Преследование Dungeons & Dragons в 1980-х

Обвинения в адрес Dungeons & Dragons, звучавшие в обществе и в средствах массовой информации в 1980-х годах (эпизодически и позднее), и реакция на них со стороны издателей игры составляют значительный пласт истории как собственно D&D, так и ролевых игр в целом, и даже литературного жанра фэнтези.

Джек Чик и комикс «Dark Dungeons»

В 1980-х годах, по мере роста популярности D&D и ролевых игр вообще среди молодёжи, некоторые религиозные группы стали обвинять игру в распространении идей сатанизма и чёрной магии. Одним из наиболее активных обвинителей был Джек Чик (Jack T. Chick), американский издатель, принадлежащий к консервативной Независимой баптистской церкви. В 1984 году он выпустил комикс «Dark Dungeons», изображающий ролевые игры, в особенности D&D, орудием Сатаны в совращении молодых людей.

Патриция Пуллинг и «Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons»

Патриция Пуллинг (Patricia Pulling) из Ричмонда (штат Вирджиния) была основателем организации «Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons» (рус. «Обеспокоенные D&D», BADD). В 1982 году сын Патриции, Ирвинг Пуллинг, совершил самоубийство, причинами которого Патриция сочла увлечение Ирвинга ролевыми играми. Она подала в суд на преподавателя школы, где учился Ирвинг, которого считала виновным в том, что он познакомил её сына с D&D, и на издателя D&D, компанию TSR, Inc.. Оба иска были отвергнуты судом. После этого миссис Пуллинг основала BADD и начала распространять в СМИ обвинения в адрес D&D в распространении идей сатанизма и побуждении молодых людей к самоубийствам. BADD описывала D&D как «фэнтезийную ролевую игру, проповедующую демонологию, неоязычество, вуду, убийства, насилия, богохульства, растление малолетних, самоубийства, убийства, безумие, сексуальные извращения, проституцию, сатанизм, азартные игры, варварство, каннибализм, садомазохизм, оскорбление христианства, призывание злых духов, некромантию и другие аморальные учения.». Патриция Пуллинг также написала книгу «The Devil’s Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan?» (рус. «Дьявольская паутина: кто преследует ваших детей во имя Сатаны?»), вышедшую в 1989 году.

В том же году гейм-дизайнер, писатель и игрок Майкл Стэкпол написал статью «Game Hysteria and the Truth» (рус. «Игровая истерия и истина»), которая рассматривала все недостатки, ложные концепции и сомнительные утверждения Пуллинг. В следующем году основные моменты из «Game Hysteria and the Truth» были повторены в работе Стэкпола «The Pulling Report». В 1991 году Стэкпол совместно с Лореном К. Вайсманом (Loren K. Wiseman) написал брошюру «Question & Answers About Role-Playing Games» (рус. «Вопросы и ответы о ролевых играх»), в которой со ссылкой на американские и канадские организации, занимающиеся изучением вопроса самоубийств, утверждалось, что не существует никакой связи между ролевыми играми и самоубийствами.

В 1997 году Патриция Пуллинг скончалась. С её смертью BADD прекратила свою деятельность.

The Schnoebelen articles

Bill Schnoebelen claims to have been a Wiccan Priest, Satanic Priest, and — eschewing those faiths — became a Christian who spent most of his time attempting to convert other people from these religions. In 1989 he wrote an article, «Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons», which was published by Chick Publications. He received a large volume of letters and emails on the subject in the years after that, and wrote a follow-up article in 2001, «Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons?» These essays portray Dungeons & Dragons as a tool for New Age Satanic groups to introduce concepts and behaviors that are seen as contrary to Christian teaching and morality in general. Part of his claims involve supposedly being visited by TSR employees to make sure that the magic of the game was authentic, although examining the game rules shows this not to be the case.

The first article, summarized D&D as «a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft [which] violates the commandment of I Ths. 5:22 'Abstain from all appearance of evil.'» It claimed that rituals described in the game were capable of conjuring malevolent demons and producing other real-world effects. The article further accused the Dungeon Master's Guide of celebrating Adolf Hitler for his charisma.

The second article focused on contrasting the Christian world-view and the fantasy worldview of Dungeons & Dragons, concluding, «being exposed to all these ideas of magic to the degree that the game requires cannot but help have a significant impact on the minds of the players.»

The Hickman articles

Tracy Hickman, a prolific author of Dungeons & Dragons materials and practicing Latter-day Saint (Mormon), has written many articles about the ethics of Dungeons & Dragons from a Theistic point of view. His «Ethics in Fantasy: Morality and D&D / Part 1: That Evil Game!» details a number of concerns about the ethics surrounding Dungeons & Dragons, but also outlines a number of the hurdles in gamers and non-gamers communicating over these topics.

TSR’s reaction

The controversy led TSR to remove references to demons, devils, and other potentially controversial supernatural monsters from the 2nd Edition of AD&D. These references were replaced by references to tanar’ri and baatezu. Many of these exclusions were not returned to the game until the release of the 3rd Edition in 2000. Some 3rd Edition products have addressed Demonology and Satan-worship far more explicitly than materials from previous editions; however, relations and interactions with these creatures are explicitly said to be evil. The more 'extreme' manuals, specifically the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds, bear a «For Mature Audiences Only» label.

