Castles & Cauldrons on Reddit

[Leonard Meltsner]

There's a bit of a discussion on D&D and Christianity on Reddit, and somebody brought up Castles & Cauldron. I've been talking people down who remember the episode in negativity, and being slightly surprised that mentioning AIO on Reddit is bringing out former listeners so quickly. I thought I'd inform y'all incase you wanted to toss your two bits into the specific thread on the episode, which is about half-way down the page right now. I'm Leonardmeltsner, obviously. Please tread lightly, and remember where you are. A language warning is obvious for Reddit, but try to keep things balanced and objective if you comment. I just wanted to let everyone know, since I know a lot of you have unique perspectives on the episodes. http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/c ... um=twitter

Have fun, and don't let yourselves be trolled. Fly, my Odyssians, fly!

[TigerintheShadows]

Mmm...I'd say as a bit more of a precaution not to go there if a) you cannot deal with foul language or b) you are under the age of, like, fourteen or fifteen--there's stuff on Reddit no one should have to see; one guy dropped enough F-bombs to destroy Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden.

You know, I talked to my parents about Castles and Cauldrons, and they provided a different perspective on the tabletop RPGs (as they were, you know, actually sapient during the tabletop RPG boom in the 80s). They pointed out that, coercion into witchcraft or not, kids were getting way too into games like D&D--apparently, there were kids who would go into mines and caves and places like that to act out the games, in some cases getting themselves seriously injured or killed. This didn't happen all the time or anything--it most likely made the news because it was an abnormality--but even without that extreme, there was a good deal of backlash over the obsession with the game.

Yes, Castles & Cauldrons is an over-the-top episode that presents an unrealistic representation of RPGs that could have been handled far better than it was, but handled differently it could have raised a very good point about getting so obsessed with fiction that you lose your grip on reality. I just think it's a shame that people were exposed to Christian principles through an episode that doesn't really present a true representation on general Christian thought on RPGs and things like that; many Christians don't see the problem, as long as their kid isn't OFF TO GO TO BLACK MASS or something--which most of us, as far as I can tell, consider to be highly unlikely. (However, it is important to note that the AIO team likely didn't intend for that episode or any other episode to be taken on its own--they'd prefer for people to listen to the whole of AIO canon, instead of pulling out one episode to prove a point. It's like taking out one verse of the Bible and claiming it's a representation of the morals of the entire book--there are some that succinctly describe the Gospel, but most of the time you can't just take out one passage and interpret the Bible through that lens in even a semi-accurate fashion.)

All that said, from what I understand--and granted, I read this on TV Tropes, so this isn't necessarily accurate--Castles and Cauldrons has become a bit of an Old Shame for FotF, especially since Katie Leigh played Sheila in an animated adaptation of D&D.

I think you could tell those folks this, too, LM (if you wish, as I have no intention of joining Reddit)--I wholeheartedly agree with them that Chick tracts are disgusting, ignorant, hurtful, repulsive, hateful, and above all inaccurate garbage. They insinuate, among other things, that Catholics aren't true believers (even going as far as to claim that they created Nazism) and that HP fans (and fans of similar things) are WORSHIPPING THE DEVIL because they dare to like something with MAGIC in it (this has always been a sore subject for me as a Potterhead). I could not believe that one Redditor's story about a Muslim being handed a Chick tract post-9/11 with a Muslim dying in a plane crash. Did they think that the Muslim would be more open to Christian principles by being bashed over the head with them? Because in my experience, that general behavior tends to turn people off.

[jennifertwt]

I think of Castle and Cauldrons as a cautionary tale. Anything taken too far can become a bad thing. However, to be honest, I never understood the thrill of "gaming" so I am probably not a good one to judge.

I use Castle and Cauldrons in my Hallow-what? /Halloween playlist.