Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 18, 1991                   TAG: 9103180175
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEATHS RENEW DEBATE OVER DUNGEONS GAME

Groups such as Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons say D&D is a violent, occult game that controls the minds of young players.

But enthusiasts say the game exercises the imagination and that in the game, good always triumphs over evil.

"All I know is it's back, and it's back strong," said Sharon Sipos, president of BADD, a national group based in Richmond.

Sipos said that in 1988, BADD had linked 125 deaths to D&D since 1979. That number may be 200 to 300 now, she said. She said one boy killed himself and left a note saying he would rather live in a fantasy world. Another boy was so distraught over the loss of his character's arm in battle that he cut off his own arm, she said.

The incidents are evidence of a blurring between fantasy and reality among players of the game.

"Whenever anybody enacts and repeats a fantasy enough times over and over in their head, sometimes it becomes very easy to re-enact in reality," she said. "It's not just a game, it's an alternative lifestyle. This is a mind game, not a board game."

Although authorities have not said the game was an influence in the death of two boys two weeks ago, Shawn Novak, the 16-year-old accused in the slayings, spent much of his free time playing the game.

Authorities in Florida linked D&D to the death of a 14-year-old girl who police say was lured into the woods by two teen-age boys, strangled, then set on fire. Last week, two 17-year-old avid players of D&D were indicted on first-degree murder charges for the death of Tammy Whittington.

"They went over the line with this thing," said Port Orange, Fla., Sheriff's Department detective Robert Vail. "They were so deeply involved that when the opportunity presented itself, they planned this stalking-type thing, like they did in the game."

But those who play the game say the problem is participants who were already inclined to act out violent fantasies.

"The question people have to ask themselves is, `Can they be swayed to kill somebody or themselves just because of a game?' " said Kevin Boink, an avid player and owner of Mega City Comics in Virginia Beach, which sells the game.

"If they can, that's not a person who is well-adjusted anyway. Something will cause them to act like this way regardless."