I was in the subway in Montreal a few months ago, anonymously minding my own business - and reading the DMG - and some guy came up to me and asked if I was a dungeon master. I answered yes so he asked if he could join our game.
I was at a loss for something to say. He had just moved to th ae city and was looking for a fun game. He looked normal, about my age, and expressed himself well. My friends and I play D&D for the game itself, but also to get together and chillax. So I figured if he wanted to find a game that bad he could just go to the RPG store or club and find buddies there.
Rediscovering the heart of the game
I haven’t played with strangers in a few years, but ever since I brushed away that guy, I’ve been thinking. What would a game with total strangers be like, now that I’m older? It would have to ba all about the D&D, role-playing. Maybe it would remind me of how I saw and loved the game when I was younger, playing at the local library week-end game.
Maybe I should have a buddies game and an open game going. Everyone can benefit from having a new player in the party. Everyone plays the game differently.
What about you?
What are your experiences with total strangers?
14 Comments
4:27 pm on July 23rd, 2007
The problem with total stranger is that they don’t stay total stranger very long. The moment they give their name they finally have an identity and are not total stranger anymore. The goal of a total stranger campaign would be for none of them to give their name, employment, etc… Like that they would only be character and stay stranger. If you meet the guy on the street you wouldn’t say hi to him since you don’t really know him. You wouldn’t be shouting his game name on the street since it is the only one you know.
Think about all the fun you could have. You could even start a blog and be a total geek…
4:38 pm on July 23rd, 2007
Funny you should say that. You sound sarcastic but I know a guy who was playing in a live vampire:the masquerade game and he actually got into a, er, personal relationship with another player but he wasn’t sure which one was her real name and which one was her character name.
5:26 pm on July 23rd, 2007
I think I know this one!!! lol I just hope the said person will read this and remember wath a geek he his (I try to tell him at least once a week)
12:40 am on July 25th, 2007
If I was not the only dude I know that got casual sex out of RPGs, I would wish I was… You bunch are just jealous but I forgive you out of pity.
12:10 pm on July 27th, 2007
So there I am at an international conference in Poland. All the national managers relating to my specialism within our company were meeting up. Quite a laugh as always…20 people with English as the only common language, and only me speaking it as a natural…the two yanks don’t count of course ;-)
Anyway you always have to introduce yourself at these things as not everyone knows one another personally…not suprising as we are talking one per major european country and then a couple of yanks a brazilian and a couple more from south america
Anyway we were asked to say what it was that no one knew about us.
Hmm I am an axe wielding mass murderer? Nah lets not say that
So I say I am a published writter…of sword and sorcery/fantasy material…when pressed
You know everyone was facinated…I had to explain a little more later on
One of the Yanks then asked me to help him and his lad play the game….hmmm
Not in anyway embarrassing
Incredible how few…ie 1 of them had ever heard of DnD
12:18 pm on July 27th, 2007
I would never have the guts of mentioning D&D at my workplace. Whenever someone asks me to explain what the game is about I seem to make a fool of myself. I love the game but am unable to sum it in 20 seconds to save my life.
4:43 am on July 29th, 2007
Whats DnD?
Oh it is where Fantasy roleplaying began, in the 70’s
Oh sorry you don’t know what that is either…blimey where did you grow up
Well you know all those computer games where you are a wizard, like World of Warcraft and Neverwinter nights?
Yes
Well that computer game is an attempt to do fantasy roleplaying on the computer…not a particularly good one either.
Like being in the Lord of the Rings films in your living room. It is a first person game, a cross between a board game and a freestyle story telling session.
Still no better?
Sigh!
Ask your son!!!!
1:54 pm on July 29th, 2007
Yeah. That sums up how I feel when I try to explain. I’ve tried a bunch of ways to say it and I’m articulate -or I think I am - and I never drive thepoint home. So maybe it’s not me.
6:44 am on August 20th, 2007
I’ve tried explaining D&D to a friend/work mate, and… this is weird, I think- he wants to come along just to sit in, to listen and watch, but not participate. There’s something wrong, socially, there, with him, not us.
7:18 am on August 20th, 2007
I have to admit though, that when I took my kids to the local pool I had the DMG with me too. But it was in the dust-jacket from a history book. It’s one thing to explain it to friends, “Off slaying dragons tonight, Robert?”, and another to hear from a stranger, “What’s that you’re reading, a new Dragonology book?”
11:10 am on August 20th, 2007
You must be pretty convincing if someone wants to sit down and watch you play. Convincing or there could be something wrong with that person.
12:33 am on August 21st, 2007
Convincing, maybe, but I do let him know how much fun I have.
12:36 am on August 21st, 2007
Maybe that’s the key point I never grasped. I try to explain things logically but never emphasize how much fun I’ve had over the years.
Hell, as a teenager I had a hard fathoming that anyone *didn’t* play RPGs.
9:14 am on January 2nd, 2008
just pretend it is a pyramidal thing with some starting fees…they will never as again !