Kepler played D&D!

[Elric]

I was sitting in class today and my professor was talking about Kepler and how he originally thought that he would be able to prove that the orbits of planets are determined by the 5 regular polygons. So he starts listing a couple- cube, tetrahedron. Then he says "They are more commonly known as Dungeons and Dragons dice."

I'm sure he could have discerned how many people in the class had played Dungeons and Dragons just by the looks on our faces. I was grinning ear to ear. My professor is probably in his mid 50s and now I wonder if he's played. I didn't bother to say that D&D uses a d10 (not a regular polygon) as well as d4,d6,d8,d12 and d20 (the 5 regular polygons.

Anyone else have similar stories? How much influence does D&D have on the way people view things (even if they've never played D&D). I'm pretty sure that THAC0 has not made it outside the D&D community as a synonym for ridiculously complicated.

 

[TeeSeeJay]

I'm pretty sure that THAC0 has not made it outside the D&D community as a synonym for ridiculously complicated.

Why would it? THAC0 was never ridiculously complicated, only counter-intuitive (Low is high?).

I hear non RPG folk use phrases like "that guy sure got a low charisma roll" when referring to a -ahem- jerk, from time to time.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

Anyone else have similar stories?

not from me...

the closest i could get is: i once had an Astronomy professor who was a Star Trek fan, and spent one entire lecture talking about how (theoretically) a wormhole could exist. then he went through all the ways a wormhole couldn't exist, and finished class with another theory about how wormholes could exist

 

[Caliber]

Well I actually first played DnD WITH a Professor of mine (he DMed obviously)

Not quite what you asked for ...

My Uncle on the other hand got on the Evening News for playing DnD.

He had started a group with his friends in High School and they played during Lunch. Of course this was during the heavy anti-DnD era, and DnD was very much regarded as a Satanic activity.

So who should be on the Evening News that night, but my Uncle as the head of a local Satanic Cult based out of the City's High School.

Thats one of my favorite family stories.

 

[Azure Trance]

I hear occasionally how much pull my SciFi club has in University politics with the Administration (which is quite a lot, apparently), but nothing specific regarding D&D.

 

[Darius101]

A professor at YSU used to own a hobby store and we used to play D&D with about 30 other people in the basement of the shop. Talk about a wild game.
His world was not only unique it was quite interesting.
He was a professor of physics. His daughter was the first female I ever saw play D&D waaaaaayyyy back in 1979. She not only played as a player she was a tough DM as well. She also kicked butt in Mustangs and Meshershmidts.
Later,
Darius

 

[Altalazar]

Kepler had some pretty screwed up ideas about the "dice shapes" - he thought each one represented the mounting of the "sphere" for each of the planetary orbits. He spent years trying to model the solar system using that as the basis. Then he figured out it didn't fit - and he did something which makes him one of the greats - instead of doing the religious thing, which is ignore the evidence and keep the model, he tossed out his model and used the evidence and came up with Kepler's laws. A very brave step to do in an era where you could be burned for such things...

 

[Ferret]

I have one, my maths teacher used to play D&D.

Thats all I've got.

[Edit: I remember Kepler, isn't one of them about the moons distance and the square of the sidreals (being the cube of the AU)?

 

[Gothmog]

I had a psych professor in undergrad who was talking about some rare form of mental illness (I don't remember what now), but basically the guy was disoriented and wandered on to train tracks, and got run over. He said in class "That guy must have failed his save."

On another occasion, this same prof was talking about catatonia, and said "Thats what happens when someone gets ego whipped a few too many times!"

Finally, a calc/stat professor in undergrad mentioned randomization procedures, and hauled out a set of VERY well worn old-time dice. You know- the kind you have to color in yourself with a crayon, and whose edges chewed up? He had to be a gamer by the look of them.

And now its my turn. I just finished my PhD in Neuroscience, so I'm going to need to come up with references to use in my classes. Any ideas?

 

[Mach2.5]

ffd

A professor at YSU used to own a hobby store and we used to play D&D with about 30 other people in the basement of the shop

If, by YSU, you mean Youngstown Sate University . . . I believe I was a part of that same group on several occasions.