It's much more the jrr tolkien than "goth" (as goth implies a counter culture music/dress/lifestyle). if you let them watch the recent "fellowship of the rings" movies and they survived... they should be fine.

like any other hobby, it can be "addictive" if you get super into it.. and the games can go long into the night (its a role playing adventure game that relies heavily on imagination) and you can get caught up in games. but so can you on monopoly.

it got a real bad name in the 80's when kids were playing the game, going in the basement, dawning chainmail and acting out all the battles they just "played out" upstairs with the dice and manuals.