PROFILE: Fantasy Role Playing Games

PROFILE: Fantasy Role Playing Games - Why the Controversy?

Published: Thu, 08/24/17

Good afternoon ,

Here is your copy of our latest Profile on Fantasy Role Playing Games. For Christians, the topic of Fantasy Role Playing Games (FRPGs) is both controversial and nuanced. For about forty years, believers have continued to debate their merits or caution about their potential risks.

     Some Christians dismiss them as harmless fun or even promote FRPGs as tools for exercising their God-given imaginations. Other Christians continue to be wary citing the gratuitous violence, occultism and moral evil that are integral to many of these games – such as the classic Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

    Over thirty years ago, some extreme critics attempted to tie FRPGs to the larger “Satanic Panic” phenomenon of the 1980s. They accused D&D of somehow being complicit in an alleged epidemic of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA). The supposed connection, however, was never successfully documented. Ultimately, the SRA stories themselves were largely discredited. Many of the gruesome accounts of satanic torture, abuse and murder relied on questionable testimonies based on “recovered memories” later proven to be unreliable.¹

    FRPGs have never been more popular² and we continue to receive requests for a balanced Christian perspective on this topic. In our latest Profile (enclosed), we take a new look at the appeal and some of the controversy surrounding FRPGs. I hope it is helpful.

    Just click here to claim your FREE 4-page Profile on Fantasy Role Playing Games: www.watchman.org/FRPG.

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James K. Walker, President
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¹David J. Ley, Ph.D., “Dungeons & Dragons, Satan, and Psychology,” Psychology Today, April, 6, 2014 – www.psychologytoday.com/blog/women-who-stray/201404/dungeons-dragons-satan-and-psychology.
² “Sales of role-playing games… grew 40 percent between 2014 and 2015, to $35 million in the U.S. and Canada.” Ben Guarino, “Dungeons and Dragons enters Toy Hall of Fame,” Washington Post, Nov. 14, 2016 www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/14/dungeons-and-dragons-enters-toy-hall-of-fame/

About Watchman Fellowship: We are an evangelical Christian discernment ministry founded in 1979 focusing on new religious movements, cults, the occult, New Age spirituality, and world religions. We provide apologetics (a defense of the Christian faith) and evangelism (sharing the Christian gospel of Grace) to people of other faiths. We also equip tens of thousands of Christians each year to understand and reach people of other religions with the truth gospel. Watchman Fellowship, Inc. is a 501 c-3 nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible in the United States: IRS Tax ID number 58-1363278. For more information, see: http://www.watchman.org.