
The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons - petethomas
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-uncanny-resurrection-of-dungeons-and-dragons
======
BillBohan
I tried getting friends to play RPG's in the early 1980's but they didn't show
much interest until I came across a supply of 6" (150 mm) square pieces of
styrofoam (discarded packing material from work) which I painted with gray
acrylic paint. I cut some in half and some in quarters and used them to depict
the dungeons for use with metal miniatures. After that I had a group which
showed up every month for 5 years.

I wrote a program for my computer which generated dice rolls, monsters,
treasures, and random names to assist me in my role as Dungeon Master but the
critical element was my ability to ignore or re-roll any result which seemed
too unfavorable. Good players really help the game but a good Dungeon Master
is essential for an enjoyable game. Computers alone cannot exhibit the empathy
necessary for a great game.

~~~
pault
The thing that turned me off is the fake british accents people seem to feel
are necessary. It's a fantasy world, who's to say what kind of accent they
have??

~~~
lotharbot
in my current game, the dwarves all have redneck accents, and if anyone
questions why they're not talking in bad Scottish accents, they start talking
about "ijits" who've never seen a real dwarf but only halflings dressed in
fat-suits at the minstrel shows pretending to be dwarves...

------
loydb
My campaign started in 1978. We're still playing. Over 60 players have come
and gone, but the current crew has a half-dozen of the original players from
the 70s and early 80s still going. We've outlasted at least 6 marriages, lots
of moving (I currently Skype in, but will be moving back home next year), and
all manner of turmoil. When I've been too busy or burnt out to DM, someone
else in the group has stepped up to fill the gap.

It's hard to schedule because of family and work obligations, but we are
pretty close to monthly.

~~~
dcw303
Wow, it's really Loyd Blankenship! Forgive the gushing fan reply, but I'll
take any chance I can to tell you how grateful I am for the GURPS Cyberpunk
sourcebook. Definitely one of my main inspirations (along with Gibson's books)
for taking up a career in coding.

~~~
bradknowles
Ahh. The book that supposedly kicked off “Operation Sundevil”.

What if I told you that there might have been a different GURPS book that was
the real cause?

~~~
loydb
(Also, if I'm being pedantic, Sundevil had nothing to do with the the raid
either. Sundevil was run by an idiot in Arizona. All of the Legion of Doom-
related raids were run by an idiot in Chicago.)

------
sago
I'm not sure if it's resurrecting, or just improving it's image, either way
it's welcome. Still, it is sad that it is so focused on one game: D&D. It's a
decent game, particularly fifth edition, but I can't help finding it a bit...
um, artless.

Which isn't a problem, sometimes that's fun. But when there are so many
amazing and sophisticated RPGs, with game mechanics that expand the form and
support interesting play, it is a shame that DnD still gets all the focus.

I'd love to see more love for 'Night Witches', 'Dogs in the Vineyard', 'My
life with Master', 'The Beast', 'Hillfolk', 'The Clay that Woke' even
'Apocalypse World', or 'Fate'.

It's like programming languages, sure you can do anything in D&D (≈ Java,
perhaps?), but other games have different strengths. Sometimes, being into non
D&D RPGs can feel like people saying "there's more than one programming
language?"

~~~
norlys
Actually, D&D is a very American thing. In Germany we have a pretty active Pen
& Paper scene as well, but D&D is not so common. Instead, the "major" system
is DSA (The Black Eye). But I have a feeling that we have a higher variety of
systems played on this side of the sea. I played D&D once and didn't like it
that much. Too much focus on being the hero, too much encouragement of
powergaming for my taste. But that might be a cultural thing as well.

~~~
mfoy_
As an avid boardgamer, I've noticed there's a big difference between American
and European board games (and probably also table top RPG frameworks) in the
sense that the American tendency is to favour luck and hail Mary rolls to save
the day. Eurogames tend to be focused on resource management and long term
strategy. So definitely a cultural thing. Both systems do have their merits,
but "rolling for combat" is traditionally associated with "Ameritrash" games,
a term used both lovingly and derogatorily.

I see that The Dark Eye does use rolling for combat, but it calculates armour
differently, in a more predictable manner (for example, in D&D armour makes
you less likely to be hit, whereas in The Dark Eye it makes you take less
damage) which I think demonstrates the different tendencies.

