Historical Importance...D&D

[MerakSpielman]

Ciao!

Actually, recalling my days as a fanboy hanging around The Avalon Hill Company exhibit at the Hobby Industry of America Trade Show, my other like enthusiastic interests, I can not find dislike with for fanboy, the obnoxious ones excepted, of course. However, at the end of a long day it is most refreshing to kick back with a group who thinks I am nothing more than one of them, so I can belch and fart, tell off-color stories and say stupid things without raising an eyebrow or lowering an opinion

Heh,
Gary

Well, kudos for you then. I wouldn't be able to put up with it. I can't deal with people I don't know coming up to me and talking to me. I think I saw a commercial this morning for a precription drug that cures "social anxiety" and lets you become the "real you" again. Frankly, I think the "real me" doesn't like being around other people, thank you very much.

OK, I'm beginning to sound grumpy and bitter. I need to think of another herb pun to lighten the mood again.

I rue that mistake.

Perhaps I should caper about?

I hear my sister is pregnant with a girl - so it looks like I'm going to have anise.

There, puns are lifting my caraway!

edit: in deference to Eric's Grandmother, I'm not making a pun for "Horehound"

 

[T. Foster]

There are people who regard the RPG as something more than an amusing game, more than a most entertaining hobby. They really do need to get a life

Love it! A perfect rephrasing of my sig-quote! In fact, this may be my new sig-quote!

 

[ledded]

<snip>Understood and agreed. Sadly most of my role-play comes as the DM managing various NPCs. One of my favorites in that regard is when as a "guide" I convinced Robiler to rush into the lair of a dragon. When he did so, the "guide" shouted a loud warning, as he was employed by the dragon as a sentinal. When Robilar managed to slay the beast anyway, I managed to talk that NPC's way out of death at the enraged fighter's hands too Regardless of the role being played though, I fear I too often fall into a lighter mode, tend towards making jokes and punning.

Yes, other than the occasional serious moments, most of our in-character interaction seems to stem from a desire to confound the DM or make each other laugh, smile, or even occasionally make the DM shoot his drink out of his nose (which, BTW, earns you bonus XP )

Notably, this is quite a juvenile and silly approach for men in their 30's, but it's darned good fun.

Young people not only have little social experience, but they are still trying to find out who they are in reality. Thus they typically do not enjoy much roleplay, fearing the others present will think them silly or different, or worse, that older persons hearing them will think them odd.

Very much true, I can remember feelings of trepidation in my teens when playing with a new group and trying hard to play my character without being seen as 'goofy'.

This is why when I introduced my son to gaming with heroclix (son being almost 6, and we play by our own fluid ruleset) I encouraged him to go with whatever he wants to for a particular neato little plastic superhero... we both have great fun with it and my wife thinks we are insane. So if he wants to leap up on a chair and hold forth like iron man taking flight, well I cringe and melodramatically moan like a suitably chastened villain and we both get big laughs out of it. What I never do is tell him what he *cant* do when we play.

Agreed. What is to be shunned at all costs is rule-play!

Very much true.

Heh, and you'd be bashing a fair number of "industry pros" in that exercise, not to mention the mahority on another RPG website or three I shall refrain fron naming.

Cheers,
Gary

Inadvertantly, of course, but I think you are right. Often most people, whether in a good heated debate over some nit-picky subject or just simply playing the game, take themselves waaaay too seriously. But I think you said it best, and much to my agreement, when you said:

"There are people who regard the RPG as something more than an amusing game, more than a most entertaining hobby. They really do need to get a life."

Sure, for me it's a stress-reliever, an escape from the mundane, and an outlet for creativity that I dont ordinarily get, but in the end, it *is* just a game. And if you aren't having fun, then you aren't playing a game.

I remember a quote I read once long ago, I cant remember the source, but it was related to getting into gaming for a profession and taking it too seriously:

"When your hobby becomes your job, you really need to get another hobby"

<snip>
However, at the end of a long day it is most refreshing to kick back with a group who thinks I am nothing more than one of them, so I can belch and fart, tell off-color stories and say stupid things without raising an eyebrow or lowering an opinion

Well as far as I'm concerned, belch away to your heart's content

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Well, kudos for you then. I wouldn't be able to put up with it. I can't deal with people I don't know coming up to me and talking to me. I think I saw a commercial this morning for a precription drug that cures "social anxiety" and lets you become the "real you" again. Frankly, I think the "real me" doesn't like being around other people, thank you very much.

OK, I'm beginning to sound grumpy and bitter. I need to think of another herb pun to lighten the mood again.

I rue that mistake.

Perhaps I should caper about?

I hear my sister is pregnant with a girl - so it looks like I'm going to have anise.

There, puns are lifting my caraway!

edit: in deference to Eric's Grandmother, I'm not making a pun for "Horehound"

Howdy Amigo!

Fact is that I was, and still generally am, an introvert and loner who, when not with my circle of close firends, enjoys time alone reading, thinking, listening to music, working on some project. however, I have discovered so much fellow-feeling with gamers that I can not but regard most as comrades. Thus being around them is more like being with friends than with strangers. Gaming has done many a good thing for many persons, and it has made me more a people person than I was before. I must confess that being thus does exhaust me at the end of a full convention day, thoug.

Now as to the balance of your message, is is clear that you relish garnishing your missives with puns, and a couple you got off were mint, but even though one was seedy, they allspiced up your response.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Love it! A perfect rephrasing of my sig-quote! In fact, this may be my new sig-quote!

