Would you play D&D in a public place?

[crazy_cat]

Voted: I already do/have played in public places

I am now older and have a house so the question I'm asking is - why would I want to game in a public place, I have a nice warm and comfy house with all my gaming stuff already in it.

 

[Treebore]

I've gamed at libraries, Ryans Restaurant, Waffle House, and parks.

 

[werk]

Already have, but that was years ago. I'd be less inclined to do so today.

This is pretty much my response. I've done it a lot in the past but wouldn't any longer as a courtesy to other patrons.

A truely public place like in the park or at a community center, sure, but enacting scenes can be too much for people eating pancakes at Denny's to bear.

 

[WayneLigon]

I might; it would depend on the exact group composition and what we were playing. I would look on it as a way to get bypassers in the game and act as an ambassador so to speak. Someone is going to come up and ask what you're doing, so I want to present things in a simple and interesting light.

 

[Fifth Element]

I used to play D&D regularly in the common room at the student union building at my alma mater. We never had to worry about getting strange looks - there was a group that played Vampire on the other side of the room at the same time, and compared to them we were quite tame and respectable.

 

[Wombat]

While I haven't played rpgs in a public place for a while, I have done it many times in the past.

It is all a matter of space availability and how high you want your geek-flag to fly

 

[Illirion]

When we were on holiday (camping) I DMed a tiny bit of the campaign in the restaurant (there weren't a lot of people though) and we had some people stare at us funny when they found us gaming outside the tents. Stupid thing is that everyone asks what you're doing, but you just see that they're judging you for it the minute you start explaining. Not that we really cared about what those people thought, but explaining a highly complicated game to a bunch of people who hated it even before they asked you what it was is not a particularly rewarding task, so I plan to avoid it in the future. And indeed the wind was pretty damn annoying too .

Cheers,
Illirion.

 

[Ranes]

I'm truly surprised that nobody has yet mentioned playing in a pub, or bar...

I was busy. Our group plays in a pub. Our current venue provides a function room, so we're not playing in public but, at our last venue, we simply occupied a couple of tables in a corner of the bar. Staff and customers were somewhat bemused by us but friendly enough. However, we played during the afternoons when it was relatively quiet. Once the Saturday evening crowd began turning up, it would get so loud that we couldn't hear ourselves think and we'd call it a day.

Things go better with beer.

While that's true, I don't drink alcohol until the last hour of the game, whether I'm DMing or playing. That's partly due to the fact that I don't want to make stupid, alocohol-fuelled mistakes (as opposed to stupid, alcohol-free mistakes, which are something I've long since learned to accept) and partly because I don't drink during the day. I drink enough in the evenings as it is. But that's for another thread, I think. And possibly a different messageboard, too.

Edit: Speaking of stupid, alcohol-free mistakes, I voted no, when I should have voted been-there-done-that-etc.

 

[eyebeams]

I've gamed in public quite a few times, but I find that D&D is a tad bulky for that. One book games that use one type of die are a bit better, IMO.

 

[Lanefan]

While that's true, I don't drink alcohol until the last hour of the game, whether I'm DMing or playing. That's partly due to the fact that I don't want to make stupid, alocohol-fuelled mistakes (as opposed to stupid, alcohol-free mistakes, which are something I've long since learned to accept) and partly because I don't drink during the day. I drink enough in the evenings as it is.

Hey, if alcohol can provide an excuse for the stupid mistakes I'm going to make anyway, I'm all for it!

Lanefan