Dark Dungeons

If you've never read the Chick Tract Dark Dungeons, treat yourself to some christian right absurdity. Dark Dungeons I think my favorite part is when Debbie uses mind control on her dad to get him to buy her Dungeons and Dragons books. Clearly the writers of this one were more in fantasy land than anyone who ever really played the game.

This kind of misinformation really hurt the hobby of role playing back in the 70's and 80's. Its hard to remember back in the days before Google and the internet. I know this makes me seem old (I'm only 30) but back before internet fact checking this kind of garbage was a lot harder to do. Chick tracts and their ilk relied on misinformation and the gullibility of the public especially the religious.

You might be saying to yourself "what does it matter its just a stupid little pamphlet" but I have a personal reason to dislike this kind of thing. I was raised in a very conservative christian home and my folks freaked out when I started role playing back in high school. Their views were shaped by this kind of garbage and by people like Pat Robertson and Patricia Pulling (who wrote a book named Mazes and Monsters).

Dungeons and Dragons has been one of the most positive things in my life. It's an outlet for creativity, It's helped me make some of the best friends I've ever known, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. I have never heard of these "REAL POWERS" they keep insinuating and the thought of having real spells to cast in real life is about as stupid as saying that someone who plays Call of Duty is trained as a commando.