~~~
dragonwriter
> I've noticed there's a big difference between American and European board
> games (and probably also table top RPG frameworks) in the sense that the
> American tendency is to favour luck and hail Mary rolls to save the day.
> Eurogames tend to be focused on resource management and long term strategy.

D&D especially since 4e, is very much by conscious design centered around
structured resource management (that in 4e this was done in a very heavy-
handed metagame way by way of, e.g., encounter/daily powers, I think,
contributed to a lot of the complaints against; 5e’s short/long rest system is
nearly equivalent in effect but ties the mechanic in a more organic way to the
fiction.)

> I see that The Dark Eye does use rolling for combat, but it calculates
> armour differently, in a more predictable manner (for example, in D&D armour
> makes you less likely to be hit, whereas in The Dark Eye it makes you take
> less damage)

This is extremely common in American TTRPGs that aren't D&D or deliberate
mechanical clones.

~~~
mfoy_
Well I think table top RPGs by necessity have to more closely meet in the
middle on the luck vs resource management spectrum, but "normal" board games
are where the differences really get highlighted. Risk is a traditional
"American" game, where you role dice for combat, and it can be very
frustrating. More modern examples such as Arkham Horror or Elder Sign are
similar, where any turn could be horrible or amazing, depending on your rolls.
Compare that with Terra Mystica or Agricola and there's very little "chance"
and more about planning ahead, and following some sort of strategy.

I'm not passing judgement or saying one style is categorically better than the
other, but there's _definitely_ a huge correlation between continent-of-origin
and level-of-chance-involved.

------
nevster
I think the main thing is 5th edition - it's really good. I briefly tried 4th
edition and it just didn't feel right - _way_ too combat heavy and video-
gamey.

Then 5th edition came out and it was immediately obvious that it had that 1st
edition feel but with all the bugs worked out. I play it with my kids and it's
awesome.

~~~
Poiesis
If you have any, I’d love tips for running a game for kids. (I’ve never DM’ed
or played but am pretty familiar from many podcasts)

~~~
thom
Honestly, forget about rules. Just tell a story and let them guide it. You can
occasionally throw in some d20 rolls if you want to introduce some risk of
failure, and from there perhaps start build in some bonuses which let them
customise their characters. But the main thing is just collaborative
storytelling (and bad jokes and accents) and the best role-playing sessions
I've ever had have involved no dice rolls at all.

~~~
vacri
This is the truth of it. The gaming system in use is less important than the
game world and the story you're telling.

~~~
cpeterso
Graham Walmsley's short book "Play Unsafe" is a good introduction to running a
game and incorporating advice from improv to improve your group's
storytelling.

------
mderazon
Does anyone remember the MUD [1] days ?

It was a terminal text based D&D where you could connect to a server and
create a character and play with other people. Every mud service was a
completely different world you could explore and had different characters. You
would team up with people and go slay monsters to gain experience and level up
or just hang out and do stupid stuff.

You could use a dedicated mud clients like zMud [2] that added some nice key
mapping for going north/south/up/down etc. All interaction was text based in
CLI.

I was a teenager at that time, late nineties. I spent so many hours playing on
a mud called "Merging of Fates" [3] [4] meeting great people day after day.
They had occasional meetups in real life, but I didn't grow up in the US so I
didn't attend. I think mud was the major factor for improving my English
vocabulary as a kid.

I miss those times.

1: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD)

2:
[http://www.zuggsoft.com/page.php?file=zmud/zmudinfo.htm](http://www.zuggsoft.com/page.php?file=zmud/zmudinfo.htm)

3: [http://www.mudconnect.com/mud-
bin/adv_search.cgi?Mode=MUD&mu...](http://www.mudconnect.com/mud-
bin/adv_search.cgi?Mode=MUD&mud=A+Merging+of+Fates)

4:
[http://www.mudstats.com/World/AMergingofFates](http://www.mudstats.com/World/AMergingofFates)

~~~
brlewis
My 11yo plays Minecraft and one of her activities is roleplay, which is 90%
text based since graphical character actions are so limited. I think there's a
potential for a resurgence of things like MUDs.

I also have a 17yo who's into writing, and I plan on working with her to put
together some interactive fiction that resembles MUDs.

------
SubiculumCode
I always wanted to give it a go, but could never find a group. Now as a
careered adult with kids, it is even harder to find time to try this kind of
thing, especially since my spouse has few gaming tendencies. Last year or so
though, I saw a Pathfinder Humble Bundle for a bunch of rule books and I
decided to buy them for fun. And that got me thinking..I started poking around
some forums and ended up joining a play-by-post (PbP) Pathfinder campaign over
at paizo.com.

