse to get together, have some fun and exercise our imaginations. I've never once met anyone who would have qualified as having "gone off the deep end", neither have I ever met anyone who thought the game "satanic" (off-kilter, or nerdy maybe ).

[uc pseudonym]

Others responding have already made a lot of the good points. None the less, I think I have a few things to add.

This is slightly redundant, but it is necessary so what I say next will be viewed in the correct light. I'm using the "fruit" analogy. An apple tree produces apples, a peach tree peaches. In the same way, the game will produce things in accordance with what type of tree it's stemming from. Since you're playing with Christians, you probably won't have anything that bad.

But now, there are a few elements that I question. Some of the terminology used in spell casting is exactly like that used in occultic circles. An example of a magic book (in 3rd addition, that is) has an image on it that is used by many Satanic groups(Horns of Death, if you care). Some of the spells in the spell section have names much like those used in said occultic groups. Also, the descriptions match those in real life situations (though I'd point out this last one really doesn't mean anything). And some are the sort of thing you'd see in Final Fantasy (harmless). Of course, they also use real life occultic groups like the druids. Again, this one doesn't mean anything, because the secular makers wouldn't see anything wrong with using a real life group. On that note, this also applies to pentagrams, and the rest of the stuff. They wouldn't see any reason not to use real terminology they found with a bit of research.

To counteract that, though, is another important element. As I see it, all "sorcery," as some call it, is channeling demonic power, generally given by the Devil for the sake of destroying people. We don't have any of this shown in AD & D (unless you count clerics, but that's a dead end). So in a way, the rest of this becomes far less concerning.

To reiterate, I don't think there is anything essentially evil about the game itself. Nor are the spells in any way evil, whatever the similarities. With Christian people, you aren't going to get anything dark.

So unless you feel it will become a point of obsession (as has been addressed before) there's probably nothing wrong with you playing Dungeons and Dragons.

[Rashiir]

I think that D&D can be a very good thing, in that it can help you to see things from other people's points of view, which is very important for us to learn how to do if we want to love our neighbors. Then again, it can be a very bad thing if it controls you and that is what you spend all of your time doing. And as far as it being a Christian role-playing game, I have this Campaign sourcebook from AD&D 2nd Edition called the Glory of Rome where it describes how you could roleplay as a member of the early Christian Church, which I thought was cool. Never got to try it out though. I don't really play D&D much, but I don't really think it's a bad thing by itself. But like all things, it can be made into a bad thing. Good luck.

[Lightbringer]

Ok if i missed somebodys post and am just rewriteing what they said, sorry. But D&D and fantasy and all that sort of thing, though it can , and is used possitivly. It should be watched constantly. and if your not praying that you dont get caught up in D&D and any other kind of rpg, then start now, cause you dont play with something thats based in the supernatrual and walk away without it affecting you in some way. I dont care if you want to denie it or not, D&D is based in the supernatrual, that being magic and the such, now it may be a harmless Melfs acid arrow ( yes i know this stuff) or it could be demon summoning, yes that goes on too. and yes its just a game and yes you may be doing it to have fun. woooo fun is great have fun. Im just telling you that its supernatrual, and if its supernatrual there can be only TWO sorces. Thats God and satan, and if its not of God, that being somethign from his word, and used in the right context, then its of satan. Now im sure at this point half the people who posted above are ready to scream a few more posts out, well save it. Cause im not telling you to burn your d&D stuff, unless of coarse you feel convicted to do so.
Im telling you the same thing that i said at the begining of the post. Pray , and be careful, cause when you least expect it, it'll bite you in the rear.

Lightbringer // Aaron

[MasterDias]

Originally posted by madphilb

Much of the information that was spewed forth at the time (and in print) was either wrong or only half-true. Many times they'd say something was in the game, and I knew it wasn't. Many of the arguements where rather poor, relating mostly to a "guilty by association" type of tactic.

That was exactly what happened with more recent stuff like Pokemon.

[Straylight]

I saw a whole load of websites saying that "Christian Rock Is Evil" once. I thought it was a joke until I saw links to loads of other webpages with similar content.

The root of their argument was something like "Music should only be used for worship, and NOTHING ELSE!" -- backed up by Bible quotes encouraging people to praise God with music. Unfortunatly the verses had a sad lack of intructions telling you not to use music for anything else :/

Some people

[uc pseudonym]

Not only that, you'll find a worse lack of verses that say that rock is an evil music form. Besides, there was a time when four-part harmony, traditional hymns were condemned as well.

[ShiroiHikari]

People tend to fear anything that's new or different. I lived with a man that thought modern Christian music (rock, rap, pop, any of it except southern gospel) was blasphemous. People get set in their ways, and people also like to manipulate scripture to make it say what -THEY- want it to say.

As far as D&D...and I've said this many times....it isn't for me, but if you think you can play it without getting too obsessed, then more power to you. But...I just don't like what I've seen of the game and I dun wanna play it. Mostly because it looks like it wouldn't be any fun....

[kaibrightwing]

thank you, Playing D&D is great. I have three of my short stories from the games we play made it into one of the D&D magazine called dragon so im happy and im working on two full size novels so play is half the fun. And the biggest thing for me is my world i created is growing with the players in my town. so thing are good and some are greeaat!!!!

[Christianotaku]

who said magic was evil the bible doesnt say so magic really doenst exist its all illusion. there are dark powers that people whth demons and devls can do but they are noe justifiable to be called magic. what is magic? what is fantasy?


fantasy is a getaway fro mthe real world which sometimes can be very soothing and relaxing. where in the bible does it say fantasy is bad? nowhere........of course you shouldnt spend all your time i nthe fantasy world but its good to escape sometimes.

[uc pseudonym]

First off, I'd like to say I have no intention of arguing this point with you. While I agree with everything in your second paragraph, I believe I must draw some issue with the first.

The Bible does condemn "sorcery" (I'd term that magic) in multiple places. Sure, magic involving MP and Firaga is all an illusion, it's just a game element. Like you said, there is dark power involved in some places- but I would definitly call it magic. A great many of them do as well (you might have seen magick- the word is just Old English, but some Satanists use it). "Magic" is just a term people use for the supernatural, so there's no reason it doesn't apply to that which we see in the games.

Please, though, don't take this as a rebuttal.

[Christianotaku]

sorcery maybe the translation but who knows what the actaul original word means........

[Lightbringer]

I think it speaks for itself. Im just going to interject ( and im not acuseing) that this is a pretty easy place to start an argument. So ....... just play some whale songs while your posting anything contrary to somebody else, k people?

Lightbringer // Aaron