Jason F. Long English 1304, 10-11:30am Melcher Hall room 119 Spring Semester, May 2, 1995 Fantasy Role Playing Games, Are They "Bad Things"? Ask any number of people, on the street, what they think a fantasy role playing game is, and most of them will give you blank stares. Of course, not everybody will. Chances are, you will find somebody who knows what you are talking about. Those who do know what fantasy role playing games are will tell you about them, and whether they and/or friends of theirs play these games. This is assuming you find a person who likes them. There's a good chance that most of the people you talk to --who know what they are-- will not be fans. These people usually hate them. They say that the games are evil, in some --or many ways-, and how bad they are to the people who do play them. Fantasy Role Playing Games, although much maligned, are really just mostly harmless --not perilous. Herein, I shall try to prove this to you. But, before I can tell you where they stand, I must tell you where they have been. History Fantasy role playing games (FRP's or more recently RPG's --though specifically F-RPG's) have been formally# around since the early 1970's. They grew out of wargaming. Wargaming involved complicated rules for warfare between armies of little metal figures. Most often, they were recreations of famous battles in history --Napolean's Waterloo for example. They were divided up by where they were in history$, and used dice to simulate the chance of a hit with bow and arrow --or cannon. In the 60's a new phenomenon hit. J.R.R. Tolkien's, _The_Lord_of_the_Rings_, came out in paperback for the first time. It would change wargaming forever. Soon wargamers were placing armies of orcs and dwarves into their battle plans. Not long after this War Games Research, a premier wargaming information research "center," placed rules for dragonfire and magic swords into the medieval rules. Of course they did put them in the back --but they were in there. J. Eric Holmes, M.D., editor of the first true Basic Set Rules for D&D --and avid gamer-, got to the point excellently when, in _Fantasy_Role_Playing_Games_, he wrote: In Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a small group of wargamers, headed by Gary Gygax, published a rule book for medieval battles called _Chainmail_. This was essentially a set of instructions for miniature armies, castles, sieges, and campaigns, but it contained a large amount of fantasy material, magic spells, giants, trolls, dragons, and what have you. The game was reasonably popular. (Holmes, _Fantasy_Role_Playing_Games_ p. 63) (History tells us nothing of what happened next, but then, whenever something makes money, the people who came up with it are almost always tight lipped about the initial process. So much is lost to obscurity that way. But, that's how the money game is played.) At about the same time as _Chainmail's_ release, wargamer Dave Arneson of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, showed some other gamers a new area under his Blackmoor castle. It was a dungeon. Everybody ran one character, each with a set of abilities produced through die rolls. Magic and combat followed _Chainmail_ rules, which were familiar to them. Whopping success. Gygax and Arneson met, and Gygax created his own called Greyhawk. Also a success. More and more people heard about these games, and wanted in. The two gamers took their creation to many publishers, and were turned down. There was great demand, so they published it under Gygax's little company, called TSR (Tactical Studies Rules). At first, it was a boxed three-book set that they mailed out on demand direct. In a year the first printing was gone and, "Dungeons and Dragons," was born. Initially, "D&D," was confusing to any novice player who wanted in --some parts, for example, in the Combat section, alluded to the earlier _Chainmail_. To try to help the players, Arneson wrote a supplementary booklet called _Blackmoor_, and Gygax came up with one of his own, called _Greyhawk_ --both now descending into obscurity% [recently Greyhawk has been making a comeback --in "Advanced D&D". They only --usually-- provided more confusion since both supplements had variant combat rules that you, the gamer, could decide to use. Others would soon be making their own revisions to refine the game. At Caltech, in Pasadena, students Cowen, Dahl, Smith, and others compiled, in their opinion, a better set of rules, and called it, "Warlock". Holmes says that he used their combat system with "D&D" because "D&D's" confused him, at first. Arizona's Ken St. Andre created "Tunnels and Trolls" with its own rules. These found publishers, and yet others appeared in gaming magazines. In all "D&D" gained more revision than was contained in the original set. Of course, all the enthusiasm was not just contained in the games. No, it spilled over into peripheral activities --usually high school and university based clubs and societies. TSR held a convention every August for many years, and "GenCon" got vastly larger. "D&D" began to appear at other conventions, for example "MagiCon", and even some other smaller conventions