Are there Fun/Unique/Interesting Differences in American vs. UK gaming sensibilities?

[nedjer]

1)

3) I only found out about RPGs because of "Dragon Warriros Land of LEgend" papaer back in local library, asusme someone there thought it was one of adventure game books, or an actual fantays novel by it's cover
You dont' see D&D in stores except Waterstones (book seller) and actual game stores.

Worked in libraries years ago. Part of the work was going to book warehouses and selecting maybe £10,000 stock in a morning.

Dragon Warriors was a peach, because it looked exactly like a Livingstone or Dever solo game book, which were well popular. Always bought as many full sets as they had.

 

[S'mon]

My experience is that British fantasy RPGing tends to be somewhat more 'grounded', partly because we have lots of real castles, medieval armour, medieval buildings and other relics around us to influence us. There is usually less of a Wild West frontier feel, and more European-feudal.

I think there is no appreciable European RPG influence in Britain; language is far more important than geographical proximity. I don't think The Dark Eye even has an English translation. When I looked at a German's copy I was struck how Sigurd/Rhinegold it felt, how 'German', just as American games are often very Cowboys-and-Indians.

In terms of grimness, British RPGs seem grimmer than American, but not as grim as Swedish - there seems to be a west-to-east continuum, or it could be south-west to north-east. And I get the feeling that there's a bit less Grimdark now than in the late '70s through '80s when Britain really felt pretty grim. Despite the recent recession people are generally a good deal better off now.

 

[S'mon]

I play at the London D&D Meetup these days, a largish club which may be fairly atypical and has lots of players/GMs from overseas - Brazil, lots from Spain & Portugal, some US, German etc. We mostly play 4e, with some 3e/Pathfinder, and a smattering of other games. I've noticed that Warhammer is an influence on our D&D, and you are relatively more likely to be playing a game set in a decaying kingdom or empire menaced by Chaos cultists, rather than a wide-open-frontier or points-of-light setting. Personally I use a lot of Necromancer Games material.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

I don't think The Dark Eye even has an English translation.

It does (or did), but it's not the most recent edition as far as I can tell: [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Eye-RPG-Fanpro/dp/1932564020/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280067106&sr=8-2"]The Dark Eye RPG at Amazon UK[/ame]


The Drakensang CRPG also had a pdf copy of the current edition's core rulebook on the DVD in Germany; I don't know about the US/UK versions, though.

 

[haakon1]

American friends that back home they could never mention that they played in job interview because they may not get th job because of it, or mention to co-workers for fear of being ostracised and so forth. Over here it is completely different. I've gone far in job interviews mentioning D&D and roleplaying because of the teamwork skills and problem solving it teaches, and I find people are intersted in what roleplaying is about even if they would not be interested in playing themselves.

It might be a different culture for interviewing (possibly because you and your friends were in different industries). In the US, I wouldn't bring it up in a job interview just because I think personal life is irrelevant. We're trained that way (if we've ever been on the interviewing side of the desk) because in America, it's (at least according to the training for interviewers) easy to get sued if you go off the straight and narrow of talking about the job. As an interviewee, I also keep to "just the facts".

From my experience the UK is a lot more open and accepting of roleplaying than American is or was.

I lived in the UK for 3 years (1 as a student, 2 as a worker). As students, the UK folks I knew were more organized (university gamers club at a particular meeting spot) than the Americans (we founded a club, but we split up into people's rooms for actual games). Wasn't secretive in either place.

As a worker, I didn't game in the UK (starting doing it over email with US friends). But every Tuesday, I did go into the Virgin Megastore in London with my English friend (who was checking out the new CD's) to look at any new RPG releases -- and together to check out the computer games. So it wasn't exactly a secret at work.

In my US job, I'm actually more open about it . . . but that might be because I've been there 10 years, and lots of people talk about computer gaming. If your co-workers talk about WoW, talking about DnD is not so weird.

But the US experience surely differs by region and industry. I work in the software industry, within 20 miles of WOTC and Paizo . . . so, yes, gamers are accepted here! But it's a stunning, incomprehensible large and diverse country . . .

 

[nerfherder]

I doubt UK D&Ders use American accents for their PCs when roleplaying. So there's one difference.

You weren't in Alenda's "Halfling Muskateers" game at Gencon 2008 when I came out with "Bonjour y'all!"

 

[Dragonblade]

I think American gamers expect challenges to yield appropriate awards. If I go into the dungeon, I might get killed by big nasty stuff, but if I live I know there will be something cool waiting for me.

The British mentality is a bit different (at least based on my experience reading Joe Dever Lone Wolf books). I could go into the dungeon and it could be empty, it could be a death trap, or filled with monsters and there may or may not be any treasure at all. Or there could simply be epic magic just lying in there with no guardian at all.

The dangers you face and the rewards earned seem somewhat randomized in British games, whereas I think American gamers expect more of a direct correlation between risk and reward. I don't know how else to put it.

Incidentally, while I have never gamed with a Brit outside of a convention delve, I have gamed with a French expat once when I was living abroad.

Really nice guy but I thought it was ironic and hilarious that before we gamed he went off on this tirade about how he dislikes powergaming and is a serious role-player. But once we started playing, he turned into one of the biggest powergaming opportunists I ever gamed with.

I'm sure not all French gamers are like that but it was funny none the less.

 

[jaerdaph]

In America, everything, including D&D, is just better with guns. Lots and lots of guns.

And apple pie.

 

[Doug McCrae]

One other difference is that in the UK we never had any anti-D&D hysteria. No purported links to suicides or Satanism, no equivalent to BADD or Jack Chick.

We do have moral panics from time-to-time, over whatever the young peoples are currently doing that is strange to the older generation, but there was never a D&D one.

This might (or might not) be related to the fact that attitudes to religion are different. Few in the UK (or in most of the rest of Europe) attend church regularly, there has been a massive decline in the last fifty years and there's no politically powerful religious right.

 

[S'mon]

One other difference is that in the UK we never had any anti-D&D hysteria. No purported links to suicides or Satanism, no equivalent to BADD or Jack Chick.

We do have moral panics from time-to-time, over whatever the young peoples are currently doing that is strange to the older generation, but there was never a D&D one.

This might (or might not) be related to the fact that attitudes to religion are different. Few in the UK (or in most of the rest of Europe) attend church regularly, there has been a massive decline in the last fifty years and there's no politically powerful religious right.

Going to boarding school in Northern Ireland in the '80s (Peter Robinson's son was in the next bed!) this does not entirely tally with my own experience.