From 'satanic panic' to church-approved, Dungeons & Dragons thriving after 50-plus years
Local D&D community celebrates game's evolution
Twice a month, River East Church pastor Aaron Thiessen hosts a gathering that would have been frowned upon by church elders 50 years ago: a Dungeons & Dragons youth group.
Since 2019 the group of about 25 youths, aged 11 to 18, have taken part in the fantasy, table-top game, and the fact that a church is hosting it is a full circle moment, Thiessen believes.
"I certainly think it's ironic as I, someone who is running a church ministry professionally, am using D&D when there was a time where the churches were the ones trying to get D&D out of people's lives," said Thiessen, pastor for youth and young adults at the church.
Launched in 1974, Dungeons & Dragons had a major public relations problem in the early years.
The fantasy role-playing game replete with wizards, magic spells, warriors, warlocks, dragons and the like was accused of being a gateway to Satanism, witchcraft and the occult.
Parents worried their children might be negatively influenced by the game, a reaction in North America that became known as the "satanic panic."
"My friend got called a 'cult leader' by a teacher at one time. We never said 'Dungeons & Dragons, or even 'D&D' out loud when we were in a restaurant or something because we didn't know who might hear that," said James Rodgers, who has been playing since 1977.
"It's taken me years before I felt comfortable saying those terms in an environment where not everyone was playing D&D."
Rodgers credits the game with helping him deal with the death of his father.
"I was just going into Grade 9 at this time and life went upside down as it will, so I really don't know where I would have ended up if I had not had my group of friends and being able to escape into D&D every night," he said.
Campaigns and quests
Across Winnipeg, players of all ages continue to pick up their weapons, cast their spells, and dive into campaigns and quests built in their imaginations.
One Facebook group has more than 1,000 players.
Across the Board Café hosts a regular Thursday night Dungeons & Dragon meet up. Occasionally, the café also hosts family D & D nights.
Community centres also host D&D clubs. A Muse N Games also hosts a twice monthly D&D night. GameKnight also hosted a D&D winter camp for kids at the beginning of January.
Winnipeg's lively Dungeons & Dragons community is now the subject of a new three-minute documentary by students in the Create program at Sisler High School. Sisler's post-high program trains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.
Create students Annabella Katiniaris, Ben Crowe and Tyler Ullyot produced the new short video.
Meet the filmmakers
More about Project POV: Sisler Create
CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC Manitoba journalists to produce short documentaries. You can see past projects here.
The Winnipeg School Division's Create program is hosted at Sisler High School and trains post-high students in the creative digital arts.
During fall 2024, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking students and led production workshops at Sisler.
Create focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.