Dungeons and Dragons

Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons (DnD), has passed away at the age of 69, as detailed in this article. Due to that reason I want to take a small moment to remember a great American past time. Not baseball, but the other one, the one under the bleachers practiced by the kids who didn't make the baseball team: Dungeons and Dragons.

For those who do not know what Dungeons and Dragons is, it is the first published Role Playing Game (RPG) in 1974. An RPG is a game where the players takes on the "Role" of another character, generally in a fantastic setting in which the player is now a hero. DnD in the most generic world (Greyhawk) is similar to a medieval Europe, except with a multitude of mythological beasts such as trolls and dragons which the players would interact with (generally fight and kill). Players would create their own characters, choosing things such as their races, (your basics, Human, dwarf, or elf) and class, such as Warrior or Wizard, with a multitude of rules that centered around the rolls of die. And not just your normal 6 sided dice, but everything from 4sides to 20sides (even 100 sided dice).
Dungeons and Dragons quickly caught on, spawning many other copy-cat games, like the similarly named Tunnels and Trolls. Dungeons and Dragons has itself taken many forms, quickly splitting into Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (ADnD). It is currently owned by Wizards of the Coast, who are working on a 4th edition of the game. Dungeons and Dragons is often cited as the basis of almost any and all Roleplaying Games that we have now. Yes, you closet World of Warcraft players out there, DnD is the forefather of your game (actually...thats a lie. WoW has to thank Battletech more for spawning Warhammer...but still DnD is very important and the main forefather of all MMoRPGs).

Now, to connect this to the occult and end in giving you some fun reading material...the various worlds and realms of Dungeons and Dragons also included entirely new pantheons of gods. Some of these pantheons resembled or took directly from multitudes of pagan gods, or were entirely new constructs, but almost never did they circle around a singular Christian God.
So in the '80's, with the fear of everything occult in nature, DnD was also definitely picked on. Many believed that Dungeons and Dragons was actually being used to help corrupt our youth, a process to select specific individuals to be initiated. The very pagan notions of DnD wasn't helped when a few cases of teen suicide occurred by kids who were known to have played DnD. Obviously, the kids committed suicide because of the game and not due to the fact they were alienated and showed signs of chemical imbalances before hand...it was the game (oh yeah, and any kid who listens to Metallica practices SRA). The evils of DnD were all detailed in Christian pamphlets, such as this one by Jack Chick. No seriously, read it...propaganda at its best, detailing both how DnD leads to suicide and FORCES you to become an evil Satan worshiping heathen that ends in a cry for burning all Witches with bible quotes to boot.

The stigma from this hung heavy for quite awhile. Luckily, since the 2000's quite a few various big names have openly, and with pride, admitted to be huge DnD players. One of these notablye characters is Joss Whedon, who referenced DnD multiple times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xander, Giles, and Andrew play it). The antithesis of the assumed DnD player may be the most vocal though; Vin Diesel, who has multiple rants about his love for the game (the first two block quotes are about DnD), and had a laugh riot with Conan O'brien about it. So finally, after 30 years, its okay to say "I play a roleplaying game, and enjoy it."
I know a few of you do. So take this moment to also say "Thank you Gary Gygax. Without you I wouldn't be playing WoW or Final Fantasy."