I've really enjoyed myself! After a while I joined two more campaigns. A post
or three a day is easy to fit in my schedule. It really gives me something to
look forward to each morning as I sit down with some coffee.

e.g.
[http://paizo.com/campaigns/GMNayrsCarrionCrownAP/gameplay&pa...](http://paizo.com/campaigns/GMNayrsCarrionCrownAP/gameplay&page=1)

~~~
pfooti
depending on where you live, you might have some luck via meetups. i'm a long-
time rpg player, but I lost my group when I moved to esseph. Meetup started
the networking process - there's a _lot_ of D&D and other RPG meetup groups.

~~~
cpeterso
Many local game stores host RPG nights and welcome new or drop-in players.

------
zaroth
_A few months later, a parent stopped him on the street with tears in her
eyes. “What are you guys doing?” she asked him. Her son was dyslexic and had
been role-playing at Brooklyn Strategist for a couple of weeks. Before D. &
D., he couldn’t focus on writing for more than a few seconds. Now he was
staying up all night to draft stories about his character. “Whatever it is,
bottle it and sell it to me,” the mother said._

I mean, product endorsements don't get any stronger than that!

------
ddoran
I live a couple of blocks from Brooklyn Strategist, the "game space" featured
in the article. When it first opened I didn't expect it to last a year.
Instead they've gone from strength to strength and more than doubled their
size, moving into an adjoining space that had been an architect's office. They
have approximately six large game tables which are constantly at capacity.
They also have a wall with a library of hundreds of board games that I marvel
at. I love that I live in a time and place where such an endeavor can succeed.
I only wish I had something like this when I was a kid. Instead, I had our
school D&D club which lasted a month before a parent complained that it was
devil worshipping and had us shut down (circa 1982/3).

------
Mizza
It's because of Stranger Things. The article sees it as a symptom, but from a
lot of people I know, it's actually a cause.

Shameless plug: If any of you have ever wanted to try DnD but didn't know how
to get started, or if you've played before and want to start again, try
playing my fun-optimized rule set, _DnD: TL;DR_ -
[https://github.com/Miserlou/dnd-tldr](https://github.com/Miserlou/dnd-tldr)

~~~
knappe
This can't possibly be the case.

Nerd culture has spread and with it all things nerdy.

Look at the growth of GenCon for one example of how explosive this has been.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline)

Board games sales are up 28% in the US [http://www.adweek.com/brand-
marketing/from-monopoly-to-explo...](http://www.adweek.com/brand-
marketing/from-monopoly-to-exploding-kittens-board-games-are-making-a-
comeback/)

If anything, I'd say that Stranger things is a symptom of nerd culture. I
mean, look at things like Big Bang Theory. There is no way that show would
have hit mainstream without nerd culture being even remotely popular.

~~~
DanBC
BBT is an attack on, not a celebration of, nerd culture.

~~~
ConfucianNardin
And the reasoning behind this sentiment usually is that the jokes in the show
are made at the characters' expense - people watching the show laugh at them,
not with them.

Here's an example of a post that explores that topic:
[http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-p...](http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-
problem-with-the-big-bang-theory)

------
Grumbledour
For people who don't already know the game or the current edition, it might
also be of interest that you can download the basic rules for free.

[http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules](http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules)

These are actually all the rules needed to play, minus special classes,
character options and spells found in the players guide. Best place for new
players is probably the starter set, because it includes a rather good
adventure in addition to premade characters and a rulebook. It is also
available at a low price, but you can't beat free of course.

------
11thEarlOfMar
>half a dozen paid Dungeon Masters...

Still trying to process that. Do I need to polish my resume? What type of
experience is required? How many applications did he get? How old were the
applicants?

~~~
thefalcon
Paid DMs can be a great experience for everyone, especially if all the people
in your play group "just want to play."

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
Yeah. I won’t play DND because it’s too open ended. I simply don’t want to
commit that much time to a campaign.

But there are board games like Mansions of Madness that use an iPad as DM. You
can play as many or as little of the scenarios you want. Then DM later if you
get into it.

There are also sandbox type board games. There is no DM but you get to decide
what you want to do.

