D&D 5E Worlds Strongest Man, Martins Licis, plays Dungeons and Dragons!

[Mannahnin]

Martins Licis: "I played D&D!"
Hafthor "The Mountain" Bjornsson: "I played on Game of Thrones."

I think the nerd debate would also go to The Mountain....

Eh, I'd give it to Martins in that comparison. A hobby is more representative of who you are than the audience for a TV show you're paid to act on, IMHO.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

This does not surprise me.

 

[Bolares]

Hafthor "The Mountain" Bjornsson: "I played on Game of Thrones."

To be fair, about 15 strong men played the mountain....

 

[Scott Christian]

Correction: 18/00, not 18/100

My bad.

 

[Vaalingrade]

It must cut him to the core seeing what D&D thinks someone twice as strong as him isn't capable of.

 

[Blue Orange]

I have told this story many times on here, but it may amuse you. Back in the mid-80s in our small town myself and a bunch of offensive linemen played D&D. It was just something the big guys on the football team did in my town. One year, 1984, when GenCon fell on a date prior to official practice starting we decided to go. It was at the Parkside campus back then.

We all got out of our vehicles and very quickly figured out we were not the "norm" for D&D players.

We played in the D&D official tournament and when we walked in our first DM said, "Let me guess - you guys all want to play the fighter."

I continued the tradition in college and got a lot of our offensive and defensive linemen playing. By then, 1986 or so, WFRP was new and what we played. We were talking about something to do with the game during a rest when our Head Coach came by - he asked the offensive line coach what in the heck he was teaching us.

I have found over the years there is a lot of cross-interest between big dudes lifting and gaming - so the WSM being into gaming does not surprise me.

That is fun. Stereotypes exist, but there are always people who break them!

I do kind of wonder if weight-lifting in particular would appeal to geeks-trying-to-go-jock, though. A lot of less-athletic young men may have deficits in reaction time or the ability to think on their feet, but if you pick up the barbell enough times you will build muscle, so determination may compensate for a deficit in natural ability. You won't be the WSM, probably, but you can get stronger than most guys in a sedentary society. Success is easily quantified--I can lift x pounds! Also, if you're not terribly outgoing, well, you just need a barbell.

None of this applies to your offensive line, but I wonder if it might explain the weightlifting/D&D crossover.

Now, I'm curious, though--did you all want to play the fighter? I would have thought maybe you'd want to play the magic-user or thief--if a bookworm dreams of being Conan, does the athlete dream of being Raistlin?

 

[Stoutstien]

As a strongman competitor I can reassure everybody that the venn diagram of strongman and TTRPGs is basically a circle

 

[Blue Orange]

As a strongman competitor I can reassure everybody that the van diagram of strongman and TTRPGs is basically a circle

OK, you've actually inspired me to start lifting.