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Satanism! Subversion! Suicide! : Christian Evangelical Imaginations Regarding Dungeons & Dragons, 1979-1991.

Olsson, Adam LU (2025) HISK37 20251
History
Abstract
In the 1980s, the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons underwent a controversy, as the game was accused of being satanic, occult, or otherwise dangerous. This essay seeks to create a deeper and more holistic understanding of how US. American Christian evangelicals imagined the game Dungeons & Dragons from 1979 to 1991. A variety of written source material is analysed using qualitative text analysis, including books, pamphlets, and tracts. The theoretical framework employed is discourse analysis utilising the trouble and problematisation method. By analysing the written material, it is concluded that the game was imagined in several different ways. Dungeons & Dragons was imagined as being connected to the occult and satanic, with... (More)
In the 1980s, the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons underwent a controversy, as the game was accused of being satanic, occult, or otherwise dangerous. This essay seeks to create a deeper and more holistic understanding of how US. American Christian evangelicals imagined the game Dungeons & Dragons from 1979 to 1991. A variety of written source material is analysed using qualitative text analysis, including books, pamphlets, and tracts. The theoretical framework employed is discourse analysis utilising the trouble and problematisation method. By analysing the written material, it is concluded that the game was imagined in several different ways. Dungeons & Dragons was imagined as being connected to the occult and satanic, with players being viewed in a multifaceted way, alternating between the role of victim and perpetrator. Several aspects of the game were also imagined as problematic, such as ingame-religion, violence, sex, and moral relativism. Finally, it is concluded that the Christian evangelical actors positioned themselves in a dynamic relation to the US government and experts within other fields. In a time when US right-wing politics are strongly influenced, and intertwined with Christian evangelism, it is imperative to understand how Christian evangelical actors imagine their opposition. Dungeons & Dragons is evidently a subject that invokes strong emotions, and as its pop-cultural appeal grows, researching the ways Dungeons & Dragons continues to carry meaning is an area of great potential. (Less)
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author
Olsson, Adam LU
supervisor
organization
course
HISK37 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Dungeons & Dragons, DnD, D&D, satanic panic, Christian evangelicalism, discourse analysis
language
English
id
9193717
date added to LUP
2025-06-18 16:29:41
date last changed
2025-06-18 16:29:41
@misc{9193717,
  abstract     = {{In the 1980s, the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons underwent a controversy, as the game was accused of being satanic, occult, or otherwise dangerous. This essay seeks to create a deeper and more holistic understanding of how US. American Christian evangelicals imagined the game Dungeons & Dragons from 1979 to 1991. A variety of written source material is analysed using qualitative text analysis, including books, pamphlets, and tracts. The theoretical framework employed is discourse analysis utilising the trouble and problematisation method. By analysing the written material, it is concluded that the game was imagined in several different ways. Dungeons & Dragons was imagined as being connected to the occult and satanic, with players being viewed in a multifaceted way, alternating between the role of victim and perpetrator. Several aspects of the game were also imagined as problematic, such as ingame-religion, violence, sex, and moral relativism. Finally, it is concluded that the Christian evangelical actors positioned themselves in a dynamic relation to the US government and experts within other fields. In a time when US right-wing politics are strongly influenced, and intertwined with Christian evangelism, it is imperative to understand how Christian evangelical actors imagine their opposition. Dungeons & Dragons is evidently a subject that invokes strong emotions, and as its pop-cultural appeal grows, researching the ways Dungeons & Dragons continues to carry meaning is an area of great potential.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Adam}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Satanism! Subversion! Suicide! : Christian Evangelical Imaginations Regarding Dungeons & Dragons, 1979-1991.}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}