Pages

March 13, 2012

Playing Like A Fiend


Love me some sexy art.
Every time I picture you readers of this blog I can't help but imagine a bunch of old grumpy grognards. I mean that with no offense, I see nothing bad in being either old, grumpy or grognards. And also, I've collected evidences during the years that prove things are not exactly this way. But I need to make a point, and the point in question is: when you play pre-Type II you usually do it with your peers, or at least with some younger fellows. For me, things have gone pretty different in the last few years. All of my peers have started with Type III, and the same had to happen to me if it wasn't for my older cousin, who introduced me to the game at the dawn of second edition. Thus, when I play pre-Type II I have to play it with the grumpy old grognards. Which isn't that bad, honestly, but I really miss the way the game goes when you're among people of about your age, and best of all: friends. Yes, because the other drawback in playing pre-Type II in the age of Type IV and Pathfinder (and at the borders of civilization, that is how living in Italy goes) is that the internet is usually the only source for gathering players. Which is fine, really - I've met a lot of cool people this way, including my weekly group. But it's still nothing like sitting down with your buddies to share a beer and rock some dice. I bet you know what I'm talking about.

Since I far more prefer to help-myself than complaining about my bad luck, last year I decided to try to involve a bunch of non-geek friends in a Dungeons & Dragons game using 2e rules. It went out pretty good, and by the time of our third session the group have grown from three to seven players. At that point I decided to switch to B/X and start a Keep On The Borderlands mini-campaign. So far we played other three sessions, with no regular scheduling, during which the group has grown to nine players, explored the Kobold and the Goblin caves, and dealt with the mad hermit (they ended up torturing, crucifying and burning alive, but that's another story). Also, they started asking me to play more, which, honestly, moves me till tears. So next Sunday we have a new expedition to the Caves of Chaos scheduled, and I really look foreword to it. Also, last session we welcomed a girl in the party, and I really hope she's playing again this week. She's a physicist, but also nice and definitely not socially-retarded, so yes she still counts as girl anyway. No offense intended to science-girls, like, honestly, I tend to find them pretty hot. Except when they wear mustache bushier then mine. But I digress.

The point is I'm playing like a fiend these days, and it feels just GREAT. One of the guys at the table is a professional photographer, so I really hope to convince him to take some pics of our next game. Fuck, I can't wait till Sunday.

6 comments:

  1. I have a mix of players. A couple guys started before I did, most started with 2nd ed or 3e. One player didn't know anything but 4e. None of them are particularly grumpy, but one of them is old enough to be my dad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I used to play with my gaming friends (35 to 40 years old) all experienced players who have been playing for 20 to 30 years (including my female cousin, she is a physicist too talk about science girls!).
    No one in the group is socially retarded, and regarding beards most men have the "classic" gamer's goatee.
    Since moving from Rome I'm running an on-and-off campaign with people older than me by 10 years who had never been in rpgs before.
    I have found young players to be a lot grumpier than older ones...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ha! I have the good fortune of being married to a physics major. It's fun waking up and walking into the bathroom only to find the floor-length mirrors covered in equations. It's like being married to a mad scientist.

    I wish I could somehow pass on my great memories of growing up playing B/X and 1e back in the 80s. I suppose all grognards are probably attempting to do that to some degree. The notion of people's first experience with D&D being Type III is still pretty alien to me, in the same way that the way college kids will tell me that their first Star Wars film was "Episode I" and all I can do is shake my head in sadness. ;)

    Anyway, I'm glad you're getting in a lot of good gaming. Even though I've rarely enjoyed having a regular game (I'm lucky if I can get a session in with my friends once every three or four months), I do miss the old days of sharing dinners and slinging dice with my pals. I keep telling myself that someday soon, my best friend's kids will be old enough that they won't need all the attention in the room, and my wife will be done with university...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome! I am jealous, I keep trying to coax my locals away from 3e, but they are very averse to it. One of them said to me in regards to a session of LL that I talked them into that it didn't feel like playing characters, that it was just "us against the dungeon" - as if that were a bad thing! I keep trying with Pathfinder - but I think I will just never fathom the player mindset.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My players are half women and all younger than me.

    ReplyDelete