Street D&D in San Francisco

Better. I expect that at least some of the people avoiding him were doing so because of the way he was dressed. (Notice the guy who wouldn't shake his hand.) Heck, I wouldn't game with him, and I've only been able to play a few times in the past five years!

It dawns on me the costume draws attention. That might have been a more important requirment than looking normal in order for this experiment to work. I suspect downtown San Francisco has a different attitude than Small Town USA would.
 

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It dawns on me the costume draws attention. That might have been a more important requirment than looking normal in order for this experiment to work. I suspect downtown San Francisco has a different attitude than Small Town USA would.

There was a guy who took MUNI around the same time I did that did that wore a costume close to that everyday. He also carried this big wooden shamman staff thing... It was a pretty cool looking staff at least. He got on/off at Civic Center, which is kind of the homeless/meth head capital of MUNI stops. :P
 

I also would have left the costume at home...

I understand it may have served as an attention-getter... but I would have commissioned a full-color vinyl sign with dragons and other standard fantasy instead.
 

I want to say that looks like it's near Powell station, so I think a few people there weren't neccesarily weirded out by the costume, it was more something like "Oh, another one of those kinda guys? What's he going on about now?"

I mean, between the Metreon, the occasional convention in that general area, and the art students, people are used to weirdness.
 

it was a fun watch.

if the goal was to get people interested, i have to agree that the costume may have hurt more than helped only as it may get people think of it as a barrier to entry in to the hobby (you have to be in to dressing up - which is fine in it's own, but it's not a requirement to play d&d and not everyone would necessarily be in to it). plus, if you've -never- heard of RPGs before, and someone in a costume standing next to a sign that says "the Dungeon Master wants you" asking you if you want to "role-play" might be taken in a sexual context.

if the goal was to have fun yourself and for people watching, then, the costume was a good touch.

overall, as said, it was a fun watch. :) if only there was a documentry of your journy across the US setting up D&D tables in a variety of towns.... :P (warning: don't actually do this, some places are less forgiving than SF to trying new things, so it would be a little boring in some spots)
 

The photos of this went up on laughingsquid and reddit a little while ago, but now there is actual video of a live D&D game on the streets of San Francisco:

YouTube - Street D&D - San Francisco

And yes -- the game was 4th edition with pregenerated characters. -_-

Jason Thompson
King of RPGs (a graphic novel from Del Rey Manga)

Hey man, if you make it to Redding, CA, let me know- I'll make a trip there for some street play! (It's the closest actual city to my current residence.)
 

My inner geek loved that video.

Somehow, it actually seemed fitting... a random stranger, cloaked to hide his identity, runs a game for other strangers. The costume seems to give the DM an air of mystery and perhaps even a sense of impartiality (is that even a word?) - having the DM's face covered made me feel as though he was a 'neutral' DM in regards to the game he was running.
 

I would have been put off by the costume. If he had dressed normally, I'd have played given the availability.

Still, I applaud the effort.
 

*snortle* heh. . .

Ah, I would just have to play. And me, well, I rather dislike that particular game. :p

Congrats, d00d. Costume and all.
 


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