The great 1980s dungeons & Dragons panic!

[Neil]

I know I'm not the only one here old enough to remember all the anti-D&D stuff that went on in the 80s - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26328105 Just goes to show how stupid & irrational (some of) society can be at times!

[wayzim]

I know I'm not the only one here old enough to remember all the anti-D&D stuff that went on in the 80s - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26328105 Just goes to show how stupid & irrational (some of) society can be at times! But that was overshadowed by the hysterics who claimed that satanic child molesters were running rampant through America's preschools and daycare centers. The McMartin farce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial did much to damage the credibility of legitimate social/child welfare groups.

[Neil]

But that was overshadowed by the hysterics who claimed that satanic child molesters were running rampant through America's preschools and daycare centers. The McMartin farce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial did much to damage the credibility of legitimate social/child welfare groups. Never heard of that case. James Wood starred in a film of the events - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113421/

[Rottedfreak]

I remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics where 'children' writing in whined about satanic imagery during the turtles world tour story arc, turns out the 'satanic imagery' was Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh and other religious symbols and practices.

[shootemindehead]

Never heard of that case. James Wood starred in a film of the events - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113421/ That's actually a pretty good film.

[AcesandEights]

I remember those days...damn I love RPGs. Just played some 3.5 D&D online last night, in fact. You guys want a real laugh? Sync the riff trax audio for Mazes and Monsters over the original film on youtube. Then again, Mazes & Monsters is a funny watch all on its own just for the acting...

[wayzim]

Never heard of that case. James Wood starred in a film of the events - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113421/ It also starred Henry Thomas (ET, Legends of The Fall ) and was a fairly accurate portrait of this tragic miscarriage of justice. Overzealous crusaders can't begin to cover the ineptitude of prosecutors looking for an easy victory, and social workers unqualified to question minors. Not without leading them to say what you wanted them to; not what was real. I remember at the time being shocked by the level of imagination being pawned by so-called responsible adults as legitimate cause.

[rongravy]

My parents were never religious back then, so they never gave me any hassle over playing AD&D. They did, however, hang out with a super "religious" cousin of my dad's, and her douche bag husband. When I'd come home from playing, they'd be telling my parents, usually even in front of me, how I must be worshiping THE DEVIL. I would usually just play it up for them, maybe hiss a few times... As if their words were holy water upon my vile, corrupted flesh. I remember seeing/hearing all that hullaballoo, including the Tom Hanks TV movie. I personally never gave a rat's ass. I always loved playing, mainly the Forgotten Realms, but we also played Dark Sun and Ravenloft here and there. I bought some of the stuff for the Elric world, which was through a different company with different rules, but sadly never got to really play it. I always played it with nerds, so I occasionally got kicked out of groups because I liked to play baked, which I never thought was a problem. I miss playing AD&D. I would love to find some 2nd Edition freaks and get it on like Donkey Kong again. Wayyyyyyyyy better than video games!!!

[JDP]

I miss playing AD&D. I would love to find some 2nd Edition freaks and get it on like Donkey Kong again. Wayyyyyyyyy better than video games!!! Or one can actually have the best of both worlds at the same time: the two Advanced Dungeons & Dragons video games made in 1982 & 1983 for the Mattel Intellivision console I spent hours and hours playing them back then, until I beat them both. The first one was one of the first video games where sounds were very important for the game play (you had to keep your ears on to know what kind of monster may lay ahead in the still unexplored parts of the dungeons), and the second one was one of the early first person perspective games.

[shootemindehead]

I know I'm not the only one here old enough to remember all the anti-D&D stuff that went on in the 80s - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26328105 Just goes to show how stupid & irrational (some of) society can be at times! Never played D+D, but we did play 'Call of Cthulhu'. In college we had this tutor, one of these born again twats, who was "outraged" at the very thought of it, claiming that it was a mortal sin of some sort. Mind numbing.

[Neil]

Never played D+D, but we did play 'Call of Cthulhu'. In college we had this tutor, one of these born again twats, who was "outraged" at the very thought of it, claiming that it was a mortal sin of some sort. Mind numbing. LOL! A group of us tried playing that a couple of years ago - all done electronically using Fantasy Grounds, nice role playing software that orchestrates the whole thing very nicelly. ie: So you're all remote but playing on a single virtual desk. But I think we're too old for it now... We just sort of lost interest...

[shootemindehead]

Yeh. There's part of me that would love a go now. But the adult (yeh, that guy!) side of me says that I wouldn't enjoy it in the same way and to stop being an ejit. 'Call of Cthulhu' was the only RPG I ever really got into. We were all Lovecraft fans back then, so the appeal was there from that. In essence though, 'Call of Cthulhu' is really a very simple game. It comes down to just finding the monster and running away from it. The player characters are really just trolling the elder gods and being annoying buggers. We also played some 'Megatraveler' and 'Paranoia', which was fun but lacked the excitement that could be got from 'Call of Cthulhu'. The investigation and discovery side of the game was very rewarding, assuming you didn't go mad.

[Neil]

Yeh. There's part of me that would love a go now. But the adult (yeh, that guy!) side of me says that I wouldn't enjoy it in the same way and to stop being an ejit. 'Call of Cthulhu' was the only RPG I ever really got into. We were all Lovecraft fans back then, so the appeal was there from that. In essence though, 'Call of Cthulhu' is really a very simple game. It comes down to just finding the monster and running away from it. The player characters are really just trolling the elder gods and being annoying buggers. We also played some 'Megatraveler' and 'Paranoia', which was fun but lacked the excitement that could be got from 'Call of Cthulhu'. The investigation and discovery side of the game was very rewarding, assuming you didn't go mad. Well, like I said, the FantasyGrounds program orchestrated the game (Call of Cthulhu) very well, with the DM able to show people information/documents nicely. All your character infor/details easily to hand. People able to throw virtual dice easily etc etc... Pretty nicely done. Put Team Speak on top and it worked very nicely... But I think the mindset of a 40 something individual is probably different to someone 20-30 years younger

[rongravy]

AD&D 2nd edition, baby. I also used to like me some Dark Sun and Ravenloft. Good times...