You Play WHAT?! - Dungeons and Dragons FAQ

I put this FAQ together as a quick reference for people who may have grown up being told that Dungeons and Dragons was a dangerous game that should not be played by Christians.

Q: Does Dungeons and Dragons teach authentic magic?

A: No - The 'magic' in DnD is purely fictional. This claim was originally made by Patricia Pulling in 1984. She founded the Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD) lobbying group and made many accusations about the game and published tons of anti-DnD literature. Her material found traction with conservative Christian groups and stirred up moral panic but none of her accusations were based on any real evidence. All of the Dungeons and Dragons books ever printed are available to view online but nobody has ever been able to point to a page and say "this is where the game teaches authentic magic!" The idea that the game teaches magic is a leftover from BADD's hate campaign which is currently being championed by William Schnoebelem who, once again, has never been able to pinpoint where DnD teaches authentic magic.

Q: Do people playing Dungeons and Dragons lose touch with reality?

A: No - Not unless they are doing drugs. This rumor started in 1979 when a young college student, James D. Egbert III went missing from Michigan State University and careless journalists took the speculations of a private investigator who had never heard of fantasy role playing games before, added a sensational flare, and reported them as fact. Dungeons and Dragons is a board game. It does not involve forcing yourself into an altered psychological state where you are required to think and act as your character and players are at no point unable to distinguish between reality and unreality.

Q: Does Dungeons and Dragons encourage using drugs?

A: No.

Q: Are people who play Dungeons and Dragons at higher risk of committing suicide?

A: No - Fantasy Role Playing games were heavily studied by many North American psychology, health, and suicidology departments and they unanimously conclude that there is no causal link between fantasy role playing games and suicide.

Q: Does playing Dungeons and Dragons encourage demonic activity?

A: No - Dungeons and Dragons is a board game involving pencils, paper, dice, and imagination. Calling on demons, participating in Occult rituals, and anything else that could encourage demonic activity is not part of DnD.

Q: Doesn't DnD have natural links to the Occult?

A: Yes and no. DnD is a fantasy game by nature, it has themes and references that some may consider 'Occult' but the similarities start and end at the surface. Occult has spells, DnD has spells. Occult has sorcerers. DnD has sorcerers. Occult has divination. DnD has divination. The words are the same but the actual things being referred to are completely different and no direct link can be formed between. Occult spells involve real life sorcery, DnD spells involve dice and math.

Q: Was Dungeons and Dragons created by Satanists?
A: No. This rumor is propagated by William Schnoebelem but neither he nor anyone else has ever been able to provide evidence of this claim. The game was created by Gary Gygax and a handful of his friends as a new spin on the old style 'Avalon Hill War-Games' where instead of tokens representing World War infantry / tank units they would instead represent heroes and monsters. Gygax was inspired by fantasy, not Satanism; he and his buddies were nerds not warlocks.

Q: Is Fantasy an Introduction into the Occult?
A: Yes and no. Fantasy can be an introduction into some themes related to the occult. The Lord of the Rings has wizards, The Wheel of Time has some themes borrowed from eastern mysticism, and there's probably scenes in nearly every fantasy setting where implements of the occult are featured (spell books, magic inks, daggers, summoning things, symbols, spiritual creatures, planes of existence, etc). So, I guess you could say that fantasy can act as an introduction to the occult in the sense that it presents its viewers / readers with a make belief mimicry of the occult. Is it ever intentionally geared to funnel young people into real life covens or show them how to craft their own spells? Not that I've ever seen, but you can take courses on how to practice witchcraft online. Could someone gain an interest in the occult through fantasy? Maybe? Depends on what sort of fantasy they are reading. I may write another post specifically about this later.

Q: Is Dungeons and Dragons a "Form / Appearance of Evil?" (1 Thess 5:22)
A: Not unless sitting around a table with friends to tell stories involving imaginary characters and roll dice to determine the success or failure of those characters' actions is evil. The evil things that this verse refers to (sorcery, murder, theft etc.) don't actually happen in Dungeons and Dragons, it is quite literally a bunch of people telling stories and rolling dice.

Q: Isn't telling stories about and imagining things like sorcery, murder, and theft still considered sinful?
A: I am convinced the answer to this question depends on how seriously you take fantasy and in this sense it varies from person to person. Some people, I'd like to think most people, are able to read a book, watch a movie, or play a game that may contain things that one should not do (sexual immorality, violence, magic, greed, theft, murder, etc) but keep a healthy buffer between reality and unreality thus not falling into sinful action. (Watching a violent movie doesn't inspire me to go murder someone for instance.) In terms of Christian conscience some are strong and able to watch / read / play and not have it affect the rest of their lives. Others are weak and should not participate as this may cause them to stumble. Those who are strong should abstain when in the presence of the weak out of love for them and those who are weak should not judge those who are strong according to their weak conscience. This is Paul's teaching regarding 'gray areas' in the faith. (1 Cor 10:23-24; Romans 14)

You Play WHAT?! - Part 4: Practical Concerns of Dungeons and Dragons

Originally written in 2016

There are a lot of unfounded fears regarding Dungeons and Dragons, are there any real or practical concerns that I think a Christian should be aware of? Yes.

Time Management

Dungeons and Dragons is very big and you can get lost in it. If we're not careful with our time or are not spiritually / mentally mature we can get lost in our work, our hobbies, and our selves. Dungeons and Dragons is deep and wide with lots and lots of room for players to explore and find what they like. If you enjoy role playing then DnD is the avenue to do precisely that. If you enjoy the mechanical mathematics side then there are hundreds of millions of combinations of traits, skills, feats, and abilities to mix and match incredible or specialized characters. If you enjoy fantasy then Dungeons and Dragons has tons of lore to read about and there is a very large community of writers and an enormous selection of published books. If you enjoy the social aspect of Dungeons and Dragons then you will potentially become part of a close-nit group of friends.

The danger I have seen is that some players treat Dungeons and Dragons like they would treat a new video game they can't put down; they put in more and more time into the game and begin shirking their responsibilities. If you are prone to getting overly involved in things you like to the detriment of others or yourself then stop and make a plan to keep yourself in check. If you are a student then use diving into DnD as a reward for completing your homework and not as a procrastination tool.

Another danger closely associated with this is a potential strain on friendships. DnD sessions are a huge chunk of time and if you enjoy preparing your character or building your own campaigns like I do then you'll be spending even more time on DnD outside of regular sessions. Your friends and family may start to worry if you disappear on them for hours, days, or weeks at a time without an explanation. Avoiding this is simple, don't shirk your friendships and relational responsibilities in favor of a game. If you plan on spending lots of time building stuff for Dungeons and Dragons then communicate with family and friends to let them know what you're doing and be responsible with your time. Basically don't be immature about your relationships or how you spend your time.

Becoming too Attached to your Character

Some players get too attached to their characters and this can cause problems. I'm not talking about committing suicide if their character dies, that's just crazy. I'm talking about players getting upset at other players instead of having fun playing a game together

Take the following scenario: Joe's character "Yorik the Barbarian" smashed "The Gem of Mcguffin" that Mike's character "Derk the Rogue" wanted to keep.

In an ideal situation the characters "Derk the Rogue" may be upset at "Yorik the Barbarian" for smashing his gem but the players Joe and Mike laugh about it together because they had lots of fun playing their characters.

What can often happens is that one or both of the players get too attached to their characters.

Suppose Joe had become too attached to "Yorik the Barbarian" and smashes "The Gem of Mcguffin" because "that's what my character would do," without a thought for Mike who wanted to keep it for his character or the rest of the party who could have benefited from Mike's character having it. Everyone may still have fun but Joe is being a jerk to Mike and everyone else. If this becomes a pattern it will ruin the fun for everyone at the table.

