One of my friends LARPs once a month. You'd never guess if you met her at a party or something because she's super cool and normal. It's like her dirty little secret -- she didn't "come out" to me about it until I'd known her for more than a year.
In the summer of 1978, I went to one of the math programs that turned into CTY, all of the cool kids were playing dungeons and dragons. I totally felt left out.
I tried to enjoy playing D&D in middle school but my friends would always get into heated arguments about various things every time we played and I gave up. As far as I know, most of them continued playing into high school and probably beyond.
I tried to enjoy playing D&D in middle school but my friends would always get into heated arguments about various things every time we played and I gave up.
I had more or less the same experience. Also, IIRC, the books were expensive, and the guy with the full set used to bully the rest of us while playing.
I have tried a couple of times over the last few years to get together with old High School friends and game.
The gaming has been mediocre -- none of us have the time to put into it, but almost every session had some moment that literally left me laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.
I guess it depends on the LARP. Hers has some chain-mail-sword-fighting guys but she's a fairie/healer character or something. It sounds more LoTR than SCA, from what she's said.
In junior high and high school, I'd always been curious about D&D. Then, during my last two years in college, I fell in with a group of guys who played every so often. What a hoot it was! The key to a good D&D campaign is your DM -- if the DM is creative, exrpessive, and um, forgiving, the gaming itself can be outstanding. Otherwise, you're going to have countless arguments about whether or not the environment will allow someone's thief to hide in shadows.
PS -- My character was Dimli, the dwarf with a speech impediment (pronounced his own name, "Dimwi." Good times... :)
PPS -- Anybody in the RTP area still playing? Looking for a dwarf with a speech impediment?
Among the many scars from my brother's bachelor party a month ago--scars that I will carry for the rest of my life--was the simple fact that the primary activity was playing a nice game of Call of Cthulhu.
Likewise, I never dabbled until college, and then loved it. It was the perfect social activity when I had already boozed my way out of college once and was trying to keep it together enough to succeed on a second try.
That being said, anybody want to hear about this one Shadowrun session in college where my street samurai took over a rolling 18-wheeler with a crew of 10?
Among my many emotional scars (and probably most of my misandry) is the amount of time I spent in high school waiting around for the boys I was playing to play/finish playing D&D. Jesus.
And yeah, my husband still has a D&D game, and would surely be thrilled to play it with someone. He'll probably teach PK to play, just like he's teaching him to like Star Trek and Thunderbirds and all that crap. Ideally they'll play while I'm out of town visiting the boyfriend, who not only never played D&D, but has never seen any of the Star Wars movies.
Oh, man. First, you know how Shadowrun II let you have a drum-clip shotgun that fired explosive shells in bursts? My dude had wired reflexes out the wazoo.
I jumped from a moving car to the back step of the trailer as we were both going down the highway. I used the retractable claws in my hands to carve hand- and footholds for myself up the back and got on top. THen I used the infrared vison in my cybereyes to identify the occupants of the trailer and just started pumping shots through the roof of the trailer until they were all gone. I ran to the front of the trailerand jumped to the top of the cab.
From there, I swung through the passenger side window, shot the driver, and pushed him out the side while taking over the wheel. Then I drove away with whatever it was I was supposed to be getting.
I'll spare you the tale of my Trinity character (electrokinetics For The Win) and the time he and his teammates had to face down a truckload of Chromatics, unprepared, underarmed and low on Psi, in the middle of the street on a lunar base.
"I'm currently courting a lass...um, she could be my Leia" NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Don't say any more! Pleeeeze don't say anymore! I can't watch this! I can't look away! Noooooo!!!!
I, too, played a fair amount of (A)D&D in middle and high school, but I have no tales of awesomeness to share about my character, because I always ended up DMing.
In the back of a current desk? As in one in a residence you moved to since becoming a faculty member?
Not that there's anything at all wrong with that.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:14 AM
I just had a dialogue with a friend about my current situation that went like this:
Me: I guess I've got to get back in the game, huh?
Him: Looks that way.
Me: I've been out of the game for a pretty long time.
Him: You've been out of the game so long you don't even remember what the dice look like.
Me: Dude, I've been out of the game so long, the last time I played, the dice had 12 sides.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:19 AM
Yes, but where's the graph paper on which you draw your maps?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:19 AM
One of my friends LARPs once a month. You'd never guess if you met her at a party or something because she's super cool and normal. It's like her dirty little secret -- she didn't "come out" to me about it until I'd known her for more than a year.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:34 AM
In the summer of 1978, I went to one of the math programs that turned into CTY, all of the cool kids were playing dungeons and dragons. I totally felt left out.
Posted by joe o | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:37 AM
she didn't "come out" to me about it until I'd known her for more than a year
Wait, are those the ones where people dress up in chain mail and such? She didn't wait long enough.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:40 AM
Don't you know, FL? You have to leave them sitting with the highest number showing to train them to land that way. Tsk.
Posted by Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:41 AM
I'm writing, so I'm not going to tell the story until later, but I've actually played D&D this year. (Never did (all right, once) as a kid, though.)
I do love geeky board games, and have no friends who aren't too cool to play them.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:41 AM
When my crew hits a subterranean crypt, we don't take twenty, even if we have ample time to complete the task and are not harried by opponents. We roll twenty. And we roll it every time.
Posted by joe o | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:45 AM
I tried to enjoy playing D&D in middle school but my friends would always get into heated arguments about various things every time we played and I gave up. As far as I know, most of them continued playing into high school and probably beyond.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:46 AM
I tried to enjoy playing D&D in middle school but my friends would always get into heated arguments about various things every time we played and I gave up.
