Dungeons and Dragons Turns 30

August 18, 2004 8:20 PM

Hear D and D players roll the dice in a fantasy battle with nefarious foes.
posted by sudama (21 comments total)

Not bad. Too bad there isn't a place to download sound records of good fantasy sessions?
posted by jmccorm at 9:12 PM on August 18, 2004

There's always this one.
posted by malphigian at 9:15 PM on August 18, 2004

That 8bitDanD was funny in a South Park meets Crank Yankers meets nerd gamers sort of way.
posted by euphorb at 9:56 PM on August 18, 2004

Isn't that 8bitDanD a version of the Summoner Geeks movie? Annoying (got to watch an ad first) link here.
posted by josephtate at 10:29 PM on August 18, 2004

It's apparently an audio clip that was originally made by a group called the "Dead Ale Wives", and the Summoner guys made a movie out of it too.
posted by malphigian at 10:36 PM on August 18, 2004

josephtate: actually the audio was originally created by the Dead Alewives, but the Summoner version is awesome (if you play'd the game).
posted by turbodog at 10:37 PM on August 18, 2004

nerds.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:30 AM on August 19, 2004

Is it normal for people to imitate the voices while playing? I never played D&D, but I always assumed people just dryly went about their business and didn't actually talk like leather-wearing, chameleon-like, repitilian creatures.
posted by Ljubljana at 3:42 AM on August 19, 2004

"D and D". Haha. Lamers.

Imitate voices? Jesus. That's pathetic. But then they are playing D&D. Anyone with any self-respect would play something by Chaosium.
posted by Blue Stone at 4:05 AM on August 19, 2004

Sounds like an episode of MST3K to me.

And nice one Blue Stone. Chaosium was the only way to go.
posted by ciderwoman at 4:24 AM on August 19, 2004

"D and D". Haha. Lamers.....Anyone with any self-respect would play something by Chaosium.

Haha. That reminds of this time I was playing anarchy online and these two guys were arguing in the public chat about the various merits of the LOTR movies vs. the books.

It doesn't matter who's right: you're still both dorks.

(as am I, merely by virtue of being privy to the conversation, but that does not invalidate my point)
posted by jaded at 5:35 AM on August 19, 2004

Wow. That audio track from the link is kinda sad. But D&D is so easy to make fun of.

I've been playing again for a couple of years -- met some people who were running a long-term campaign and they asked me if I wanted to join in. Thought about it for a minute and decided "hell yeah." I admit that I'm still slightly embarrassed and don't advertise the fact that I'm 34 and play D&D -- but I find that I really look forward to the game (we play every other weekend).

I've also found that most every 30-something male that DOES find out I play looks around to make sure no one overhears and then asks if they can play, too.

So, yeah, I'm a geek.

And, no, we don't do the voices.
posted by papercake at 8:49 AM on August 19, 2004

Is it normal for people to imitate the voices while playing?

We always did.
posted by Mitheral at 9:08 AM on August 19, 2004

Anyone with any self-respect would play something by Chaosium.

Well, if you're thinking of Runequest, you're well behind the times. Glorantha, the setting for Runequest, has moved on and is no longer under the aegis of Chaosium. However, they're still publishing the classic Call of Cthulhu.

Call of Cthulhu is about the only old school pen and paper RPG still worth playing IMHO.
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:17 AM on August 19, 2004

Well Issaries, is Gregg Stafford, who is Chaosium (really) - along with Steve Perrin.

Nothing was sold off, as such.

Let's not forget Stormbringer - that's still under the Chaosium banner. I loved that game. And Pendragon, which has a new home too.
posted by Blue Stone at 10:07 AM on August 19, 2004

Doing the voices isn't too bad so long as you don't overdo it, which this Girvan guy kind of does.

And everybody who's anybody in RPGs knows that Unknown Armies is the shit.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:07 AM on August 19, 2004

Any adults here play any of those card based ones? I picked up one by chaosium a while ago thinking it might be fun for the wife and I, but it's a little heavy on the rules. I'm planning on sitting down with it a little more in the next few weeks, but I'm wondering if there's any good sites with general card-based rpg intros.

(i'm too embarrassed to ask my young cousins)
posted by lumpenprole at 11:20 AM on August 19, 2004

Oh damn I rolled an eight. These things have long lasting effects.
posted by feelinglistless at 12:31 PM on August 19, 2004

RuneQuest was fucking horrible. A game about stats, not stories. Munchkin heaven.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 7:06 PM on August 19, 2004

There are days when I wish I still played. Really, there's nothing goofier than role-playing games. In my experience, stuff happens in these games that's weirder and wackier than anything anyone would be brave enough to publish in a book. The Dead Alewives skits (particularly the second one) hints at some of the collisions of imagination and bad taste, but fails to fully express it. And really, how could it?

Anyway, even if the opportunity to play came up, it would be hard for me to be interested in playing D&D when there are these intriguing games about:

• Wuthering Heights
• Outlaws of the Water Margin
• The original Men Like Gods homepage is long gone. Anders has a backup of the important files backed up here at his transhumanism site. His settings for "The City" and "Big Ideas, Grand Vision" are very cool too.
• Puppetland

(Full disclosure: I made a contribution to the Puppetland game. Once, some time ago, I tried to get some of the RPGers I know to play Puppetland with me. To this end I went as far as making a character sheet as described by John Tynes in the game. The game I tried to start never got off the ground but I contacted John Tynes and sent him the character sheet I made, which he approved of.)
posted by wobh at 10:12 PM on August 20, 2004

Call of Cthulhu is about the only old school pen and paper RPG still worth playing IMHO.

Cell A agrees.
posted by moonbiter at 2:29 AM on August 21, 2004