Tabletop Roleplaying Games and Board Games

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I've always wanted to give table top RPGs a try, but I never knew anyone who was into them. One day. One day.

You're just the sort of person who'd love them.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

You're just the sort of person who'd love them.

I can't see why I wouldn't. It's just kinda hard to find the kind of dorks who'd be into them. They're sort of isolated by definition.

[LoathsomePete]

You just need to know where to look, meetup.com is a decent site for finding people and creating group activities, and even Craigslist can sometimes help you find someone. If you have a college or university where you live I'd also recommend going up there and posting some flyers advertising a game, you should have no problem finding players if you do that. Also if you have a game store in town, you can ask them if you can post a flyer there as well, or just hang out and see who walks in and strike up conversations.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

You just need to know where to look, meetup.com is a decent site for finding people and creating group activities, and even Craigslist can sometimes help you find someone. If you have a college or university where you live I'd also recommend going up there and posting some flyers advertising a game, you should have no problem finding players if you do that. Also if you have a game store in town, you can ask them if you can post a flyer there as well, or just hang out and see who walks in and strike up conversations.

Hmm. Good ideas. The only place I know of that's close, I walked in there once to buy comic books, and the guy who I guess owned the place was a dick who acted like I was an intruder or something. Asked me if I needed any help and I told him I was just looking, and he asked me again if I was sure in a condescending voice that made me think he thought I was there to steal something. I had a bookbag, so it wasn't totally out of the realm of possibility, but still. Dick.

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Hmm. Good ideas. The only place I know of that's close, I walked in there once to buy comic books, and the guy who I guess owned the place was a dick who acted like I was an intruder or something. Asked me if I needed any help and I told him I was just looking, and he asked me again if I was sure in a condescending voice that made me think he thought I was there to steal something. I had a bookbag, so it wasn't totally out of the realm of possibility, but still. Dick.

There are clubs all over the place and thanks to the internet its easy to find your nearest club (something I now need to do)

You should think about playing RPG's, you'd make a great Orc

[LoathsomePete]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Hmm. Good ideas. The only place I know of that's close, I walked in there once to buy comic books, and the guy who I guess owned the place was a dick who acted like I was an intruder or something. Asked me if I needed any help and I told him I was just looking, and he asked me again if I was sure in a condescending voice that made me think he thought I was there to steal something. I had a bookbag, so it wasn't totally out of the realm of possibility, but still. Dick.

An unfortunate aspect of geek culture that has yet to disappear despite the fact that geek culture has become more accepted into the mainstream pop culture. Comic book shops are really the last vestige in the physical realm where nerds reign supreme and have the authority, therefore you take a group of people who maybe have been abused because of their hobbies and interests their entire lives, you may have a bit of a complex. I honestly believe that the attitudes exhibited at most comic shops are the main reason why comic sales continue to dwindle and new readers prefer superheroes in film, TV, video games, or some other media.

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

An unfortunate aspect of geek culture that has yet to disappear despite the fact that geek culture has become more accepted into the mainstream pop culture. Comic book shops are really the last vestige in the physical realm where nerds reign supreme and have the authority, therefore you take a group of people who maybe have been abused because of their hobbies and interests their entire lives, you may have a bit of a complex. I honestly believe that the attitudes exhibited at most comic shops are the main reason why comic sales continue to dwindle and new readers prefer superheroes in film, TV, video games, or some other media.

I never feel easy going into comic shops either, I'm not talking about the big chain stores here but your local comic store that most cities and large towns seem to have. When you walk in, you feel eyes on you straight away!

[Howard the Duck]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

I never feel easy going into comic shops either, I'm not talking about the big chain stores here but your local comic store that most cities and large towns seem to have. When you walk in, you feel eyes on you straight away!

i never get that here - the owners usually are very helpful and offer good recommendations

back to RPGs, after the Cthulhu fiasco, my group wanted to try the Neuromancer (William Gibson) module, but seeing as i was the only one dense enough to fathom it, and i was already finishing my studies and about to embark to the UK, it was mooted out

[Yac]

It's interesting to see what kind of rpgs were played in different parts of the world.
I've been playing rpg games since I was 14, including in no particular order:
CP2020, Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer, DnD (2nd and 3rd ed), Earthdawn, WoD: werewolf, changeling, demon hunters x, mummy, legend of 5 rings, Star Wars and a ton of other systems, including many Polish ones no one here heard about
My favorite one by far was my friend's Firefly based sf system, named .. SF (eSeF phonetically), boy did we have some space fun.
I was lucky enough to find a solid group (2 groups in fact, around 8 people at any given time) and when I moved away for college, I found a ton of RPG clubs so I never really had a shortage of game masters and gaming opportunities.
That was before, now ... I kind of got bored with rpg games. Last game I played was something like 3 years ago.. I'm still a part of the same rpg club, it's only now when we meet we talk, drink, maybe play a board game like settlers of catan and that's it.
Yac.

[mr dave]

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

I'm fortunate enough to have found a good group that's stable enough to play almost every week. I think our record was 12 games in a row before someone got sick or had to cancel for some other reason.

I am so SO jealous.

I've had loads of PnP books over the years and unsuccessfully tried running campaigns in a few settings. Most notably the Forgotten Realms and Shadowrun, always messy. Pro-tip always start the games sober.

I'm also a fan of miniature table top gaming and have a bunch of Warhammer40k minis. As a result I'm one of the few people who quite liked the proposed shifts within 4th edition DnD though I've never actually checked out the manuals.

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

An unfortunate aspect of geek culture that has yet to disappear despite the fact that geek culture has become more accepted into the mainstream pop culture. Comic book shops are really the last vestige in the physical realm where nerds reign supreme and have the authority, therefore you take a group of people who maybe have been abused because of their hobbies and interests their entire lives, you may have a bit of a complex. I honestly believe that the attitudes exhibited at most comic shops are the main reason why comic sales continue to dwindle and new readers prefer superheroes in film, TV, video games, or some other media.

While I agree with this I don't think it's the only reason for comic book shop clerks to be a little apprehensive towards customers. A person who's got a backpack and who doesn't want help is a risk. I've seen myself hand over a backpack to plenty of clerks so I could browse their store without hassles and they could relax a bit and not worry about me stashing stuff. There's also the fact that most comic book / game shops make virtually no profit. One dude slipping a handful of reference manuals and game modules into their backpack can easily tank their entire month if not quarter.

No that doesn't justify treating any non-regular person like a thief, but it's not just 'they're not 'real' geeks lets look down on them'. Though that reminds me of a comment Brian Fargo has been repeating recently in regards to the state of videogames - It used to be games were made by the nerds and geeks as a way to escape social pressures, now the same jocks and a-holes that picked on the nerds and geeks are the same executives who work for the publishing companies that run the industry. Kickstarter is changing that for video games and putting the power and control back into the hands of the geeks and nerds. But with gaming / comic book shops the control was never lost, it's just lorded over by the beardiest of grognards.