100 Facts in 100 Days: Fact 66
Posted on September 26, 2006 @ 3:49 pm
66. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a geek. When you’re into comics, science fiction, computer games, and all the rest, it’s pretty difficult to deny. I even dabbled in Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. Thankfully, D&D taught me an important lesson that changed my life (besides introducing me to Satanism, of course). When I was maybe ten years old, my local comic book shop held a Dungeons & Dragons event where customers could come to the store, roll a character, and play through a weekend-long adventure together. I convinced my parents to let me go, and my mom dropped me off at the shop for the afternoon while she went shopping. I remember walking into the musty backroom with my small velvet pouch of polyhedral dice and being confronted by a grown man wearing a hooded cloak, holding a toy dagger, speaking in character as a halfling thief, and using a very poor approximation of ye olde English to do it. It was at that moment, as I fled from the store and tried to catch up with my mother, that I came to an important realization. It occurred to me that while it’s okay to be a geek, it’s also possible to get carried away and, you know, become a cloaked, dagger-wielding halfling. It was then that I decided I wanted to be the kind of geek who can walk among and interact with normal human beings as opposed to the kind of geek who has a collection of Lord of the Rings replica swords and speaks fluent Klingon.
Posted by Jess | Filed Under 100 Facts |
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And THAT is why we are friends!
I played D&D in the safety of a livingroom with only people I know where not going to turn into halflings.
Which puts you where?
Speaking Klingon is one thing.
Practicing Klingon table manners while out in public at the local Swiss Chalet is something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
My nephew is some kind of community leader for a game called Warcraft — a “guild master” or something. I don’t get it, but it is supposed to be a big deal.
He’s also developed his own online roleplaying game.
I’m not sure where that puts him in the “geek hierarchy” — but it has to be high on the scale.
I have my own “scale”. Maybe I should make a cool graphic chart (though mine’s not nearly that complex).
Geek > Nerd > Dork
A Dork is someone with no social skills and no technical skills.
A Nerd is someone with no social skills but enough technical skills that they can contribute to society and usually end up with a higher paying job than the prom king with whom he graduated.
A Geek is someone with as much (or more) technical skill than a Nerd but who also has enough social skills to coexist with normal members of society, even, on rare occasion, members of the opposite sex.
Here via webmiztris…Good call on your level of geekdom.
i just got back from a choir retreat this weekend (yay college!) and while we were there we all had to sit in a circle and tell “one interesting thing” about ourselves. most people’s comments were things like “i play four instruments” or “i like riding horses” but we got around to one guy who proclaimed, “I’d rather be LARPing!” I had no idea what that meant, nor did most of the people in the choir…
then, a few people down, i heard a whisper. “live action roll playing. he wants to be a vampire.”
and just as i heard that, the man proclaimed once again, quite proudly, “I want to be a Vampire!”
Suddenly, I was a little frightened of sleeping that night…
oh LARPing… I know people who do a lot of that, it’s generally a lot of medievil swordplay and a lot of nookie in tents while speaking in old english.
Yeah, that was me a couple of years ago at my local comic book shop (and by local I mean across the state line). Anyway, I just went in to buy my comics, but the kid behind the counter always tried to start small talk about role playing games. It seemed that I wasn’t as cool as him because I didn’t play Warhammer, or whatever it was called.
The weirdest moment for me in that store was the time I came in and three guys (two grown men and the kid that worked there) were really into a whole set up involving a blown up city and hiding from a grenade. At that moment I was thankful that at least I could get a girlfriend that wasn’t also into faux witchcraft.
right there with ya on that one..
i love geeks, but i draw the line somewhere.
LARPing is not medieval role playing. It’s fantasy role-playing.
Medieval re-enactors are the ones out in the woods pretending to be in the middle ages and getting laid.
LARPer’s don’t get laid. Usually because it’s a dorky 14 year old trying to convince everyone he’s a 12 level paladin with a mastery of the sword.
Medieval re-enactors are usually 30 when they try and convince people of such things while wielding a PVC pipe covered in foam. And they’ve spent a lot more money on their costume.
Both types spend way too much time playing World of Warcraft during the week.
*coughs*
Or so I’ve heard…
I am glad you came to this realization early. That “larp” thing freaks me out.
I’ve been playing D&D (as well as other rpgs) at least once a week, more often twice a week, for about 10 years now. I also work in my areas largest gaming store. NEVER have I seen someone roleplay with a cloak and dagger. Not a friend, not a stranger.
D&D is more a social activity to me than a game, really, its one day a week go get away from the woman, talk about stuff the crowd is guaranteed to be interested in, relax and roll some dice.
my thursday group includes myself, a high school teacher, a pre-school teacher, a mcdonalds manager, a casino blackjack dealer, and a few others.
If you ever make your way up yonder, sir, I emplore you to come to one of my sessions
you no help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You Suck!!
fu