From the introduction: Adventure or abomination? Creativity or cruelty? Diversion or demonology? Dungeons & Dragons, the fantasy role-playing game, continues to generate controversy while attempting to retain its dominance of the market for such games. ... Winston Mathews, a lawyer practicing in Hayes, Va., ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for state attorney general in 1985 on a platform opposing the use of D&D in public schools. "The essence of D&D is violence," he says. "It teaches Satan-worship, spell-casting, witchcraft, murder, rape, suicide and assassination along the way."