Ever bring your RPG along materials on a first date?
The reasons I did so weren't as bad as that question makes it sound. To get from where I am to where I needed to be is a bus or train ride that takes a half hour. And you never do know if the person is actually going to show up (my experience is notification of cancellation happens right at the time you're supposed to meet someplace, if it ever comes at all), and the last thing I want to do is sit in a bus going home being all grumbly. So yeah, my backpack is full of campaign materials pretty much any time I go out to do anything beyond "Go to the corner store for groceries and come back."
Reasonable, I think.
So we get to the part when we are discussing hobbies and such. Some gamers are very careful never to reveal their hobby to strangers, lest they be looked down upon. Me, I'm tired of getting to know someone and only then finding out they think less of me because of one of my passions... and I want to make sure it's clear that Sundays are off limits because I've got the game. (Actually, I tend to hit all the "never talk about this stuff in polite company" subjects as soon as possible so if I am going to lose someone over something like this, it happens immediately without wasting my time... a bit of politics, religion, music fanaticism, RPGs, pro wrestling, comic books, girls... I'm trying to communicate about myself, not some facade of who I think some girl might like me to be...)
She's not horrified, but she's not all that clear on the role-playing thing... so... (this is the part where I deserve to get my ass kicked, as it is a definite "first date no no") I break the books out of the bag and start showing her things instead of just explaining. The whole "shared imagined space" thing makes a lot more sense when you can pull out a dungeon map and the key, and a couple of character sheets. And I'm sure the binder full of maps of the campaign world I've been using since 1990 was a big hit. And pulling out my copy of the Creature Generator and saying "I did this!" never gets old.
(All gamers should publish something in print form... Any decent print shop, Kinkos included, can make the booklets, so write something, print out 50, mark them up a bit and set yourself up a Paypal button, and spam away on the boards! We're creators and participants, not passive entertainment receivers...)
... and it looks like there will be a second date, so no harm done, I think...
(and if you read this, no, I'm not going to blog about every date we have... unless they involve RPGs... :P)
The reasons I did so weren't as bad as that question makes it sound. To get from where I am to where I needed to be is a bus or train ride that takes a half hour. And you never do know if the person is actually going to show up (my experience is notification of cancellation happens right at the time you're supposed to meet someplace, if it ever comes at all), and the last thing I want to do is sit in a bus going home being all grumbly. So yeah, my backpack is full of campaign materials pretty much any time I go out to do anything beyond "Go to the corner store for groceries and come back."
Reasonable, I think.
So we get to the part when we are discussing hobbies and such. Some gamers are very careful never to reveal their hobby to strangers, lest they be looked down upon. Me, I'm tired of getting to know someone and only then finding out they think less of me because of one of my passions... and I want to make sure it's clear that Sundays are off limits because I've got the game. (Actually, I tend to hit all the "never talk about this stuff in polite company" subjects as soon as possible so if I am going to lose someone over something like this, it happens immediately without wasting my time... a bit of politics, religion, music fanaticism, RPGs, pro wrestling, comic books, girls... I'm trying to communicate about myself, not some facade of who I think some girl might like me to be...)
She's not horrified, but she's not all that clear on the role-playing thing... so... (this is the part where I deserve to get my ass kicked, as it is a definite "first date no no") I break the books out of the bag and start showing her things instead of just explaining. The whole "shared imagined space" thing makes a lot more sense when you can pull out a dungeon map and the key, and a couple of character sheets. And I'm sure the binder full of maps of the campaign world I've been using since 1990 was a big hit. And pulling out my copy of the Creature Generator and saying "I did this!" never gets old.
(All gamers should publish something in print form... Any decent print shop, Kinkos included, can make the booklets, so write something, print out 50, mark them up a bit and set yourself up a Paypal button, and spam away on the boards! We're creators and participants, not passive entertainment receivers...)
... and it looks like there will be a second date, so no harm done, I think...
(and if you read this, no, I'm not going to blog about every date we have... unless they involve RPGs... :P)
Dude ... you rock!
ReplyDeleteMy wife of 10 years STILL doesn't understand D&D or RPGs in general, however, several past girlfriends did and were gamers (... maybe that's why it didn't work ... I dunno.)
JM.
I've been guilty of throwing the facade up before, but I've made a pledge to mighty Odin to never EVER do that shit again, because ultimately all it ever brings you is misery. I think it's important for girls to know that I still watch pro wrestling or that I like metal or that I own a few porn DVDs right off the bat. No one should be made to feel ashamed of whatever their interests or beliefs are.
ReplyDelete-Matthew