by Lola Batling

Created on: June 09, 2008

The question of Dungeons and Dragons being satanic is as old as the game itself. The key facet of the debate is that it's fantasy. The same people who believe that Harry Potter is satanic will believe that Dungeons and Dragons is satanic, and there is nothing that can be written or shown can do to dissuade them.

Does Dungeons and Dragons deal with demons and devils, along with all manners of things that would be considered evil? Yes, it does, as an antagonist for the, usually, good and heroic protagonists.

Does Dungeons and Dragons deal with Satan and the worship of any such entity? No, no more than ancient Aztecs, Mayans, or Egyptians did. Despite the existence of evil deities and less than stellar exemplars of good, there is more "evil" than Satan in any myriad of forms.

There are some that would say the existence of evil in the game system in areas such as alignment and classes or prestige classes make it promote satanism. These developmental tools are there to show the differences between the good characters and the evil that they fight. While there are players that stretch the boundaries of good and evil, such has been the case for decades. The classic archetype of the anti-hero is just that: a hero who does not so heroic things. Does this make Batman, Wolverine, John Constantine or other such heroes satanic? Not in the least, it makes them complex and real.

Also, evil is subjective. There are those who consider any number of corporations evil for their practices, but that does not make them satanic. As far as most are aware, there are very few companies that promote satanism, despite how evil some people view the company.

To boil Dungeons and Dragons down into a base, Judea-Christian mold and archetype just so you can say that certain aspects of it are "satanic" not only defeats the purpose of the game, it also bastardizes the hard work by authors, artists, designers, and creators of a game that is no more violent than Grand Theft Auto and no less thought provoking than anything written by Tolkien or other fantasy writers.

No, Dungeons and Dragons is not satanic. Believing such is narrow-minded simplicity that does not actually take more than the basest subjective look at the tiniest fraction of a game that spans many fantasy worlds, even whole magical universes. It is the equivalence of taking one of the systems that happens to have artificial living constructs and calling it Science-Fiction instead of Fantasy because there are "robot people".

The inclusion of demons and devils does not make something satanic. Being satanic, and having Satan as an actual part of a given cosmology, makes something satanic. Dungeons and Dragons, lacking a literal Satan does not have anything that makes it satanic. Sure, it can be more macabre, amoral, evil if you want, but it cannot be satanic in any sense of the word.

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