Where would you put a D&D museum?

doluntchr · Nov 5, 2012

Beer and Cheese Curds

Morrus said:
See, like I said earlier, I can't agree with that reasoning. Should all Ancient Greek Art exhibits be in Greece? If I think about some of the many fantastic museums in London

Not a great example... you are aware that Greece has been demanding the return of the Elgin marbles from the British Museum for like, a century right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles

Personally, I'd want a D&D museum at the former home of GenCon in Milwaukee, but only because I have relatives there and need to visit anyways.

CWD

tuxgeo · Nov 5, 2012

Preferably some place that is physically spectacular, and looks like an adventuring location: Venice, Italy would be reminiscent of Piratecat's Eversink campaign, for instance. Niagara Falls would be overkill for hinting at Fallcrest. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River isn't available, dangit.

Does downtown Indianapolis look like a likely adventuring location? Are there ancient ruins, dark alleyways, and inviting inns with shady characters there? Does Utah look enough like Dark Sun? Does Dungeonver, Colorado look dramatically mountainous and adventurous enough?

I don't want to steal Danny Alcatraz's thunder, but New Orleans, Louisiana has:
• City wards that are below the level of the river, kept from flooding by levees, giving active opportunities for heroism (as in the recent past);
• Nearby Lake Ponchartrain, a brackish estuary suitable for scaring people with tales of Bullywugs and Frog Gods;
• Bayous not too far away;
• Bards 'by the galore' -- and everybody knows it;
• Susceptibility to hurricanes, in case Melora (or whoever) gets angry;
• The French Quarter for older structures (not spectacularly ancient, but some of the better examples in that area), as well as romantic cultural differences;
• Highway 61, which Dylan made famous; and likewise Delacroix to the east-by-southeast of NOLA, again perhaps of interest to the bards;
• Voodoo, or 'Voudun' actively practiced.

Yes, it's a long way from the northern homes of Dave and Gary (and of Major David Wesely, of Braunstein fame). It's also a long way from GenCon; but (as mentioned earlier) that's only once a year.

Jester David · Nov 5, 2012

I have to agree with Morrus. No one is going to go to Lake Geneva just to see the museum. While already there, yeah, the museum becomes a must-see. Lake Geneva is tiny. I live in a small Canadian suburb that has ten times the population of Lake Geneva. Which likely means cheap rent for the museum (I wonder if they could get the old TSR building?) but means during the off season there's not enough local traffic to support it.

Indianapolis seems like the logical place. Gamers are already there and have travelled to get there. They might be willing to drop some money on cab fare to get to the museum, and during the con there could be busses and it could be an event.

Be a good charity event as well. Imagine going on a tour with a couple ex-TSR employees as a GenCon exclusive tour guides for a special event. Would you pay $100 to walk around a D&D museum with Jeff Grubb talking about the background of products? I totally would.

Iosue · Nov 5, 2012

Morrus said:
See, like I said earlier, I can't agree with that reasoning. Should all Ancient Greek Art exhibits be in Greece? If I think about some of the many fantastic museums in London -- we wouldn't move them to Africa and Asia -- and there's one about Canada; should it be moved to Canada? A couple of cool museums featuring Ancient Roman stuff - should they be in Rome?

That's not an argument against Minneapolis or Lake Geneva, that's an argument for having many D&D museums in many different locations. There's no reason not to have D&D museums in multiple gaming Meccas and historical spots -- one in London because of Games Workshop's influence on the hobby, one in Tokyo because of the Japanese influence on RPGs, etc. The only question is whether the museum can bring in enough money to keep its doors open.

So really the interesting question is, if you only have one major D&D museum, a D&D Hall of Fame, if you will, then where should it go. To whit...

Museums are about bringing things to people that they wouldn't normally be able to see. They're there for the benefit of people. So IMO, we should put them where people are. In this case, put it where D&D players are so that they can benefit from it.

That is a very good argument for Minneapolis/St. Paul. Folks in the U.K. may not have a very clear image of the Twin Cities, as they're not as high-profile as such luminaries as New York, Chicago, or LA. But it is the largest metropolitan area in the Midwest after Chicago, has an international airport, and a tourism industry that can easily handle another museum, and provide other attractions for people visit. It also has the Source, one of the biggest and best gaming stores in the Midwest. Now, add to all this the Cities' historic pedigree -- home of David Wesely, creator of Braunstein, home of Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D, home of M.A.R. Barker, creator of Empire of the Petal Throne. It makes a lot of sense.

darjr · Nov 5, 2012

My preference would be Lake Geneva, Gary Con would be the con to go to to see the museum.

Also I think the museum should be mobile enough to make the trip to GenCon every year. I wonder if GenCon could sponsor that. Then it could also travel to other conventions.

Zaukrie · Nov 5, 2012

Museui should be where people are, or where they go. Lake Geneva is a bad answer for that reason. Seattle or Minneapolis make good locales. The Mall of America is an international tourist destination( not sure why) so it makes sense. Museums are about sharing history, so put it in a bigger city, with at least some connection to Tue game.

howandwhy99 · Nov 5, 2012

Hawaii?
Actually I voted Lake Geneva, but I could understand wanting to have it mobile and perhaps intermittent for money reasons. Then it could just travel around and be at Cons.

billd91 · Nov 5, 2012

Morrus said:
I can see that argument. But I'm not sold that the purpose of a museum is promotion. That could be a useful side-benefit, of course, but you go to an Ancient Greek art museum because you like Ancient Greek art; it isn't there to promote Ancient Greece to you. So for me, I think it needs to be somewhere convenient for existing D&D players.

Sure, making the museum convenient can make sense (assuming the ownership of the materials was clear and remote display was by permission - UNLIKE the Elgin Marbles situation). But so can leaving it in a place of actual significance. And I'm sorry, but though Indianapolis is convenient now, its significance is merely that - convenience. What happens when/if Gen Con moves on from there?

I don't know what kind of exhibits would be planned for a D&D museum or what they would cost to display. I suspect that what anybody wanting to establish one would have to do is think in a mercenary way - where can they come up with the funds to have a museum in the first place? Where might they have to put it to comply with the wishes of the benefactors?

Frankly, what may be more appropriate is a virtual museum with physical copies of the materials displayed stored by some kind of archivist or conservator. I doubt the Walworth County Historical Society would be all that interested. But the Wisconsin Historical Society might be - they have a pretty well regarded collection of American history including ephemeral materials. RPGs might be a pretty good adjunct to that sort of collection.

dmfubar · Nov 5, 2012

With all the arguments for Indianapolis, I would have to ask, what if the convention moves? I mean, that is what happened to Lake Geneva and Minneapolis. If GenCon were to move locations again, then all of the arguments for "that's where the gamers are" become a moot point. I say put it somewhere that has a strong tie in history, Lake Geneva. That's where it started pretty much.

am181d · Nov 5, 2012

Morrus said:
Museums are about bringing things to people that they wouldn't normally be able to see. They're there for the benefit of people. So IMO, we should put them where people are. In this case, put it where D&D players are so that they can benefit from it.

Gencon aside, does Indianapolis have a significantly larger gaming community than Chicago, New York, or Boston? (Just to pick three larger cities.)

It seems to me that the logic of putting a D&D Museum in Indianapolis is only incrementally more sound than placing it in Lake Geneva. Indianapolis certainly has a larger population and would certainly get the museum a LOT of foot traffic one weekend a year, but if the argument is "put it where the people are" then everything should only ever be in New York.

That said, I'm not opposed to it being in Indianapolis, but the reason to put it there is the same reason you'd put it in Lake Geneva. It's a location with specific significance to gamers.