Happy to have provided something amusing. If that is used as your sig I'm sure there'll be more hate posts then ever about me than ever on some boards, and to those that react I say

Heh,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Yes, other than the occasional serious moments, most of our in-character interaction seems to stem from a desire to confound the DM or make each other laugh, smile, or even occasionally make the DM shoot his drink out of his nose (which, BTW, earns you bonus XP )

Now that's RPGing the way I like it! My serious moments come whan the team is facting a really demanding situation, and i want them to concentrate, do their best, ans win the day

Notably, this is quite a juvenile and silly approach for men in their 30's, but it's darned good fun.

How about for a man in his 60s GMing for men in their 20s and 30s? If it's fun, who cares it is smaks of being on the juvenile side say I.

Very much true, I can remember feelings of trepidation in my teens when playing with a new group and trying hard to play my character without being seen as 'goofy'.

the revelation came to me some years back, after GMing for even more years. I was actuallt running one of my PCs, about to berate some younger players for their lack of getting into character and roleplaying when mental lightning struct me. I shut up and simply set the example of the sort of thing i thought they should be doing. After some looks that were a mixture of embarassment for my potential shame at such behavior, and awe that I could speak in character loudly and with relative eloquence, they calmed down, even managed a little role-playing thereafter. In later sessions several of the teenagers became emboldened when no one laughed and would speak in character.

This is why when I introduced my son to gaming with heroclix (son being almost 6, and we play by our own fluid ruleset) I encouraged him to go with whatever he wants to for a particular neato little plastic superhero... we both have great fun with it and my wife thinks we are insane. So if he wants to leap up on a chair and hold forth like iron man taking flight, well I cringe and melodramatically moan like a suitably chastened villain and we both get big laughs out of it. What I never do is tell him what he *cant* do when we play.

That is about the way I got my youngest son Alex into paper RPGing. He still looks at me somewhat askance when I get carried away in a role even after a decade of playing solo and then in my regular group, He is but 17 years of age though...

...

Sure, for me it's a stress-reliever, an escape from the mundane, and an outlet for creativity that I dont ordinarily get, but in the end, it *is* just a game. And if you aren't having fun, then you aren't playing a game.

Aside from those people who enjoy not haviing fun, I can't understand why anyone would think a game of make-believe is anything but light-hearted entertainment. This is not to say I don't get deeply involved in a campaign and my character therein when I have the opportunity to play regularly, but it never goes beyond being a game. Real life is there to see to that.

I remember a quote I read once long ago, I cant remember the source, but it was related to getting into gaming for a profession and taking it too seriously:

"When your hobby becomes your job, you really need to get another hobby"

Well as far as I'm concerned, belch away to your heart's content

Well dang! Here my hobby and my work have been the same for about 30 years now, and I've never had any problem separating work fun from play fun My main complaint is that of late I'm not able to get in as much play fun as I'd like because of the job.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Henry]

Well, given the little gems dropped in this thread, I guess we'll have another one to archive!

Seriously, if I don't get to tell you this before the weekend (when you likely go off into work-land again), thanks on behalf of all of us here for putting in your time, effort, and two cents into these forums.

As it is, I'm gone for the weekend, myself.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Ho Henry

It is my pleasure, as posting to threads like this is a lot like having a conversation in person with a group of fellow game buffs. It is enjoyable to me when I am not fretting about time lost from creative work. I waltzed through one section of the project I am working on, so had some extra time, and now I am awaiting inspiration to make the last part needing completion something special.

Weekends are usually more hectic here than weekdays. When the rest of the family if out and about during the week I have peace and quiet so that I can beat my brains trying for something innovative and clever to astonish and amuse the reader and players...

As an aside only four of my usual six or so LA game group showed up for the resumption of the campaign after the long hiatus we had beause of my having a bout with the flu bug. So I suggested we have a go at the Castles & Crusades game rules. It was so close to OAD&D that four new characters, three multi-classed demi-humans, and all of c. 6th level because of the setting, were generated and ready to play in about an hour, my finding the new AC and Saving Throw Tables taking nearly a quarter hour when reading off the information. Even though not a weapon was drawn in the ensuing play, the fellows all had a great time and look forward to alternating campaigns now.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Rel]

True, and generally I don't mind hearing them, but after the third or fourth one in the same day it becomes tedious, especially those recounted by relative newbies that sound the same as all of the tales I've heard from like gamers over a couple of decades or so..

Gary, just so's you're not worried or anything, I've got our first meeting all planned out. I'm just going to hover nearby until I can tell you're getting a tad worn down by the war stories. Then I'll give you a nod and say, "Let's blow this popstand and go grap a couple Bombay Saphire Martinis with blue-cheese stuffed olives."

Then, when I've got a couple drinks in you, you'll be much more receptive to my own repetitive and boring war-stories.

Drop by one of the North Carolina Game Days and you'll even get a chance to meet Henry. He's less boring than me but he doesn't drink martinis. Nobody's perfect I guess.

 

[Wiltrix]

Hi Wiltrix,

Hate to disappoint you, but Tuerney the Merciless was never a PC, just a name created for dramatic purposes, and to spoof my son Ernie's dreaded PC Erac's Cousin, a most evil magic-user The later information was likewise invented by other hands in the AD&D game.

Cheers,
Gary

Mr. E. Gary Gygax,

Thank you for that piece of background information on Tuerny; much appreciated.

Thomas