by Glen R. Taylor

Created on: July 16, 2008

A great deal of noise has been made in the media on whether Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game first produced by TSR, Inc., and now published by Wizards of the Coast, is "Satanic." Most such claims boil down to misunderstandings of what the game is, and are made by those without direct experience of the game. Those claims are easily brushed aside, however, which leaves the accusations by those who give specific reasons for their belief.

Those accusing the game of being Satanic usually reference the common tropes of the game's fantasy milieu, inspired strongly by the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and others. The themes that are often referenced include, among others, the following:

- Fictional religions, most often polytheistic, belonging to the fictional settings of the game. This is taken to be an encouragement to follow religions other than Christianity (or other religions including a Satan, such as Judaism and Islam) in the player's actual lives. This is commonly chosen as the focus of accusations by those who consider all religions other than their own "Satanic."

- Game rules for the use of fantasy magic. This is often considered to be an encouragement for the players to somehow delve into the study and practice of "real" magic. This accusation assumes that the accuser believes that magic is a force in the real world and that all magic not related to their own religious mythology is "Satanic."

- The depiction of fictional monsters resembling evil beings from Christian mythology and pre-Christian mythologies. Presumably, this argument would only be used by accusers who believe in the literal existence of demons, dragons, unicorns, minotaurs, and other fantastic creatures, and that they are by nature "Satanic." How the fictional depiction of such creatures is meant to be Satanic is unclear, as by definition it would seem to make Bullfinch's Mythology, Dante's Divine Comedy, and even the Christian Bible "Satanic."

- Potential support for the playing of evil characters in the scope of the game. This is an argument used by those who find that the word evil (defined in the game as antisocial and psychopathic) is a synonym for "Satanic," and that the possibility of defining fictional characters fitting the profile must encourage the players to be evil and Satanic.

- General negative references, such as references to fantasy violence. This is in relation to the fact that Dungeons and Dragons features frequent fictional combat,

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