WAY OFF-TOPIC - A long overdue answer to fighter-thief

i see it as the are tring to develope there lot in life and usally this is a way that is always taken it's what heppened to Russia they split apart and then went to war internally it's a sad way but a common way look at what happened here in the US during our civil war state against state brother against brother

hey ,whats so civil about war ,i love that quoate

[Moiraine]

Can you see my photo or not ? Because it is on a internal server in the LAN of my company.

no all i see is a red X mi'lady

[WOLFGIR]

Nope, sorry but it is not there..

[Moiraine]

OK then, I'll take some time creating a Web page and putting my photo on it.

[Memnoch]

I was about to say Moiraine, i even tried to put the URL address in my browser, but it timed out

[Moiraine]

This is surely due to the fact that the server where I put my photo is not accessible outside of my company.

[Moiraine]

Cloudbringer, I am here for a while (until dinner time), but quite silent since I am currently writing my post for the Algeria topic, and I need time for that, it is a very delicate post to make.

As an atheist, I am wary of the despise or convert attitude from religious people I don't know, some do that, you know, but you are not that kind of person at all, so whatever your beliefs are, it is OK for me. Ask Yorick to forward to you the mail I sent him once, if he feels like it. Respect is the key.

Moridin, I feel very sorry for your nephew, the Harry Potter books are so great, my son has read them all at least five times now. Couldn't you take him for holidays and give them to him away from his Mum ? (I hope you don't think I am an amoral person ...)

[Cloudbringer]

Moridin, A very good question, actually. I don't know your sister, but I do know the church teaches us that such things as 'magic' (voodo, witchcraft etc), astrology and the like are, indeed, evil and to be avoided at all costs. The idea being that such things are from the dark (Satan) and open a way for evil into your life.

For myself, I don't read horroscopes, dabble in seances or any other occult practices. I do read fantasy/sci-fi and play *some* games. I keep it clear in my head that I am not actually calling on Satanic forces for a spell etc. It is a GAME, born of fantasy and imagination. I don't practice magic or summon elementals for fun in my real life. I do NOT expect demons to come kick butt for me at work, either. I have Heroes of Might and Magic- the turn based game (before I discoverd BG!) and in it's later incarnations, they have demons and devils as possible armies. I had a very hard time playing with one of those castles as my base or one of those armies. Still don't use them much.

Without dragging this out all day, I'll say that I have had some personal experiences that convinced me without a shadow of a doubt that there really is an evil force out there. Perhaps your sister is protecting her son as best she knows how? Children often take things they read to heart and maybe she thinks he cannot differentiate between reality and fantasy at this point? Or might try some things that could turn out badly? I don't know.

I wasn't a D&D player when it first got popular years ago, but I remember news stories of teens/young people mutilating or killing themselves or others in the name of some D*D character or other. They thought they could cast spells or hack others to pieces with a kitchen knife. Had all kinds of people up in arms around the country, religious and otherwise. I always felt that these poor kids were the ones who needed friends, counselors, HELP. They were obiously not well adjusted socially and they took a game too seriously, making it a dangerous thing. I teach Sunday School from time to time and the older kids have all had a story to tell of others they know who sound like the poor souls in those news stories.


I hope you and your sister patch things up, Moridin. I lost my only brother and my mother to a cult many years ago. And it's an awful thing to lose touch with a blood relative, no matter how aggravating they can be sometimes!

Well, on that bright note- I'll quit.

Cloudbringer, I wonder if you might be able to help me?
I'm currently trying to come to an understanding with my father, who is curently in failing health.We haven't been close for the last twenty years and he wants to get to know me, and maybe understand me, better before he's gone. The gist of it is this: He feels that fantasy gaming is a quick ticket to either insanity or hell. He also believes that thousands of kids have been seriously affected by D&D type games in the past few years, i.e., hospitalized, suicidal, died in a sewer, etc.
I'm trying to find real information about that sort of thing, not just the urban legends that get repeated and blown out of proportion. Personally, I don't know of a single documented case where an otherwise mentally stable person went nuts because of an RPG. Do you, or anyone, have any factual info on this?
Thanks,
Rick