Playing Dungeons and Dragons?

[Kouyate42]

Not sure as to the forum this goes in, so here goes.

I’m a massive fan of RPG gaming and in particularly the fantasy-type ones. Now whilst the historical ones don’t present a huge problem, as they’re usually pretty accurate in terms of history and I can avoid any dodgy moral ground such as pagan gods easily.

But my major problem is possibly one of my favorites: Dungeons and Dragons. As anyone knows, this game makes heavy use of magicians/mages, fantastic creatures, undead characters and creatures and other things along these lines.

My question is this: in my old church, I was discouraged from playing this game because I was told that in doing so, I was actively participating in and encouraging magic/witchcraft. But I never took this side of the game seriously one bit, and only participated in magic stuff only as part of a character.

So can a believer in God play Dungeons and Dragons, or indeed any fantasy RPG game?

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

So can a believer in God play Dungeons and Dragons, or indeed any fantasy RPG game?

No.

Fantasy Magic =/= Real Occult.

Funnily enough, I just updated a thread of mine dedicated entirely to explaining this formula. It’s right here in Popular Media. Feel free to look through it if you want.

 

[WoundedIcon]

Yeah, personally this question bugs me. Also with video games and shows and movies… laying aside all fantasy elements even, being entertained by dark or violent things just doesn’t click with my sensus fidelium. But I still don’t give up on my metal and Magic cards, although I’m careful with the metal. I just can’t see a saint or exorcist (or an exorcist saint!) taking one look at these things and approving. Sometimes I wonder just how desensitized we are in this age… as in, if we were perfect would we be a blast from the 1800s?

 

[Rascalking]

Is it Ok to play??

Yes, yes a million times yes.

I love D and D. It’s a fantastic game to learn.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Yeah, personally this question bugs me. Also with video games and shows and movies… laying aside all fantasy elements even, being entertained by dark or violent things just doesn’t click with my sensus fidelium. But I still don’t give up on my metal and Magic cards, although I’m careful with the metal. I just can’t see a saint or exorcist (or an exorcist saint!) taking one look at these things and approving. Sometimes I wonder just how desensitized we are in this age… as in, if we were perfect would we be a blast from the 1800s?

With regards to M:TG… the color White says hi to St. Joan.

On the other hand, in fantasy, it can be quite easy to mold a particular style of magic into something good-aligned (even necromancy). I for one have no qualms in imagining myself sapping the life out of marauding bandits and then reanimating the corpses to turn against the ones still living. Technically, that can be just ruled as self-defense. And while I don’t know if DnD has yet to allow separating job class from alignment, the technical aspects that define necromantic powers (life drain, corpse reanimation, hexes) don’t necessarily have to done via demonic pacts. Sometimes it’s just enough to say there’s a spell out there that lets you control dead organic matter. The zombies can really be just less of tormented souls forced back into their corpses and more of mindless puppets crafted from rotting flesh.

If there can be villains in the form of traditionally good-aligned archetypes (e.g. fanatical crusaders, bigoted bishops, and demented clergy), then it’s not much of a stretch to make an anti-thesis (e.g. dark knights seeking redemption, Robin-Hood-style rogues, Good-Samaritan wizards).

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

Well, I wouldn’t play those myself, but wouldn’t judge another person. I just feel much of the books, games, videos today make the occult more palatable / seemingly innocent to so many people. Again, not my call, just an opinion. Life seems very precious to me as I grow a bit older, so the time I spend in fantasy related things takes away from what I could be doing for someone else. I enjoy reading, mostly faith related Catholic books, but I’ve been known to read books about Princess Diana! I have heard that these fantasy games are really addictive and violent, but I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. I hope it’s not too violent…:angel1:

 

[Melissa]

Well, I wouldn’t play those myself, but wouldn’t judge another person. I just feel much of the books, games, videos today make the occult more palatable / seemingly innocent to so many people. Again, not my call, just an opinion. Life seems very precious to me as I grow a bit older, so the time I spend in fantasy related things takes away from what I could be doing for someone else. I enjoy reading, mostly faith related Catholic books, but I’ve been known to read books about Princess Diana! I have heard that these fantasy games are really addictive and violent, but I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. I hope it’s not too violent…:angel1:

As long as no one leaves multiple d4s (caltrops!) on the ground, there’s nothing dangerous/violent actually taking place in a D&D game.

