Defending [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Defending [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Arcanis the wacher
05-08-05, 04:01 PM so i was wondering if any of you all out there have to defend the fact that dnd is not lame or even not evil (as in my case, as i go to a bible college) i think it is funny as though all the clams against it are through ignorance. whats your two cents
Xaxor
05-08-05, 07:23 PM Blame Jack Chick and all the other rabid fundimentalists for the evil tag. If your school is highly conserative, you might as well go off-campus to play. But one of the best ways to dispel myths is to compare it to movies and books. The Lord of the Rings was a huge influence on the creation of the game, and the movies ooze 'epic adventure'. Not epic in levels, but in scope. Tolkien was a Chistian, as was his friend, C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia chonicles, another D&Dish fantasy series. The Indiana Jones series also helps illustrate typical dungeon crawls, with their countless traps, angry natives and cool loot. The Magnificent Seven / The Seven Samurai show off the teamwork aspect of the game. Given enough time, and a large enough movie/book library you could illustrate any and all aspects of the game. But if that fails, either loan your books to the detractors (more of a last resort, since they could be 'lost'), or invite them to a game session. Just be sure to emphasive the roles of heores and villians, good and evil. But emphasize the 'saving the world' aspect, in any degree, even if it's just saving the local town. If they still object, they are obviously unreasonable. Keep playing in spite of them.
anarco_rata
05-08-05, 08:58 PM well, we once played on a friends frontyard (or the urban equivalent) becausehishouse was full of people...and some kids came over and stated watching, we finished the game a litle earlier so we decided to let the kids try a little short adventure,just for fun. They loved it (of coursem it was a really lame advenure, but it was fun playing with kids, (freaking good halflings)
So, a week later we founded ourselves back in the frontyard, when all of a sudden five guys came to us, men and women of 40+, and started preaching at us, turns out the kids where evangelist and those people claimed we had putted satanist ideas in their heads and stuf like that...w luaghed really hard at them (maybe not too polite, but inevitable) and i told them: you said we're brainwashing your children, yet you drag them to weekly sessions of something they don't understand, want, or like, and forbid them to do thethings they like? theyyelled harderand we just turned our backs...now everytime we go there they look at us really bad (turns out there's a church just two doors left), but we still play d&d and listen heavy metal ^^ maybe someday they'll get things rigth
until then, i really don't care
weasel fierce
05-08-05, 10:29 PM I try not to argue with shortminded idiots. If a person has their mind made up that roleplaying is evil or lame, then most likely, they are not a type of person I would enjoy interacting with on a regular basis, in any event.
Flushmaster
05-09-05, 02:33 AM If sombody doesn't understand it, I explain it to them.

I tell them that it's basically rules for playing make-believe, and the subject material is dependent only on the imaginations of the players. One player, the DM, creates a fictional world and describes it to the others. The others each control an imaginary character that lives in this world and describes what their character does after the DM sets the scene. Anything that requires skill to perform or has a chance of failure in the real world requires rolling dice in this imaginary world, with a character's strengths and weaknesses (as recorded on the character sheet) can increase or decrease the odds of the character succeeding. As to what the characters do, that's completely up to the people playing, but the players are almost always required to work together in a cooperative fashion to succeed at the goals set down in the game. The entire thing is all in your imagination (though you might use diagrams or miniatures to keep track of the imaginary action), and none of it has any bearing on the real world. It's a game, no more and no less. If the person is familiar with the term "RPG" or at least examples of the term (Final Fantasy is a commonly recognized one), I explain that RPG videogames are, at their core, just computerized versions of D&D, likely with different rule mechanics and less actual roleplaying due to linear plots, but D&D is still the great grand daddy of all such games.

If they still think it's stupid or lame, then I simply say that we apparently have different opinions on what is fun. If they still think that it's evil and satanic, I tell them that they're really quite dense and end the conversation right there since they're obviously not worth talking to anymore. If they actually think that players can gain magical abilities or other "dark powers" then I tell them that, were that the case, I'd have already cast a silence spell on them so I wouldn't have to listen to their bull****; it's a mass produced game just like monopoly and, last I checked, I never came into posession of actual real estate or money for winning a game of monopoly against my friends.
Arcanis the wacher
05-09-05, 09:56 AM it's a mass produced game just like monopoly and, last I checked, I never came into posession of actual real estate or money for winning a game of monopoly against my friends.
:heehee i like that
Venom of the Yuan Ti
05-09-05, 10:17 AM i think it is funny as though all the clams against it are through ignorance.
Sorry I know my own spelling is not that great but,
What have shelfish got to do with D&D?
:OMG!
