Dungeons & dragons and philosophy : read and gain advantage on all wisdom checks / edited by Christopher Robichaud.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Robichaud, Christopher, editor.

Series:

Blackwell philosophy and popculture series.

Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dungeons and Dragons (Game).

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chichester, England : Wiley Blackwell, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Do demons and devils have free will? Does justice exist in Menzoberranzan? What's the morality involved with player characters casting necromancy and summoning spells? Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy probes the rich terrain of philosophically compelling concepts and ideas that underlie Dungeons & Dragons, the legendary fantasy role-playing game that grew into a world-wide cultural phenomenon. A series of accessible essays reveals what the imaginary worlds of D&D can teach us about ethics, morality, metaphysics and more. Illustrates a wide variety of p

Contents:

Cover; The Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture Series; Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Advantage on all Wisdom Checks; Copyright; Contents; Abbreviations Used in the Text; Introduction A Game Like No Other; Part I Lawful Good vs. Chaotic Evil; 1 Sympathy for the Devils: Free Will and Dungeons & Dragons; 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; Notes

2 Paragons and Knaves: Does Good Character Make for a Good Character?The Good, the Bad, and the Legendary; Taking Alignment Seriously; Paladins and Trolleys; The Ring of Gyges and the Arch-Lich; Note; 3 Is Anyone Actually Chaotic Evil?: A Playable Theory of Willful Wrongdoing; 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; Notes; Part II So Did You Win? Philosophy and D&D Gameplay

4 Save vs. Death: Some Reflections on the Lifecycle of PCsDeath Be Not Proud; Phaedo and Confronting the Reaper; The Graveyard of Dead PCs; Ability Scores: The Natural Lottery; Notes; 5 To My Other Self: Reflection and Existentialism in Dungeons & Dragons; The Actor, the Author, and the Other; In Word and Deed; Mirror and Illusion; Experience without EXP; Notes; 6 Player-Character Is What You Are in the Dark: The Phenomenology of Immersion in Dungeons & Dragons; The Idea of Immersion Leads to Phenomenology; What Is Phenomenology?; Seeing Is Believing: Immersion as Visualization

Am I My Character? Immersion and IdentificationAlea and Immersion: The Role of the Dice; For Tyros and Grognards; Notes; Part III Crafting Worlds; 7 Imagination and Creation: The Morality of Fiction in Dungeons & Dragons; 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; Notes; 8 Dungeonmastery as Soulcraft; The Essence of Fantasy; The Magic of Morality; The Consolation of Fantasy; Worldbuilding as Moral Expression; Missed Opportunities; Notes

Part IV Foray into The Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance9 Menzoberranzan: A Perfect Unjust State; The Myth of Gyges; "Creatures of survival, not of principle"; "I forgive your foolish thoughts ... this time!"; "What do you see that the rest of us cannot?"; "His companions...viewed their surroundings through tainted eyes"; "How I wish that one had learned his place, his values"; Notes; 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; Notes; Part V The Ethics of Spellcasting

11 Expediency and Expendability: An Exhumation of the Morality of Necromancy

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781118397640

1118397649

9781118921166

111892116X

9781118921159

1118921151

OCLC:

883375160