Suppose Mike had become too attached to "Derk the Rogue" and equates "Yorik the Barbian" smashing "The Gem of Mcguffin" to Joe being mean to him personally. Mike isn't having any fun, there's tension at the table, and Mike stays upset at Joe after the session is over. Mike and Joe's friendship experiences tension and Joe may not even know why. Friendships have ended over what one imaginary character does to another imaginary character.

How do you avoid becoming too attached to your character? Take a step back every once and a while and remember that it's not all about you.

Role playing a character is fun, but it's not all about you. There are other people at the table and if your role playing affects them negatively then consider curbing your character's actions to be more in line with what the group is doing. Characters are supposed to work together as a team, never sabotage what the other characters are trying to do. If you as a player oppose the actions of the other players or characters then pause the game and discuss the situation with them and the DM. If your character (not you personally) opposes the actions of another character then role play the opposition as your character but go along with the flow of things as a player.

Role Playing

Role playing, the mysterious blending of real life and imagination. All of the dangers BADD and CHIC Publications associate with DnD can be reached through this gateway. Sorcery. Demonic activity. Sexual Immorality. Suicide. Human Sacrifice. Cannibalism. All of it and more can happen through role playing.

How do you avoid these dangers? It's really easy: use common sense when role playing. Don't do anything you wouldn't normally do in real life.

Don't practice sorcery, don't try to summon demons, don't molest other players or engage in sexual immorality, don't attempt suicide, and don't sacrifice people or eat them. If you notice any of the other players attempting any of these things then do not join in with them, leave the table, and call the police.

I have never EVER encountered a situation where players were trying to do something illegal, immoral, or spiritually damaging in the name of 'role playing their character.' The common understanding is that 'role playing' is restricted to speaking as your character, using hand gestures while speaking as your character, separating character knowledge from player knowledge, and in extreme cases acting out what your character is attempting to do so that you can convince the DM to allow your character to do it or to make your friends laugh at you. The idea that role playing involves acting and thinking as your character to the extent that you can not distinguish reality from unreality was a ridiculous fable broadcasted as fact by news outlets in regards to the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III in 1979 which ended up having nothing to do with Dungeons and Dragons (see Part 2).

Here is a breakdown of what role playing is so that there is no confusion about it.

• Speaking as your Character - A player who gets into role playing their character will speak as their character is speaking. So instead of saying "my Paladin challenges the orc chieftain," a player might say "Your rain of terror is at an end! Come face me!" Depending on the character being played a player may adopt an accent or a catch phrase or some other way of speaking so that other players know that it is the character talking.
• Using Hand Gestures - If a player is speaking as their character then it is most likely that they will also start using hand gestures. Most people do this subconsciously when speaking to others. (watch other people try to explain things to each other and you will see this) Depending on the person and the situation being role played this could be anything from subtle hand gestures that normally accompany regular speech to dramatic gestures one may expect of an exciting occurrence or stage actor. In the example above, the player role playing the paladin may shake his fist at an imaginary orc chieftain while delivering the challenge.
• Separating Character Knowledge from Player Knowledge - Part of good role playing means deciding how much your character could reasonably know and then play the character according to his / her knowledge even though you the player will know all sorts of things the character wouldn't know. Here is an example. Bob, the player, knows that the orc chieftain probably has 56 hit points while Sir Arthur Lightbringer (the character) does not. Bob may have overheard the DM say that the orc chieftain has a special magic sword, but until that fact is revealed in the game world Sir Arthur Lightbringer doesn't know about it. If you do not separate character knowledge from player knowledge then your characters are kind of lame because they're no longer characters in a story, just you working the mechanics to beat a math challenge. There is just so much more interaction and the fun that other players can have playing with you and your character if you maintain the boundary between character knowledge and player knowledge.
• Acting out what your Character is Attempting to do - In rare situations of either very animated role playing or at the DM's request a player may act out what his or her character is attempting to do. An animated player may swish an imaginary sword back and forth if his character is trying to defend against many foes. A charismatic player stand to speak has her character and so adding body language to her character's speech. An imaginative player may concoct an elaborate explanation for how their character escapes danger to which the DM may request that he show them how exactly the character does it (usually because the explanation is complicated / unbelievable and physically showing may make it understandable / more believable to those around the table). An expressive player may twirl her fingers or make throwing motions if her character is casting spells. 

There have only been two times that I have experienced role playing get out of hand. The first was when one player smacked another player upside the head for something stupid his character did. The second was when a player went into gruesome detail about how their character was slowly killing one of the enemies. In both instances we simply paused the game, established that the smacking upside the head and gruesome description were outside of acceptable role play, and then continued playing without further incident.

Now there is a step beyond normal role playing where players dress up as their characters and act out what their characters are trying to do. This is called LARPing (Live Action Role Playing). This is beyond the scope of what I intended to cover. Be aware that it exists and that it is different than regular Dungeons and Dragons.

Potential Exposure and Reinforcement of NonChristian Values / Worldviews

I have never found the fantasy setting of the game to be a problem as I have never encountered anyone who actually takes it seriously. Nobody thinks that since there are a multitude of gods, magics, and monsters in Dungeons and Dragons that there must also be such things in real life. I have also never encountered anyone who, for whatever reason, decided that they wanted to learn authentic sorcery and thought that a fictional game manual was a better source than say a Satanic Bible or a Practitioner's Introduction to Wicca, or any number of resources that one can easily find online.

The problem lies with what the players already bring with them. Every player brings their values and worldviews to the table. If you are playing with nonChristians (or immature Christians) then their beliefs and philosophies will come through their characters and you will be interacting with them on a regular basis. Depending on the situation this may be no problem at all or it might be a really big problem. If you play with people who already have an interest in the occult or who fantasize about sex and violence then that will spill over into how they play Dungeons and Dragons and spending too much time with that sort of company will be spiritually corrosive.

Who you play with really determines the experience you're going to get while playing. The best experience I've had was playing with mature Christians. Things just flow better and you don't need to keep your anti-Christian worldview filters up while playing. For this reason it is my conviction that weak or struggling Christians should not play with nonChristians.

Here are six examples that illustrate what I'm talking about.

1. I ran my own campaign with a group of friends that I hand picked to play with. They were all Christians and we set up some good house rules for good play and out of bounds play. Everyone had a lot of fun, we bonded as friends, it lead to some great conversations about God, faith, life, that lead to spiritual and personal growth. It has been years later and all of my players still connect with each other to reminisce about their adventures. This was an ideal DnD experience.
   
2. One of my first experiences with DnD was playing with an otherwise Christian group who decided to allow a nonChristian friend join in. He was crude, lewd, and always on a different page from everyone else in the group. He didn't understand why we wouldn't let him create a demonic monster for a character or why he couldn't go around raping and pillaging. He was an immature nonChristian but we made it work. We weren't negatively affected by the experience but it often felt strange to have him play with us.
   
3. A Christian friend of mine joined a group of mature nonChristians and she was always uncomfortable playing. They encouraged her and a struggling Catholic to explore their sexuality and gloried in the spiritual refreshment of Wicca. While the game itself was 'safe' the interaction with the players left her drained. She eventually left but the struggling Catholic embraced the free sexuality of paganism, left the church, joined up with some other NonChristian groups and entered into a homosexual relationship.
   
