Bah humbug! I challenge you to play with my group and not fall in love!Just to be the bucket of cold water, but it doesn't have any more explanatory power than any other shared group hobby -- people meeting people doing activities they both like is the key, not that D&D has any special power in this regard.
I'll disagree to an extent, at least with regards to some RPG groups - when we role play, we expose more of ourselves. That tends to create stronger emotional ties than less intimate activities. If your game is more of a strategy game ... not to much. if your game is story and character driven, more so.Just to be the bucket of cold water, but it doesn't have any more explanatory power than any other shared group hobby -- people meeting people doing activities they both like is the key, not that D&D has any special power in this regard.
What was it like playing Dread with a six-year-old???I'll disagree to an extent, at least with regards to some RPG groups - when we role play, we expose more of ourselves. That tends to create stronger emotional ties than less intimate activities. If your game is more of a strategy game ... not to much. if your game is story and character driven, more so.
Putting aside that offshoot - yes, I've been playing RPGs with my (just turned) 6 year old. We started off with just storytelling games where there was no luck element, then moved to a variant on Dread (which uses a Jenga tower instead of dice), and will next play a few mechanical board games like Mice and Mystics, Marvel United, etc... in which I'll ask him to 'voice' his character a bit. Then, in about 6 months, we'll take another shot at simple D&D. I have been enticing him with all my figures and terrain for years now...
Just to be the bucket of cold water, but it doesn't have any more explanatory power than any other shared group hobby -- people meeting people doing activities they both like is the key, not that D&D has any special power in this regard.