meep commented...

10/1/2008 - 10:45

I'll break the anonymity here. I wasn't necessarily saying a D&D campaign had no place there, merely that it was oddly placed as an official event on the calendar. It's also a little troubling to me in that the connection of fantasty role-playing to a pagan event in an official capacity further enhances probably the most wide-spread assumption about pagans in general and wiccans in specific, that we're all a bunch of kids who read too many fantasy novels or watch too much TV. There was plenty of light-hearted fun there from games and a pagan fashion show to a children's craft area and a bounce house for pete's sake. Most of the performers had a heck of a sense of humor in their sets as well. And D&D, while an odd bedfellow in my mind, is not entirely out of place and certainly not unwelcome. But as part of the official calendar it just doesn't quite sit well with me. Perhaps I'm a little too concerned about paganism's PR and maybe I am a little too serious about it, but I worry that so often we do ourselves no favors by overtly allying ourselves with role-playing and midieval reenactment crowds. There is some serious cross-over interest there, for sure and I think they will both always be a component. After all, what is high ritual, pagan or not, but an elaborate role-play. But the degree to which we acknowledge that relationship is critical in my mind. My mother, upon learning that I was pagan, suggested I write fantasy novels instead. To me, that speaks volumes about general public opinion of my faith. Meep PS By the way, I can't write fantasy to save my life. I tried once upon a time and man did it come out trite, formulaic, and completely unentertaining.