4. I was part of a Christian only DnD campaign and we invited an immature Christian to join us. He was cool and really excited to play with us but he didn't care how his actions affected the story or other characters and ended up using his character to blow up an entire monastery full of monks because he was bored. The entire party had to pay for his crimes and after messing up a few more sessions he lost interest and just stopped coming.
   
5. A group of Christian friends joined up with a mature nonChristian DM who promised to keep things comfortable and safe for the group. The campaign started out alright but all of them got a heavy feeling when the DM got psychological while trying to adapt his material to make it more 'Christian'. The group ended the campaign early having enjoyed themselves but needed to take a break from the DM's psychological games. The DM learned a lot about Christianity from this group, and was amazed at how often their characters prayed when faced with difficult decisions.
   
6. A mixed group of weak / immature Christians and immature NonChristians played DnD together and it was a disaster. Their characters basically became excuses to fantasize about murder, sex, and drugs. Everything they were not allowed to do in real life they had their characters doing in game and because they were mentally and spiritually immature the evil desires of their hearts spilled into the game as well as their behavior. I was asked several times to join but stayed far away. This was an abuse of fantasy and I would recommend that Christians stay away from gaming groups like that.

My first suggestion for a Christian newcomer to DnD is to check out an online game like Critical Role and then either join an existing group of other Christians and test the waters before committing to play long term or do what I did and create your own session, lay down some solid house rules, and grab some good Christian friends / family members to come play with you.

My second suggestion for any Christian who gets involved in fantasy is what I suggest to all Christians, namely study your Bible and regularly attend a good church. Ensure that you are getting a healthy diet of Christian teaching and that your relationship with Christ is strong.

You Play WHAT?! - Part 3: What exactly goes on in Dungeons and Dragons?

Originally writtten in 2016

So what exactly goes on at ye olde Dungeons and Dragons gaming session? Well I have plenty of experience participating in and hosting these so here's how it plays out.

The game works best with five players. Four players have characters and the fifth player is the 'Dungeon Master' who controls the world the characters play in, tells the story, and acts as the referee between the other players.

Traditionally Dungeons and Dragons is played as a paper and pencil table top game where each players' character is represented by a token on a game board and character sheets containing all their skills and attributes. Everyone typically sits around a table with game board and character tokens in the middle and character sheets in hand with varying types of dice at the ready.

The Dungeon Master relates to the other players what their characters experience and the players respond to the Dungeon Master and each other with how their characters react. It's basically playing make belief with rules. Every time a character attempts to do something that has the possibility of failure the player will roll dice (usually 1 twenty sided die) and reference their character sheet to do some quick math to see if their character was successful. That is Dungeons and Dragons and every other game like it in a nutshell. A group of friends sitting around a table playing make-belief and doing math.

There are core source books for Dungeons and Dragons that explain how to calculate the statistics on a character sheet, how to properly level a character, and descriptions of how the various attributes, skills, and items work. There are also 'monster manual' books which are filled with statistics for the pre-made monsters that the Dungeon Master can add to the game as necessary.

The core books set the rules for the game but the content is completely decided by the players. The game can be as serious or silly or as realistic or unrealistic as you like in any setting that you like. Your group could play as a secret detachment of men, elves, and dwarves sent by Elrond to keep the forces of Sauron off the trail of Frodo's fellowship as they take the one ring to Mordor (Lord of the Rings inspired). Your group could be a group of hapless college students who find themselves stranded at an abandoned castle when their vehicle mysteriously breaks down. Your group could be straight up adventurers wandering the world doing good throughout the realm, slaying monsters, and searching for treasure. Your group could be the local law enforcement for a town overrun by a gang of gnolls, secret agents for the king deep in enemy territory, bounty hunters, a traveling circus, airshipateers, or just a group of random misfits in a strange fantastic world who do as they will.

When you encounter an obstacle there is rarely a right or wrong way to deal with it. If you run into a locked door you can try to find the key, try to pick the lock, try to break the door, use magic to turn yourself into mist and then go under the door, or just ignore the door completely and carry on. Alternatively, if you're group gets creative, you can take the door of its hinges and use it as a shield or for sledding, it can be chopped up for firewood, turn it sentient so that you can attempt to convince it to open for you, or become part of an elaborate trap to drop a cage onto the next person who attempts to open the door. The possibilities are only limited by what you can think of and what the DM allows... he may not want to spend three hours finding every conceivable use for a single locked door.

Monsters can be attacked, killed, knocked out, distracted, bartered with, misdirected, charmed, or simply avoided. When attacking monsters you can go straight in hacking and slashing, You can scope out the terrain and set an ambush. You can use tactics to distract enemies while other characters in the party are able to flank the enemy for extra damage. You can sneak in the shadows to get a surprise attack, swing off the chandelier, bluff your way past them, turn them into kittens or smoldering ashes. This is what the characters can 'do' but the players are just sitting around a table with little markers and dice talking and laughing about it all.

Depending on how comfortable the players feel with each other they may engage in 'role playing' their characters. This means that players will sometimes speak and act as their character would. Here's an example. Instead of player bob saying "My Paladin shakes his fist and challenges the orc Chieftain to a duel," he would speak as his Paladin saying something like "You're tyranny over this land is ended Orc Chieftain! Fight me!" while physically shaking his fist at an imaginary Orc Chieftain to the delight of everyone around the table. Roleplaying your character is optional and can be a lot of fun. BADD and CHIC inspired Anti-DnD proponents take the 'role playing' in role playing games to unrealistic extremes claiming that it will blend reality with unreality to the point where you commit acts of occultism, violence, and sexual immorality while thinking that you just playing a game. This is absurd. The division between player and character does not get blurred beyond speaking 'in character' and talking with your hands.

What does this all look like? It looks like a group of people sitting around a table laughing and talking and having a good time. There may be a map in the middle to help the players visualize what's going on around their characters and there will probably be lots and lots of dice of varying shapes and sizes used in the mathematical calculations for attempting dangerous actions and resolving combat situations.

There are often lots of snacks involved in Dungeons and Dragons. Doritos, cola, popcorn and cookies are part of having a good time, especially for teen and young adult players. They can also be used to bribe the DM to perhaps tell the story or bend the rules in your favour.

An average gaming session is somewhere between 2 and 5 hours. Playing make belief and doing math between 5 or more people takes a lot longer than you would think. Players usually love talking, telling stories, making jokes, catching up, and a variety of other healthy social activities while the DM is either setting things up for the next part of the adventure or trying to get the players' attention. There is also a lot of time taken up referencing the core books and going over the rules for how to determine what a character can and cannot do (especially with new players). I am often surprised at how long it takes to get through an adventure... what I think the players will breeze through in an evening has taken weeks to resolve in the past.

Depending on how elaborate the DM is there may ambient effects at the table including but not limited to music, sound effects, lighting effects, and computer monitors to display maps or concept art. This is really only something that a dedicated DM would do, most sessions are played without the fancy extras.

Dungeons and Dragons session DO NOT look like what Chic's Anti-DnD pamphlets / tracts say they look like. There are no black robes, no pentagrams, no satanic altars, no occult chalices, no sacrifices, no enforcers, and no practicing sorcery. There might be candles, but those would fall under "lighting effects" (see above). I personally do not use candles as they are a fire hazard and I currently have small children.


So that's what you can expect at a Dungeons and Dragons (or any other table top role playing game) session. A bunch of people sitting around a table talking, laughing, telling stories, rolling dice, eating snacks, referencing thick books full of statistics and pictures, and just having a good time. Its interactive story telling with optional light acting.

