Meeting Gamers

Some of you may not know me well enough to know that I travel for work. A lot. While I'm a bit of an introvert I do enjoy meeting and talking with new-to-me people. Especially gamers. So I was pleased to meet another gamer on my most recent trip.

He was working the desk at the hotel I was staying at in downtown Phoenix. I had approached him because I needed information about getting to the airport the next morning to head home. As he answered my questions I noticed he was reading over a character sheet. An Order of Hermes character sheet from Mage: The Ascension, to be precise.

I asked him about it and he confirmed that he was playing in a Revised edition OWoD Mage game with his friends. I told him how cool that was and how much I love the original setting for Mage. We talked for several minutes about his game, the OWoD setting and getting back into play after a long absence. Talk quickly turned to technology, ebook readers and the iPad.

Eventually the client I was training arrived for our lunch meeting and I had to go, but, like a cheap whore, I scribbled down the URL to this blog and passed him the note. I walked away feeling very glad that I got to spend a few minutes during a long business week getting to talk about games with a fellow gamer.

This got me thinking about recognizing other gamers in the strangers around me. What could I do to let others know that I played RPG's to elicit further connection and interface? Is there an RPG 'gang sign' I can throw? Maybe some d20 bling? Obviously wearing my D&D t-shirt proclaims me as a member of the gaming set, but that is not exactly business attire when I'm working.

I think the simplest way to make that connection is reading gaming materials in public. Just as that character sheet clued me in that this fellow was a gamer, reading gaming material in public will let others know that I enjoy playing RPG's. Actual game books are best as they are iconic (and often very big and hard to miss). If I'm reading the Dresden Files RPG on my iPad (beautiful PDF that it is) someone has a to practically be looking over my shoulder in order to see what I'm reading. Nope, actual books are the way to go.

This also has the added benefit of inviting the curious on-looker to enquire about what it is at I'm reading. If the person is a non-gamer this gives me a chance to evangelize the wonders and magic that is the fantabulous world of RPG's. Three times a year there is the Read an RPG Book in Public Week. no reason to wait so long, grab a book and do it now.

I'm very interested in hearing how other folks proclaim their membership in the RPG Federation. Feel free to drop a comment on this blog post and share what you do to be recognized.


Follow your bliss,
JJ

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Read an RPG Book in Public Week

 Here's a picture of your's truly reading a book. In public. But not just any book. This is an RPG book (Mage: The Ascenction, 1st edition, if you must know). I had this photo taken today at one of my favorite coffee shop/used books stores in town: Grounds for Thought.

Why did I do this you ask? No, it wasn't to satisfy the curious that my hair is not multicolored as my Blogger profile pic presents. I did this as part of Read an RPG Book in Public Week. You can find all the details at TheEscapist.com's blog (link takes you to the blog post).

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and read an RPG book in public and see it garners any attention. This is a great way to advocate for RPGs.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

10 reasons I'm thrilled my child is a role-playing game geek

The following was posted by a friend on facebook and reprinted here with her permission:

I love my 7-year old Dungeons & Dragons, World-of-Warcraft Geek boy!! Here are some of the reasons why role playing games (and [my son]) rock... 

1. Vocabulary Aquisition, using words like adjacent and dexterity if everyday conversations.

2. Leadership and Groupwork Skills, choosing abilities that will help the entire group succeed and choosing actions based on what will benefit the team.

3. Bad Ass Math Practice, subtracting hit points, understanding probability, and quickly tallying the most damage you can do with any combination of dice.

4. History Linkages, knowing way more than necessary about medieval weaponry and armor.

5. Quality Family Time, playing with mom, dad, [aunts and uncles]

6. Computer and Techonology Skills, helping brothers and friends create characters on dad's laptop, surfing the web for information and interesting youtube clips

7. Research, always looking things up in monster manuals and dungeon master's guides

8. Appreciating Mythology and Folklore, look out Homer!

9. Decision-making and good sportsmanship, let the dice fall how they may.

10. Passion, that gets him up at 6:00am on a Saturday so he can tell his mom all about the quest that they will begin that evening. Gotta love when sitting down and talking with mom ranks higher than playing the Wii.

Well said, thanks for letting me share this on my blog.

Follow Your Bliss,

JJ