Dungeons and Dragons? what's that?!

[big teej]

you're hanging out with your gaming buddies, and some NPC overhears you and walks up and asks "what's dungeons and dragons?" or "what are you guys talking about?" or "why do you play that over WoW?" or some other question that inquires after the nature of our beloved hobby.


how do you respond?

extra points for simple, and quick answers.

[Qaera]

People either assume it is stupid (due to preconceived notions), or show interest in learning more (because they've only heard about it from people that haven't played it). Usually. I feel this is more indicative of people than DnD. Ignore the first, explain it to the second.

[sonofzeal]

Depends who I'm talking to.

Non-nerds: "Improv collaborative storytelling. One person is the 'narrator' and the others each speak for a character in the story, and we bounce off each other and try to work together to resolve the situations the narrator sets out for us."

Nerds: "Tactical wargame with storytelling elements. Each of us controls a hero with a specific set of abilities, except the DM who controls all of team evil, and there's usually an ongoing story too."

[Divide by Zero]

First two have never come up. As for WoW, I like going with "because it doesn't cost me $15 a month."

[big teej]

Depends who I'm talking to.

Non-nerds: "Improv collaborative storytelling. One person is the 'narrator' and the others each speak for a character in the story, and we bounce off each other and try to work together to resolve the situations the narrator sets out for us."

Nerds: "Tactical wargame with storytelling elements. Each of us controls a hero with a specific set of abilities, except the DM who controls all of team evil, and there's usually an ongoing story too."

ooooh I like this, I'm using it -yoink-

[Big Fau]

First two have never come up. As for WoW, I like going with "because it doesn't cost me $15 a month."

That works as long as you never pay for your books. But that's about as illegal as hacking a WoW account and getting free access at someone else's expense anyway.

[Safety Sword]

First two have never come up. As for WoW, I like going with "because it doesn't cost me $15 a month."

Been there. Done that.

WoW got to the point where it was a chore to log on... and I was doing it for fun?!

On the upside, real life actually turned out to be much better by comparison :smallbiggrin:

[big teej]

That works as long as you never pay for your books. But that's about as illegal as hacking a WoW account and getting free access at someone else's expense anyway.

fun fact: if you spread out the cost of big teej's collection over the course of how long he's been gaming.

it probably comes out to a bout 20$ a month. assuming a 30 dollar price tag for each book.

:smallbiggrin:
and it's still cheaper than warhammer

[horngeek]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VGkcEfXaTo8/THHKHd56gnI/AAAAAAAABRo/NWmuAOhbhKY/s1600/warhammerplayers-23124811.jpg

:smallbiggrin:

[Vladislav]

you're hanging out with your gaming buddies, and some NPC overhears you and walks up and asks "what's dungeons and dragons?" or "what are you guys talking about?" or "why do you play that over WoW?" or some other question that inquires after the nature of our beloved hobby.


how do you respond?

extra points for simple, and quick answers.If anyone would be actually sufficienly retarded to ask me that, I'd simply frown and say "the server is down". Then watch them squirm and panic as they mentally prepare for WoW withdrawal ... "what?! when? for how long?"

[OracleofWuffing]

Don't give them an answer, don't even acknowledge them. Eventually, they get bored and stop asking (or ask about different things), or they start begging you to let them in on this, voila, you've got another healbot for free. Or, in extreme cases, a profit if they offer to bribe you to start speaking.:smallbiggrin:

... Yeah, that's right. They all fall in to the first group and the second group never happens. A guy can dream, though.

[slaydemons]

Don't give them an answer, don't even acknowledge them. Eventually, they get bored and stop asking (or ask about different things), or they start begging you to let them in on this, voila, you've got another healbot for free. Or, in extreme cases, a profit if they offer to bribe you to start speaking.:smallbiggrin:

... Yeah, that's right. They all fall in to the first group and the second group never happens. A guy can dream, though.

ahem its a lie for the people you know, I have had my friend bribe me for all sorts of things about D&D, from make his character not die in one hit to information about stuff he was too lazy to read.

[Typewriter]

Because of all the hot chicks. Duh.

[Shadowknight12]

Any of the following (all of them in a dry deadpan):

"What is it? It's none of your business. Now turn around and walk away."

