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DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AND PHILOSOPHY The Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture Series Series editor William Irwin A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a healthy helping of popular culture clears the cobwebs from Kant. Philosophy has had a public relations problem for a few centuries now. This series aims to change that, showing that philosophy is relevant to your life – and not just for answering the big questions like “To be or not to be?” but for answering the little questions: “To watch or not to watch South Park?” Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn’t make you a “complete idiot.” In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching. Already published in the series: 24 and Philosophy: The World According to Jack The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure Edited by Jennifer Hart Weed, Richard Brian Davis, and Treason Ronald Weed Edited by George Dunn and Nicolas Michaud 30 Rock and Philosophy: We Want to Go to There Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by David Johnson Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Iron Man and Philosophy: Facing the Stark Reality Curiouser Edited by Mark D. White Edited by Richard Brian Davis Lost and Philosophy: The Island Has Its Reasons Arrested Development and Philosophy: They’ve Made a Edited by Sharon M. Kaye Huge Mistake Mad Men and Philosophy: Nothing Is as It Seems Edited by Kristopher Phillips and J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by James South and Rod Carveth The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth’s Mightiest Thinkers Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery Edited by Mark D. White Edited by William Irwin Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul The Office and Philosophy: Scenes from the Unfinished Life Edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Knowledge Here Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: Brains Before Bullets Begins Out There Edited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl Edited by Jason T. Eberl South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned The Big Bang Theory and Philosophy: Rock, Paper, Something Today Scissors, Aristotle, Locke Edited by Robert Arp Edited by Dean Kowalski Spider-Man and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry The Big Lebowski and Philosophy: Keeping Your Mind Edited by Jonathan Sanford Limber with Abiding Wisdom Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Edited by Peter S. Fosl Steel Do? Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality Edited by Mark D. White Edited by William Irwin Supernatural and Philosophy: Metaphysics and Monsters… The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the for Idjits Art of Fake News Edited by Galen Foresman Edited by Jason Holt Terminator and Philosophy: I’ll Be Back, Therefore I Am Downton Abbey and Philosophy: The Truth Is Neither Edited by Richard Brown and Kevin Decker Here Nor There True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things Edited by Mark D. White with You Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Edited by George Dunn and Rebecca Housel Advantage on All Wisdom Checks Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Edited by Christopher Robichaud Pursuit of Immortality Ender’s Game and Philosophy: The Logic Gate is Down Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by Kevin S. Decker The Ultimate Daily Show and Philosophy: More Moments Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded of Zen, More Moments of Indecision Theory Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by Jason Holt Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Edited by Jason P. Blahuta and Michel S. Beaulieu Muggles Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Edited by Gregory Bassham Than Swords The Ultimate Lost and Philosophy: Think Together, Die Alone Edited by Henry Jacoby Edited by Sharon Kaye The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Philosophy: The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect My Everything is Fire Philosophah! Edited by Eric Bronson Edited by Robert Arp and Kevin S. Decker Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Shotgun. Machete. this Book Reason. Edited by Jane Dryden and Mark D. White Edited by Christopher Robichaud Heroes and Philosophy: Buy the Book, Save the World Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test Edited by David Kyle Johnson Edited by Mark D. White The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You’ve Lost Your Veronica Mars and Philosophy Dwarves, Your Wizard, and Your Way Edited by George A. Dunn Edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies Argument in the Mutant X-Verse Edited by Henry Jacoby Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AND PHILOSOPHY READ AND GAIN ADVANTAGE ON ALL WISDOM CHECKS Edited by Christopher Robichaud This edition first published 2014 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Registered Office John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Christopher Robichaud to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Paperback ISBN: 978-1-118-39762-6 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover image: Illustration by Severino Baraldi (b.1930). Private Collection / © Look and Learn / The Bridgeman Art Library. Set in 11/14pt Sabon by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India 1 2014 Contents Abbreviations Used in the Text viii Introduction: A Game Like No Other 1 Part I Lawful Good vs. Chaotic Evil 5 1 Sympathy for the Devils: Free Will and Dungeons & Dragons 7 Greg Littmann 2 Paragons and Knaves: Does Good Character Make for a Good Character? 23 J.K. Miles and Karington Hess 3 Is Anyone Actually Chaotic Evil?: A Playable Theory of Willful Wrongdoing 35 Neil Mussett Part II So Did You Win? Philosophy and D&D Gameplay 61 4 Save vs. Death: Some Reflections on the Lifecycle of PCs 63 Christopher Robichaud 5 To My Other Self: Reflection and Existentialism in Dungeons & Dragons 72 Rob Crandall and Charles Taliaferro vi CONTENTS 6 Player-Character Is What You Are in the Dark: The Phenomenology of Immersion in Dungeons & Dragons 82 William J. White Part III Crafting Worlds 93 7 Imagination and Creation: The Morality of Fiction in Dungeons & Dragons 95 Robert A. Delfino and Jerome C. Hillock 8 Dungeonmastery as Soulcraft 106 Ben Dyer Part IV Foray into the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance 119 9 Menzoberranzan: A Perfect Unjust State 121 Matt Hummel 10 Who Is Raistlin Majere? 132 Kevin McCain Part V The Ethics of Spellcasting 145 11 Expediency and Expendability: An Exhumation of the Morality of Necromancy 147 Matthew Jones and Ashley Brown 12 By Friendship or Force: Is it Ethical to Summon Animals to Fight by Your Side in Dungeons & Dragons? 163 Samantha Noll Part VI Dungeons & Dragons out in the Real World 173 13 “Kill her, kill her! Oh God, I’m sorry!”: Spectating Dungeons & Dragons 175 Esther MacCallum-Stewart CONTENTS vii 14 Berserker in a Skirt: Sex and Gender in Dungeons & Dragons 189 Shannon M. Mussett 15 “Others play at dice”: Friendship and Dungeons & Dragons 202 Jeffery L. Nicholas Contributors 217 Index 223 Abbreviations Used in the Text D&D Dungeons & Dragons DM Dungeon Master LARP live action role-playing MMORPG massively multiplayer online role-playing game NPC non-player-character PC player-character RPG role-playing game Introduction A Game Like No Other Forty years. No, I’m not talking about the maximum number of years a ghost can age your PC on a hit. (Half-orcs be warned! Those blows will cost you dearly.) I’m talking about the game.

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