
Why the Cool Kids Are Playing Dungeons and Dragons - mooreds
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/opinion/sunday/dungeons-and-dragons.html
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wishinghand
I’ve always considered myself nerdy, but when I was younger I thought I wasn’t
_that_ nerdy to play Dungeons and Dragons. Years later a woman I had a crush
on was starting a campaign with some mutual friends so of course I jumped in.
When she left the group prematurely to go to a university, I stayed because it
was just so much fun. These days I get bummed out if I don’t have a weekly
game of some sort to play.

The reason why it’s cool is that it’s essentially an unlimited budget, sandbox
video game/film of any setting or dynamics you want. Most people think of
Dungeons and Dragons as the only game of its type but there are so many more.
I’ve played in a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia, an episode of Star Trek, a
blasted radioactive Mad Max landscape where different realities have messily
converged, a medieval land where dragons are the ruling class, infiltrating a
clockwork/steampunk aristocrat empire, and a bunch more that I’m forgetting.

You also engage with people face to face, make food together, catch up on
things, exercise improv skills, and goof around too. I once played a female
Druid (I’m a man) but used a weird version of my voice and claimed I had been
cursed to speak like that).

With the exception of a trending multiplayer shooter game or two, I generally
don’t play computer games anymore. With the right people there’s so much more
nuance, depth, and variety with table top role playing games.

I’m currently getting ready to be the GM of a Dungeon World campaign. I really
like the variety of community made supplements available to it, and it’s
philosophy of player->GM->player feedback loop driving the action.

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scrumper
> I’ve played in a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia, an episode of Star Trek, a
> blasted radioactive Mad Max landscape where different realities have messily
> converged, a medieval land where dragons are the ruling class, infiltrating
> a clockwork/steampunk aristocrat empire

Are these DM-driven things based on the D&D rules or separate games? I'm
really keen to get a local group going but the swords & sorcery aspect isn't
universally appealing. Steampunk aristocrat empire on the other hand...

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wishinghand
Mostly different games. The Mad Max game was the Dungeons and Dragons 4th
edition version of Gamma World, which I think is the 5th or 6th edition of
Gamma World. It was more like a mod for 4e than anything else.

The dragons as the rules game was straight up 4th edition Dungeons and
Dragons.

But the Star Trek game was Lasers & Feelings. The steampunk game was Lady
Blackbird which is also free. You can search for them and find the PDFs
easily.

The cyberpunk game was Shadowrun, which also involves magic and elves, orcs,
dwarves.

There is a Shadowrun hack for 4th edition DnD, and there's some steampunk
stuff in DnD through their Eberron expansion (a playable race is the
Warforged). While DnD mostly codifies rules for combat, DMs can totally rewire
the game to feature stealth, diplomacy, and other types of interaction. But
other games may be a better choice.

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scrumper
Thanks! This is great info; I appreciate it.

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diybrad
I literally started a group 2 weeks ago. Six 30-40s adults played for 5 hours
straight and not a single person touched their phone the entire time.

Fucking magic

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ChrisRR
I play DND with my friends because there just isn't much local multiplayer in
gaming anymore.

Where as I used to be able to huddle around the N64 with 4 controllers playing
Goldeneye with my friends, or passing the controller round to play Worms
Armageddon. Nowadays everything is online, which makes connecting to friends
easier, but doesn't beat the feeling of being in the same room and laughing
with your friends.

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toper-centage
Air console is my go-to casual local multilayer gaming platform. Its not
great, but it's fun enough.

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gebeeson
I started playing AD&D in seventh grade a very long time ago. The cool kids
have always played Dungeons and Dragons. Best distraction and creative
thinking platform ever.

