Is D&D really Pagan?

What? It could happen

Now since this is just another random topic that came to me while I was talking to my dad. He was reading a book called the “Elfish Genre”, a book about an English dude who was into D&D, and how one of the things he noted about the subculture is its relationship to heavy metal rock music, both in its kinda escapist fantasy and in the sort of medieval pagan theme that goes into it. My dad, who is pretty open minded towards D&D generally, noted that the whole medieval escapism is actually very much sort of a way people are reverting back to paganism. He has noted upon pagan elements within D&D several times before, and many radical Christian nuts (by that I refer to Jack Chick) have accused D&D of full blow satanic influences. Now we all know the latter claim is BS, but lets look at the much more mild claim of the game being Pagan. First off, that’s a rather borad generalization, pagan is one of those really tricky to define words out there, as literally hundreds of thousands of faiths, dead or alive can be thrown under that category. But lets just focus on the more obvious ones. You have a polytheistic world with many deities based upon various elements of nature worships (FR is the most promenade example of this), who are appeased through faith and various forms of sacrifices (if not human all the time). Magic is a very literal and powerful force, often serving as a part of magic itself and most worship boils down to some form of nature reverence (something monotheistic worshipers tended to move away from, focusing more upon the ideas of acting good within a society). Other people have stated that D&D is outright satanic, with its vivid descriptions of hell and the underworld.

But I actually disagree with both of these points. The latter should be obvious, D&D is about fighting crazy evil creatures, not being them (through you can be). But the pagan thing I have to disagree with. If you read closely, D&D is actually remarkable Christian/Jewish/Islam. The alignment system’s definition of good, while certainly not totally Christian Certainly (the Pagan images thing/honor your parents/no adultery/only shall worship one god stuff isn’t there) but the general ideas are still there

1) Murder is evil. Killing is acceptable, but hopefully avoidable

2) All mortals (IE not ‘Always Evil’ creatures) can potentially be good in theory and avoiding fighting is better than not

3) Stealing is sometimes ok, but normally evil

4) Pride is bad, as its zealotry and ends justifies the mean

5) Torture is bad

6) Rape is bad

7) Protect the innocent from oppression and harm

Ok, a lot of faiths have this as well, but considering this is an American game, it’s really a rather Christian ideal system more than anything else. Sure, you are allowed to be evil, and there isn’t anything wrong with that (considering what a broad range evil is, I mean, Andrew Jackson would certainly be NE), the ideal of good is a very much based upon the beliefs of good is rather Christian in terms of the belief system rather than a more ‘Pagan” ideal of good and evil being decided by what ever god you worship.

But in the end, this whole argument is really moot. D&D draws influence from any fantasy source it can, regardless of source. And the only real purpose this kind of argument serves is to discredit people who claim D&D is involved with satanic worship. So um...yeah. Daily articles are more musings then real thesis i've noticed, but i hope you've enjoyed

from

EE