American RPGs

[Wik]

Aussies tend to be much more well travelled than the rest of us.

True enough. And, at least here (I don't know about the U.K.), they can be ugly as sin, and their accent will still get them laid. True fact. My buddy and I, both who weren't single at the time, wound up giving two hitchhiking australian surfer chicks a ride from past Sooke (on the southern tip of the island) all the way up to Duncan (about 45 minutes past Victoria) simply because of their accents. And because my buddy had a new car.

I'm wondering, now that I'm single, if the opposite holds true, and if so, I should probably plan a trip to Sidney or Melbourne.

 

[Morrus]

I'm wondering, now that I'm single, if the opposite holds true, and if so, I should probably plan a trip to Sidney or Melbourne.

American and Canadian accents? Sorry; there's only bad news there! British accents such as mine apparently sound "effeminate" to many on the American and Australian continents; in contrast, American and Canadian accents sound very "whiny" to those of us in other English-speaking countries.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Oh, god, tourist stories! I have so many, it's amazing. See, I live in a tourist city where roughly half of the visitors are from the states. LAw of averages says that most (not all) of the stupid questions will therefore come from a U.S. citizen.

Some of the funnier ones:

* "What's the name of that tree?" "Um, that's a douglas fir." "What's the name of that tree?" "Also a douglas fir." "What about that one?" "Uh, a Douglas Fir." "Oh. Is that one a Douglas Fir, too?" "No, that tree's name is Steve." "Really?" "No."

* At the airport once, in August, and watched a plane arrive from L.A. Watching the people getting off. And one younger woman, putting on a heavy winter jacket while getting off the plane. Before she even got inside the building, she realized she was incredibly hot, and took the jacket off. Upon coming in, I heard her telling her friend "It's a lot hotter in Canada than I thought it'd be. We should have brought our swimsuits." And then asking the desk if there were a place in "Canada" where she could buy a swimsuit... and, before getting an answer, explaining what a swimsuit was.

* My personal favourite, because it happens ALL THE TIME: Americans that believe Canadian money isn't real. And so throw it away. I've seen tourists spend an American twenty on a two dollar item, and get a bunch of toonies and loonies back. They'll keep the quarters, dimes, and pennies, but will literally give away the two-dollar and one-dollar coins, often as tips. MAny tourist shops realize this, and will only give you back two-dollar and one-dollar coins (they ain't stupid!).

That being said, there are plenty of stupid tourists from all over the world that visit my neck of the woods. From the asians who flew to Vancouver island because they wanted to go to Vancouver (look at a map before booking a flight, okay?), to the brits who decided to inform me (and they weren't even drunk!) that we were wrong to call the sport "Football". That "football" should not be called "Soccer". (and the funny thing was, I hadn't even been talking to them, I wasn't talking about Soccer, and there wasn't a soccer game on any nearby TV screen!).

All right, this is totally off-topic...but having said that...

We were at pre-natal class in Ohio, and you're supposed to bring pillows. My wife bought a little pig pillow a friend gave her. The class instructor commented that it was cute, and I said, "It's a traditional Korean pig pillow," jokingly. "Really?" "No."

* * * *

On our honeymoon, we went to Maui and took one of the volcano bike rides. The guide was telling us stories of mainland tourists and some of the questions they ask.

"How many dawn bike rides do you do each day?"

"Is it possible to swim under the island?" ("Sure, if you avoid the anchor chains.")

"How do I get to the bridge to the other islands?"

I think some folks just get a little disoriented when travelling, and then maybe some of them are just dumb.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"How do I get to the bridge to the other islands?"

I think some folks just get a little disoriented when travelling, and then maybe some of them are just dumb.

Well, I'm originally from New Orleans, and we have a bridge there that is about 26 miles long crossing Lake Ponchartrain. You can't see one side from the other- heck, seeing either shore from the middle is a trick. The engineers actually had to account for the Earth's curvature.

So people from New Orleans might be forgiven if they think that if you can see it, you can build a bridge to it.

Everyone else? Maybe its brain damage.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

I'm late to the discussion, so I'll lump a couple of responses on the same post:

I've never heard anyone say "I'm 170cm tall" in all my 35 years of life. Equally, I've never heard anyone outside the medical profession say "I weight 70kg."

HEy! I am 1.70m tall, and everyone here understands when I say so! (but, then again, I am not in England, the US, Burma or Liberia )

There are still folks royally pissed about the WW's "Berlin by Night" because, as far as I understand it, they pretty much said Nazi Vampires rule everything. I paraphrase, but really it offended the huge vampire base here in Germany.

Duuude, you should see what White Wolf did with my country and city! (the worst possible stereotypes about Mexican culture, Not even Rift's Aztec Vampire Kingdoms were so offensive)

I think that stems from the roots of fantasy in mythology.

The roots for that are in The Fisher King story. And yes, it is a very common Fantasy trope (not that there's anything bad with using a trope straight)

-

About tourist stories, I was once asked where we were from. We said "Mexico" and were told "Ah, I have always wanted to go to Texas!"

...AND Football is played with your feet and a roughly spherical ball (And no silly helmets!)

 

[falcarrion]

I disagree. I don't see any western frontier romance in the game at all. Castles, dungeons, dragons, long swords,long bows etc. Definetly not western frontier.
Can't say I've seen any cattle drives in the game yet.
But I guess I will now...lol

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

I disagree. I don't see any western frontier romance in the game at all. Castles, dungeons, dragons, long swords,long bows etc. Definetly not western frontier.

No?

Small towns in the middle of expansive wilderness... constantly in danger of being attacked by bands of bandits or by savages (unfortunate implications, yes, but westerns were like that).

Storys with a strong focus on independence and self-reliance, the heroes of D&D and Westerns alike cannot rely on outside forces for backup. They must take personal responsibility and face the threats alone.

Just off the top of my head, there are several narrative devices that are featured prominently in both D&D and Westerns:

- Antiheroes
- Taverns (AND tavern brawls AND gruff bartenders)
- Badass Longcoats
- Bounty Hunters
- Heroes drifting, moving from town to town
- Noble Savages

Can't say I've seen any cattle drives in the game yet.
But I guess I will now...lol

Hey, that's not a bad idea for a low-level adventure!