Hahaha, that seems to be from the South Sac, Fruitridge, or Florin area. The Assembly of Wicca ran a feed store/antique store/occult book store in that area. They were a controversial group even among Wiccans, but never did anything reprehensible that I'm aware of...
I would pay good monies to get a hand on the book they write about in the introduction. Anyone has access to this book?
Also, they worship Azatoth? The fictional creation oc H.P Lovecraft? Yes, real people have a lot to fear from him, as much as from cthulhu and yog-sothoth!
"... why do they devote so much space to talking about the soul, the spirit, punishment, eternity...?"
Yeah, any books discussing such topics must be evil and should be burned! Wait...
I have to admit, as ludicrous as this sort of thing was, that was part of the appeal for me. I didn't get into D&D until around 1999/2000, so I'd heard of the scare but didn't see any reason for it in the newer books. It made a lot more sense when I read the 1E DMG, though. For a God-fearing Catholic boy, that book was actually kinda scary; it seemed to exude a mysterious power. How cool is that?!
It's was certainly a surprise to me to read that claim but one groundless claim among many is no surprise. The author of the piece knew 99% of the audience it was written for were never going to bother actually reading any of the D&D books for themselves.
I grew up in a smallish-town, fundamentalist church, and responses like this were pretty common, partly because general art and culture are mostly frowned upon in such circles, and partly because answers to big or important questions are assumed to be pretty simple to work out. Thus the shallowness of pamphlets like this; you get lots of knee-jerk reaction with very little attempt to look beyond the first thing that comes to the writer's mind. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to gaming by a bunch of guys at my church, and we gamed regularly in the home of one of our elders/bishops, who was a highly educated guy and fully supported the hobby. Not everybody's experience, I know.
D&D is a threat to this nation's youth: players end up as nerds, who debate game issues well into adulthood when it's no longer cute. If players didn't get started with D&D, they wouldn't end up as power gamers, marshmallow DM's, killer DM's, and aspiring thespians. Let's not even get into the Munckin problem. Don't let your kids play. Don't let them end up like you.
I still get knee jerk reactions like this at my church, but only with the older set. I'm 33, so the older set would be twice that number, age-wise. I just don't even bring it up, because it's a fight I cannot win. I let them think whatever they want. Most times they don't say a thing to me when they find out I play "that game," because I've taught Sunday School for so long now that my discernment and judgment is pretty much trusted, at least amongst those that know me. The fact remains, though - it's still a problem for those of us who are Christian and play.
Fuccubus Friday - Mozul
-
Last week I talked about Malcanthet, this week I thought I'd share some
art of one of her high priests (and sometimes plaything), Mozul.
A Hobgoblin of the Very Worst Kind
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One of my offspring is quite attached to a podcast in which a woman very
nicely reads (pleasingly unvarnished and unbowdlerised) fairy tales and
classic ...
6-Room Dungeon goblin mine revision 2
-
My weekly Hawksmire Island D&D 5 game was particularly appalling this week.
Ther dragon they were facing last time invi...
GMing Shortcuts in Felltower
-
Here are some ways we speed up play in DF Felltower.
*Marching Order*
Have a marching order. This makes things *very* easy to visualize as people
walk aro...
A Game you Play
-
*Pandemic Legacy* (2015) wasn’t the first legacy boardgame, but it was the
breakthrough moment when many players became aware of the format.
Imagine you ...
Miskatonic Monday #439: Fear of Overtime
-
Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s
masterpiece of...
The Old School (Hyperborean) Renaissance
-
Are these poorly-masked adventure hooks? Yes, yes they are.
For the last century a peculiar fever has gripped the learned societies of
Marlinko, Kezmaro...
Flocking Flock
-
I'm trying to make some modelling flock, with only limited success.
This is made from bits of a kitchen sponge, whizzed up in a blender,
coloured with ...
"Serious" fumbles I can enjoy
-
As I’ve said before, I usually don’t like fumbles or critical failures in
combat, at least in more "serious" campaigns; they make fighters look
foolish.
...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode XV.
-
This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
The Player's Handbook Pulse...
-
Dungeons & Dragons has gone through many iterations, and its cover artwork
has always encapsulated the state of the hobby at any given time. But it
was t...
Off to North Texas Con
-
So everyone knows I will be at North Texas Con this week. My books and maps
will be for sale at the Black Blade Publishing Booth. I am running three
sand...
Inspiration From Bodyless Sea Slug
-
This popped up on my Facebook feed and rather than feed Meta’s algorithm, I
found other sources to share this. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article
and a ...
The DOOM approaches!
-
THE FINAL HOURS! THE COUNT-DOWN BEGINS!
The Kickstarter for Doom of the Dark, the nightland adventure from Patrick
Stuart (me) and Amanda Lee, is nearly o...
Micro-Adventure - #114 RATS!
-
Dungeon tropes are a thing to embrace, not to dismiss. It's simple to
handwave the storm the orc infested tower to save the princess, evil wizard
in a t...
Moldvay Basic D&D now Available in Print
-
Just a quick note that (finally) Moldvay Basic D&D is available in POD from
DTRPG – previously, only the Cook/Marsh …
Continue reading →
Abstraction in My Liege,
-
I think the aspect of *My Liege,* that could potentially put off the most
people is its lack of accounting granularity. It does not track Court
wealth in...