------
gilbetron
I'm shocked by the number of people popping out of the woodwork. I've been
gaming consistently for the past 35 years, and while gaming was more popular
overall in the early 80s and late 90s, I know more gamers right now personally
than ever. I have a game group, of older people, on my fucking street!

~~~
botverse
I did play some RPG when I was a kid (born 1981) and I’ve been thinking about
how to get back to it for the las 5 years. I was probably difficult not so
long ago, but my friends are starting to freeze their fb accounts and restrict
mobile use, might give a try!

~~~
saalweachter
I'm in a similar demographic and recently got back into it (D&D 5e). The
impetus for me was that (a) it had been "long enough" since I'd stopped
playing (probably 15 years, Jesus) that I was craving it and (b) I wanted an
excuse to drag a group of friends over to my house on a regular basis.

Any resurgence is probably rooted in a number of factors, like the good design
of 5e, but I wonder how much of it stems from the same cohort who played it in
the 90's simply reaching some point in their life (spending less time at bars,
looking for more of a break from work, wanting to spend time with friends
"IRL", etc etc) that they fall back into it.

------
thom
I'm still hoping for a really good online platform for D&D. My play group has
aged, sprogged, and struggles for a regular evening to play. We've used forum-
based stuff in the past, which has actually led to some really good role-play
heaving campaigns, but it's no good for real-time encounters or the beer &
pizza fuelled camaraderie that really makes D&D great.

~~~
ceades
Have you tried Roll20.net? I've used it for Pathfinder, D&D, 13th Age, and
Blades in the Dark to great effect. The platforms always getting better.

~~~
lotharbot
I currently play with a group on roll20. It's not perfect, but it's adequate.
(We pair it with a discord server for voice and secondary/out-of-character
chat and logistics.)

------
hans0l074
I've never played any DnD, but I've spent countless hours playing various
video game RPG's from the Baldur's Gate series (based on the ADnD rules) all
the way up to modern RPG's like Dragon Age and Pillars of Eternity.

 _A decade ago, when developers attempted to bring Dungeons & Dragons into the
twenty-first century by stuffing it with rules so that it might better
resemble a video game, the glue of the game, the narrative aspect that drew so
many in, melted away. Players hacked monsters to death, picked up treasure,
collected experience points, and coolly moved through preset challenges_

Baldur's gate is almost 2 decades old, and I disagree that it did not have the
narrative impact that a good DnD game could have (or maybe I'm
misunderstanding the authors words). I'm not sure you can even compare what
"need" Baldurs Gate satisfies for a gamer compared to DnD. I know gamers who
enjoy both. I for one, am glad that computer games like BG exist.

~~~
4ndr3vv
Your quote is referring to is the changes that DnD went though to keep up with
modern DnD style videogames _like_ BG. Rather than saying those video games
did not have a strong narrative impact, its saying DnD lost its own; As the
DnD rules became more complex often the priorities of a party shifted to min-
maxing over questing for the sake of it.

Recently there has been a change in the core DnD rules away from heavy beardy
/ min-maxing play back to a DM running a narrative campaign.

------
mamurphy
If you have tried getting your friends to play D&D and they say, "too many
rules," try Dungeon World. It's designed to be in a similar setting but uses
much simpler rules. It also allows you to be much more collaborative in story-
building, requiring substantially less DM prep.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonWorld/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonWorld/)

[http://www.dungeon-world.com/](http://www.dungeon-world.com/)

~~~
fulafel
There are also many RPGs don't have much mechanics and are more about playing
the characters, if you're not hung up on dungeons.

------
tunesmith
Are there any AR apps that let you set up dungeons/maps on your table (through
the view of your phone or tablet)?

~~~
nickthegreek
I just searched for something like this about a month ago and found nothing. I
think both an ipad app to design 2d dungeons for print or use on sites like
roll20 as well as an AR app could corner the market. The only good d&d mobile
apps are on iOS only and have no real competition either (Fight Club 5 and
Game Master 5).

~~~
dragonwriter
Deep integration with rules may have licensing issues, and as D&D Beyond
expands, apps which lack such integration may have trouble competing with the
growing first-party service.

~~~
tunesmith
What's the growing first-party service?

