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Add to FavoritesIf you look up Satanic, you'll find the following three definitions:
1.) Related to or showing typical signs of Satanism
2.) suggestive of Satan or the devil
3.) evil, fiendish, devilish or diabolical
Let's work back from the last one first, in order.
First and foremost, Dungeons and Dragons among other things promotes some rather violent and evil behavior. Being at its core a role-playing game, one of the principal mechanics that drive game play is the use of something called alignment. Alignment, as defined in the context of the game, is a definition of a character's moral and ethical beliefs. Within that context, a character can be good or evil, lawful or chaotic or even neutral. All these terms are defined within the game rather clearly, with players given the choice of playing a character that is either heroic or villainous. Many, many options are given for both alternatives, and they are various and sundry.
The villainous options are quite prolific: not the least of which are character classes such as the Assassin, the Black Guard, the Acolyte of the Skin and the Diabolist. The Assassin is a murderer for hire as the name suggests, and has an alignment prerequisite (which is to say that the player must choose said alignment for the character upon character creation) of evil. The Black Guard is an unholy knight which in many ways is the antithesis of a holy knight or paladin, and also has a prerequisite of evil alignment. The Acolyte of the Skin is a character class in which the character must physically bond with a fiend (demon, devil, etc.) and take on physical characteristics of the creature bonded with. The Diabolist class is one in which the character worships a powerful patron fiend in exchange for dark eldritch power and magic, and involves pledging the character's soul to the patron fiend (a soul contract).
I think from that you could qualify definition number three: evil, fiendish, devilish or diabolical.
Among two of these classes you might make note of strong demonic and devilish influences. You would be correct: as a matter of fact, there are many, many devils and demons to choose from in Dungeons and Dragons. Devils, demons and the like are all lumped into one category within the game, called fiends. Fiends also include other supernatural evil creatures from the lower planes, such as Hell, Hades, The Abyss and Gehenna. Within such books as the Monster Manual (which is a book dedicated to providing the Dungeon Master antagonists for the players to overcome) are a large number of fiends to choose from. There are currently four or more such Monster Manuals, all with more and more fiends to choose from. There are also several books that are wholly dedicated to fiends, such as the Fiend Folio, Fiendish Codex One and Fiendish Codex Two, and The Book of Vile Darkness. The latter book also has a long list of all the demon princes and arch devils, and makes specific mention of Satan himself, as well as Beelzebub and Mephistopheles, two of Satan's more popular monikers.
I would imagine that might also qualify definition number two: suggestive of Satan or the devil.
I am sure advocates for Dungeons and Dragons might be reading thus far and hailing all the positive attributes of the game. Such as the possibility that even though such things as devils and demons exist within the context of D&D, there are also angels. Although such villainous classes exist, there are also altruistic ones such as the Paladin or Holy Warrior. All true. However, within the context of the game there is a distinct mythos or cosmology, also loosely referred to as a world view. Within this D&D cosmology exists powerful beings known as deities, or gods. There are many gods to choose from, but regardless of which one you prefer the mythos in question is polytheistic in nature. Christianity is a monotheistic faith system, and adherents also have strong beliefs that belief in Christianity precludes belief in any other gods. That is to say, there is only one God, not many. Core Christian beliefs also adhere to the fundamental tenet that all other gods are contrary to the One True God, and false. To believe in other gods is to be untrue an disobedient: false gods are often referred to as pagan gods, and are associated with Satan and his emissaries, that is demons and devils. So you are either worshiping God or you are worshiping Satan.
The first definition: Related to or showing typical signs of Satanism. Satanism is also defined as "Worship of the Devil" or "Any religion seen as both non-Christian and anti-Christian." Dungeons and Dragons can be said to qualify in this respect as well.
By these definitions, Dungeon's and Dragon's is indeed satanic.
Learn more about this author, Neal Banks.
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No
Those that claim Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is satanic are largely missing the point that it is a game. What I mean by this is that the D&D world is a game world; it is not meant to represent our real world. The game draws on influences from our world but so do the games of chess and monopoly, yet nobody complains about not receiving $200 when they pass by the Boardwalk or states how unrealistic it is that queens move so much faster than kings.
The D&D world is drawn from many influences, most notably the fictional works of J.R.R. Tolkien, but also from the mythology of past human civilizations. It therefore includes a number of clearly fictitious creatures, like elves, goblins, orcs and dragons. The most common D&D world settings (e.g. the Forgotten Realms) are polytheistic, not unlike that of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Vikings, Mayans and other early human civilizations.
To play the game, we are not expected to really believe that elves and dragons exist, nor that there are multiple gods. This is similar to when we read a superman comic, read Shelley's Frankenstein or watch a Star Wars movie. We can 'buy-in' to the premise of a book, movie or game and enjoy it for what it is (escapism), without it affecting our views of the real world.
D&D contains evil creatures, evil gods and evil characters. Like every good story, whenever we have a hero, we need a villain. We need evil for the hero to fight against. If there were no evil in D&D, playing the role of a knight would be significantly less fun. Just as Luke Skywalker needs Darth Vader, Batman needs the Joker, James Bond needs the KGB, D&D needs evil to balance the good.
D&D is just one example of the many different styles of role-playing games (RPGs) available today. In all cases, RPGs are like stories in which the player can participate in influencing the direction of the story and the outcome. Because of this flexibility, players have the option of playing the role of an evil character, as well as the option of being good. In most cases, this gives the player the chance to stretch their 'role-playing' skills and experience the game from a different perspective. It does not make the player evil and does not mean they need to be evil in real life to play this role. It is akin to all the many Hollywood actors that have played the role of Hitler or the Devil in movies. Those actors were not evil people, but the movie needed those roles to tell their story and someone needed to play them.
One final aspect of D&D (or any RPG) that is relevant to this debate is the fact that the players control the scope of the game. What this means is that if you want the scope of your D&D game to be as simple as a group of 'good' people wandering through dark caverns, killing wolves and finding treasure, you can do just that. You do not have to introduce the concept of gods or demons into the game at all. There is a lot of source material to help you create whatever type of game you want to play. Some of it includes demons and other creatures of evil, but much of it is far simpler.
There is nothing inherent in the worlds or mechanics of the D&D game that encourages Satanism. It provides an open and flexible setting and base rules for players to exercise their imaginations, create their own characters, their own stories and their own fun. I'm sure if you were already a Satanist and wanted to play the game in that vein, you could. You could also probably decide to replace your monopoly hotels with satanic altars, your chess pieces with carved demons and your hungry hippos with insatiable imps.
Learn more about this author, Robert Laws.
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