Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy, Read and Gain Advantage on All Wisdom Checks by Robichaud, Christopher -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover The Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture Series Title page Copyright page Abbreviations Used in the Text Introduction Part I: Lawful Good vs. Chaotic Evil

1 Sympathy for the Devils

Pity the Pit Fiend Damnation Without a Saving Throw Free Will in the Lair of the Succubus How Thorin Axebeard Randomly Defended the Bridge Four-Dimensional Dungeons and Powerless Dragons Free Will and Other Imaginary Monsters

2 Paragons and Knaves

The Good, the Bad, and the Legendary Taking Alignment Seriously Paladins and Trolleys The Ring of Gyges and the Arch-Lich

3 Is Anyone Actually Chaotic Evil?

No Dice Socrates, the First DM Aristotle – Unearthed Arcana Thomas Aquinas – 15th-Level Cleric Monster Immanuel Dietrich von Hildebrand – Third Edition Rules Hannah Arendt and the Campaign of Evil End of Round

Part II: So Did You Win? Philosophy and D&D Gameplay

4 Save vs. Death

Death Be Not Proud Phaedo and Confronting the Reaper The Graveyard of Dead PCs Ability Scores: The Natural Lottery

5 To My Other Self

The Actor, the Author, and the Other In Word and Deed Mirror and Illusion Experience without EXP

6 Player-Character Is What You Are in the Dark

The Idea of Immersion Leads to Phenomenology What Is Phenomenology? Seeing Is Believing: Immersion as Visualization Am I My Character? Immersion and Identification Alea and Immersion: The Role of the Dice For Tyros and Grognards

Part III: Crafting Worlds

7 Imagination and Creation

The Traditionalists (aka the “Lawful Good”) D&D Rules! Lost in the Labyrinth? The Postmodernists (aka “Chaotic” and beyond Good and Evil …) A New Quest Acknowledgments

8 Dungeonmastery as Soulcraft

The Essence of Fantasy The Magic of Morality The Consolation of Fantasy Worldbuilding as Moral Expression Missed Opportunities

Part IV: Foray into The Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance

9 Menzoberranzan

10 Who Is Raistlin Majere?

The Question and the Test Three Robes, Three Answers Taking the Test The Master of Past and Present Appendix: Tales of Raistlin

Part V: The Ethics of Spellcasting

11 Expediency and Expendability

12 By Friendship or Force

Mages and the Ethics of Summoning Wizards and the Ethics of Familiars Animal Ethics and Character Alignment Druids and the Ethics of Summoning Animals Trouble in the Druid Grove

Part VI: Dungeons & Dragons Out in the Real World

13 “Kill her, kill her! Oh God, I’m sorry!”

“Sixteen Diamonds’ Worth of Dirt”: Television and Dungeons & Dragons Legacies “Don’t blow the Daily” Learning 2 Play

14 Berserker in a Skirt

Sex and Gender Gender Games Fantasy and Imagination as Vehicles for Social Change Berserker in a Skirt Liberation and Laughter Acknowledgments

15 “Others play at dice”

WANTED WANTED “Someone pass the Mountain Dew” The Crusty Dagger: Food and Ale “The friendship of those who are good then, is friendship most of all” “I’m glad you’re with me now at the end of all things”

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