Dungeons & Dragons controversies

As the first and most popular role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has received significant attention in the media and in popular culture. Some of this publicity has been negative, especially during the game's early years in the 1970's and early 1980's. Because the term D&D is sometimes used as a metonym for all types of role-playing games, some of the controversies regarding D&D actually pertain to role-playing games in general, or to the overall literary genre of Fantasy as a whole.

Some of the controveries that have arisen concern the game itself and its alleged impact on those who play it, and others concern business issues at the game's original publisher, TSR, Inc., now owned by Wizards of the Coast.

Religious objections
At various times in its history, Dungeons & Dragons has received negative publicity for alleged promotion of such practices as devil worship, witchcraft, suicide, and murder. In the 1980s especially, some religious groups accused the game of encouraging interest in sorcery and demonic creatures. Many of these criticisms, though often mentioning "Dungeons & Dragons" by name, were actually aimed at RPGs or the fantasy genre in general and are discussed in the article on the History of roleplaying games. However, many Christians, even fundamentalist Christians, now view D&D as merely a harmless game.

The controversy nevertheless led TSR to remove references to demons, devils, and other potentially controversial supernatural monsters from the 2nd Edition of AD&D (Ward 1990). Many of these exclusions were not returned to the game until the release of the 3rd Edition in 2000. And in fact, a few 3rd Edition products have addressed demons and devil-worship far more explicitly than materials from previous editions. The more 'extreme' manuals, such as the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds, bear a "For Mature Audiences Only" label.

Though some religious groups have alleged that the game promotes satanic and evil ideas, the game's rules actually provide for an equal balance of power between the capabilities of good and evil forces. This equipotential view of good and evil, itself controversial to some groups, continues to be found in newer editions of the game. Although the players can choose to play the role of an "evil" character, because success in D&D is often dependent on smooth coordination among characters in a party, it is usually easier to achieve goals if the characters follow "good" ethical precepts, because they will be more likely to help each other reach their goals.

Mazes and Monsters
Dungeons & Dragons has also been plagued by rumors of players having difficulty separating fantasy and reality, even leading to schizophrenia. The novel Mazes and Monsters and especially the 1982 CBS made-for-TV movie adaptation helped fuel these rumors, particularly since they were based on media coverage of a real incident, the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III.

Egbert was a bright but very socially awkward teenager who had played D&D before entering college (prematurely at the age of 16). He went missing for nearly a month in 1979, allegedly after entering steam tunnels under Michigan State University. Egbert had been known to be a member of a group at MSU that had played a proto-LARP version of D&D. William Dear, a private investigator searching for James, initially linked his disappearance to Dungeons & Dragons, which the media widely reported. Dear wrote the 1985 book, The Dungeon Master, about the case and revealed that James' disappearance was not related to Dungeons & Dragons. According to Dear, Egbert had run away following a failed suicide attempt; he would later successfully commit suicide in 1980 at the age of 17. Neither his attempted suicide nor the successful one were linked to the game.

Business disputes at TSR
The game's commercial success led to lawsuits initiated in 1979 regarding distribution of royalties between Arneson and Gygax. Specifically at issue were the royalties for AD&D, a product for which TSR did not acknowledge Arneson's intellectual property claims. Those suits were settled out of court by 1981.

Gygax himself became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR and disputes related to the company’s deteriorating financial situation in the early 1980s. The disagreements culminated in a court battle and Gygax’s decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.

Licensing and trademark violations
Early in the game's history, TSR summarily revoked the license to create AD&D-compatible items it had previously granted to the publishing company Judges Guild. TSR's action was a primary cause of the smaller publisher's decision to cease operations in the early 1980s.

Grimoire Games, which published David A. Hargrave's multi-volume Arduin series, had no such license. When presented with a cease and desist order regarding the use of TSR's trademarks, Grimoire was forced to rely on white-out and typing correction tape to mask its use of AD&D references in subsequent printings of the Arduin series.

TSR itself ran afoul of intellectual property law with respect to the Cthulhu Mythos and Melnibonéan Mythos it had included in early versions of the Deities & Demigods manual. These problems were ultimately resolved by excising the material from later editions of the book. Similarly, references in early TSR publications to certain creatures from J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical Middle-earth were also removed or altered due to intellectual property concerns. For example, TSR replaced all references to the race of Hobbits in D&D with their alternate name, Halflings - which was also coined by Tolkien but judged by TSR to be non-infringing.