You Play WHAT?! - Part 2: The History and Controversies over Dungeons and Dragons

Originally written in 2016

Dungeons and Dragons, the infamous tool of Satan masquerading as an innocent board game that will introduce your children to the occult, consume their souls, possess them with demons, lead them to participate in satanic ritual abuse, and then make then commit suicide.

No punches held, this is what Dungeons and Dragons is famous for in parts of the Evangelical subconsciousness. This is the shadowy picture many a conservative Christian has grown up with (myself included) and even in some pockets outside of the Church DnD maintains a negative stigma as that strange game that kids lock themselves down in basements to play for hours on end. Is it really all fun and games or is there something sinister going on? My goal in this article is to explore and evaluate the history of and controversy surrounding Dungeons and Dragons.

First and foremost on the list of controversies to evaluate is Dungeons and Dragons' dark spiritual past. Does DnD introduce players to the occult? Is it associated with demons or Satanic Ritual Abuse? Are DnD players more likely to commit suicide?

A Brief History of Dungeons and Dragons

In order to answer this question satisfactorily we must take a long road and explore the history of Dungeons and Dragons and evidences associated with these dangers. The origins of Dungeons and Dragons had nothing to do with the occult, magic, demons, satanic ritual abuse, sex, or suicide. The creators; Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, and Jeff Perren (TSR Hobbies) were inspired by the old Avalon Hill style war games in which players controlled different pieces on a board to simulate squads of WWI, WWII infantry, tanks, artillery, planes, and ships and a system of mathematics using probability (rolling dice) to determine simulated combat between these pieces. The first edition of Dungeons and Dragons (1974) was an alteration of these war games whereby players controlled one piece (their hero) and they worked together against enemy pieces (the monsters) which were controlled by the game leader and a similar system of mathematics using probability to determine simulated combat between these pieces.

The game received a lot of attention in 1979 when a young DnD player, James Dallas Egbert III, mysteriously vanished from his dormitory at Michigan State University. Nobody had ever heard of Dungeons and Dragons before and the private investigator speculated that it may have had something to do with the disappearance. The media grabbed a hold of this story and the board game suddenly morphed into a bizarre live action fantasy psychological game played in the tunnels of a boiler room where the players willed themselves to think and act like their characters to the point where they could not distinguish reality from unreality. Egbert was assumed to have been injured or murdered during a live action fantasy session that went wrong. This was later revealed to have not been the case, Egbert had severe depression and had attempted suicide in the steam tunnels under the school but failed and traveled about until contacting the investigator a year later. The media's reporting on the incident inspired the movies Mazes and Monsters (1982) and Skulduggery (1983) which solidified the urban legend that DnD put players into an altered state of consciousness so they could not distinguish reality from unreality and laid the foundation for the other urban legend that DnD was a tool of the devil to transform young minds to become serial killers.

Despite the rough media introduction (or maybe because of it) Dungeons and Dragons was a huge hit on college campuses and as time progressed TSR Hobbies created more material for Dungeons and Dragons including more character types, advanced rules involving more complicated mathematics, and more monster types. By 1979 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' was complete with a total of three core rule books and a handful of pre-made adventures as accessories. By 1982 DnD was selling 1200 copies a month and had found its way to computer games and popular media.

Then, in 1984, there was a tragic incident that sparked all of the Christian spiritual objections to Dungeons and Dragons. On June 9 Irving Pulling, a young man, committed suicide.

Irving enjoyed playing Dungeons and Dragons and his mother, Patricia Pulling, blamed the game for his death claiming that the other players had put a curse on him. She founded the anti-DnD advocacy group "Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons" (BADD) and began publishing all manner of accusatory material claiming the game was involved with Satanism, the occult, cannibalism, human sacrifice, demon possession, and other distinct forms of evil. Pulling considered herself an occultist expert and lead the charge against what she perceived to be rampant underground Satanism in America. Parallel to this movement ran the anti-Satanic Ritual Abuse advocates who had already planted the belief in conservative Christian culture that the aforementioned rampant underground Satanism existed in America with their own writing campaign and put a lot of people on high alert creating the perfect environment for BADD's accusations to gain traction.

Pulling published dozens of stories about how people playing Dungeons and Dragons became possessed by demons, kidnapped and murdered children, participated in orgies, sorcery, idol worship, and every other Old Testament sin that would horrify modern sensibilities and bring down the thunder from conservative pulpits. The legend was born, Dungeons and Dragons was not just a board game, it was a Satanic tool of spiritual destruction and moral decay and the story was taken up by self proclaimed cult investigators, and conservative Christian groups like Chick Publishers and the National Coalition of Television Violence (NCTV).

By 1990 BADD's credibility along with the credibility of the anti-Satanic Ritual Abuse movement were being questioned, critiqued, and found destitute. Pulling and her following were publicly exposed in the Stackpole - Pulling Report for grossly misinterpreting and making up facts, using unreliable and illegal investigative and publishing methods, taking advantage of mentally unstable 'witnesses,' and being completely uninformed about even the most basic elements of a real Dungeons and Dragons gaming session. The American Association of Suicidology, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Welfare Canada, and other such institutions had unanimously concluded that there was no causal link between fantasy role playing games and suicide. As further scrutiny and investigation was applied to Pulling and her allies their credibility collapsed like a house of cards never to be rebuilt but the wild and incredible stories lived on in the hearts and minds of many conservatives.

TSR continued to publish a host of material including a third edition of the game, extra source books, miniatures, and video games. Aside from some failed lawsuits against sthem they remained largely unaffected by the moral panic of the 80s except for deciding to change the names of some of the monsters (demons and devils) and then making a resurgence into popular culture shortly thereafter.

CHIC Publications, published William Schnoebelem's "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons" in an attempt to champion the dying cause. CHIC's warcry was answered in 1995 by Jeff Freeman's "Concerns that Christians should have about Dungeons and Dragons" which, aside from laying out arguments in favor of Christians playing Dungeons and Dragons, criticized Schnoebelem's article for being based on ignorance and misinformation and for outright lying to everyone. Freeman's rebuttal was answered by Schneobelem in 2001 with another CHIC publication "Should a Christian Play Dungeons and Dragons" which is currently the definitive article in support of BADD's claims.

Like other conspiracy theories everything published by BADD its allies and the anti-SRA movement is questionable at best. It does not hold up against basic fact finding and the psychological methods they employed to get confessions (hypnosis for example) have long since been debunked.

Even so, the questions still remain. Is DnD associated with the Occult? Are players at risk of being manipulated by demons? Has it ever been associated with actual Satanic Ritual Abuse? Are players at more risk of committing suicide?

The problem with going forward from here is that nearly all evidence in favor of these accusations is anecdotal and can not be connected to real life persons or happenings. How much anecdotal evidence has its roots in BADD's anti-DnD publishing campaign? "Nearly all of it" may be a realistic assessment. BADD made as big a splash as it could and now the water is still murky twenty six years later.

Even though BADD and SRA proved to be a farce I can not completely throw out anecdotal evidence regarding demon possessions and other similar encounters involving Dungeons and Dragons. As an Evangelical Christian I believe in the Bible and I believe in the existence of spiritual beings. I have also had personal encounters with the demonic and have performed two exorcisms on different occasions (anyone who hopes to do one of these is either specifically gifted or has never done one before). My convictions and my experience tell me that the occult, demons, abuse, and motivations toward suicide are all real issues. I want to take these accusations and evaluate them as fairly and objectively as I am able.