Consolidated AD&D Weapon Characteristics List
-
Having spent the last few days down a research rabbit hole, I ended up
compiling a chart of AD&D weapon characteristics, adding some "missing"
entries an...
Referee Sabotage
-
It is an old saw that players are bad at executing their plans. Imagine
this common scene: the party have some big job that requires planning;
perhaps robb...
The March 1636 Lantern is Published
-
Okay, The March Lantern is available. Those fast on the draw may have
noticed that I mistakenly published it as free access for 56 minutes. I
was just so ...
On a Happy New Year
-
We are about to experience the most social upheaval since industrialization.
What will that look like in sixty years?
Sinless is starting it's third yea...
Mutants and Wizards
-
Heya folks, long time no see.
I've just started working on something new called Mutants and Wizards. It's
going to be an OSE/OSR post-apocalyptic game t...
Rob Kuntz at Lucca Comics & Games 2025
-
If you are planning a trip to Europe (like right now) and wish to catch up
with me in person, make sure to book a detour via *Lucca Comics & Games*,
...
How do you do piracy… in SPACE!?
-
Interstellar space travel in Iridium Moons was always going to be a form of
hyperspace jump like in Star Wars or Traveller. Simply because it’s the one
for...
A long overdue hobby update!
-
Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
-
With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
-
Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
-
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Clean Your Room
-
Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
The Worm Ouroboros
-
The Worm Ouroboros is a proto-fantasy (the in the genre sense) novel by E.
R. Eddison, originally published in 1922. It is an amalgam of mythological
tradi...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
-
When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
-
*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
-
I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
-
We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
-
I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
-
Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
-
A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...
I actually have something pretty relevant to this, I think:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.paperspencils.com/2012/07/08/dungeons-dragons-small-towns-zealots/
Huge collection of similar newspaper clippings; all from the same small town.
"If its only a game, why do players worship Tiazolteotl"
ReplyDeleteBecause the Christians who wrote the book were too worried about making a mockery of their own religion to include stats for Jesus and Jehovah?
Hahaha, that seems to be from the South Sac, Fruitridge, or Florin area. The Assembly of Wicca ran a feed store/antique store/occult book store in that area. They were a controversial group even among Wiccans, but never did anything reprehensible that I'm aware of...
ReplyDeleteI would pay good monies to get a hand on the book they write about in the introduction. Anyone has access to this book?
ReplyDeleteAlso, they worship Azatoth? The fictional creation oc H.P Lovecraft? Yes, real people have a lot to fear from him, as much as from cthulhu and yog-sothoth!
"... why do they devote so much space to talking about the soul, the spirit, punishment, eternity...?"
ReplyDeleteYeah, any books discussing such topics must be evil and should be burned! Wait...
I have to admit, as ludicrous as this sort of thing was, that was part of the appeal for me. I didn't get into D&D until around 1999/2000, so I'd heard of the scare but didn't see any reason for it in the newer books. It made a lot more sense when I read the 1E DMG, though. For a God-fearing Catholic boy, that book was actually kinda scary; it seemed to exude a mysterious power. How cool is that?!
Oh man ... I just wrote the Satanic Panic section in the book I'm writing ...
ReplyDeleteA simple reading shows the demons and devils are there to be opposed and defeated by the good guys. It always boggled me when folks saw otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted this author to show how d&d fosters homosexuality with the same "attention" he gives to blasphemy?
ReplyDeleteIt's was certainly a surprise to me to read that claim but one groundless claim among many is no surprise. The author of the piece knew 99% of the audience it was written for were never going to bother actually reading any of the D&D books for themselves.
DeleteI grew up in a smallish-town, fundamentalist church, and responses like this were pretty common, partly because general art and culture are mostly frowned upon in such circles, and partly because answers to big or important questions are assumed to be pretty simple to work out. Thus the shallowness of pamphlets like this; you get lots of knee-jerk reaction with very little attempt to look beyond the first thing that comes to the writer's mind. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to gaming by a bunch of guys at my church, and we gamed regularly in the home of one of our elders/bishops, who was a highly educated guy and fully supported the hobby. Not everybody's experience, I know.
ReplyDeleteD&D is a threat to this nation's youth: players end up as nerds, who debate game issues well into adulthood when it's no longer cute. If players didn't get started with D&D, they wouldn't end up as power gamers, marshmallow DM's, killer DM's, and aspiring thespians. Let's not even get into the Munckin problem. Don't let your kids play. Don't let them end up like you.
ReplyDeleteI still get knee jerk reactions like this at my church, but only with the older set. I'm 33, so the older set would be twice that number, age-wise. I just don't even bring it up, because it's a fight I cannot win. I let them think whatever they want. Most times they don't say a thing to me when they find out I play "that game," because I've taught Sunday School for so long now that my discernment and judgment is pretty much trusted, at least amongst those that know me. The fact remains, though - it's still a problem for those of us who are Christian and play.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized words lime "healing", "soul", and "worship" were Christian-only. Huh.
ReplyDeleteLearn something new every day.
*like
DeleteHail Stan the Dork Lord!
ReplyDelete