CONTENTS

1. Cover
2. The Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture Series
3. Title page
4. Copyright page
5. Abbreviations Used in the Text
6. Introduction
7. Part I: Lawful Good vs. Chaotic Evil
   1. 1 Sympathy for the Devils
      1. Pity the Pit Fiend
      2. Damnation Without a Saving Throw
      3. Free Will in the Lair of the Succubus
      4. How Thorin Axebeard Randomly Defended the Bridge
      5. Four-Dimensional Dungeons and Powerless Dragons
      6. Free Will and Other Imaginary Monsters
   2. 2 Paragons and Knaves
      1. The Good, the Bad, and the Legendary
      2. Taking Alignment Seriously
      3. Paladins and Trolleys
      4. The Ring of Gyges and the Arch-Lich
   3. 3 Is Anyone Actually Chaotic Evil?
      1. No Dice
      2. Socrates, the First DM
      3. Aristotle – Unearthed Arcana
      4. Thomas Aquinas – 15th-Level Cleric
      5. Monster Immanuel
      6. Dietrich von Hildebrand – Third Edition Rules
      7. Hannah Arendt and the Campaign of Evil
      8. End of Round
8. Part II: So Did You Win? Philosophy and D&D Gameplay
   1. 4 Save vs. Death
      1. Death Be Not Proud
      2. Phaedo and Confronting the Reaper
      3. The Graveyard of Dead PCs
      4. Ability Scores: The Natural Lottery
   2. 5 To My Other Self
      1. The Actor, the Author, and the Other
      2. In Word and Deed
      3. Mirror and Illusion
      4. Experience without EXP
   3. 6 Player-Character Is What You Are in the Dark
      1. The Idea of Immersion Leads to Phenomenology
      2. What Is Phenomenology?
      3. Seeing Is Believing: Immersion as Visualization
      4. Am I My Character? Immersion and Identification
      5. Alea and Immersion: The Role of the Dice
      6. For Tyros and Grognards
9. Part III: Crafting Worlds
   1. 7 Imagination and Creation
      1. The Traditionalists (aka the “Lawful Good”)
      2. D&D Rules!
      3. Lost in the Labyrinth?
      4. The Postmodernists (aka “Chaotic” and beyond Good and Evil …)
      5. A New Quest
      6. Acknowledgments
   2. 8 Dungeonmastery as Soulcraft
      1. The Essence of Fantasy
      2. The Magic of Morality
      3. The Consolation of Fantasy
      4. Worldbuilding as Moral Expression
      5. Missed Opportunities
10. Part IV: Foray into The Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance
    1. 9 Menzoberranzan
       1. The Myth of Gyges
       2. “Creatures of survival, not of principle”
       3. “I forgive your foolish thoughts … this time!”
       4. “What do you see that the rest of us cannot?”
       5. “His companions … viewed their surroundings through tainted eyes”
       6. “How I wish that one had learned his place, his values”
    2. 10 Who Is Raistlin Majere?
       1. The Question and the Test
       2. Three Robes, Three Answers
       3. Taking the Test
       4. The Master of Past and Present
       5. Appendix: Tales of Raistlin
11. Part V: The Ethics of Spellcasting
    1. 11 Expediency and Expendability
       1. From Killing to Kant: Exploring the [Evil] Descriptor
       2. The Ghost in the Machine: The Dualism of Dungeons & Dragons
       3. The [Evil]ness of the Undead: Euthyphro Revisited
       4. Necromancy for Fun and Profit: Some Examples Evaluated
       5. Hobbes, Machiavelli, and a Necromancer Walk into a Bar …
       6. Walk like an Egyptian: Necromancy as Taboo and a “Possible World” Argument
       7. Hug a Zombie: Recognizing and Moving Beyond Our Cultural Prejudice
    2. 12 By Friendship or Force
       1. Mages and the Ethics of Summoning
       2. Wizards and the Ethics of Familiars
       3. Animal Ethics and Character Alignment
       4. Druids and the Ethics of Summoning Animals
       5. Trouble in the Druid Grove
12. Part VI: Dungeons & Dragons Out in the Real World
    1. 13 “Kill her, kill her! Oh God, I’m sorry!”
       1. “Sixteen Diamonds’ Worth of Dirt”: Television and Dungeons & Dragons
       2. Legacies
       3. “Don’t blow the Daily” Learning 2 Play
    2. 14 Berserker in a Skirt
       1. Sex and Gender
       2. Gender Games
       3. Fantasy and Imagination as Vehicles for Social Change
       4. Berserker in a Skirt
       5. Liberation and Laughter
       6. Acknowledgments
    3. 15 “Others play at dice”
       1. WANTED
       2. WANTED
       3. “Someone pass the Mountain Dew”
       4. The Crusty Dagger: Food and Ale
       5. “The friendship of those who are good then, is friendship most of all”
       6. “I’m glad you’re with me now at the end of all things”
13. Contributors
14. Index
15. End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

1. Chapter 02
   1. Figure 2.1

Guide

1. Cover
2. Table of Contents
3. Begin Reading