Common questions about Dungeons & Dragons controversies

Short answers, pulled from the story.

What happened to James Dallas Egbert III in 1979 regarding Dungeons and Dragons?

James Dallas Egbert III disappeared from the steam tunnels beneath Michigan State University in 1979, leading to a media narrative that blamed Dungeons and Dragons for his disappearance. Private investigator William Dear speculated the teenager had gotten lost during a live-action session, which transformed a tragedy rooted in clinical depression into a national moral panic. The media claimed the game encouraged suicide, Satanism, and murder, despite the actual cause being depression and family pressure.

Why did Dungeons and Dragons remove references to demons and devils in 1989?

The publisher TSR removed all references to demons and devils from the second edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in 1989 to appease a terrified public following severe backlash. This decision came after the game was linked to twenty-eight murders and suicides in a 1985 60 Minutes segment and the 1988 murder of Lieth Von Stein. The company renamed the entities baatezu and tanar'ri to avoid the controversy surrounding the game's content.

How did Dungeons and Dragons handle racial stereotypes in its early editions?

The early editions of Dungeons and Dragons presented a world where humans were coded as culturally white and depicted as racially so in illustrations with no non-white adventurers. The game introduced the drow, a dark-skinned subrace of elves in 1977, whose black skin and inherent evil nature were seen as a direct reflection of racist ideas. Critics argued the alignment system and depictions of orcs reinforced anti-Black and anti-Asian stereotypes found in real-world history.

What was the outcome of the power struggle between Gary Gygax and Brian Blume?

Gary Gygax lost control of TSR Hobbies in a power struggle that culminated in Brian Blume selling his shares to Lorraine Williams in March 1985. Williams replaced Gygax as president and CEO, and he resigned all positions in October 1986 while settling his disputes in December. Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue and characters whose names were anagrams of his own but lost the rights to all his other work including the World of Greyhawk.

When did Wizards of the Coast suspend sales of Dungeons and Dragons PDF products?

Wizards of the Coast suspended all sales of its products in PDF format on the 6th of April 2009 to prevent copyright infringement. This move coincided with a lawsuit against eight people to stop the distribution of fourth edition products and older editions' PDFs through sites like OneBookShelf and DriveThruRPG. OneBookShelf was allowed to sell Dungeons and Dragons products again through a new partnership in 2013.

Why did Wisconsin's Waupun Prison ban Dungeons and Dragons in 2004?

Wisconsin's Waupun Prison instituted a ban on playing Dungeons and Dragons in 2004 arguing that the game promoted gang-related activity based on an anonymous letter from an inmate. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban as a reasonable policy on the 25th of January 2010 setting a precedent that allowed other prisons to implement blanket bans on role-playing games. The policy led to legal challenges by inmates like Kevin T. Singer who sought to overturn the ban on the grounds that it violated his First Amendment rights.

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