~~~
dragonwriter
D&D Beyond.

~~~
bpicolo
WotC is not exactly known for having overly usable digital services. Not to
mention there are thousands of other RPGs you can make headway in

------
kazagistar
Fantasy wasn't mainstream then, and now it is. Lord of the Rings, Pirates of
the Caribbean, and Harry Potter kickstarted fantasy into the mainstream
conciousness. It's no surprise that a growing acceptance of the genre in the
large would also lead to a growing desire to participate in it, and the
streamlined rules and whatnot are just a little boost to help in that
direction.

------
Dowwie
The New Yorker's editors seem to really like board games.

Other related articles: [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-
desk/dungeons-drag...](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-
desk/dungeons-dragons-saved-my-life)

[https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/the-hottest-
new...](https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/the-hottest-new-board-
games)

------
Raphmedia
The best advice I can give any DnD or aspiring DnD players is to invest in a
3D printer.

~~~
ainiriand
I've been playing DnD for 22 years now and I don't see why. Figurines are
completely accessory. I didn't even used maps until 5-6 years ago when we
moved to Dnd4.

~~~
Raphmedia
But if you do use them, investing in a 3D printer will allow you to create
your own and save a lot of money on the long run. You can even scale down
regular models such as chests, barrels, etc.

It's a fun toy that you can buy together as a group of players. It usually
take a few hours to print a model, so you can start a print while you play a
game and have a nice surprise when you are done playing.

Printing the exact model of the boss your players are going to fight is
priceless.

(I'm talking about a $200-$400 price range printer and not a $2000+ one mind
you.)

~~~
ainiriand
Hmmm yeah that would be nice... If we buy it together we can have it one week
each. And you can even print coins, I guess.

~~~
Raphmedia
There's something special about breaking the fourth wall and having the
players carry mementos in real life.

------
krylon
> At the end of the 1982 TV movie “Mazes and Monsters,” a troubled gamer,
> played by a pre-fame Tom Hanks, loses touch and starts to believe that he
> really does live beside an evil wood in need of heroes.

Man, I have seen that movie. Having spent a good part of my youth playing
AD&D, I did not know whether to laugh at it or yell at it angrily. Either way,
it sucked really, really hard.

------
pimmen
I got into DnD in 3rd edition and played it every weekend throughout high
school.

However, once I started teaching this game to other people, even with the
"fixed 3.5" Pathfinder, I realized it was super complicated. It requires such
a big time investment from the players to figure out what they're doing,
especially if they come from a video game background where they want to have
"the best".

Now, I use Savage Worlds since it's much quicker, less complicated and you can
pick your theme. Only problem is that it requires a more invested GM if you
want the same texture as in DnD.

------
SeanDav
I actually shudder at the thought of playing D&D. The idea that I have to make
up a story as I go along and am dependant on what the DM thinks about my
decisions, just does not appeal to me.

Considering I have never played D&D, I could very well be completely off the
mark, however there is nothing that was said in the article that changed my
mind, but (and this is important) this is a purely personal view of what I
like to play.

I can see the appeal to other people and salute a game (and genre) that brings
people together and away from being glued to a screen or computer.

~~~
colinhowe
Resurrected my old account just to reply to this. I just started playing 9
months ago or so. I was sceptical as I've always felt poor at acting/drama.

Turns out, it's really fun.

You're not making a story alone. You're in a group with 2-5 other 'heroes' and
a DM. You're all making the story together and it's easy to go along with the
flow until you think of something that pops into your head and you can then do
whatever it is you want to.

In my experience, good DMs aren't going to judge you for what you do or don't
do.

For me, D&D is way more lighthearted than I thought it would be. I guess this
depends on the group, but, I've now bounced around a few and it seems to be a
common thread. It sounds ridiculous, but, last night the group I DM'd
'invented' brunch before taking on a quest to save a girl that had been
abducted by goblins (but, not before finishing their brunch and making a
little picnic for themselves).

It's surprisingly easy to try D&D - there are often people running 'one
shots'. These are small stories designed to start and end in a few hours so
that you get a feel for it without needing to invest a huge amount of time.

~~~
walshemj
if you want a fun game try the pathfinder "we be goblins" scenarios as our gm
said it allows you to ply with moral compass of a toddler.

------
fulafel
Why D&D and not one of the later RPGs? It seems the RPG world has degenerated
since the 90s if adult/YA players are using it for more than an introduction
to RPGs.

~~~
watwut
Because it is simple and available without any effort. Everyone knows it
exists, it is not obscure.

So they start to play and have good fun, convert their friends by telling them
how fun it is, but is there any reason to stop.playing and explore other often
more complex rulesets?

------
arkades
I’d have liked this article if it had taken a more critical stance as to the
resurgence of RPGs rather than hand-waving some ineffable bs about simpler
times and half-allusions to political tensions.