Mazes and Monsters

As the role-playing game hobby began to grow, it was connected to the story in 1979 of the disappearance of 16-year-old James Dallas Egbert III. Egbert had attempted suicide in the utility tunnels beneath the campus of Michigan State University, and after his unsuccessful attempt, hid out at a friend’s house for approximately a month.

A well-publicized search for Egbert began, and his parents hired private investigator William Dear to seek out their son. Dear knew nothing about Dungeons & Dragons at that time, but speculated to the press that Egbert had gotten lost in the steam tunnels during a live-action version of the game. The press largely reported the story as fact, which served as the kernel of a persistent rumor regarding such «steam tunnel incidents». Egbert’s suicide attempts, including his successful suicide the following year (by self-inflicted gunshot) had no connection whatsoever to D&D, being brought on by his being depressed and under great stress.

Rona Jaffe published Mazes and Monsters in 1981, a thinly disguised fictionalization of the press exaggerations of the Egbert case. In an era when very few people understood role-playing games it seemed plausible to some elements of the public that a player might experience a psychotic episode and lose touch with reality during role-playing. The book saw adaptation into a made-for-television movie in 1982 starring Tom Hanks, and the publicity surrounding both the novel and film version served to heighten the public’s unease regarding role-playing games.

Dear later revealed the truth of the incident in his 1984 book The Dungeon Master, in which he repudiated the link between D&D and Egbert’s disappearance. Dear acknowledged that Egbert’s domineering mother had more to do with his problems than his interest in role-playing games.

Neal Stephenson's fictional book satirizing university life, The Big U, published in 1984, includes a series of similar incidents in which a live-action fantasy role-player is killed in a steam-tunnel accident leading to another gamer becoming mentally unstable, and unable to distinguish reality from the game.

Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin is a 1981 novel by horror and suspense writer John Coyne which also followed on the angst about the Egbert incident, and D&D and fantasy role-playing games in general. This thriller is about a young man, Scott Gardiner, who is traumatized by the sudden death of his father and by his mother’s decision to take a job as caretaker of an isolated estate called Ballycastle. Ostracized by his peers at the local high school, Scott takes refuge in Hobgoblin, a role-playing game based on Ancient Celtic cults. As the novel progresses, Scott comes to identify more and more with his character, Brian Boru, frequently thinking of himself as Brian. In an attempt to improve relations with his schoolmates, Scott throws a Hobgoblin-themed costume party at Ballycastle. Tragedy strikes when the supposedly dead former owner of Ballycastle—now hopelessly deranged—arrives at the party, killing several guests and Scott’s mother. Scott—in his Brian Boru persona—kills the murderer using the weapons he carries as part of his costume.

Lieth Von Stein

In 1988, a murder case in Washington, North Carolina involving North Carolina State University students brought Dungeons & Dragons more unfavorable publicity. Chris Pritchard allegedly masterminded the murder of his stepfather, Lieth Von Stein, for his $2 million fortune. Both von Stein and his wife, Bonnie, were bludgeoned and stabbed by masked assailants in their bedroom, leaving the husband mortally wounded and the wife injured.

Chris Pritchard had a long history of mutual antagonism with his stepfather, and state investigators learned over the course of a year that Pritchard had developed some unhealthy associations at NCSU. Pritchard had a known history for alcohol and drug use. But the NCSU authorities also seized on his role-playing group after a 'game map' depicting the von Stein house turned up as physical evidence. Pritchard’s friends Gerald Neal Henderson and James «Moog» Upchurch III were implicated in a plot to help Pritchard kill his stepfather. All three young men went to state prison in 1990. Henderson and Pritchard have since been paroled. Upchurch’s death sentence was commuted to life in 1992; he is serving his term.

True crime authors Joe McGinniss and Jerry Bledsoe played up the role-playing angle. Much attention was given to Upchurch’s influence and power as Dungeon Master. Bledsoe’s book, Blood Games, was made into a TV movie, Honor Thy Mother, in 1992. That same year, McGinniss' book was adapted into a two part TV miniseries, Cruel Doubt. The latter film featured real role-playing game materials, doctored to imply they had caused the murders.

Promotes gang related activity

In 2004, Wisconsin’s Waupun prison instituted a ban on playing Dungeons & Dragons, arguing that it promoted gang-related activity. The policy went into effect based upon an anonymous letter from an inmate stating that the four prisoners that played the game were forming a «gang». When the ban went into effect, the prison confiscated all Dungeons & Dragons-related materials. Inmate Kevin T. Singer, a dedicated player of the game, who is sentenced to a life term for first-degree intentional homicide, sought to overturn the ban saying it violated his first amendment rights. However, on January 25, 2010 the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban as a «reasonable policy».

External links

• Studies About Fantasy Role-Playing Games. RPGStudies.net (1994).
• Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (2002).
• The Escapist — a gaming advocacy website. theescapist.com (2007).