The thread in which we are thankful

[Ralif Redhammer]

Cosigned. My parents never really blinked an eye or got in the way of any of my interests or hobbies as a kid. I count myself very lucky for that. Even if they were wrong about everything being just a phase.

Dear Mom, thanks for not getting on the "Your going to burn in Hell", train back in the 80s.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Dear Mom, thanks for not getting on the "Your going to burn in Hell", train back in the 80s.

My parents never got on that train, being agnostic liberals and all.

Being agnostic liberals, rather than take away my D&D sets and throw them in the trash because they were teaching me Satanism, they took them away and threw them in the trash because they thought the game was teaching me racism. Oh god, how I cried (being ten years old). Now I cry just thinking about it because they threw away a near-mint copy of the Rules Cyclopedia!

 

[dragoner]

My parents were teens in Europe during WW2, so they never cared about my gaming, encouraged it with Chess lessons and such. There were other issues, except I'm not going to talk about that here.

I am thankful for my gaming group, how great they are, understanding, inclusive, and for being true friends.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Dear TSR employees: thanks for continuing to put out wonderful art and products I loved playing while putting up with a horrible hostile work environment from pretty much day 1.

dear celebrity gamers, thanks for openly talking about the game and making it more mainstream acceptable. This 46 year old dude doesn’t feel like I need to hide my hobby nearly as much (not shame, just tired of the drama trying to explain why a 46 year old man plays D&D over and over)

 

[jasper]

Dear Magic Players, "Thanks for supporting my hobby, with you dropping $100 each tourney; my games don't have pay for tables." PS see rant.
Dear Family members of special needs players" Thanks for telling me their special needs. I now know what to look out for. What to make exception for."

 

[Longspeak]

This 46 year old dude doesn’t feel like I need to hide my hobby nearly as much (not shame, just tired of the drama trying to explain why a 46 year old man plays D&D over and over)

I've never understood this, why it needs to have drama associated with it, and I guess I'm thankful for that. Thanks to my dad, for buying that weird game where you pretend to be elves and whatnot for my best friend's (later step-brother) birthday. Thanks to my best friend for saying, "well, your dad bought it for me so I guess we should try it." Thanks mom for buying me Gamma World for my birthday. Thanks for the open minds and encouragement.

(Also, thanks dad for pushing me when I let gaming get in the way of homework. I needed to learn to balance those, no matter what I said at the time. )

 

[manduck]

Thanks to my game group. We’ve been playing for decades. Knowing how busy we’d be, we started Game Day to always set aside time for our friendships.

Thanks to our spouses and significant others who support our Game Day, so we can see our friends.

Thanks to all the new DMs out there. Stepping up to run a game is a big deal. You keep the hobby going. Some players in my group stepped up to DM and it brought us great new games. It can be intimidating at first. Keep going. Your new perspective and stories make the game great.

 

[Eltab]

Dear Atlas Games, thank you for believing in me and taking a chance on my manuscript. I'm proud to say I'm a published writer.

Congratulations!

 

[Henry]

Dear Mom, thanks for not getting on the "Your going to burn in Hell", train back in the 80s.

You just triggered a (now hilarious) memory for me: when my Mom started taking an interest in what this “D&D” thing was, in the Height of the Satanic Panic, she looked it over, gave it back, and said, “just don’t show it to your Aunt or the other people at Church,” and that was that.

 

[CleverNickName]

My mom and dad actually sat down with my brother and sister and I, and played the game in order to decide for themselves whether this D&D fad was truly "satanic."

Spoiler

It wasn't.

They rolled up their own characters and everything, and I nervously ran my whole family through "The Keep on the Borderlands." Mom and dad didn't catch the fever and want to play again, but they had fun and never had any issue with us playing, or letting me host games at our house.

I always appreciated that.