Why Does Controversy Always Swirl Around Dungeons & Dragons? on The Gaming Gang Dispatch EP 1089

[@reidurbjorn]

It's ironic that GenCon is in Indy, because I grew up with tons of people thinking it was Satanic. We even had the Jack Chick tract about it, "Dark Dungeons". It just came down to more "puritan" parents not wanting to take responsibility for messing up their kids. They needed a scapegoat. It was so hard to get your hands on the books that my friend only got a hold of second edition books because another kid's mom threw his books in the trash and my friend was a scavenger. 😂

[@TeskoLove]

Shouting into the void via Memorex to say DCC Dying Earth is absolutely worth getting! Even if you aren't interested in running a game in that setting, the new spells, patrons, etc are well worth it, and the adventure Pilgrims of the Black Obelisk has become one of my favorite funnel adventures. There is LOTS of fun RP opportunity in it, and it's really not dependent on the Dying Earth setting.

[@RobertBaker-cg4md]

One of the biggest things about controversies today is there seems to be a lot of people who go out of their way to always try to find one.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Watching on Memorex, great show. I've got Friday off work so I'm hoping I can stay up for the next one 👍

[@Subcomandante73]

WoTC/Hasbro have bet the farm on VTT and digital future for D&D. If is sinks like 4E then, after sacking the writing team, it might be hard to come back.

[@seabreezesg11]

The “Satanic Panic” is still a thing in small towns.

[@joeking1956]

Congratulations on the million views!

[@Thegaminggang]

It's actually two million. :)

[@dangarthemighty0980]

I started watching the stream last night and it glitched so bad that I couldn't keep watching. I am rewatching now on Memorex. ❤

[@Thegaminggang]

I ran some tests on my end last night and it looks like it was another issue with KZbin's streaming server. ~ Jeff

[@nutherefurlong]

If anything Mazes and Monsters, the TV movie, intrigued me. It was around the time that a lot of other fantasy game stuff started to hit the mainstream and I was like "this seems cool, too bad about Tom Hanks's character". Haven't read the book, kinda want to because from what I have seen, what mention of the rules there are are a sort of a veiled pastiche of early editions as seen by someone outside the hobby...

[@matthewconstantine5015]

The Painted Wasteland looks cool. As with some other folk, I'm not a huge fan of Vance's Dying Earth. I like the collection of short stories, but not the novels. Cugel or whatever his name is just annoyed me. Sometimes I like reading about villains/scum bags. But he's just such a turd. I do like the setting, though. And I've got a bunch of the DCC stuff. Agreed on the Mexican version of Dracula. I'm not a huge fan of the Bela Lugosi film, to be honest. I prefer Nosferatu. Creature from the Black Lagoon is solid, though I don't much like its sequels. I like the first two Frankenstein films, especially Bride. As far as my opinion on D&D and controversy, I think there are multiple reasons: One problem these days is that they're beholden to shareholders, and that's a recipe for bad business decisions. Shareholders want big money now. They don't want a successful company. They just want money. If that means burning a company to the ground, they don't care, so long as they get paid. The sooner the better. The second problem is that they've always been the sort of default idea of the industry, so they've got the most attention and the most scrutiny, from inside and outside of the hobby. And then the third is the problem that everything faces these days, like Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, or whatever. Vocal, toxic, entitled fans or pseudo-fans who are deeply unhappy and don't want anyone else to be happy. The kind of people who review bomb a new Star Wars project before it's even out, angry about it having a non-white, non-male lead character. Or how X thing "ruined their childhood," because it wasn't exactly the thing they supposedly liked as a child. I see it a lot with D&D and WotC. Folks who haven't even played D&D since BECMI, or who do play, but they only play OSE or whatever. Yet they spend all their time online complaining about WotC having a Black woman on the cover of their book or whatever nonsense they're on about this week. I hate that I even feel adjacent to defending WotC, because I don't care for their business practices, I don't like or play D&D, and generally don't like to engage. There are plenty of things to get angry at WotC about, but folks just seem to want to make it all about their silly takes on "woke," "PC," or whatever their buzzword for "anything I don't understand/like."

[@Thegaminggang]

Well said!

[@Wraithing]

Thumbnail in Hypnoscope! So we're talking good controversies that made D&D and bad ones that ain't doing it any favours! Prohibition made booze far more exciting, Tipper Gore's little parental advisory labels sold metric tonnes of metal and gangster rap, and gangs of protesting nuns could turn a turkey of a movie into a hit. But there's nothing quite as repulsive as an aggressive, capitalist corporation …and a toy company at that! You certainly wouldn't want 'em looking after your kids. Enjoyed your concluding statement. LOL - poor Lynne Hardy - reports of her demise etc… Reckon you were thinking Lynn Willis 😁

[@Gusseig]

I don't know if the controversies are manufactured or amplified by commentators and influencers. There's a whole "cottage industry" exploring the "The D&D Scandal(s) Got Worse!" tagline, but WOTC/Hasbro keep fanning the flames... they are just awful companies.