Sorcery and the Occult in Dungeons and Dragons

Does DnD teach the Occult? No. All of the source books for every edition of Dungeons and Dragons ever produced are available for download online. If you were to read through every single one of these books cover to cover you would not learn any authentic sorcery or occult practices. At no point has any creator, author, or publisher for Dungeons and Dragons ever tried to sneak teaching the Occult, sorcery, or Satanism into the game material. How could they? They were nerds not warlocks. Schnoebelem claims that the game makers came to him in the 80s (when he was a warlock) to make their rituals as authentic as possible, but he doesn't give any references and nobody has been able to find what rituals he was referring to. If there were authentic occult teachings or rituals in any version of DnD then it would have been spotted by now and the proponents of this accusation (Schnoebelem especially) could point to a physical book and page cross referenced with an actual book of the occult but this has never been done.

This perceived danger comes from two sources. First and foremost it comes from BADD's baseless assertions popularized by Chick Publishing's Dark Dungeons tract. Secondly it comes from a misunderstanding of High Fantasy. High Fantasy is a fictional setting inspired by ancient mythologies and modern classics such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. There are heroes and villains, knights and monsters, dragons, and demons, and devils, and demigods. There are wizards, sorcerers, druids, and eastern mystic monks. All of these things (save for heroes and maybe knights) are expressly forbidden in the Bible and all of these things are 100% fiction in Dungeons and Dragons, ie: not real. The players are not literally casting spells at each other, they are rolling dice and doing complex math. Playing a sorcerer in DnD teaches as much sorcery as playing Axis and Allies teaches you how to kill with a Lee-Enfield MK III rifle or how to drive a Panzer IV.

Darkest Dungeons - CHIC Tract

Could players become tempted to pursue the Occult or sorcery? Sure I guess. Exposure to High Fantasy (like Science Fiction) broadens your mind and introduces you to a host of new ideas and concepts, that's one of the reasons why its so fun. Small children and Christians who are ungrounded in their faith may be at risk of being swayed this way or that way as the wind blows and so may be tempted to attempt actual real life sorcery but in my experience the individual who goes to pursue magic already had a fascination and exposure to it long before playing Dungeons and Dragons. The inoculation against this is very simple; don't mistake the fiction of a game to be reality. In addition to this be grounded in your faith, know the Scriptures, teach your children wisdom. If you find out that the people you are playing with are actually trying to use Dungeons and Dragons as a vehicle for teaching real magic (BADD's greatest accusation and something so extremely unlikely that I can barely conceive of it happening) then stop playing with them, warn players that were unaware, and document the incident because you will have just found the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Demonic and Dungeons and Dragons

Are DnD players at risk of having demonic activity in their lives? No, provided the players don't do anything to provoke demonic activity while playing Dungeons and Dragons. This is a topic that I take seriously. Playing Dungeons and Dragons as it is intended to be played does not involve anything that should encourage demonic activity. Getting carried away with your role playing in Dungeons and Dragons to the point where you are physically and verbally involved in such activity goes well beyond the material of the game. Avoiding this should be obvious to the point where nobody should even have to mention how. Don't use Dungeons and Dragons as an medium to call upon or attempt to summon actual real life demons. Nowhere anywhere at any time is this encouraged or mentioned or are players given even vague instructions for how to do this in any of the DnD source material ever created.

There are monsters in Dungeons and Dragons that are called 'demons' but they are not at all related to actual fallen angels rebelling with Lucifer against The Lord God Almighty. The 'demon' monsters in DnD are, like all monsters in DnD, quite literally a collection of statistics for players to roll dice against. What the statistics represent, if you are role playing as a character, are a series of hostile physical creatures who come from one of several 'hells' which in High Fantasy are different planes of existence. At their worst they are basically the Balrog from Lord of the Rings, which Gandalf referred to as "an ancient demon of the underworld;" a big scary monster made of fire that you should probably run away from. Biblical demons are quite different by comparison and no real parallel or likeness can be maintained between them except to say that they are both evil creatures and share the name of 'demon.' (See below for what a Dungeons and Dragons 'demon' actually looks like)

There are also 'spells' in Dungeons and Dragons that allow players to 'summon' monsters to come fight for them, some of the monsters summoned can be the aforementioned 'demons'. Just as DnD 'demons' bare no resemblance to actual real life demons so too do summoning spells bear no resemblance to actual occult rituals used to summon actual real life demons. All spells in Dungeons and Dragons, like all monsters in Dungeons and Dragons, are quite literally rows of statistics used by players to mathematically determine the success or failure of what their imaginary characters are attempting to do. Here is a picture of the summoning spell in question.

Suicide and Dungeons and Dragons

Suicide, the incident that sparked moral outcry against Dungeons and Dragons in the first place. The concern here is that those who play Dungeons and Dragons can get too attached to their characters or enter into a non-reality to the point where if their character dies in game the player will be unable to cope with the loss and be driven to commit suicide. The history here is once again BADD's assertions that this was an issue which then become popularized by Chick Publishers' Dark Dungeons Track. Is this an actual issue? No. Has it ever actually happened? Weldon and Bjornstad's Playing with Fire: Dungeons and Dragons claims that it has at least once or twice. I have not personally done the research to verify the validity of these claims except to say that the American Association of Suicidology, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Health and Welfare Canada (and dozens of societies and universities since) had done the research for us and unanimously concluded that there was no causal link between fantasy role playing games and suicide. It is widely understood that Irving Pulling's suicide was not due to over attachment or involvement in Dungeons and Dragons or because any curse that was supposedly put upon him. Both he and James Egbert struggled with depression which was not widely understood at the times of their deaths.

This is a strange myth. Any sane person will overcome the loss of their fictional character, create a new character, and maybe be inspired to write stories, poems, or songs of their fictional deeds. Anyone who has trouble coming to grips with such a loss was either already dealing with some heavy issues in their life or was otherwise mentally unstable. It is worth mentioning that at the time when this accusation was first made suicide was not understood or talked about in society, especially in conservative Evangelical circles, and so Dungeons and Dragons became an easy scapegoat.

The reality is quite the opposite, playing Dungeons and Dragons (and other fantasy role playing games) reduces the risk of suicide. It is a psychologically provable fact that role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons are healthy for those who are under stress or in the midst of depression. It gives a temporary escape away from the stress and depression into a world where they are the hero and they are able to laugh and play with friends. It gets them out of the negative head space long enough to regain a more objective view on life and stop the cycle of depression that leads to suicide. This was one of the reasons why young college students like Egbert and Pulling were drawn to Dungeons and Dragons in the first place and why I lead my own DnD campaign, inviting the players that I did.

Dungeons and Dragons as an Introduction to Pornography

This is not an argument that I have actually heard before but it is one that I have. Our North American culture sexualizes everything and High Fantasy is no exception. The official Dungeons and Dragons material is pretty tame but if you ever look online for images related to Dungeons and Dragons or High Fantasy (for character concepts, inspiration, or building your own DnD session) some searches will yield user generated blends of High Fantasy and sexual fantasy. For a mature ('strong') Christian that can filter what their eyes see this may not be an issue but for young men and women with young sex drives ('weak') this is a potential gateway towards porn addition. For safer browsing (though not completely safe) try http://char-portraits.tumblr.com/ (female characters)

Dungeons and Dragons and other Bad Influences

Dungeons and Dragons sessions take on the flavor of the players involved. The activities of the characters, the stories, the jokes, and the general table banter are all determined by who's sitting around the table. Who you spend time with will affect you after a while. Take an evening and read the Book of Proverbs and then do as it says; don't keep company with fools and then apply the lesson to who you play DnD with.