The more accurate answer is, IMO, two fold: (1) kids who grew up on RPGs are
now old enough to want to want to play with their own kids, and funnel
disposable cash into it (2) kids who are interested have less stigma to
approaching it, so conversion rates from interest to player should be higher
(3) a lot of technical advancements from the US indie scene and the Western
European LARP scene have slowly diffused out into the more mainstream RPG
community, resulting in play that’s a lot more fulfilling to various types of
players

~~~
acbabis
Another very important reason was left out: The 5th edition of the game was
very well designed and received critical acclaim among veterans who were
disappointed by the 4th edition. The article makes it sound like there's been
a resurrection when in fact the game was just hibernating.

~~~
gerdesj
What on earth are these edition things? I'll have to dig out my DMG, PH, MM,
FF etc. Apparently, they might be cool.

Then there is Traveller, Runequest, Tunnels and Trolls, Car Wars (with Truck
Stop etc) and rather a lot more.

~~~
squeaky-clean
Every 8 or so years they revamp the rules and release it as a new edition.
Aside from few exceptions, they're mostly incompatible with each other and
offer different rules for combat, skill usage and training, etc, and quality-
of-life improvements.

3e (more specifically 3.5e) was extremely popular. There's now a ruleset
called Pathfinder made by another company, Paizo, that continues the style of
3.5e and is mostly compatible with it (though it has its own core rulebooks
and most people I know don't mix 3e and PF).

4e wasn't as well liked but it still had mostly good reception. It was very
polarizing to many players. This obviously isn't the space for a debate about
it but I think the biggest cause of complaints are the way the combat system
was overhauled. Many people compare it more to a modern RPG video game rather
than a pen and paper one.

5e has had a great reception from old and new players. It's rules are
definitely closer to 3rd edition than it is to 4th. Though it brought in a lot
of quality of life improvements from 4. For example while it makes sense that
'Hide' and 'Move Silently' are two separate skills, it just means a rogue has
to split their skill points between two things. There's not many scenarios
outside of comedy where you give a character 'Hide' but not 'Move Silently' or
vice versa. 5e has merged both of these into a single Stealth skill.

All the editions are still considered Dungeons and Dragons though, and not
separate games (of which there are many wonderful ones, some of which have
their own 1e, 2e, 3e, an so on...)

~~~
ctchocula
Nice analysis. I play a bit of Pathfinder from time to time. Do you think 5e
copied Stealth from Pathfinder?

~~~
colanderman
Probably, but the skill system in 5e is totally different from
3.5e/Pathfinder. To me, 5e feels like it took the ideas behind the
simplifications in Pathfinder and ran with them.

As an example, Pathfinder simplified lots of different combat rules under the
Combat Maneuver system (CMB/CMD). 5e simplified them even more, simply as
contested skill checks selected by GM fiat.

------
jhallenworld
Anyone interested in D&D should understand that it originates from Jack
Vance's Dying Earth novels. I highly recommend
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyes_of_the_Overworld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyes_of_the_Overworld)

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crypticlizard
Still waiting for that resurrection. Hard getting friends to devote the time,
and playing online is meh.

~~~
pkroll
Check comic book stores and Meetup.com for pick-up games in your area. Then,
drag the friends in one by one till they're hooked.

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duncan_bayne
I'll have to look into it again. Lost interest in AD&D at 3rd Edition;
everything from the book artwork to the game mechanics made me feel like I was
hand-executing a computer RPG game.

I still use my old 2nd Edition manuals for the rare social games I play these
days.

~~~
mpwoz
You should definitely give 5e a try! I only started at 3.5, but I love how
much they streamlined the newest edition. It's much easier to DM and play,
which leads to better stories imo

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dajohnson89
not sure if mentioned in the article, but Vin Diesel is an outspoken fan of
D&D :-)

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jimjimjim
I got back into it because of the Acquisitions Inc podcasts and then the PAX
shows.

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mathattack
I played a lot through high school then got distracted in college. (Beer,
girls, tougher classes, etc) I was pleasantly surprised when my last company
started a D and D night!

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macrael
I know that my brother started running a game for us because the podcasts he'd
be listening to other people play on had started to run out.

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samstave
You'd better be a level 7 necromancer with an hour to spare if you want to
redirect your teen-age table-top golden-years!

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Stanleyc23
harmonquest!

~~~
thevardanian
CriticalRole!

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Aron
I cast magic missile at the darkness!