I had more or less the same experience. Also, IIRC, the books were expensive, and the guy with the full set used to bully the rest of us while playing.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:49 AM
I don't know that I was ever a geek, but I was definitely a nerd.
I never played Dungeons and Dragons. I didn't even understand the signifcance of the picture until several comments had been posted.
Posted by Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:50 AM
I have tried a couple of times over the last few years to get together with old High School friends and game.
The gaming has been mediocre -- none of us have the time to put into it, but almost every session had some moment that literally left me laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.
Fond memories, I'm glad we made the attempt.
Posted by NickS | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 11:02 AM
9 gets it exactly right.
Posted by NickS | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 11:02 AM
6 - Yes, they're the ones who dress up in chain mail.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 11:24 AM
15 -- are you sure? In my High School it was the SCA people that wore chain mail and the LARPers all played Vampire
Posted by NickS | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 11:30 AM
I guess it depends on the LARP. Hers has some chain-mail-sword-fighting guys but she's a fairie/healer character or something. It sounds more LoTR than SCA, from what she's said.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 11:40 AM
In junior high and high school, I'd always been curious about D&D. Then, during my last two years in college, I fell in with a group of guys who played every so often. What a hoot it was! The key to a good D&D campaign is your DM -- if the DM is creative, exrpessive, and um, forgiving, the gaming itself can be outstanding. Otherwise, you're going to have countless arguments about whether or not the environment will allow someone's thief to hide in shadows.
PS -- My character was Dimli, the dwarf with a speech impediment (pronounced his own name, "Dimwi." Good times... :)
PPS -- Anybody in the RTP area still playing? Looking for a dwarf with a speech impediment?
Posted by NCProsecutor | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 11:41 AM
Among the many scars from my brother's bachelor party a month ago--scars that I will carry for the rest of my life--was the simple fact that the primary activity was playing a nice game of Call of Cthulhu.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 12:24 PM
Likewise, I never dabbled until college, and then loved it. It was the perfect social activity when I had already boozed my way out of college once and was trying to keep it together enough to succeed on a second try.
Posted by Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 12:25 PM
That being said, anybody want to hear about this one Shadowrun session in college where my street samurai took over a rolling 18-wheeler with a crew of 10?
God, that was awesome.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 12:39 PM
Among my many emotional scars (and probably most of my misandry) is the amount of time I spent in high school waiting around for the boys I was playing to play/finish playing D&D. Jesus.
And yeah, my husband still has a D&D game, and would surely be thrilled to play it with someone. He'll probably teach PK to play, just like he's teaching him to like Star Trek and Thunderbirds and all that crap. Ideally they'll play while I'm out of town visiting the boyfriend, who not only never played D&D, but has never seen any of the Star Wars movies.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 1:09 PM
21: Yes, actually.
Posted by Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 1:21 PM
Oh, man. First, you know how Shadowrun II let you have a drum-clip shotgun that fired explosive shells in bursts? My dude had wired reflexes out the wazoo.
I jumped from a moving car to the back step of the trailer as we were both going down the highway. I used the retractable claws in my hands to carve hand- and footholds for myself up the back and got on top. THen I used the infrared vison in my cybereyes to identify the occupants of the trailer and just started pumping shots through the roof of the trailer until they were all gone. I ran to the front of the trailerand jumped to the top of the cab.
From there, I swung through the passenger side window, shot the driver, and pushed him out the side while taking over the wheel. Then I drove away with whatever it was I was supposed to be getting.
I'm such a fucking nerd.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 4:00 PM
There should be this transitioning sentence between the two sentences in paragraph 1:
My character had one of those.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 4:01 PM
Chopper, that is pretty rad.
I'll spare you the tale of my Trinity character (electrokinetics For The Win) and the time he and his teammates had to face down a truckload of Chromatics, unprepared, underarmed and low on Psi, in the middle of the street on a lunar base.
Suffice to say, it was awesome.
Posted by Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 5:38 PM
I assume everybody has seen this?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 9:25 PM
27: Is there no end to your greatness?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 9:31 PM
Hey Tim, I just asked you a question over at Becks's.
Posted by teofilo | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 9:39 PM
Mercy? You wanted mercy!? I'M CHAOTIC NEUTRAL!
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 9:40 PM
"I'm currently courting a lass...um, she could be my Leia" NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Don't say any more! Pleeeeze don't say anymore! I can't watch this! I can't look away! Noooooo!!!!
Posted by mcmc | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:10 PM
27 - That was awesome. Watched the whole thing.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 07-21-06 10:46 PM
I, too, played a fair amount of (A)D&D in middle and high school, but I have no tales of awesomeness to share about my character, because I always ended up DMing.
It was still fun.
Posted by mrh | Link to this comment | 07-22-06 7:44 AM
One of the reasons I like Unfogged so much is that it (at times) reminds me of a crazier online version of Paranoia. Now *there* was a great game...
Posted by arthegall | Link to this comment | 07-22-06 4:21 PM
27: It would be wrong of me to tell you that Buck wears that identical T-shirt with the dragon on it all the time. So I won't.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-22-06 4:28 PM
I ain't gonna say much except to say that I can't find my d20 because my cat likes to bat it around the apartment.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 07-22-06 4:31 PM
"a nice game of Call of Cthulhu."
Contradiction in terms?
...Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn...
Posted by Doug | Link to this comment | 07-24-06 3:18 AM