Playing Dungeons and Dragons is not Compatible with Christian Faith

William Schnoebelen

This is the criticism championed by William Schnoebelem in his two Chick Publications "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons (1992)" and "Should a Christian play Dungeons and Dragons? (2001)" (go ahead and give him a read, his arguments epitomize the views in 90's conservative Evangicalism for why a Christian should not play Dungeons and Dragons) Even though I disagree with Schnoebelem and find elements of his story extremely unlikely I respect the Christian tradition he represents. His second article is far better than the first and wrestling through this material for years refined my own thinking and position on the issue. When you strip away his references to BADD's baseless assertions (nearly everything in the first article) he is accusing Dungeons and Dragons of 1) a slippery slope where anyone playing, even with the very best of intentions, will inevitably end up participating in immoral activity that is forbidden in Scripture and 2) the game acting as a medium for anti-Christian ideas.

His primary concern has to do with the role of the mind and imagination. He argues that it is openly sinful to think about many of the activities that DnD characters do. His argument plays out like this. If you play a rogue for example, your character may stab someone in the back or steal from an NPC. Stabbing in the back and stealing are sinful acts. You the player had to conceive of them in your mind before your character could do them. BAM! The game got you to use your mind to conceive of acts contrary to the rules and statutes of God as laid out in the Holy Bible. You could have used your mind to worship God and bring him glory, instead you created new ways to sin and are now fantasizing about that sinful activity and gleefully sharing it with the other players. As if that wasn't bad enough it's only a matter of time before you start acting like your character and begin stealing in real life!

I object to this reasoning on several counts. First and foremost I object to Schnoebelem's understanding of sins of the mind as such reasoning is nowhere found in the Bible (see this list of verses that have to do with thought and the mind). We are instructed to set our minds upon what is good and godly (Col 3.1-2; Phil 4:8), allow the Holy Spirit to transform our minds, not conforming to the ways of the world (Rom 12:1-2), and to not allow our thoughts to lead us to sinful activity (Jam 1:14-15; Rom 6:12; 7:23-25). The only time where the Bible address thoughts as sinful in and of themselves is Jesus' teaching concerning lustful thoughts (Mat 5:28) and this is precisely where CHIC and Schnoebelem attempts to make a non sequitur connection between lustful thoughts and role playing games.

One of the verses that Schnoebelem uses is 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 which he applies to Dungeons and Dragons as a medium for ideas that are in opposition to the knowledge of God.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

My response to this is that the ideas and worldviews in Dungeons and Dragons; the stabbing things in the back, stealing, fictional magic, monsters, pantheon of gods, moral alignment system, and anything and everything Schnoebelem takes issue with only become 'lofty ideas raised against the knowledge of God,' if you let them by taking them seriously; that is to say, become unable to discern fictitious play from reality, as if understanding and playing with a worldview different from your own somehow nullified it. Schnoebelem would probably argue back that it can and does happen subconsciously regardless of our division of fiction and reality and that we should not "give the Devil a foothold" in our minds. I would argue that playing Dungeons and Dragons does not "give the Devil a foothold" and maintain that the division of fantasy and reality is the key. The human mind / spirit is capable of this first of all as a natural ability bestowed by God from creation as a provable psychological fact, secondly as indicative of our being created in the image of God, and third as part of the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. According to the Bible we have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim 1:7), and we can take thoughts captive instead of being captive to them (1 Cor 10:5).

My second objection to Schnoebelem's article is his overemphasis of the power of Satan and that the freedom believers have in Christ did not enter into his equation. Christians of all stripes have incredible freedom in Christ to say as Paul did "All things are lawful for me but I will not be dominated by anything." (1 Cor 6:12; see also 10:23-31). This freedom is to be used responsibly to the glory of God and is in part determined by the believers' conscience as well as the consciences of the other believers around them. Paul uses the dichotomy of the weak and the strong where 'strong' believers are allowed to eat food sacrificed to idols because they know that the food is just food and that idols are just lumps of rock, whereas the 'weak' believer would stumble in his faith because he believes that the food has been defiled and that the idols have demonic power. The 'strong' should live in his strength eating and drinking to the glory of God but should restrain himself for the sake of the 'weak' who may see him indulging and falter in his faith. (Rom 14; 1 Cor 10:23-31).

Christians have often used this understanding for how to handle 'gray issues' (like the use of alcohol for example) and I would apply it to Dungeons and Dragons as well. There's nothing wrong with Dungeons and Dragons; it is, as much as Schnoebelem denies it, just a game. I am coming at this from a position of 'strength' but for other believers who understand Dungeons and Dragons from a position of 'weakness' it would not be good for them to play because their conscience objects to something within the game as sinful. The 'strong' does no wrong for playing Dungeons and Dragons unless it is done in such a way to cause the 'weak' to stumble and the 'weak' does no wrong in avoiding Dungeons and Dragons as a matter of conscience so long as this avoidance doesn't attempt to force the 'strong' believer to obey the precepts their weak faith.

My third objection to Schnoebelem's position is his overemphasis on the importance of the mind and the need to censor it. He claims that the mind is the battlefield upon which the destiny of the soul is decided. I disagree and would argue that the battle was won over 2000 years ago by Jesus' death and resurrection and that the Word of God is not nearly as impeded by people playing make belief in a High Fantasy setting as he claims it is. I disagree with the whole fundamentalist movement to censor 'unchristian' ideas and establishing a Christendom thought control system lest uncontrolled ideas lead Christians astray from Christ or non-Christians to not find Christ. It never worked in the past and has a tendency to backfire, producing ill-equipped Christians, bitter Christians, and even more bitter Christian apostates. Christians should be established in their faith, grounded in the Scriptures, but not isolated from other ideas. There is a time to shelter young or new Christians for their benefit and growth but taken too far or for too long it becomes a stagnation and impediment to their faith. Nonbelievers are already in the world and of the world, it is futile to try and shelter them from it. What does it say about our faith if we are afraid of being exposed to other ideas? Is the Word of God so fragile or so incomprehensible that we must censor imaginative play? No! The Word of God is living and strong, and God is an excellent communicator. There is no need to scare people away from games that involve High Fantasy settings. If there was a need then forget Dungeons and Dragons and look instead to the rampant greed, lust, violence, and 'anti-Christian' worldviews currently presented in less abstract mediums; DnD is very tame by comparison to today's TV shows, movies, and video games.

My fourth objection to Schnoebelem's position is that if you take it to its logical conclusion then Christians must abstain from thinking about pretty much everything that is not God and the Bible. Dungeons and Dragons is out, video games are out, television shows are out, books that are not the Bible are out, serving as a police officer, doctor, or actor are out, nearly every type of music is out, martial arts are out, and don't even get me started on thinking about dating or your spouse! Schnoebelem's position on Dungeons and Dragons is one of impassioned fear and weakness that probably comes from his horrible experiences as one of the highest ranking practitioners of Satanism and the Occult in North America in the 80s. This is not a position that other Christians should live under though. We are adopted sons and daughters of the king of the universe in whose image we have been created as the masters of creation. Yes the human spirit was dealt a deforming blow by the curse of sin but God has shed his own blood to redeem us and now dwells within us by his Holy Spirit so now we can once again live as we were intended and not be blown this way or that way according to the winds of opinion or be taken captive by lofty ideas or allow sinful passions to persist in our minds. We can read books without mistaking ourselves or our motivations for those of the characters in those books, we can become professional actors and not damage our Christian identity, we can become doctors and not be carried away by lustful thoughts at the sight of exposed genitalia, we can be exposed to and explore the ideas and planes of high fantasy without being confused concerning the knowledge of God and we can play Dungeons and Dragons without sin. Christianity does not slink about hiding in the shadows afraid to think lest we get lost in our thoughts or become confused about God or demons take notice and swoop down to assault us.