were developed strictly for "D&D." The basic structure of the RPG was down in that first boxed set. It was an imaginative fantasy quest where players "ran" characters whose attributes --and occasionally even their personalities-- were represented by die rolls, and these abilities could get better and better with experience in the referee's fantasy setting. And, transfer from one world to another was possible, if a little limited. Realism Although the game began as a spinoff of wargaming, it was soon readily apparent that the metal "men" weren't really necessary. The imagination produced the character and made it do things that were supposed to be done. The referee (or Dungeon Master (DM)) tells the players what the characters see and the players have their characters react: DM: You are in a room about 10 feet on a side. There's the door behind you and one in front of you. Also to the north and south in the walls are windows. Player 1: Roge Fastfinger, my thief, goes and listens at the opposite door. [rolls] DM: He hears nothing. Player 1: Okay, he spikes it to keep it closed. "No one's coming from that way without us knowing about it." He grins smugly. Player 2: Ella Eevin, my elf, looks out the north window --after rolling her eyes at Roge. What does she see. DM: She sees clouds racing by in a myriad of colors. Its almost hypnotic... She becomes dizzy, and turns her back on the scene. Player 2: Okay, and she stumbles a bit. "Not advisable to look out this window guys." Player 3: Jafo the Large, THE fighter, moves to look out the south window. DM: (Control your ego) He sees a sea of rock and lava flowing west. There is an eruption every so often some reaching five feet straight up. The heat makes him turn around. Player 3: "Man that's hot." He wipes his brow, and goes back to watch the west door. "Somebody come in I dare ya!" DM: Okay, whatever. [rolls and looks at a chart behind his screen] No one answers the dare. P 3: "Darn!" *snap* DM: Which of you did that? You or your character. P 3: Both. DM: Okay. At present the room is secure. P 1: Alright, Roge pulls out the spike and opens the door slowly. P 2: Ella readies the spell fireball. P 3: Jafo unlimbers his broadsword. "Time to split some skulls!" DM: Fine, and unusually a propos [appropriate]. When the door opens a skeleton steps in bringing his shortsword to bare on Roge since he's closest. P 3: Jafo disarms the skeleton, and swings the sword back over his head for the "kill." P 1: Roge gets behind Jafo. DM: Roge will be hit if you swing. P 3: Coward get Roge from behind my character. I don't trust him and neither does Jafo. Besides, you would not want me to scar his pretty face, would you? P 1: Okay hotshot, he ducks out of the way. "That help?" P 3: We said move him! P 2: "Men!" Guys shut up. Keep on the game. Ella lets loose the fireball aiming between the East door and the Skeleton in case he has friends who haven't come in yet, "Bal Ko Te!" DM: The spell cast, a ball of blue and white flame streaks up and over landing with a crash *KABOOM* knocking you all down and showering the skeleton with fire. It stands there burning until it collapses as ash. There is now a "small" crater where the fireball hit --that is, you could curl up in it-- full of ash. The door is completely off its hinges and in the next room on the floor. The room cools back to normal. What do you do? P 2: Wait a minute. Did you say "blue flame?" DM: Yes, I did. P 2: "Guys something's wrong..." We'll leave them there before they find out about the warlock around the corner or the... well (heh, heh, heh) other nasty surprises like why the fireball was so powerful. At the heart of the game, is its realism, or rather, its virtual realism (though that dialogue above was generated spur of the moment, it was not taken from an actual game session). Without it the games probably would not sell at all. Most of the enjoyment is from its similarity to the reality we all dwell in. The characters have to sleep, eat, HEAL, and communicate with others. Everyone does these everyday. Here it is called reality and to the characters --and to some extent the players-- the game setting is reality as well. This is another sticking point --both good and bad. Controversy In 1979 "Dungeons and Dragons," was blasted with some unwanted and unexpected publicity. The game was everywhere. Every college had some sort of outlet for gamers. In August, James Dallas Egbert III, an undergraduate at UM and an addicted D&D gamer, suddenly disappeared. At the time no one knew why he left, but some speculate that he and others played D&D in the steam tunnels under the university --and that his character may have died and failed all attempts to be brought back^. The media ate it up. And, groups against F-RPG's smiled like that magical cat in _Alice_in_Wonderland_. All the attention had no noticeable negative effect on the numbers of players... it actually increased sales of RPG's. AND, when Egbert was found sometime later, it turned out that his disappearance had nothing to do with the game. Too bad for the media. There was even a movie made, starring Tom Hanks, called "_Mazes_and_Monsters_." In