Texas Representative Stan Gerdes has presented a piece of prospective legislation known as the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education (F.U.R.R.I.E.S) Act to the Texas House of Representatives. While aimed at schoolchildren who engage in "Barking, meowing, hissing, or other animal noises that are not human speech," lawyers told Rascal in an original report that the wording of the act is broad enough that it could target the likes of childrens' D&D groups in Texas. That's because the hobbies involve roleplaying and displays of "non-human behaviour."
The F.U.R.R.I.E.S Act seeks to weed out "any non-human behavior by a student, including presenting himself or herself [ah, yes, the two genders] on days other than exempt days, as anything other than a human being." There are some specific exemptions listed, such as Halloween and school mascots – many of which are animals meant to do animal things by way of cheering and promoting varsity (and junior varsity) sports teams. There are no exemptions, however, when it comes to free self-expression, roleplay-based gamification within the curriculum, or the tabletop RPG pastime as a whole. As lawyer Noah Downs told Rascal, it's the "anything other than a human being" part that could cause some real issues. Dungeons & Dragons is highly likely to fall into that category, with only a single playable species being human.
Imagine being forced to play a D&D campaign where everyone played a human and only interacted with other humans. It's every Dungeon Master's worst nightmare. Seriously people, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
As noted by Rascal in the original report, this will undoubtedly bring back memories of the unsubstantiated Satanic Panic of the 1980s, which revolved around Dungeons & Dragons being marked as an ungodly hobby that drew children into a world of rituals, witchcraft, and the like.
Included in the list of items that would be prohibited from being used in a "personal or outward display" by the act are tails, animal-like ears, leashes, collars, and "other accessories designed for pets," as well as any kind of fur, "other than naturally occurring human hair or a wig made to look like human hair."
The act stands to persecute not only children who present themselves with "physiological features that have not historically been assigned to the homo sapiens species through a means of natural biological development," but also staff who refuse to enforce the act. Violations could incur fines of $10,000 against the district in question for the first violation, and $25,000 for subsequent missteps.
For more recommendations, why not check out the best board games, or if you're looking to roleplay without alerting the all-seeing eye, why not try some solo RPGs.