Be certain though that you are sure of the knowledge of God; you must get your understanding from theologically reliable sources and maintain a strong life of faith cultivated by constant prayer and spiritual discipline. The freedom we have in Christ is freedom in the context of loving God with all our heart, strength, and mind. This is a matter of priorities and maturity. Keep Christ first in your life and heart and keep Dungeons and Dragons (as well as every other hobby / pastime) in its proper place in relation to Christ's lordship. Don't do as Schnoebelem fears, getting your knowledge of God and the world from High Fantasy fiction, stay with the Bible, go to a good church for constant teaching, community, and spiritual care, don't be conformed to the world but be renewed in your mind by feeding from the Word of God.

My fifth objection is the tone Schnoebelem and CHIC take on the issue. Any disagreement with their statements is taken out of context or used as evidence of game addiction, being anti-Christian, being in the pocket of the gaming industry, or some other reason for why a 'true Christian' will just ignore that argument and side with the publisher. This is the weakness of the combative conservative far right, a complete refusal to discuss the topic or admit when they have been wrong. Case and point Schnoebelem's critique of Freeman's assessment of Pulling's (and his) "fortress mentality."

Freeman reveals his true colors. He is against Biblical Christianity:

"Ultimately Pat Pulling had only one allegation remaining that anyone would listen to - and even then only fundamentalist Christian groups were willing to believe it. Fantasy role playing games, they asserted, were occult indoctrination tools that lured white suburban teens into horrific satanic cults. Furthermore, these cults were everywhere. The popular "fortress mentality" of certain religious groups - the belief that the world is a wholly corrupt, evil place that only their faith protects them from - latched onto this "evidence" of Satan's power. Proof that the world was in Satan's grasp could be found by demonizing every aspect of pop-culture."

Biblical Christianity does not have this "fortress mentality" that Freeman points out. Yes we believe that Christianity is the only true religion, yes we believe that the world is fallen, but not wholly corrupt in the way that Freeman is talking about. Schnoebelem and CHIC latch on to anything and everything they can with which to smear their opponents but so many of these rhetorical attacks fall flat. They also refuse to acknowledge when they have made a mistake and continue to fight in favor of assertions that are simply not true (DnD teaches magic, DnD causes suicide, etc). Their tone and technique in dealing with disagreement is unsavory and unethical by a worldly standard and contemptible by the very biblical standard they claim to uphold. Given their track record all of their assertions should be put into question.

A sixth objection I have is that Schnoebelem seems confused about his own worldview using strong Christian language in such a way that I wonder if he isn't still operating in a Pagan worldview. He posits that someone who plays DnD could accidentally trigger a 'spiritual rule' and unintentionally fire off a curse or summon a demon similar to how one could accidentally pull the trigger of a loaded gun. I suspect his experience as high priest in the Church of Satan (among his other occult titles and experiences) may account for this concern. My conviction is that 'spiritual rules' which Schnoebelem claims are like loaded guns do not exist. The devil does not get to stake claim to any number of colors or patterns or words and an innocent person who accidentally mimics what a practitioner of the occult does is not in danger of running afoul a spiritual landmine. God knows the heart and the devil and all the demons need his permission before acting so the danger is in the intention of the action, and not the action itself (unless the action is inherently hazardous). Just because Buddhist monks use Mandelas in their meditation practices doesn't mean that a Christian could accidentally find herself emptying her mind and experiencing 'one with the universe' if she looked at a Mandela for too long. No God created all things and Christ redeems all things, there is no danger of accidentally pulling a spiritual trigger.

The final objection I have isn't so much with Schnoebelem's article as it is with his questionable background. Schnoebelem makes a number of claims that seem suspect but taken all together he is a former Wiccan Sorcerer, a former 2nd degree member of the Satanic Church, a former 90th degree Free Mason, a former vampire, had sex with a demon, had more demons in him per cubic centimeter than the entire city of Indianapolis, and he was also a former 1st degree member of the Illuminati. He repented and became a fundamentalist Christian and is now running a circuit ministry to combat The Occult, Mormonism, Free Masonry, Satanism, The New World Order and UFOs for Jesus. Schnoebelem's biography is incredible, there is no mistaking that, even more incredible than what he claims DnD is and is responsible for. I haven't done the research into his past to say that he's a fraud... but the biography he holds to and the ministry he profits from look and sound similar to the sort of hoaxes that Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, Marjoe Gortner, and a number of other charismatic circuit riders pulled during their lives and so I approach his claims with skepticism.

All in all Schnoebelem blows Dungeons and Dragons out of proportion. It is, as much as he objects, just a game and a pretty innocent game at that. He is still worth reading though as his challenges are (hopefully) made with the spiritual well being of the reader at heart and, at the very least, he asks a lot of soul searching questions that should be wrestled through. He warns us to be on guard against opposing ideas about God that will subvert a proper understanding if you passively accept them. Don't confuse fantasy for reality and make sure that your understanding of God is grounded in Scripture and not what you pick up from the world around you.

You play WHAT?! - Part 1: Discovering Dungeons and Dragons as a Christian

Originally written in 2016


"You play Dungeons and Dragons!?" my new friend stared in shock. I have had this kind of reaction before and knew I would have some explaining to do.

"Um... yes?" I cautiously responded.

"Isn't Dungeons and Dragons evil?" he asked in astonishment...



It's ingrained within the more conservative strains of Christianity (my context being Evangelical) that Dungeons and Dragons (and games like it) is somehow associated with sex, sorcery, and suicide. A while ago I created a longish and perhaps unwieldy explanation of how Dungeons and Dragons does not do any of the outrageous and evil things it has been accused of. This is my attempt at a more coherent explanation of a Christian's perspective on Dungeons and Dragons geared specifically for Christian friends or parents concerned about someone playing DnD as well as Christians who are intrigued by the game despite been told that it will wreck their life.

Part 1 - Discovering Dungeons and Dragons as a Christian

I was raised in a conservative Christian home. My parents took their roles seriously and focused on building as strong a family unit as they could. We loved each other. We valued good hard work. We went to church on Sundays, volunteered in church programs, and went to kids clubs and youth group. My parents took precautions to filter out violent and destructive elements in my formative years by way of limiting what we watched on TV, which kids I was allowed to hang out with, and which social functions I could attend. In addition to this they took precaution against our being exposed to magic, the occult, and demonic influence as good Bible believing parents should. They weren't raving fundamentalists, but they took the Bible, as well as their spiritual role as parents seriously and insulated me and my siblings against influences that could lead us away from Christ. While this sometimes lead to situations where I didn't get to do what I wanted growing up I loved them for what they did and still do. We had good open and honest conversations and they always had good reasons for every rule. Maybe your background is similar, maybe it isn't, the point is that I come from a conservative Christian background where the Bible and personal faith were and still are foundational to who we are.

My father and grandfather used to play Dungeons and Dragons a long time ago and still sometimes played role playing games on the computer like Might and Magic (back in the late 80s - early 90s) and I enjoyed looking over their old maps and notes and collections of dice. I learned to enjoy fantasy at an early age and I enjoyed thinking about the heroic knights, evil monsters, castles, magical swords, flying carpets, and trap laden caves that I saw my father and grandfather exploring on computer. My imagination was exposed early and it left an indelible mark.