There’s nothing contrary to faith inherent in a D&D game (or other fantasy RPG).

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

As long as no one leaves multiple d4s (caltrops!) on the ground, there’s nothing dangerous/violent actually taking place in a D&D game.

There’s nothing contrary to faith inherent in a D&D game (or other fantasy RPG).

Even within the context of the game, violence isn’t even bad. I mean with all the vicious monsters in there that just have to be hungry when you encounter them…

Ogre: Graaah! You die today!! D8<

Me: No u. -.- blasts him with 9d6 Hellfire Utterdark Blast

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

I’ve played DnD for a long time, but I had quit for a while. I started with the 1st edition, but missed the entire 2nd edition. Some of my buddies and I, in our early 30’s, started playing the 3rd ed and into 3.5 mad and now when I took a look at 4th ed I just gave up. 4th ed turned all player characters into entries from the Monster Manual (powers used so many times per day, etc.)

I know what Lost Wanderer is talking about with ref to “real magic,” and yet it’s still pretty tame to me. What really drew me into a study of “real magic” was having read C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, especially That Hideous Strength which borrows from Enochian magic quite a bit (the “magic” of the story functions a lot like as if Enochian magic was real, but the Pendragon is, essentially, God’s servant, employed by the angels directly, and he, for lack of a better word, “converts” Merlin to help out in the final battle). But yes, “real magic” is anything that deals with conversing with the dead (necromancy) and pacts with angels/devils (divination, conjuration/summoning). The other DnD schools of magic could be thought of as alchemy (enchantments, potions, transmutation), trickery/smoke-and-mirrors (illusions) and pyrotechnics-chemical reactions (evocation). Abjurers specialize in protection against outsiders without actually being clerics, but abjuration is as much a part of real magic as conjuration.

So I stopped playing because I hated 4th edition (though I DM’d a game for my nephew for a while when he was into 3.5, but he has since moved on to primarily video games). I had literally given up on DnD right as 2nd edition came out, because I realized the irony in that my characters were “adventurers” and wouldn’t be caught dead playing a role play game. Being a fan of Tolkien kept me going as long as I did, because fantasy role playing would be a totally different thing without The Lord of the Rings, and ironically Tolkiend did not approve (which is why halflings are not hobbits in DnD because Tolkien sued, as well as Ents being called Treants in DnD because Tolkien had good lawyers).

As a DM I never allowed characters to be evil, and the other guys in my game weren’t really interested in playing evil (except a few screwballs that came and went) and that’s how I dealt with that. Pen and Pencil DnD is at least preferable to video games, because of the camaraderie between friends (most of us were not fans of poker) and were all readers of fantasy and didn’t take the “gods” too seriously.

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

As long as no one leaves multiple d4s (caltrops!) on the ground, there’s nothing dangerous/violent actually taking place in a D&D game.

.

That is SO funny! I stepped on some once and never again gamed in socks.

But then again if you use body-area hits, then folks can lose arms, legs, heads.

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

The only way you’re doing wrong by playing D&D is if you’re playing 4th edition.

Other than that…

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

As a DM I never allowed characters to be evil, and the other guys in my game weren’t really interested in playing evil (except a few screwballs that came and went) and that’s how I dealt with that. Pen and Pencil DnD is at least preferable to video games, because of the camaraderie between friends (most of us were not fans of poker) and were all readers of fantasy and didn’t take the “gods” too seriously.

Your screwballs sound like half the people I used to play DnD with. Honestly, the things they did…

I sure wouldn’t mind playing a group like yours some time.

P.S.

On the gods… yeah, I can’t say I ever even considered playing a class aligned to any of them. Like all warlocks, I rely on channeling that which lies within.

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

No.

Fantasy Magic =/= Real Occult.

Funnily enough, I just updated a thread of mine dedicated entirely to explaining this formula. It’s right here in Popular Media. Feel free to look through it if you want.

Hey, Lost Wanderer, I just noticed that your thread got closed. Did they remove the post where you “explain[ed] this formula”? Maybe you could re-explain it here. I’d be interested. Though DnD doesn’t include any “actual” spells, I’m just wondering what you came up with.

