Dungeons & Dragons: Teh Moral Panic

[Martinus]

I really discovered it on my own as, when I was a kid, tabletop RPGs were only just appearing in Poland.

In fact, D&D came relatively late for me. My first game was called "Crystals of Time". It was written by a Polish guy and was published in episodes in a fantasy fanzine I used to read. It felt like Excel Spreadsheet bonanza were you had to consult 10 tables and roll dice 5 times or so to check if you hit the enemy. I forced my friends to play with me.

Then came Warhammer FRPG which is probably the most popular system in Poland, and after that World of Darkness, Pendragon, Amber Diceless and Call of Cthulhu. I think I haven't played D&D until I played it online with Dem and Jaron (but obviously I knew the system, not least because of computer games such as Pools of Radiance or Champions of Krynn).

I now have an online group with whom I play over chat on a weekly basis.

We have just put a Hunter campaign on hiatus and playing Aberrant right now.

[Brazen]

My mum encouraged me to join the local games club as a way to meet new friends

Found the original Dark Dungeons comic here:
https://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

There was a British version that went round the games club too but I can't find it.

[The Larch]

In Spain we had a moral panic related to role playing games of our own. When I was 14, and exactly the week before I played my first game ever (Call of Cthulhu) with a couple of high school friends, some weird psycho kids in Madrid actually killed a guy claiming to be part of a LARP. Our more sensationalistic tv station ran with the story for a long time. Talk about timing.

[Duque de Bragança]

It was a '90s thing in France. Dumb TV shows used it for profit.

[Solmyr]

I don't think any widespread moral panic ever occurred in Finland. We are enlightened that way. Considering how many Finns are fans of various subcultures (gamer, goth, metal, etc.), it's no surprise.

I started playing D&D in the beginning of the 90s and never had any problems. There was a fairly large gaming community at the time already.

[Martinus]

I don't think there was any widespread moral panic in Poland, either. I think some priests denounced tabletop rpgs from the pulpit, but then so they did with Harry Potter, Hello Kitty, My Little Pony and Stuart the Little so noone really took it seriously.

[Malicious Intent]

I started playing my first RPG in 1988, aged 11. The second edition of what eventually became Germany's most popular system and campaign world just got published, Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye). My mother did not exactly like it and eventually forbade me to play for a while. I would eventually join a RPG Group when I was 14, then playing D&D and MERP.

Oh, and much fun was to be had at that time, when a particularly religious uncle started to spread a German translation of Pat Pulling's infamous The Devils Web among the Family. I actually had to read the bullshit and then sit down with my mother to refute it. 

[Martinus]

Oh I forgot another game I played extensively - Ars Magica. To this day probably my favourite setting ever. 

[Martinus]

So apparently the fanzine I mentioned earlier started to come out in 1993, so 1993 was my first contact with tabletop RPGs (was 15 at the time, so pretty old). I remember not fully realising at first what this is supposed to be (I only knew the Talisman board game before and I thought it was something similar).

[Richard Hakluyt]

I took up wargaming and role-playing games c.1970 (D&D was not yet out so we even had to write our own rules at first). I heard about the moral panic over D&D later on, bit it was perceived as a primarily American thing. What I did encounter, however, was disapproval from some adult socialists for wargaming with figurines. There seemed to be a fear that wargaming would turn one into a militaristic bastard and lead to a career in the armed forces and a determination to kill a variety of inoffensive foreigners   

[Martinus]

Which just goes to show that assorted "progressives" (socialists, feminists etc.) operate frequently according to the same mindset as various "reactionaries" (Christian conservatives, islamists etc.).

The only things that change is who is their God and who are the unbelievers.

[Valmy]

Which just goes to show that assorted "progressives" (socialists, feminists etc.) operate frequently according to the same mindset as various "reactionaries" (Christian conservatives, islamists etc.).

Well it is the same deal. They are trying to create a moral and righteous society. Us un-virtuous barbarians ruin it for them.

[mongers]

I used to play D&D and ended up as a gay anti-Christian lawyer with an interest in occultism. 

Enough about your role playing.

[CountDeMoney]

I used to play D&D and ended up as a gay anti-Christian lawyer with an interest in occultism. 

Enough about your role playing.

Marti fails his save roll 2d10 versus ROFL

[Duque de Bragança]

I started playing my first RPG in 1988, aged 11. The second edition of what eventually became Germany's most popular system and campaign world just got published, Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye). My mother did not exactly like it and eventually forbade me to play for a while. I would eventually join a RPG Group when I was 14, then playing D&D and MERP.

This RPG, translated as l'Œil Noir, was very popular too in France back then. Gateway RPG since it was sold outside of hobby stores back then.