the movie Tom's character vanishes, and the plot revolves around a game related murder. (Of course all evidence points to Tom.) With all the information presented it is hard to say if fantasy role playing is generally healthy --or toxic. For some parents and teachers its heaven sent, role playing helped their children become more creative. Of course for some it could be a time bomb. For example: "If I had a child who tended toward schizophrenia, I'd never let him near D&D. There's a danger that it would reinforce feelings of grandiosity, of omnipotence. Reality and fantasy are hard enough for schizophrenics to differentiate." Having said that, however, he then proceeds to soften the impact of his comments by saying,"But I doubt very much that the game causes problems."(Weldon and Bjornstad, _Playing_With_Fire_ p. 52 --originally quoted in Moira Johnston's, "It's Only a Game-Or Is It?" p. 38) But opponents' voices never falter, they just find new reasons to complain. Some of these opponents will argue that living so much of one's time in one's mind sounds sick. The response to this is usually easy. Dungeons and Dragons, and other role playing games, help people to learn to cooperate with one another. This is good! For someone to play a complicated game with others, the individual must interact with them, and that increases socialization in an excellent direction. Most gamers are sane individuals with --usually-- higher active imaginations. Of course having heard that antagonists retaliate with phrases like,"Then why do some parade around like their characters, act like anything they do role playing wise is TOP SECRET, or generally just act like they are insane?" Some students, high school and college, often deliberately flaunt "insanity." It is loosely a matter of status to them. Example:"He always acts real weird. What's wrong with him?" "Who, him?" "Yeah that guy." "He plays D&D." ("Cool." --or-- "So he IS (weird/a wacko/out of his mind). I thought so." are the usual responses.). Why they like to do it is unknown. They'll accept that answer usually with a glare at you --the person they asked. To rekindle the fire one only needs to say something along the lines of,"Role playing is a healthy way for people to let off steam," and stand back. They love this one. "By killing and maiming and being lewd or greedy," they say,"I don't want my son/daughter having any part in that." Now, before you give in to this well-said objection, ask them this,"Would you rather they joined a gang, took drugs, sped in the family car repeatedly, or started drinking. Now, what do you think of a little role playing? Beats them having problems due to these totally real dilemmas." They'll glare. They may even respond. But all you would have to bring up something like,"Have you ever rehearsed asking the boss for a raise." Most will say yes. Tell them that's role playing --especially if they say that they imagine punching him in the face, or if they have a dart board with Mr. Bossman's picture on it. They're letting off steam, by removing any fears through that rehearsal --or pent up aggression released at the imaginary boss. Have they actually hurt their boss? No. Role playing is like that. It releases stress and tension (though sometimes it makes more). "But what about all the time they take away from my son's/daughter's work and chore times?" Like any hobby or fad they tend to. I can only suggest that you limit your child's game time. If they play for three hours straight, make him or her stop after the first hour do their work --and they'll do it faster since they have the incentive of the game, with excitement and intrigue already to a high level, that is waiting to be continued. And when they are done with the task(s) let them go back to the game with an admonition that if the work was done bad they will have to stop again. This makes enemies, so you might move work time to before play starts --or after since they are usually still wound up after the session. "Role playing --and most role playing games-- are decidedly non-Christian [Debated thoroughly --yet with high bias-- in the book _Playing_With_Fire_ by Weldon/Bjornstad]. They are full of occult themes, and only lead to sin." Valid point. They aren't Christian. Wait! That is not altogether true, for some have definite Good and Evil polarities [Example Middle Earth Roleplaying which is based entirely on J.R.R. Tolkien's novels which all have a Christian world view --A Good Creator and Evil... Destroyer] Most on the other hand do not. Why? Because if they were then you could have any nutcase --i.e. those who should not play, like schizophrenics with already skewed ideas about reality-- maybe... challenge GOD to a duel. And what if this guy wins...? What does that do to his psyche. Gary Gygax specifically made his game systems without an above all GOD mainly because any entity in his games has STATS (= Traits based on die rolls that show all the attributes a character has. Examples are Strength= {D&D rules} affects how well a character hits with melee weapons, how much damage they deal with melee and thrown weapons, and effects how often a character can budge a stuck door; and Constitution= {D&D} affects the number of hit points you have.), and if a creature has stats then there is a good chance that there is some way to kill it. Hence, no one GOD, like Iehovah, but a whole pantheon. And also the choice not to have a God at all. Of course if this still repels you then either: 1) Don't play at all; or 2) Find a DM --Dungeon Master, also called GM = Game Master, or referee-- who has above all the other Gods a Iehovah like God and beneath --?