Dungeons and Dragons Game Day Next Weekend

Thanks to Wizards.com for the information on next week's Worldwide D&D Game Day, celebrating the game's 30th Anniversary. "Saturday, October 16, 2004, participating game stores will present two adventures well stocked with hapless monsters to slay. Bring some friends to adventure with or meet some new gaming buddies at the event. The mini adventure, Lair or the Mad Alchemist, provides a great introduction to D&D, while The Forgotten Forge offers the thrill of a full-scale adventure set in the exciting new world of Eberron." If you're interested, here's a handy list of participating stores.

Comments

D&D

[DrunkenTerror]

D&D, like all form of recreation, appeal to some people and not to others. I've played D&D with people who went on to become scientists, graphics designers, special forces soldiers, animal trainers, writers, musicians, security experts, & ministers, among other things.

I've played with punk rockers, fundamental Christians, hippies, bookworms, anarchists, stoners, jocks, Wiccans, conformists, non-conformists, assholes, Bhuddists, & Joe-Sixpack kinds of guys & girls.

At its best it can be like live improvisational theater, a source of plesant memories among friends for years to come, and a way to build social ties among groups of people who might normally hang out with each other.

Sure, you can make the stereotypical jokes about the insecure, pimply-faced nerds who kill thier parents in the night in order to gain some "magic treasure", but in my experience, a large majority of D&D players are down-to-earth "normal" folks, who enjoy engaging their imaginations with some creative fantasy from time to time. Kinda like reading a book, only more immersive.

Re:D&D Obession is Fascinating

[Lord Graga]

I just came back from a game of D&D, and I'm not a broken down fool, I am a happy geek.

Sounds like you never had a good GM or group to be in.

Re:D&D Obession is Fascinating

[Asmor]

Are you stupid, ignorant or just seriously lacking in anything remotely related to insight? Why are people so fascinated with movies? Why are people so fascinated with books? Maybe they've all got retarded imaginations. Why are people so fascinated with sports? Maybe it's because they're so fat and unathletic. Seriously, man, think before you speak. D&RPGs are a hobby like any other. Sure, there's people that are a bit too obsessed, but I'm sure a much greater percentage of sports fans could quote the statistics of 20 years worth of players in football, baseball and basketball than there are RPGers who could even tell you the names of all the monsters in the most recent Monster Manual, never mind their statistics.

Oh sweet irony

[Daetrin]

Wizards of the Coast is sponsoring a game day? That's nice of them. It's been a long time since i've played D&D, so maybe i should go check it out.

Oh wait, i can't. The only local game store specialized in RPG stuff disapeared a little while after Wizards of the Coast opened up all their big stores in all the malls around here. Then after a couple years they decided they weren't making enough money (their first mistake was probably buying retail space in malls) and shut down all their stores and went back to wholesaling.

So now i have nowhere to buy the products they're trying to sell. I was hoping maybe the list of stores whould show some nearby place i just hadn't heard about till now, but no such luck.

And yes, i probably contributed to the problem some, but not as much as many other people. I continued to stop by the local store for as long as it remained open as well as going to Wizards of the Coast, but i wasn't buying much at either place since nobody i knew was interested in gaming at the time.

Re:Oh sweet irony

[travail_jgd]

WotC's stores could have really helped push RPGs toward the mainstream. They had great locations, yuppie-friendly decor, large floorplans, etc.

Instead, they put all the RPGs in the back corner, which was sometimes out of view of the entrance. In the early days, computer games (and computers to play them on!) had more shelf space than WotC's own products. Pretty much everyone I knew said the stores were thought up by designers who "just didn't get it".

The closure of WotC's stores (combined with dropping all other games a couple years earlier) probably set gaming back 5-10 years. A lot of stores either closed or stopped carrying RPGs because of WotC.

D&D isn't Just for outcasts

[TJ_Phazerhacki]

I am still surpised at the number of people who automatically associate D&D with the "lesser half" shall we say, of society. RPG'ing is an experience rich in entertainment value, as well as being beneficial for energizing youth's imagination. This is one area where Pen & Paper games surpass their video counterparts without much argument. And dont overlook the educational value. A good friend of mine is enrolled in a Senior HS level class that is requiring it's students to create scenarios and scripts for mini campaigns. Even the people in the class who would never pick up dice are excited about the project - and I can guarentee that there will be some excellent Ideas and creative thinking associated with the project. Congrats on the anniversary, and here's to another year of D20 fun!

I wish they'd do this for NWN

[Anonymous Coward]

It'd be cool if they released a custom module for Neverwinter on Saturday for people to play computer DnD online. I'd don't have a gaming club / store readily available and this would be the best way for me to play DnD that day.

Worldwide

[Repton]

Hmm, I notice that "worldwide" means "North America, South America and Europe" ... :-/

Re:Worldwide

[node 3]

Hmm, I notice that "worldwide" means "North America, South America and Europe" ... :-/

Yeah, that is confusing. I thought sometime around the '30s/'40s we no longer counted South America as part of "The World". I guess my American Imperial Handbook must be out of date.

Re:Worldwide

[Macgrrl]

I'm still trying to work out if this implies that Australia is now a state of America - or whether we are no longer 'part of the world.

Not sure which would be worse.

Some advice

[Anonymous Coward]

Make sure you pack some extra rubbers if you're heading to one of these events. They're poontang magnets.

It's much less than that.

[Onan]

In my modest experience, roleplaying is essentially a mental sport, and is good and bad in they ways other sports are.

You're exercising your abilities in an artificial context, for the sheer joy of doing so. The rules are silly, and arbitrary, and not the real point. Neither one of them is "real", neither one has any significance outside the game, but they can be diverting pastimes.

And, most importantly: people who dress up in special clothes for either one are unforgivable dorks who must be severely ostracized.

Re:D&D Obession is Fascinating

[swillden]

Not to be mean or abusive, but could it be that people with low self esteem or come from broken families play D&D

This is a particularly interesting notion to me, in light of the fact that I play D&D regularly with my wife and four children (well, three children play, the youngest just takes our dice and doodles on our character sheets).

I realize you said "MOST... never said ALL" (and MOST isn't true in my experience, either, far from it), but I still think it's funny that people might associate with broken homes that which I associate with nights of family fun!

No Lake Geneva?

[Lord_Dweomer]

I'm really kind of shocked not to see the "Game Guild" listed. Its located in Lake Geneva, WI and is the hometown of the Gygax family. I used to game with them up there in highschool and it was a blast, even managed to get my name in a book as playtester.

Does anybody happen to know if that store is still around? I know they fell on some hard times, but it would be an absolute shame if the creators of D&D lost their local game store. Thanks a lot WoTC.

Re:D&D Obession is Fascinating

[Silburn_Luke]

My anecdotal evidence is that all of the members of my regular gaming group come from stable families (or, these days, are looking after stable families) and are pretty much middle of the road when it comes to self-esteem; some above the average, some below.

We could well be weirdly 'normal' for roleplaying geeks of course. That's the beauty of anecdote...

Regards
Luke

Better Link

[mother]

Here's a better link for Worldwide DnD Gameday:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20040 722x