4th edition magic threw out all of the “schools of magic” from previous editions, and so it seems, from a magic point of view, that it’s no longer even close to “real magic.”

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

The only way you’re doing wrong by playing D&D is if you’re playing 4th edition.

Other than that…

VeritasLuxMea: how right you are. What were they thinking? Pen and paper (PnP DnD) became a video game version of itself, except without the cool lights and graphics of a video game. With 3rd and 3.5, I totally got into the d20 system, and the combat matrixes for classes with all the prestige classes and it took so long to learn all of that. Reading the 4th ed player’s handbook just sucked all of the air out of me.

What were they thinking.

 

[Pat_Payne]

The only way you’re doing wrong by playing D&D is if you’re playing 4th edition.

Oh, you mean Castles and Crusades? Because as far as I know, Hasbro never realeased a D&D 4th ed… 4E was instead released by Troll Lord Games…

 

[ringil]

Not sure as to the forum this goes in, so here goes.

I’m a massive fan of RPG gaming and in particularly the fantasy-type ones. Now whilst the historical ones don’t present a huge problem, as they’re usually pretty accurate in terms of history and I can avoid any dodgy moral ground such as pagan gods easily.

But my major problem is possibly one of my favorites: Dungeons and Dragons. As anyone knows, this game makes heavy use of magicians/mages, fantastic creatures, undead characters and creatures and other things along these lines.

My question is this: in my old church, I was discouraged from playing this game because I was told that in doing so, I was actively participating in and encouraging magic/witchcraft. But I never took this side of the game seriously one bit, and only participated in magic stuff only as part of a character.

So can a believer in God play Dungeons and Dragons, or indeed any fantasy RPG game?

People still play D&D? Am I having an 80’s flashback with strangely shaped dice and Kiss posters?

In any case, if one is inclined to engage in such dehavior then I certainly don’t see any problem with it.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Hey, Lost Wanderer, I just noticed that your thread got closed. Did they remove the post where you “explain[ed] this formula”? Maybe you could re-explain it here. I’d be interested. Though DnD doesn’t include any “actual” spells, I’m just wondering what you came up with.

I don’t think so. I suppose they closed it due to a naysayer coming in and making it yet another redundant anti-Fantasy thread.

Still, the formula isn’t that complicated. Real witchcraft is plain superstition. Fantasy magic is just something we wish that existed cuz our lives are so blah.

4th edition magic threw out all of the “schools of magic” from previous editions, and so it seems, from a magic point of view, that it’s no longer even close to “real magic.”

I’m personally not eager about 4th edition myself because I’ve seen my fellow players express so much hate for it. Then again, I like the wide array of customization in 3.5. If it’s true that 4th edition took that away, feel free to throw in my dislike.

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

Still, the formula isn’t that complicated. Real witchcraft is plain superstition. Fantasy magic is just something we wish that existed cuz our lives are so blah.

Hmmmmmmmm… I’m a fan of D&D and rpgs of all sorts, but I do not feel like my life is “blahhh” at all.

Forgive me, but that sounds like a very negative outlook on life.

 

[ZhaneAugustine]

Personally I think it depends on the person, the situation, the company and the storyline.

If your a follower (not trying to be mean) and give in to peer pressure easy, then perhaps no. If not, and love a good story or creating one, then I don’t see why not.

If your doing so to be counter culture then no. If your just trying to relax and have fun, and know your faith, sure.

If those doing this are the type to try and practice what they play in the game, or are negative, then no. However a group of good friends who know the safety of keeping fantasy and reality apart, then why not?

If the story is to show the ‘glories’ of evil, or allows you to be an evil person and rewards you for such a thing, then I’d so no. If not, if it shows that with commitment and sincereity heroes can triumph over evil then I’d say yes.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Hmmmmmmmm… I’m a fan of D&D and rpgs of all sorts, but I do not feel like my life is “blahhh” at all.

Forgive me, but that sounds like a very negative outlook on life.

By ‘your life’ do you include the part of it that excludes RPGs or is part of the reason why your life isn’t so blah is because you play RPGs (partly at least).

Honestly though, I love certain aspects of my life (like my job) but everything else… ugh. It’s like even all the good things have more in common with my fantasy life than my ‘real’ one.