-- all the evil Gods a Lucifer like Devil. Look around. Heck there's even a game DESIGNED for hard core Christians called _Dragonraid_ where the PC's battle the Evil One's dragons on a planet called EdenAgain. Fighting off both sin and dragons with "wordrunes" of power which come from Biblical scripture. As for the occult aspect... yes it's there, but not all characters who practice these arts are evil [Debate on this point is another issue altogether which would be more appropriate in a paper on magick even though it has aspects that touch RPG's very core]. Role playing expands the mind. It opens a person up to a vast amount of information and heightens creativity. But the adversaries of the F-RPG must have their say here too. One of the more prevalent arguments is,"How can casting spells, raiding treasure hordes, and killing monsters expand the mind and heighten creativity?" For one, reading is strongly encouraged. Someone who can comprehend Gygax's vernacular can read at college level. For example, the AD&D DMG --Dungeon Master's Guide-- has a glossary but you'll find a definite need for a dictionary to finish the guide. How many readers who are not DM's can define: lammasu, shaman, barbican, levitation, ethereal, machicolation, oligarchy, chevalier, polymorph, or chalcedony [paraphrase of Holmes, _Fantasy_Role_Playing_Games_ p.205 para 3]? "Or dweomer, to use one of Gygax's favorites. I have to tell you that one; since it probably isn't in your dictionary: Dweomer, according to the Grand Master of D&D, means magic or magical spell."[Holmes, _Fantasy_Role_Playing_Games_ p.205 para 3] Also required are cartographic skills, memorization, problem solving, and a fair amount of rapid mathematics. Some say you have to be a genius to play but average intelligence and a good imagination will do nicely. "What about all the crimes related to role playing, like... 1) In June 1988 Daniel Kasten, 20, of Long Island, argued that he was not responsible for shooting his parents because he was under a spell of another character in the game. 2) In Fayetteville, N.C., authorities suspected that two soldiers charged in December 1986 for the killing of a retired couple may have been acting out a fantasy from the game. 3) In Watertown, N.Y. a 16 yr. old boy was convicted of killing a 11 yr. old neighbor while playing out a D&D fantasy in '85. The prosecution said that the boy apparently became caught up in the game and shot the other boy because the 11 yr. old "had become evil." 4) Drug abuser and avid gamer Christopher Pritchard, 19, planned the murder of his mother and stepfather in Washington, N.C. in July '88. He was convicted. CBS made a television movie,"Cruel Doubt," about it. 5) In Flagstaff, Arizona during the month of August 1992, a troubled teen named Misty Largo talked of running away from home. Several weeks later she was found dead in a storm culvert. Friends say that she was scary, dressing always in black, listening to heavy metal, and proportedly worshipping Satan. Authorities say her murder is linked with two others which where previously unsolved for months. Police say that Largo and the 16 yr. old may have been involved in the first slaying in late April of a one Harold Charboneau. On August 11, police arrested Charboneau's son, Grant, and charged him with Largo's death. Four others were arrested in connection with the murders. There is evidence that D&D role playing is a factor in the slayings. One juvenile arrested used the name "Highlander" which comes from the films of the same name about an immortal race living with us on earth which can only be killed by others of their race. Largo was stabbed. One officer said that drugs might also factor in. What do you say to that. (Knuckle cracking sound) Since these were presented as a list I'll responded in kind. 1) I can only say three things about that and I can give no proof of the first two. One, he is one of the people who shouldn't be playing in the first place, i.e. a schizophrenic and really believes that the spell made him do it. Second, he may have been just trying to cover his behind. He may have planned the whole thing. Lastly, the jury found him guilty. Touche, valid point. 2) Toughy. They could have shell shock or be unable to leave the war behind. Or they could just be sickos. Unknown. Check. 3) With more information I could probably say more, but as the matter stands I'll have to reuse 1 and 2 --from response 1)-- by applying it here. Of course the teenager could be unbalanced, but that is so far unknown. I concede this point. 