D&D 5E D&D on the cover of Sports Illustrated

[GuyBoy]

Speaking from UK, we didn't really have a big football (as in NFL) scene in the late 1970s/early 80s, but I guess rugby carries the same sort of vibe in school terms. Two of us were rugby players, both in school and university, but tbh most of the group weren't so much.
Saturdays aged 16-18 used to be rugby matches in the morning, D&D in the afternoon and partying with the rugby team in the evenings!

PS NFL is now pretty big in UK; I've been to see my beloved Giants twice in London (and they won both, which is sadly rare nowadays!)

 

[Norton]

I saw that Uriah Faber (UFC Hall of Fame) will be playing on RealSmithTv's "Heroes of The Realm" stream (8pm, Wed Jan 5 on @dndwizards YouTube/Twitch). I also like that jock-ier folks are playing D&D because I'm also a nerdathlete. Not a "jock" by any stretch, but it is kinda funny how my passion for the game is something I'm hesitant to bring up if I'm around "the guys". Nice to know I can add a few new names to my disclaimer.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I never served in the military, but starting in the late 90s and early 2000s I began to realize D&D was more popular in the military than I realized based on the veterans I played with. My take was D&D has its roots in tactical wargaming which appealed to military people.

My entire 6 year enlistment was overseas (Korea, Germany, Bosnia), and RPGs are HUGE in the military. AT least they were in the 90s when I was in. Towards the mid 90s, Magic really started to replace RPGs when deployed, simply because of the portability factor. In fact, that's the main inspiration I used when I created Compact Heroes about a decade ago, to create a portable RPG.

But yeah, out of the hundreds of gamers I've played with over the years (not counting one-offs like conventions or FLGS), most were when I was in the military. In Korea especially, where it's typically a 1 year tour, we'd have people rotating in and out of gaming groups all the time.

 

[pogre]

I have told the story before, but my entire high school group in the 80s were football players. We got quite a shock at GenCon in 1984! Needless to say, we realized we were not the norm at the time.

 

[dave2008]

Yep. Not to mention all the wrestlers who play, and I remember a famous NBA player but I can’t recall who it was.

But I knew nerdy jocks back in high school in the early 2000’s, so it’s been coming a while now.

Hey - I was a nerdy jock back in the '80s! It has been going on a lot longer than that!

Actually, my original gaming group consisted of:
2-3 Nerds (added one later on)
1 jock
1 nerdy jock (me)
1 stoner (not really - but that was what everyone thought of him and he had the hair to prove it)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Hey - I was a nerdy jock back in the '80s! It has been going on a lot longer than that!

Actually, my original gaming group consisted of:
2-3 Nerds (added one later on)
1 jock
1 nerdy jock (me)
1 stoner (not really - but that was what everyone thought of him and he had the hair to prove it)

Yeah I’ve never had a gaming group that was all nerds, tbh.

 

[el-remmen]

More stoners and metal heads in my D&D groups of old (ignoring the fact that most people are more than one thing and many are in more than one subculture at a time) - but I always found die-hard sports fans who didn't actually play any sports but looked down their nose at RPGers as 'nerds' pretty funny.

 

[Mort]

More stoners and metal heads in my D&D groups of old (ignoring the fact that most people are more than one thing and many are in more than one subculture at a time) - but I always found die-hard sports fans who didn't actually play any sports but looked down their nose at RPGers as 'nerds' pretty funny.

I've mentioned this in other threads: But I find it hilarious every time I go to Gen Con and there's a Colts game at the same time. The amount of Colts fans in full regalia dwarfs the number of people who come to Gen Con in costume!

 

[J.Quondam]

More stoners and metal heads in my D&D groups of old (ignoring the fact that most people are more than one thing and many are in more than one subculture at a time) - but I always found die-hard sports fans who didn't actually play any sports but looked down their nose at RPGers as 'nerds' pretty funny.

Yeah, stoners and metalheads was the main D&D demographic in my highschool, too, in the late 80s.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

In the 90s, my gaming group was a bunch of musicians from local punk, metal, and goth bands. There was one guy that wasn't a musician. We never played a gig together, but in hindsight, that was a missed opportunity.

More stoners and metal heads in my D&D groups of old (ignoring the fact that most people are more than one thing and many are in more than one subculture at a time) - but I always found die-hard sports fans who didn't actually play any sports but looked down their nose at RPGers as 'nerds' pretty funny.