Posts tagged P&P RPG

Now that I am thirty, I am finally coming to terms with the idea that my D&D days are over, at least until Freya can play, but they do have one enduring legacy for me as a games-designer.

I think I am burning out as a player…

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My name is Anthony and I play D&D. I am not a geek, not according to the geeks I know. I tried calling myself a geek, but the real geeks disowned me. I was too cool to hang out in their world. I am not alone in this. Vin Diesel plays (or played) D&D and nobody would call him a geek. Not to his face, at any rate.

So why are people so scared to just admit it? I worked with a man who made Dwayne Dibley look cool and even he looked aghast at the implication that maybe playing Neverwinter Nights meant he might like to try D&D.

The game itself has a bad press, I think. Endless generations of grognards and assorted beardies have scared away normal players until the first thing that springs to my generation’s mind is the cartoon from the ’80s. Even the other designers I work with seem never to have played D&D or seen it played. I am half-tempted to suggest it, as the management have been saying that we should host some social activities at work… Of course, I would rather play paintball or go on a Grand Union Canal pub-crawl. (apparently, the trick is to have a well-stocked bar on the barge…)

There is an E-Zine called Roleplaying Tips Weekly that I read, which I recommend to anyone who runs a tabletop game, and the latest edition has a great article on treasure siphons.

The idea is one that I am quite fond of;it gives the players a reason to care about the world and detracts very little. I will not go too far into it, as I recommend reading it, but the idea can boil down to ‘here is the chance to get 10% extra treasure that you must give away’ - rebuilding orphanages, paying off the rogue’s gambling debts, raising the dowry to offload your ditzy cleric to a nobleman…

You can find the E-Zine at http://www.roleplayingtips.com (link opens in a new window), but the E-mail version tends to be about a week ahead of the website, so try http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=434 on Friday or so.