Page4-Friday, June 6, 1980-The Michigan Daily
WWI
Feiffer
OP InHola GgHO t' or40 W C FI5- 2 I J-OF
Ninety Years of Editoridl Freedom
Edited andoianaged by students ~ II
at the University of Michigan0'rW1- q fIfAM-" R
Deprogramming:
Some questions
4
TATE REPRESENTATIVE Thomas Scott (D-
S Flint) introduced an unusual bill Wednesday.
He wants to make illegal the pradtice of paying
money to persons to have them deprogram
someone under the influence of a cult. flisit rWt
Scott has some rather foolish ideas. He insists, n e w.i~u
that he is not against the practice of deprogram-
ming, but is upset with the profits deprogrammers BERKELEY, CA. - It's
can make. His legislation would permit Friday afternoon, no school work.
deprogrammers to "kidnap" those under the in- for a while, and at Michael
fluence of a cult-as long as they perform their Rosenbaum's house it's once
services for free. This suggestion must seem ar- again time for Dungeons and
ticularly ludicrous to professional deprogrammers Dragons. As soon as a couple
more players show up they will
who know full well that the high expenses, legal and . resume where they left off last
otherwise, of their profession and the high risk of week, though this time they won't
landing in jail for a year of two justifies the rather go till morning. Michael's paren-
high service charge. ts want them out by 10. The house
Scott's bill, the first of its kind in the nation, does is small and when they get
carried away, the rest of the
raise an unsettling question: Should deprogram- family can't sleep.
ming be a legal profession? Dungeons and Dragons (D and
Many cults take young, impressionable people D to insiders) is a game played
and through a variety of brainwashing and indoc- nationwide, mostly by high
trination techniques manage to change entire per- school age boys with an intellec-
tual bent, the kind of boys who
sonalities. Given the horror stories of Jonestown like to play chess, read, invent
and Reverend Moon's cult, it certainly seems right- things and collect hero comics.
that parents ought to be allowed to hire a Some become so obsessed with D
deprogrammer to "kidnap" their adult child and and D they spend most of their
attempt to brainwash him or her back to normal. non-school time playing it, while
other classmates go out for team
Few other avenues are open to distraught parents, sports, customized cars and the
and the high percentage of those who have been pursuit of girls.
deprogrammed successfully and are grateful TO CALL D AND D a game,
speaks in favor of the deprogramming profession. however, is misleading because it
And yet, advocating a practice which allows a is less like Monopoly and baseball
than it is like ancient Greek
group of adults to hire a professional to kidnap theater or tales from Arabian
another adult is a squeamish business. Whatever nights. It can be a vehicle for a
the solution, hasty legislation is not the answer. mythic search into the profound
questions the human soul con-
fronts in its time.
The game involves a mythical
ry eojourney through a dungeon or
EWK" R' world. Each player assumes a
R MENTA character, who has particular
OFF 10T41qualities, strengths and
weaknesses, and stands in a cer-
{ 'y.tain relationship to the universe,
- K ranging'from fully lawful to fully
chaotic. The idea is to complete
the journey without getting killed
to have as many adventures as
possible along the way, to stay
true to your nature and to acquire
experience. There is no com-
petition. But there are many
e ',-levels of skilland creativity.
f E When asked why they play it, D
and D addicts give answers that
suggest the game is far more
/ Wqg r? than a pastime. "The only limits
are imagination and time," said
David Woolsey, who has been
playing with Michael Rosenbaum
for about four years." It satisfies
my need for a universe that is
both finite and unbounded," said
Yoy cca m aft ry own heart, pal" - Michael.
game proviues
es o passage
Bv a cfii
ny nasa Gustaitis
"JUST TO LET the mind go
free," said Roland Brown, a high
school student in Mill Valley, Ca.,
who is gifted in art.
Like other mythic tales and
rituals, the game allows its
players to try out new roles and
perspectives preparing them for
roles they will later assume in the
adult world. It can be a rite of
passage.
"It has always been the prime
function of mythology and rite to
supply the symbols that carry the
human spirit forward, in coun-
teraction to those other constant
human fantasies that tend to tie it
back," wrote Joseph Campbell in
his book, "Hero of a Thousand
Faces." At the heart of all myth,
he pointed out, is the quest of the
hero, which is the quest of self.
THE ONLY objects needed for
playing D and D are graph paper,
pencil, and five sets of dice.
Three-by-five cards and small
figures representing characters
are alos often used, thouth they
are not essential. The action
takes place mostly in. the mind
and is talked out, like im-
provisational theater. .
The shape of the adventure is
outlined by the dungeon master,
who must design a dungeon
through which the other players
will travel, meeting monsters,
aliens and other hazardous
creatures he introduces. They
move in accordance with the dic-
tates of their nature, the choices
they make and, according to the
throw of the dice.
Michael, as the god-like
dungeon master, has chosen to
designnot a dungeon but a world,
which has a continent and islan-
ds. He keeps its map hidden
behind a propped-up book. The
players get to see only that por-
tion of the world which is im-
mediately around them. It is
drawn on a separate piece of
graph paper. As they move on,
they see more. They have to
figure out where they are and
how to travel.
MICHAEL SUMS up the action
thus far, for the benefit of Carl
Yost, who is picking up a charac-
ter, a giant, ihdt another' Player
ran last week. Two elves, a
palladin ("a kind of knight in
shining armor, only more so")
and two giants were transported
by a dragon to an island where
the dragon's father lived. A battle
ensued. The survivors-the
palladin, one giant and one
dragon-were left in front of a
cave which had a floor like an
Escher painting (with creatures
and shapes changing from
negative to positive, depending
on whether you focus on the black
or the white spaces in the
design.)
Tonight's challenge is to get off
the island.
The - game is underway.
Another mystery has been in-
troduced. Breaking once,
for some stew, the group will con-
tinue over the next seven hours in
getting off the island and
reaching the mainland, while in
the other world around them,
Michael's sister Sarah will go off
to a dance and return, his mother
and father will occupy themselves
in the living room, then retire to
their bedroom.
TODAY, BEFORE the game
began, they had discussed
whether it was possible, within
the game, to have a mage
(magician) who was also a
technician. The question had
come up duing lunch at Berkeley
High.
There is a split among D and D
players between those who go in
for Star Wars-type fantasy and
those who prefer to deal in the
realms of unicorns, gnomes and
wizards. David has been trying
to work out a synthesis.
"A techno would have trouble
finding a mage willing to teach
him," Michael said. "It's
possible. But he would have to be
very intelligent."
Anything is possible in.D and
D-if it's thought out. And this
may be its most important
message to its players: that their
imaginations, more than
anything else, will both limit and
extend the potential of their
future.
Rasa Gustaitis is an editor for
'Facific News Service.'-.