One of my regular D&D game sessions (alternate Tuesday nights) is coming to an end. Like most groups that dissolve, we have a key player that is going to have to drop out of gaming for an extended period of time due to life changes. It's sad, but the changes are a very positive development for him, so pretty happy at the same time.
With this in mind, I went out to the forums of the internets in search of a new gaming group to join up with soon. I'm getting a little burned out with DMing one and a half sessions per week, so I really wanted to sit back, relax, and be a player for a little while. During my search, heres a post I found on a popular site used to find RPG players and groups:
I'm looking for a first edition AD&D game that could use another player. It's been a while since I rolled dice in anger, and I am itching to get involved again. I could even DM if there's enough interest, but I'm a little rusty. Don't be too surprised if it takes a session or two for me to get back up to speed.
I fucking hate this guy. He embodies so many of the bad habits and poor attitudes that make me consider throwing out all my dice, books, and minis and forsaking this social hellhole of a hobby.
Let me break it down, point-by-point:
+ You're looking for a specific style of a specific genre of a specific niche of a relatively little-known hobby. AD&D 1st Edition? Are you fucking with me? Because there are only about, I don't know, 0.0001% of the people in the world who even know what the fuck that is.
+ Here's my biggest peeve, this is a guy posting to the world that he is ready to joing a group. Newsflash, asshole, the whole world was not waiting with baited breath for your stunning announcement that you would do humanity a favor, come out of your mother's basement, and roll some dice with us. Jesus Mary and fucking Joseph. This is a word of warning to all you D&D gamers out there: if you really want to play a game, but no one is running a game, RUN YOUR OWN FUCKING GAME.
+ He does say that he'd be willing to DM. This very passive statement isn't great, although it bears noting that this guy ins't a complete toolbag.
+ Oh yeah, a caveat: this guy sucks at the rules for the game he's insisting on playing!
D&D is a social game, and you need to bring something to the table each and every session. Find something you're good at, something that people enjoy. Being great at the rules, easy to get along with, providing extra snacks/sodas, telling funny yet appropriate jokes, being a good host, being the goddamn DM, buying minis, having extras dice and pencils, printing character sheets and helping the DM with printing, buying supplements books. You get the idea, there's a lot you can be good at. Pick one.
Also, be accomodating. Don't close off yourself to a particular system or game element or way of playing just because you're a little unfamiliar. Embrace the new, or in some cases, the retro.
Lastly, take the bull by the horns. In fact, in every aspect of your life, D&D especially, stop being such a passive observer and get in there and do something. Make it happen, don't wait for change to stumble into you. Have the attitude of a heroic adventurer instead of a fucking ponce.
While I agree with your overall point the idea that nobody knows what the eff AD&D 1st edition means is absolutely ridiculous. It was the edition everyone played at the absolutely peak of D&D's popularity. The 1st edition PHB went through 17 printings from 1978 to 1990. By that chronolgy it was still a license to print money a year after the 2nd edition came out. AD&D had its own line of actions figures, fer chrissakes. I bought my first AD&D hardbacks not at a hobby store or a bookstore, but at friggin' K-Mart. Toys R Us and Kaybee Toys used to stock extensive lines of hardbacks, modules, miniatures and dice. AD&D has been seen in one megablockbuster movie (E.T.) and on at least two TV shows (Charles in Charge, Freaks & Geeks). The AD&D 1st edition books have appeared in exposes on the 700 Club and 60 Minutes. The only other roleplaying games with comparable cultural visibility are the edition of Basic that the new boxed set apes and possibly Vampire: The Masquerade.
ReplyDeleteYeah but Jeff, you've got to realize the sheer numbers game we have here. How many RPG gamers are out there who where too young for AD&D 1st Edition, or even NOT BORN by the time that stuff hit it's heyday? I'm definitely in that category, and so are the vast bulk of people I game with. I guess my peeve with this guy's post was that he's looking for someone to put on a dog-and-pony show for him and is really giving little or nothing back, as if his mere presence in the world and our gaming tables was some sort of favor. The least he could do is be more accomodating and be open to a wider variety of RPG.
ReplyDeleteAlso! Wow, thanks for reading my blog. I've been a followers of yours for quite a few years.