How much Jack could a Jack Chick Chick if a Jack Chick could Chick Jack? (Help!)

[alsih2o]

We need a pamphlet people.

I would like to send out a personal challenge to the gaming community- Replace those silly subscription-type card in the back of gaming books with a pamphlet I can hand to people who find it impossible to understand why I am not available Saturday night every other week.

There just seem to be so many people who cannot be made to understand what gaming is. I am talking about those people who think Toledo swords are a minor league hockey team from central Ohio.

Me: "It is like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" but we are all cooperating to tell a story."

Average person: "So, you are on stage doing this? In some stupid outfit?"

We need a pamphlet.

Me: "It is just a few friends sitting around playing a game, based on a medieval setting, with rules for conflist resolution."

Avg. person: "But you have been playing for years, haven't you won yet?"

Just a few black and white pages that quickly explain what is going on.

Me: "It is just like when you used to play Cowboys and Indians, except with definite rules for conflict resolution. Instead of arguing over 'I shot you' and 'no, you missed' we use dice to decide outcomes."

Avg. person: "Aren't you emberassed to be running around in public yelling 'Bang!Bang!' ?"

All kinds of products are offered on RPGNow and other sites, can someone not make a simple, clear pamphlet that we could download and print off for the non-initiated in our lives?

We produce handouts for our players, how about a handout for the non-gamers we love. Or maybe just for the non-gamers we tolerate?

What I want isn't a recruiting device, just an explanatory page. I can get one at the local Ag. office for oak galls and boll weevils, I get pamphlets concerning religion, sex and politics. I can get a pamphlet explaing cable TV, foot fungus and dental care, why has no publisher, no kind artist, no fan website ever banded together to make this simple, effective product?

Please, I am begging for help.

 

[francisca]

GAMA has a pamphlet, but it's more along the lines of, "D&D won't turn you into a devil worshipper".

http://www.gama.org/uploads/58/52/GAMA_QA_on_Roleplaying.pdf

 

[Chaldfont]

I second the idea. Not too long ago, my wife had to explain to our neighbor why all those cars were parked out in front of our house on Thursday nights. When she told the lady we played role playing games, the lady thought we dressed up in costumes and went to Star Trek conventions (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Of course, local media coverage of Gencon probably didn't help. And the surreal juxtaposition of Colt's fans and con goers (btw, I am one of both) shown on the local news.

It struck me that it would have probably been less weird to just tell the neighbor that we were playing a weekly game of high-stakes Texas Holdem.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

The GAMA pamphlet is pretty good, I think it would make a good stepping stone for one not geared to concerned parents. Maybe if the project I am supposed to work on this week gets delayed (as it is looking like it will) I will take a stab at it.

 

[Quasqueton]

The first paragraph of that GAMA pamphlet talks of plays and stage directors. I hate those analogies for RPGs. The first thing people think of (and ask), when given that description, is that we players actually are standing up and *acting out* the characters and actions.

I prefer to explain RPGs to people by asking what their favorite game is. Then ask them how much fun it would be if they played the game as someone other than themselves. And then imagine you aren't actually playing against the other players, but rather you are all playing as a team in support of one another.

Poker: Imagine playing a poker while pretending to be an Old West gambler, or a Vegas shark, or an anonymous billionaire.

Monopoly: Imagine playing Monopoly while pretending to be a crooked banker, or a railroad baron, or a real-estate broker.

Doom (computer game): Imagine being able to interact with the game world beyond just shooting everything that pops up, and there are other players there with you helping you fight the monsters and get through the level. You can be the marine, or a scientist, or even one of the monsters.

---You know, playing a game of pretend as part of the actual playing of the game. But no stage acting. And definitely no dark rooms and funny dress.

Quasqueton

 

[Crothian]

I am talking about those people who think Toledo swords are a minor league hockey team from central Ohio.

Toledo is in North Western Ohio

 

[RFisher]

You remember the first roleplaying game you bought? You remember that example transcript of a game session? Dig that out & make them read it.

 

[BOZ]

GAMA has a pamphlet, but it's more along the lines of, "D&D won't turn you into a devil worshipper".

http://www.gama.org/uploads/58/52/GAMA_QA_on_Roleplaying.pdf

so then why am i still playing this stupid game?

 

[francisca]

so then why am i still playing this stupid game?

:\

Maybe because it stop you, either?

 

[Chronosome]

You can always direct them here, though it may be the wrong angle :

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/satanism/intro.html

[font=ARIAL, HELVETICA]Excerpt:
Yet in the 80s, when these methods were widely accepted, panics about satanic cults flourished. This may have been enhanced by the rise of the Religious Right early in the decade. This group tended to characterize such things as heavy metal, Dungeons and Dragons and other role playing games, violence in TV and movies, and teen sexuality as immoral influences and thus satanic.[/font]