Scratch

Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.

Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.

On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.

 

D&D

Some people view D&D as a geeky thing spotty kids do dressed up in tablecloths clustered round a candle, some dice, using the back of a maths jotter crammed in the broom cupboard under the stairs with the ironing board. In my experience this was never the case, and with the exception of one very intense chap who was quickly ostracised, most games I played were generally spent with tea, biscuits in the living room or out in the sunshine.

Whilst the occasional map/miniature is required, generally all that is needed is your imagination, and hell its a lot better for kids than the TV. Left to our devices, we would while away hours in winter evenings or summer holidays slaying evil and rescuing damsels in distress, with the one occasion where my ranger turned into a werewolf and massacred a nunnery, but I digress. As well as imagination it honed deductive reasoning, painting/artwork skills, problem solving and characterisation/empathy. Its also fun IMHO. I'm not saying it was the key of all knowledge and learning, but it doesn't hurt. Plus I have never felt the urge to either idolise, talk like, or dress up like Timmy Mallet/a Telly Tubby/a pokemon/insert later child craze.

The one obstacle that I always remember, is the issue of maps, specifically dungeons, as they tended to curtail spontaneity and imagination as you realised the DM meant 30ms to his left, so out comes the eraser... (this is overcome if you use NSEW). Prior preparation of multiple copies and variants of maps was ok, but could be labour (and materials) expensive. Its also steps away from the imagination, and more towards stereotypical board games. I never and the group around me, never felt this was a problem, but some die-hards, like ostracised boy above, felt it wasn't real 'D&D'. Part of the problem I guess is that there is a slight ambiguity in peoples imaginations, and I think the games flows better if people aren't arguing over the issues about whether Thrud the Barbarian stepped onto a trap given he wasn't 'anywhere near it'.

However, it appears in this technological age a solution is found.

To the untrained eye, what you have is taking a geeky game, mixing it with geeky technology, to create a geeky geek hell. To me it looks like a novel way to solve a problem and have more time for fun and social interaction with friends, in a harmless, non-ASBO inducing, non devil worshipping way.

16 Mar 2005 13:06 | (0) comments | Thoughts

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