From: msr@kepler.unh.edu (Mathew S Reno)
Subject: Re: Dungeons and Dragons: It may have been nice animation, but...
Organization: University of New Hampshire  -  Durham, NH
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 00:17:58 GMT

In article <1992Sep7.200951.18895@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes:
>
>..a good representation of the GAME, it was NOT.
>There are a dozen different reasons, of which I will mention a few:
>The weapons.  All of the characters got magic weapons that fired limit-
>less shots/had limitless uses.  Even the wizard had a magic hat.  _A
>MAGIC HAT?!_  Talk about ridiculous.  That's like taking a first-level
>character and giving him a magic sword +5.  On top of that, it just
>does not make sense.

The show really wasn't supposed to be like the actual D&D game. The whole
point of the show was to get kids to start playing D&D at a young age by 
presenting a show that would make D&D interestng to kids (When I say kids
I refer to people between the ages of 8 and 14 or so). The format of the
show was to make the characters look invincible (Which, as we know, is not
like D&D). If you want to promote a game you wouldn't make a show that has
main characters dying or using puny weapons that don't do anything fancy.
All in all, it was just a cartoon and should be treated as such.
>
[Deleted paragraph about the Dungeon Master which he refers as the game
  master, a term that wasn't popular back when the show was on]

Well, the DM thing was a bit silly, but it was necessary. If he wasn't
there they would have been killed by Tiamat when they first entered the world.
The DM idea does make sense, though. The group was brought to another world,
they have no idea where they are, nor where they can go, so the DM is sort
of a guide for them. And if he just sent them home right away, what fun would
that be. Besides, I think he probably brought them there in the first place in
order to train them for some conflict that we would have seen if the show
had continued. If they weren't there for some purpose, I think that DM would
have sent them back. But wasn't he just a *very* powerful wizard anyway?

[Deleted - Stuff about the show not being violent]

After all it was a kids show, I don't think to many parents would have
wanted their kinds seeing people or monsters getting killed on a regular
basis. D&D was pretty contraversial anyway, I was supprised the cartoon
lasted as long as it did.

[Deleted - stuff about the endings being predictable]

Well, this was unavoidable, but I remember many episodes that weren't that 
predictable. You knew what the ultimate outcome would be, but they way they
got there was unusual sometimes. Besides I don't think people wanted them to 
get back, at least not until the show would be definately over, ie Venger is
dead or turned good or something like that. About the animation, I thought it
was excellent and the episodes had interesting things from the D&D world. I 
remember seeing undead creatures and seeing episodes about demonic worship.
This stuff was not to be seen in any other of the Sat. morning cartoon at the
time.

>---Chris Meadows

Well, I've said enough about D&D (the cartoon). Excuse any spelling mistakes
I was typing quickly and not paying too much attention, oh well.

--Matt

-- 
********************************************************************************
**Matt Reno               ** Miss Blackstone is a 24 year old college student **
**msr@kepler.unh.edu      **    and she just *LOVES* to make apple pie.       **
**MSR_CS611@unhh.unh.edu  **                         --Miss Macross announcer **
********************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation