D&D in India ?

[Conaill]

Anyone know the *current* status of GURPS India? As of last year, SJG had decided to drop their current manuscript and look for a new author to take over the project...

 

[VirgilCaine]

I'd say that tabletop gaming is what is literally nonexistent in India. As far as I know, there has been no marketing of D&D or other RPGs in India. Pity, since there's a potential market out there. I've introduced some of my Indian friends to gaming and they took to it like ducks to water.

Yeah, close to a billion people, DUH theres a potential market.

I mean, Marvel is translating Spiderman for the Indian market.

 

[ForceUser]

I admire your intrepid spirit, jgbrowning, but: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/10/03/india.blasts.ap/index.html

I'd be worried about moving to such a region as an American, I guess.

 

[talinthas]

eh. nagaland is really far from where he's going.
it's like warning someone not to move to wisconsin because of the riots in LA.

 

[jgbrowning]

Joe,

Thanks! I was curious what it was and I think I had heard you mention that before. Best of luck and try not to lose touch.

We'll still be on-line like before, but perhaps less common depending on our internet availability. Regardless, it would be unusual for us to not check in every two or three days with all the internet cafe's. Hopefully we'll get internet connection in house, but I honestly have no idea what that's going to entail.

It's funny, but setting up house here in the USA is very familiar to me, expectation and action-wise. I'm not sure what to expect or how to go about getting what I need in India, so it'll be a lot of fun finguring out how a new-to-me social/economic system works.

I admire your intrepid spirit, jgbrowning, but: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/10/03/india.blasts.ap/index.html

I'd be worried about moving to such a region as an American, I guess.

India is actually one of the easiest countries of a only-English speaker to navigate so I'm probably a bit less intrepid than it appears...

The issues with nagaland have been going on for a long time. Similiar to kashmir in that way I suppose. IIRC I don't think the Indian government allows "standard" tourists into the far eastern part of the country just for these reasons.

And it's really far away from where I'll be. It's hard to remember that India is really big. From Shimla in the north to Bangelore in the south is about the same distance between the Canadian border and Dallas. Big country.

The most important thing for any traveler to remember is to laugh at yourself. You're going to look funny, talk funny, and do all the wrong things, so you should enjoy a good laugh at yourself. It makes people more friendly and helpful to you when they know that you know you don't know what your doing....

joe b.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

Indians, contradictory??? nooooo . As far as cities with good potential, i would presume Puna, Bangalore and New Delhi...great cities too btw.

As far as the contradictions, i think that arises more from what parts of India you have been to. India is very regional in culture, traditions, beliefs etc. The parts of India that i was basing my opinions on was the cities mentioned aboveand focusing more on the target market more than anything else.


You should meet the MTV generation in India - they are more "western" than westerners .

 

[shilsen]

Indians, contradictory??? nooooo . As far as cities with good potential, i would presume Puna, Bangalore and New Delhi...great cities too btw.

As far as the contradictions, i think that arises more from what parts of India you have been to. India is very regional in culture, traditions, beliefs etc. The parts of India that i was basing my opinions on was the cities mentioned aboveand focusing more on the target market more than anything else.


You should meet the MTV generation in India - they are more "western" than westerners .

All true. Not to mention the fact that just about every part of India currently has remnants of the 17th century (and 18th, 19th, 20th) living right next to the 21st century. Which makes any comment about India and "Indian culture" liable to apply to only a very specific part of the population.

 

[der_kluge]

One of my Indian co-workers mentioned that the kids there loved to play games that involved religious mythos. Like, there were these toys that ... well, the only corollary I can possibly draw on would be something like a sling and a stone, and they came with a book that talked about the myth of David and Goliath (except, a Hindu version, of course), and the kids could act out the story with the sling and the stone, but in their version it was a cheap bow and arrow. But, apparently the ramifications of giving kids such harmful weapons was still there, because all these kids were shooting people and injuring people with these toys.

The point is, it sounded a lot like LARPing to me, even if in a religious context. I don't think the concept of role-playing would be too far lost to these people to integrate some of it. Now, the idea of a medieval fantasy Europe circa 1300s... that's a different story altogether...

 

[talinthas]

dude, when i was a kid, i had a toy bow and arrow, and a toy mace, and i used to run around pretending to be Ram or Hanuman, the way my neighbors would play cowboys and indians =)

(i was always miffed to discover that my ancestors didnt actually run around with tomahawks and feathers in their hair; something about being the wrong type of indian... =)

In anycase, i can directly attribute my wanting to roleplay to those early days, and i can attribute pretty much every character i've played in the 12 years since i started to emulating some kind of Hindu figure, namely a badass cleric or two (parsurama, anyone?). Its all a matter of packaging. Indian tv is filled to the brim with religious serials that retell the stories with effects and fantastic elements. I don't doubt that a number of those viewers wish to live the story themselves.

 

[BOZ]

the thing about places like India and China... there are SO MANY people living there it just boggles the mind. you could fit the entire US population about 4 times into India's population, and even more into China. now, if you cannot make a single blanket statement about every person and region in the USA, how could you possibly make such a statement about such populous countries like that? i can only imagine how much diversity must abound... (much more than we see on TV and in movies, i assume)