Dire clams!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Arcanis the wacher 05-08-05, 04:01 PM	so i was wondering if any of you all out there have to defend the fact that dnd is not lame or even not evil (as in my case, as i go to a bible college) i think it is funny as though all the clams against it are through ignorance. whats your two cents
Xaxor 05-08-05, 07:23 PM	Blame Jack Chick and all the other rabid fundimentalists for the evil tag. If your school is highly conserative, you might as well go off-campus to play. But one of the best ways to dispel myths is to compare it to movies and books. The Lord of the Rings was a huge influence on the creation of the game, and the movies ooze 'epic adventure'. Not epic in levels, but in scope. Tolkien was a Chistian, as was his friend, C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia chonicles, another D&Dish fantasy series. The Indiana Jones series also helps illustrate typical dungeon crawls, with their countless traps, angry natives and cool loot. The Magnificent Seven / The Seven Samurai show off the teamwork aspect of the game. Given enough time, and a large enough movie/book library you could illustrate any and all aspects of the game. But if that fails, either loan your books to the detractors (more of a last resort, since they could be 'lost'), or invite them to a game session. Just be sure to emphasive the roles of heores and villians, good and evil. But emphasize the 'saving the world' aspect, in any degree, even if it's just saving the local town. If they still object, they are obviously unreasonable. Keep playing in spite of them.
anarco_rata 05-08-05, 08:58 PM	well, we once played on a friends frontyard (or the urban equivalent) becausehishouse was full of people...and some kids came over and stated watching, we finished the game a litle earlier so we decided to let the kids try a little short adventure,just for fun. They loved it (of coursem it was a really lame advenure, but it was fun playing with kids, (freaking good halflings) So, a week later we founded ourselves back in the frontyard, when all of a sudden five guys came to us, men and women of 40+, and started preaching at us, turns out the kids where evangelist and those people claimed we had putted satanist ideas in their heads and stuf like that...w luaghed really hard at them (maybe not too polite, but inevitable) and i told them: you said we're brainwashing your children, yet you drag them to weekly sessions of something they don't understand, want, or like, and forbid them to do thethings they like? theyyelled harderand we just turned our backs...now everytime we go there they look at us really bad (turns out there's a church just two doors left), but we still play d&d and listen heavy metal ^^ maybe someday they'll get things rigth until then, i really don't care
weasel fierce 05-08-05, 10:29 PM	I try not to argue with shortminded idiots. If a person has their mind made up that roleplaying is evil or lame, then most likely, they are not a type of person I would enjoy interacting with on a regular basis, in any event.
Flushmaster 05-09-05, 02:33 AM	If sombody doesn't understand it, I explain it to them. I tell them that it's basically rules for playing make-believe, and the subject material is dependent only on the imaginations of the players. One player, the DM, creates a fictional world and describes it to the others. The others each control an imaginary character that lives in this world and describes what their character does after the DM sets the scene. Anything that requires skill to perform or has a chance of failure in the real world requires rolling dice in this imaginary world, with a character's strengths and weaknesses (as recorded on the character sheet) can increase or decrease the odds of the character succeeding. As to what the characters do, that's completely up to the people playing, but the players are almost always required to work together in a cooperative fashion to succeed at the goals set down in the game. The entire thing is all in your imagination (though you might use diagrams or miniatures to keep track of the imaginary action), and none of it has any bearing on the real world. It's a game, no more and no less. If the person is familiar with the term "RPG" or at least examples of the term (Final Fantasy is a commonly recognized one), I explain that RPG videogames are, at their core, just computerized versions of D&D, likely with different rule mechanics and less actual roleplaying due to linear plots, but D&D is still the great grand daddy of all such games. If they still think it's stupid or lame, then I simply say that we apparently have different opinions on what is fun. If they still think that it's evil and satanic, I tell them that they're really quite dense and end the conversation right there since they're obviously not worth talking to anymore. If they actually think that players can gain magical abilities or other "dark powers" then I tell them that, were that the case, I'd have already cast a silence spell on them so I wouldn't have to listen to their bull****; it's a mass produced game just like monopoly and, last I checked, I never came into posession of actual real estate or money for winning a game of monopoly against my friends.
Arcanis the wacher 05-09-05, 09:56 AM	it's a mass produced game just like monopoly and, last I checked, I never came into posession of actual real estate or money for winning a game of monopoly against my friends. :heehee i like that
Venom of the Yuan Ti 05-09-05, 10:17 AM	i think it is funny as though all the clams against it are through ignorance. Sorry I know my own spelling is not that great but, What have shelfish got to do with D&D? :OMG! Dire clams!