"It's a roleplaying game. No, I won't explain to you what roleplaying is. Look it up yourself."

"Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how much fun I'm having." (bonus points if the room is completely silent)

"It's a game. You wouldn't like it. Now shoo."

"Nothing."

"Numbers. With numbers on the little numbers. And math signs, too."

"What did we say about asking questions?"

In short, I can be very rude to someone who inquires about my personal life. And that includes gaming.

[Arbane]

Because of all the hot chicks. Duh.

:smalleek:

...Where do you play, again?



In short, I can be very rude to someone who inquires about my personal life. And that includes gaming.

Good idea. The last thing this cool exclusive hobby needs is more players.

[Shadowknight12]

Good idea. The last thing this cool exclusive hobby needs is more players.

I like the use of colour to denote sarcasm. You sir, have my approval.

[The-Mage-King]

Good idea. The last thing this cool exclusive hobby needs is more players.

Hell yes! I was into D&D before it was mainstream, damnit!


EDIT: Wait... that was sarcasm? It seems like a good idea to me... [/sarcasm]

[big teej]

:smalleek:

...Where do you play, again?




surprisingly enough, every female gamer I have personally encountered has actually been somewhere between very and extremely attractive. the count is up to.... 4 women that actually play
+2 if you include women who are interested and playing and it's just a matter of scheduling.
+2 more women if you count women who have expressed interest

so... that's potentially 8 women.

EDIT:
I actually kinda like the idea of colored text for sarcasm. I think we should make this into standard forum policy!
go my fellow conspirators! spread our colorful message all over the playground!!!
mwuahahahahahahahahahaha ahahahahahah ahhahaaaaa

[profitofrage]

on that note I actually play Dark Heresy with a stripper (yes a female one).
Though I think it was mostly how well we sold the setting to her during one of our pub crawls.

[Drakevarg]

Usually I balk. Even if you don't care for it, the idea of not even knowing what DnD is... it rings to me of someone having never heard of Doom, or Casablanca. (Bet you never expected those items in the same sentence.)

If you play an RPG, it's the reason your hobby exists.

[Flame of Anor]

surprisingly enough, every female gamer I have personally encountered has actually been somewhere between very and extremely attractive. the count is up to.... 4 women that actually play
+2 if you include women who are interested and playing and it's just a matter of scheduling.
+2 more women if you count women who have expressed interest

so... that's potentially 8 women.

Well, the women I know who play D&D are generally related to me. So I'm just not going to touch that subject. :smallwink:


Usually I balk. Even if you don't care for it, the idea of not even knowing what DnD is... it rings to me of someone having never heard of Doom, or Casablanca. (Bet you never expected those items in the same sentence.)

Of course I expected it!

Ooh, this is cool.

[Hazzardevil]

Usually I balk. Even if you don't care for it, the idea of not even knowing what DnD is... it rings to me of someone having never heard of Doom, or Casablanca. (Bet you never expected those items in the same sentence.)

If you play an RPG, it's the reason your hobby exists.

Whats Doom?

I have had people asking me to explain it before, mostly because they want to know why it seems to have the label of start your devil-worshipping cult today.

The moon is made of cheese and you might some day if your lucky meet John Barrowman in a Pirates of the Carribean film.
We shall make this forum policy!

[AtlanteanTroll]

Usually I balk. Even if you don't care for it, the idea of not even knowing what DnD is...

This. They generally have the completely wrong idea, but I'll explain depending on how friendly I'm feeling.

[oball]

That works as long as you never pay for your books. But that's about as illegal as hacking a WoW account and getting free access at someone else's expense anyway.

I don't own the books. My DM does and lets me use them when I need to (and for everything else, there's SRD), and we're playing 3.5 which is out of print so I'd have to track them down on eBay second hand anyway, which wouldn't give any money to the original publishers.

Not exactly equivalent to hacking someone's WoW account.

[blazingshadow]

2 words. google it

[Radar]

Depends who I'm talking to.

Non-nerds: "Improv collaborative storytelling. One person is the 'narrator' and the others each speak for a character in the story, and we bounce off each other and try to work together to resolve the situations the narrator sets out for us."

