HermitFromPluto wrote:
That is hilarious! Thanks for posting.

It is interesting, I believe a lot of the occult stems from conservative religious elements. They are the ones that define it and say it is real. i.e. if you do this you have veered form the way and are doing the devils business.

In RPGs any half-intelligent person knows it is fiction and a fun game, just like immersing oneself in a movie or a book. Yet it is the conservative religious types that 'attach reality' to it. They make people feel insecure, make people fear, preach a doctrine, which is essentially 'magic'.

Who is living in the real world?

Badmike wrote:My group was very lucky.  Basically, the most intelligent, straight laced, upright kid in the neighborhood, Joe, introduced us to D&D in the late 70s.  He had played it in Maryland before he moved to Texas, where not many people knew about it until he introduced us. Joe later went on to be Salutatorian at our high school, went to A&M through the Corps, served a decade in the Navy and became a Captain, and now is a successful doctor.  Not to mention he's happily married, goes to church, and has two genius kids that are even smarter and more well adjusted than he was.

khartsfield wrote:My dad was a minister when I was introduced to AD&D, back in '82. He and my mom bought a used PHB from a guy who put an ad in the paper. I was reading it (devouring it!) one night and my dad asked me what it was all about. So I told him. He said he was interested, so my house became the default D&D place for the next 3 years. My dad played a Cleric, naturally. To this day, he is the epitome of Clerics for me. He made up on his own god, a pseudo-Christian like mythos.

During the D&D scare of the early 80's, my dad happened to be at a ministers conference in Kansas City. The discussion came up about the 'evils ' of this game and the assembled crowd starting derriding it and planning on how to get it out of the hands of 'our youth'. My dad stands up and tells them all that he plays. He plays once a week, with his kids, and their friends. He tells them how much fun we have and how we are all together. He tells them how narrow minded they are and how he thinks they should look into it before they pass judgement.

When he told me this, I thought it was really cool. Looking back on it, it really gives me respect for my dad. Savelon, the Cleric.

(On a side note, a few weeks back I went to the Lake Geneva Gaming Con. I was lucky enough to play in a Lejendary Adventures game with Gary Gygax as our GM. I played a ecclesiatic (aka 'cleric') character. I named him Savelon in honor of my dad. We only played a few hours, but I kept the character sheet.)

Deadlord39 wrote:You'll find that all people who allow religion to dominate their lives are hypocritcal, sanctimonious scumbags, regardless of what religion they are. This is because there are almost no religions which allow for tolerance of OTHER religions. Why do you think it is Muslims who are blowing themselves up? Catholics/Christians are no different, if you aren't of their religion you are going to burn, period.
Religion has been responsible for more deaths than any other single cause in the history of the world.