At first my father and I bonded over the experience, I distinctly remember jumping around the basement in celebration when we finally defeated "the cyclops king" and his "bubble brain" minions in the Might and Magic 3 computer game (1991). I remember the sense of awe and wonder when he explained the powerful fireball magic that the magic character could use only once and how it could backfire if he got it wrong. I remember my grandfather getting far ahead of dad and how he fought ghouls and dragons and other things dad and I had not encountered yet (on a colour monitor too!). I remember my grandfather reminiscing about how he and dad and my uncle used to play Dungeons and Dragons, how one of them would be the referee / dungeon master and draw the map while the others tried to find their way out. It seemed to my little mind that this was the height of entertainment and adventure!

I suspect my parents saw my growing enthusiasm and decided to stop feeding the fire. I remember how they would sit me down on different occasions to explain that Dungeons and Dragons (and things like it) were dangerous and something I should not become interested in. Some people who played that game got too attached to their characters and then killed themselves if their characters died, some became possessed by demons, and others started attacking each other with actual weapons because they couldn't separate the game from reality. Understand that this was all pre-internet so my parents' couldn't fact check and that these were the sorts of stories that made it into the news back then, my parents were going with what information was available at the time (see part 2 for a history of the hysteria over Dungeons and Dragons). It became clear in my young mind that Dungeons and Dragons had a dark side and that I ought to avoid the game like my spiritual destiny depended on it. Strangely enough dad's old maps and DnD-like games vanished shortly thereafter, but Grandpa still reminisced on occasion.

I continued on through school with a love of fantasy being fed instead by C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I loved fantasy, it spoke to me in ways that other forms of fiction did not. When I wrote stories, they were fantasy stories, and when I drew pictures, it was almost always some creature or place that didn't exist in our world but may exist in Narnia or one of the worlds I imagined. Every once and a I while I would get a chance to play RPGs on the computer like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Knights which were placed in a fantasy world full of incredible stories, characters, monsters, and an epic struggle between good and evil. (I found out later that these games were quite literally Dungeons and Dragons in video game form.) There were a few times when my brother and I attempted creating our own board game that mimicked the computerized DnD (that we didn't know was DnD) and my father would be in his glory explaining the probability of dice rolls and how to scale statistics according to level (he was a math and computer science teacher after all), but we stayed far away from real DnD because it had become taboo.

Then I moved away to college at Briercrest where I learned theology, biblical studies, some psychology, and higher critical thinking skills. I had heard that there was a secretive group that played Dungeons and Dragons on campus, but I did not seek them out. I was intrigued, but decided to keep to my studies and look into the Christian DnD group later.

Then, during the summer of my third year at college I decided that I needed to learn more about this forbidden fruit that continued to smell sweet to me. I approached it slowly at a distance with my guard up as though I were approaching a real dragon. I started by reading John Weldon and James Bjornstad's Playing with Fire: Dungeons and Dragons, Tunnels and Trolls, Swords and Sorcery and other Fantasy Games. I even wrote a review on the book afterwards. This Christian tome identifies the dangers of Dungeons and Dragons to exist in 1) an abuse of fantasy 2) an abuse of escapism 3) playing in a world of nonChristian morality and 4) how the line can become blurred between a player and his character. After re-reading the book, the Stackpoll Pulling Report, the anti-DnD literature from Chic publishers, a variety of blogs and websites, as well as spending a long time thinking and praying about it I came to the conclusion that it was actually safe for me to take another step forward. I had no intention of mixing fantasy with the occult, I was grounded well enough in the Word of God to not get sucked into escapism or living in a non-reality, and, from what I understood of the game, if I was the one leading it then I was the one to determine the morals of the game world.

I purchased a 4th edition player's handbook along with two packs of Dungeon Master dice and set to work creating a small adventure for my siblings to go on (after getting permission from mom and dad of course). There was far more math and stats and prep work to go through than I thought there would be and most of the experience was crunching numbers and preparing the map for hours before playing. I built a dungeon for them to escape from complete with patrolling monsters, traps, and bits of a story line that I might continue if they enjoyed the experience. We played a few times and had lots of fun learning how it all worked. It was like interactive story telling where each person would take turns narrating what their character was doing. My father even joined in and we had a blast. No lure of the occult, no demonic influence, no questionable morality, just lots of good natured fun... at least that's what it seemed to be on the outside... on the inside... nah, just kidding, it was good natured fun all the way through.

A lot of the mystery and mysticism surrounding Dungeons and Dragons was dispelled after I actually played it and got a handle for how the game worked. At its core the game is make belief for adults ideally played with five people, four of which play as characters in the story with the fifth person (the Dungeon Master) telling the story and describing what the characters see, feel, and experience. When one of the characters tries to do something that has a chance of failure (climbing a tree, shooting a goblin, convincing an angry cyclops to not squish you because you are actually his long lost brother that has been turned into a human, etc) you roll some dice and do some math based on your character's statistics to see if you succeed or fail. Then the story goes on.

The monsters and magic that have been demonized by various groups in the past are just tables of statistics to be used when rolling dice to determine whether a character is successful or not. When sneaking past an orc for instance, a character must roll stealth higher than the orc's listen roll. If the character is using magical boots, he gets a bonus to his roll.

Not once did I or any one of my players ever have a creepy encounter with the demonic or feel the pull of the occult or act immorally or indecently or do or experience any of the things Dungeons and Dragons has been condemned for.

By the time I hit seminary there were two secret Dungeons and Dragons groups on campus and I was leading one of them and was a prominent player in the other one. When DnD night came my house was packed with friends and the campaign which started with 3 people grew to 9! We had a blast, everyone got to enjoy themselves, and after the games people talked and got caught up. We lived in a busy college campus out in the middle of the Saskatchewan wilderness where there was no drinking allowed and academics were taken very seriously. The escapism provided by DnD night was a welcome break where nobody had to work on papers and we could just relax, pretend to be someone else for a few hours, and take out some frustration on fictional monsters. For anyone who thinks we should have taken a hard line approach of all study and no play I congratulate them for thinking they have the mental fortitude for such labour but will argue strongly that nobody else there did and that fun, frivolity, and fellowship are a foundational piece to being human as God intended. People opened up afterwards about their struggles in life and it allowed us to keep tabs on one friend who was borderline suicidal and a few more who were wavering towards that line. It also opened up excellent conversations about faith and spiritual health... probably because we were all Christian college students studying the Scriptures every day, but that's beside the point. Dungeons and Dragons started out as just a fun game between friends and it became a safe place for the people on the fringe to feel welcome and start opening up. The friendships forged and the lessons learned were invaluable and I sincerely believe that God used the game night for his glory. Did Dungeons and Dragons replace or distract from devotions or prayer or Bible study? Absolutely not. It gave us a break so we could process what we learned and allowed us to see life from different perspectives (an important part of higher and personal learning). Playing DnD safely as a Christian is not only possible but in the right context it can become a ministry for those who just don't feel like they fit in.

Now that I am done school I still keep in contact with a few of my players and my players keep in contact with each other. I don't get to play much of anything right now because my time is spent working and taking care of my young family. I'm slowly chipping away on other campaigns to maybe play in the future but that is another post for another time... Occasionally I get a random message from one of my players to say they still remembered the campaign and and we get to reminisce about adventures and friends.

So that has been my journey with Dungeons and Dragons in a nutshell: from fear to fun with a slow steady and traceable pace in between. My parents came along for the ride with me in some respects. I don't blame them for shielding me from what many perceived as a threat at the time, because knowing what I know now I still would have shielded myself. They were being responsible parents and weren't afraid to make uncomfortable decisions according to their faith. I respect and love them for that. Now about why so many people thought Dungeons and Dragons was a danger there is lots I would like to say on the topic. Part 2 of this series is going to tackle that.