4) One gaming and drugs don't mix --heck drugs don't mix with anything. Two, you're grasping at straws here. How does role playing fit in. Sure he planned it, but did he make a game scenario out of it? Was his favorite character supposed to kill them with him dressed up as his character? There are just enough nutcases like Pritchard who plan to kill their parents without role playing figuring in for this situation to be any different. Lastly, most networks make movies out of major cases. They're trying for ratings. 5) All you've left me to do is nitpick. One, anyone who dresses against the norm is deemed abnormal, and or satanic/cultic. Two, listening to heavy metal isn't a sin. The songs aren't all coauthored by Mephistopheles. Three, drugs alter reality and the perception of it to its victims, and if they [drugs] figure in then the case weighs differently on the scale swinging more towards sometimes bad rather than harmful. Four, it's Flagstaff, and like most backwaters --no offense-, you could know someone for years, but the minute your in deep water they rat on you --sometimes making things up WITHOUT proof. I'd also like to add that black does not automatically denote a follower of Ol' Nick. PRIESTS wear black. Other than these a tremendously valid point against FRP's and RPG's. The score looks bleak from both sides. In the proponents hand you have patience and diligence to find the true truth. In the opponents hand you have quickness of action and lots of cases --whether provable, previously shattered, or hard evidence about those who should not play. But one way or another for the people who've played them "error free" they are some of the best of times. Before I go, one last thing. What do you think? Should these troubled people ever have played? Will others likely snap? Do you know anyone who plays? Do you ever doubt their sanity? And lastly... Would YOU like to play? Works Cited Card, Orson Scott. "Role-Playing Tedium." _Compute!_ Dec. 1990: 92 Carter, Chip , and Jonathan Carter. "Go for world domination with Third World War game." _Chronicle_ 22 July 1994, 2 Star: Houston 2. Clark, Joe. "Dungeons and drag queens" _Village_Voice_ 13 July 1993: 46 Ferrell, Keith , Kellee Monahan , and Bob Lindstrom. "Special Section: The Worlds of Electronic Games." _Omni_ Jan. 1991:81-110 Fine, Gary Alan. _Shared_Fantasy:_Role-Playing_Games_As_ _social_worlds_. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. Guerra, Bob. "Dungeons & Dragons: A Simulated Fantasy." _Compute!_ Nov 1990: 64-72 Holmes, John Eric. _Fantasy_Role_Playing_Games_. New York: Hippocrene Books, (c)1981. Olafson, Peter. "Harvesting controversy" _Compute!_ Aug 1994: 84 Schick, Lawrence. _Heroic_Worlds:_A_History_And_Guide_To_ _Role-Playing_Games_. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, (c)1991 Sidener, Jonathan , and Mary Tolan. "Police suspect 3 deaths, Satanism and game linked." _Chronicle_ 18 Aug 1992, 2 Star: A7 TSR Staff. _Dungeons_&_Dragons_Game:_Rules_Cyclopedia_. USA: TSR Inc., 1991 distributed by Random House. TSR Staff. _Advanced_Dungeons_&_Dragons_2nd_Edition:_ Player's_Handbook_. USA: TSR Inc., 1989 distributed by Random House. Unsworth, Tim. "The TSR story: How the Games Empire Expanded." _Publisher's_Weekly_ 12 Feb. 1988: 66 Weldon, John and James Bjornstad. _Playing_With_Fire_. Chicago: Moody Press, (c)1984. Footnotes to Text # Formally, I say because if you imagine yourself anywhere doing something then you are playing a role --role playing-- and THAT has been around since human kind realized it had an imagination. Examples: "Gee, I wish I was (a,an,the,The) __________ then I could..." ; "I would not have done that that way, I would have..." ; OR "If I had (a,an,the,The) __________ then I'd..." Also if you think about it actors and actresses are role playing their parts. It's just that they do live action. $ Ancient (Rome and Greece), Medieval (knights and kingdoms), Napoleonic (which "oddly" includes the Amer. Revolution and The Civil War), and Modern (since this was the in thing in the 50's that meant WWII --though if you look you can find WWI though it is usually neglected). % Blackmoor is now just a place on a map when once it had an entire campaign setting (TSR split away from Arneson and stopped producing adventures there). Greyhawk took up a whole world. Recently it woke up from a long nap in limbo. Its origins and where it is going are now hotly contested topics in some gaming circles. The reason being is that Mystara --a.k.a. The World Of Greyhawk-- is now a campaign world in both "D&D" and "AD&D". Some say that the TSR universe started with Mystara, it evolved, had a major catastrophe, becoming Forgotten Realms --planet name, Oreth-, which gets a major catastrophe of its own and becomes Darksun --Athas. "But that's just my opinion I could be wrong," [Dennis Miller Show, HBO, Fridays at midnight]. ^ Few realize how important a character is to someone. They're like a member of the family or a best friend, and when they die well... there's just as much grief. You can bring them back but if that completely fails then s/he's gone. You can make a new character but it isn't _________. Jason F. Long ENGL 1304, 10-11:30 119 MELC May 2,1995 Jason F. Long ENGL 1304, 10-11:30 119 MELC May 2,1995 XX XX