The Washington Post Weighs In On D&D!

robus · Apr 18, 2019

I have to wonder how long this wave is going to last?! Is it going to become a regular cultural pastime? I can’t see why it wouldn’t, it’s an easy way to have fun with friends. But it also seems amazing that it could.

LuisCarlos17f · Apr 18, 2019

RPGs will be more popular because we are enough used to videogames, and lots of geeks love to create their own "fanart", and this is the key of the RPGs, about creating your own world, characters and stories. It isn't passive like reading a comic or watching a movie, but making choices, nobody knows what it will happen, learning to failure and to risk, to find a solution by means of social skills, to find the right balance between self-criticism and faith in oneself.

Ed Laprade · Apr 18, 2019

Writes about D&D, shows LARPers. Color me unimpressed. The only reason they care is because they can lump all RPG related stuff together. Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity. (Or so they say.)

zedturtle · Apr 18, 2019

Ed Laprade said:
Writes about D&D, shows LARPers. Color me unimpressed. The only reason they care is because they can lump all RPG related stuff together. Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity. (Or so they say.)

Did you even read the article (and see the pictures of normal folks playing)? Did you read the caption for the photo where they are a D&D group that enjoys dressing up?

Flexor the Mighty! · Apr 18, 2019

Ed Laprade said:
Writes about D&D, shows LARPers. Color me unimpressed. The only reason they care is because they can lump all RPG related stuff together. Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity. (Or so they say.)

Honestly that is the first thing I thought. I have had friends assume we dress up and put on elf ears when playing D&D since it seems they see that a lot when they come across some random article or picture of D&D players.

lowkey13 · Apr 18, 2019

*Deleted by user*

Ancalagon · Apr 18, 2019

I wonder if the BBC had something...

theworstdm · Apr 18, 2019

Unfortunately, they included one of my least favorite tropes from mainstream articles about RPGs; you can find some variation of the "No longer is it a game to hide out with in Mom’s basement." line in almost every one of these articles.

Guest 6801328 · Apr 18, 2019

lowkey13 said:
So ... LARPing and dressing up was always that "bridge too far" for me. Kinda like the whole, "You've gone too far" brigade.

Which is hypocritical as heck, because, well, it's not cool for one geek to say, "Hey, I'm cool playing D&D and debating Picard v. Kirk, but RenFaire? NERDS!"

But with anime and videogames and whatnot, the whole Cosplay thing is pretty huge now. It's seriously mainstream, well, fairly mainstream.

So ... joke's on me? "No thanks, I don't dress up, I just roll dice and play my archaic TTRPG."

"I use an eastern European accent for my dwarves, not Scottish, so no I'm not a geek."