| rdfs:comment
| - Exclusive for Swiftfoot Dragon Family.
- The planet is EdenAgain. The continent is Talania. In the north, dragons and dark creatures rule over the human OnceBorn, promising them wealth and power but keeping them in bondage. In the south, the TwiceBorn, willing servants of the OverLord of Many Names, who sacrificed his life to gain their freedom, live in harmony -- but some of them, moved by compassion for their suffering fellows, strike out into the Dragon Lands to battle the dark creatures and share the goodness of the OverLord.
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| abstract
| - Exclusive for Swiftfoot Dragon Family.
- The planet is EdenAgain. The continent is Talania. In the north, dragons and dark creatures rule over the human OnceBorn, promising them wealth and power but keeping them in bondage. In the south, the TwiceBorn, willing servants of the OverLord of Many Names, who sacrificed his life to gain their freedom, live in harmony -- but some of them, moved by compassion for their suffering fellows, strike out into the Dragon Lands to battle the dark creatures and share the goodness of the OverLord. "Might as well say it now. Dragonraid was an RPG put together by a Christian publisher in the early 80s', intended to provide an holy alternative to horrible Satanic games like Toon, Traveller, and, worst of all, the abominable creation known as Bunnies and Burrows." DragonRaid came out in 1984, in the thick of both mainstream and conservative-Christian opposition to Dungeons and Dragons; it was The Moral Substitute at a time when the need for a substitute was deeply felt. And, indeed, almost every aspect of DragonRaid seems to be a direct response to some misconception about D&D.
* Against the idea that D&D encourages wanton killing, DragonRaid turns its monsters into allegorical representations of sin and punishes the killing of humans with massive stat-drains.
* Against the idea that role-playing is "simulation training" that inevitably influences real-life behavior, DragonRaid encourages role-playing virtuous behavior in situations that have clear parallels to real life.
* Against the idea that players regularly become despondent when their characters die, DragonRaid explicitly frames character death as noble martyrdom.
* Against the idea that the peer-DM controls every aspect of the player's life, DragonRaid expects games to be run by people with legitimate out-of-game authority (parents, youth pastors, Sunday school teachers).
* Against the idea that D&D players inevitably become ruthless and power-hungry, DragonRaid makes character advancement gradual, piecemeal, and contingent on the character's good behavior.
* Against the idea that players must recite spells for their characters to use magic, DragonRaid obliges players to recite Scripture for their characters to obtain miracles. What is most curious about all this is that, despite being built almost entirely of opposition and reaction, DragonRaid still stands on its own as a perfectly solid, workable game. The setting, Anvilicious allegory though it be, is painted with loving detail, and the mechanics are simple and sound.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)