WotC "D&D's Best Year Yet"

[Son of the Serpent]

I went to ye olde Victorian English school. It was pretty hard to get suspended unless you put someone in hospital. Expelled was really hard that required extra effort.

Things that didn't get you expelled.

Throwing someone out a second story window.

Sexually assaulting a border with a vacumn cleaner

Gay bash putting them in hospital for three days.

Throwing a mentally challenged student off the top diving board into the diving pool.

Slamming someone's head into a concrete wall.

Taking the rugby team to a strip club in Australia. Aged 16.

Assaulting and throwing a cross dresser into the pool during school sports.

Public brawl with opposing schools rugby team and burning them opposing school flag.

Throwing chisels across the room at people in woodworking class.

Driving a motorcycle into the principals office and using the wheel on his desk.

Stapling the teachers goldfish to the blackboard.

Hitting a teacher with a chair did get one guy expelled. He also assaulted the deputy headmaster.

Trying to blow the school up with nitro glycerine also got you expelled.

Playing D&D wasn't cool. Mortal Kombat 4 fatalities 1993-96. Head boys dad was a teacher then ex all black.

As horrible as a lot of that is, i could see someone making a hilarious cartoon episode with some od these in it. Horrible. Still possible to laugh my ass off at some of these. Im against cruelty to animals for instance, but stapling a teacher's goldfish to the blackboard? Hilarious. Just saying. Im just saying. holds hands up in front of me palm forward

 

[dave2008]

we have a different manner of using the term jock clearly. I basically mean "letterman". Not the average sport player. The better they are the more likely they are to directly also be a nerd.

Not my experience in Ohio in the 80s, Of the top 10 students in my class, only two of us were "jocks" (played organized sports), but 4 of us played D&D, and all of us were "nerds." However, my sons were different. Of their group of six, there are 3 "nerds" and 6 "jocks."

 

[dave2008]

Stoners listened to Nirvana and smoked. Didn't play D&D although one liked game books.

I should clarify that our "stoner" had the reputation, but wasn't really a stoner. However, my HS art teacher was a stoner and we talked D&D at times. So there is definitely some overlap!

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Not my experience in Ohio in the 80s, Of the top 10 students in my class, only two of us were "jocks" (played organized sports), but 4 of us played D&D, and all of us were "nerds." However, my sons were different. Of their group of six, there are 3 "nerds" and 6 "jocks."

your sons experience is the more normal one according to just basic biology and how hormones modify people. But the less heard about one. Thats also pretty consistant with my experience. About half my circle was, is, and probably wont be in the far future half jocks and nearly all nerds. Why do i say "wont" in the far future? Increasingly, as i age and people die more of them will be jocks and nerds instead of jocks and nerds and non jock nerds. Because the jock nerds will outlive the just nerds. Which is sad. But excercise does yield longevity and thats just...a thing. I know which friends ill still be seeing some of when im 65 and which ones i wont. Would rather have them all.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I should clarify that our "stoner" had the reputation, but wasn't really a stoner. However, my HS art teacher was a stoner and we talked D&D at times. So there is definitely some overlap!

Recreational drugs can be good with d&d. The rule at my table is if you do them, moderate yourself to not use more than you can use without adversely effecting others fun. And the dm is allowed to administer a functioning level test at any time to see how intoxicated you are. This is almost never done. Self moderation is a wonderful skill everyone should cultivate.

 

[Zardnaar]

i think he meant it had no direct affect on a vast majority of people. Going simply by hard numbers thats pretty true, in every nation, for all of known history as is shown by the fact thay even before modern medicine not that many people died from hiv compared to, say, the flu, hunger, or other common woes. If you get hiv its EXTREMELY bad, and its more common than a lot of other high lethality diseases, but there just arent that many people directly effected.

I dont think he really meant it didnt matter. I think he more or less meant if not for media most people wouldnt really be as fixated on it as they now are and that it took a while for anyone to take it seriously. Because it just never really bore down on the population like a potentially civilization-ending problem so no one was afraid of it on a level proportuonal to that. And media had not yet drummed up a panic for it.

But thats just a guess. I cant speak for him. I could be really far off.

No one here really cared about aids in the 90s. It wasn't common enough to register.

Hell most didn't care about herpes, teenage pregnancy etc. Girls liked older guys, the guys liked anything that said yes.

I left that town late 90s. Cities weren't any better just had more access to D&D materials and other stuff.

A few D&D sessions were grab a 24 pack last one left standing wins.

 

[dave2008]

your sons experience is the more normal one according to just basic biology and how hormones modify people. But the less heard about one.

Maybe, but they were definitely outliers in their "jock" circles. My elder son quit playing soccer because 99% of the players were just jocks and he couldn't engage with them intellectually. Biology may suggest one result, but cultural issues can counter that from my experience.

 

[dave2008]

Recreational drugs can be good with d&d. The rule at my table is if you do them, moderate yourself to not use more than you can use without adversely effecting others fun. And the dm is allowed to administer a functioning level test at any time to see how intoxicated you are. This is almost never done. Self moderation is a wonderful skill everyone should cultivate.

Never had drugs or alcohol at any of my tables.

 

[Zardnaar]

Never had drugs or alcohol at any of my tables.

Usually don't have either but the girls like the wine. If the wine comes out the beer or whiskey usually follows.

Drugs in 90s were only a problem if you couldn't function or if you got aggro around the girls. Didn't do much for me but half the group liked pot. One liked harder stuff and got kicked out.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Maybe, but they were definitely outliers in their "jock" circles. My elder son quit playing soccer because 99% of the players were just jocks and he couldn't engage with them intellectually. Biology may suggest one result, but cultural issues can counter that from my experience.

Athletes and nerds are both more likely than non athletes and non nerds to be d&d players as well as more likely to be examples of eachother all while being minorites in all 6 potential match ups. This is mostly just because they are all minorities in the first place. Totally normal.

A similar example of this. A minority of people are autistic. A minority of people are scientists. More scientists are autistic than other professions tend to be autistic and more autistic people are scientists than other similarly sized neurologically distinct populations tend to be. Never the less, a minority of autistic people are scientists and a minority of scientists are autistic.

So really there is no contradiction here. Just slightly complicated math.

Culturally athletes may act negatively toward d&d players. Sure. Is that so different from gay men being far more likely to join the military than straight men and yet culture causes them to not be treated fairly by the average guy in the service?

Non acceptance doesnt mean much for how common a group reletive to other groups is inside of a second group.