Nerds: "Tactical wargame with storytelling elements. Each of us controls a hero with a specific set of abilities, except the DM who controls all of team evil, and there's usually an ongoing story too."
I'd sing under this with my both hands, if I were Ambidextrous. :smallsmile:

[Eldan]

Usually I balk. Even if you don't care for it, the idea of not even knowing what DnD is... it rings to me of someone having never heard of Doom, or Casablanca. (Bet you never expected those items in the same sentence.)

If you play an RPG, it's the reason your hobby exists.

You have obviously never been to Switzerland. To quote people I've met:

"What's an RPG?"
"What's a Nerd?"
"Fantasy? You mean, like, Fairy tales for kids?"
"Games? Like, some variant of Poker?"

[Drakevarg]

"What's an RPG?"
"What's a Nerd?"
"Fantasy? You mean, like, Fairy tales for kids?"
"Games? Like, some variant of Poker?"

Have they heard of the Internet? Or electricity?

[Eldan]

Have they heard of the Internet? Or electricity?

Oh yes. However, there are a few important factors here:

Most people under, I don't know, 30, never had any English in school. People who had, for the most part, don't speak it very well, and would, most likely, never consider doing anything in English for recreation. Large amounts of the net are still only available in English. Most entertainment is what gets translated. Which mostly includes the biggest hits from other countries. Talk and Reality Shows, summer action movies, sitcoms. Fantasy is rarely among those.

Switzerland is a complicated market. It has 8 million people, who speak four languages officially, and also has significant amounts of immigrants. For many products, it's not considered a very useful market. We either get the same products as France or Germany, or a half-assed attempt. Fantasy just never caught on here, really. Until the Lord of the Rings movies, it wasn't very well known at all.


What you end up with, basically, is a country that has just never heard of RPGs.

[Serpentine]

It depends a lot on what I know of their background. The most basic, generic version I can come up with is something like this:
"It's sort of like playing pretend when you were little, with a bunch of friends, lots of rules, and weird dice that determine most outcomes."

Others include:
"Well, it's like LARPing, except you don't get up and act it out."
"It's sort of collaborative storytelling with rules and dice."
"You played Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights/Dragon Age, right? Well, it's pretty much like that, except with pen and paper and dice."

I've had some people have a lot of trouble with the idea that it's a game... but it doesn't have a board or anything.

[Milo v3]

It's a roleplaying game. No, I won't explain to you what roleplaying is. Look it up yourself."

I have to explain what an RPG is at least once every week.

And my normal answer to what is D&D is like Serpentine's answer.
My answer is: "You know Oblivion. Its like that except you can do about 1000000 time more options."

[only1doug]

you're hanging out with your gaming buddies, and some NPC overhears you and walks up and asks "what's dungeons and dragons?" or "what are you guys talking about?" or "why do you play that over WoW?" or some other question that inquires after the nature of our beloved hobby.


how do you respond?

extra points for simple, and quick answers.

Who are you and What are you doing in my house?

but seriously, It happens a lot and generally I explain and elaborate until they wander off bored.

[Eldan]

Ah, yes. My explanations usually end in a long "oookay...", a raised eyebrow and a few careful steps back.

I don't really know what I'm doing wrong.

[Lonely Tylenol]

This is how my group responded. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn9Q0_3iOw4)

[Andreaz]

"what's dungeons and dragons?"
"what are you guys talking about?"

these are the generic "what's rpg?" questions. They get the standard "Collaborative Storytelling, where the players are actors in a story". Adapt as necessary to add relevance to particular aspects as the person asks further.


"why do you play that over WoW?"

"It's more fun. Totally different games."

And there are more questions I get rather often when people learn of my hobby.

"Is it that game with the dice?"
"It is a game with dice. They are used to add an element of luck to the important things we attempt to do."


"Do you die if your character dies?"
"No. Game stuff stays in game."


"Is it complicated to play?"
"Sometimes. Many systems get very complex, but you don't have to know everything. Act to your heart and count on your group to know the rules for you until you learn them"


"Another NPC told me this game is the work of the devil"
This one gets complicated... people get defensive really fast. It's better to be nonconfrontational and stick to saying its harmless fun and debunking only what they inquire you about.