tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post328398301709707190..comments2023-10-13T05:10:34.798-04:00Comments on THAC0 BLOG: Is there a Generation Gap in D&D?Ryan Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-38954055800253069832020-10-06T15:52:46.949-04:002020-10-06T15:52:46.949-04:00I started right about then too. I think it comes d...I started right about then too. I think it comes down to style. I think a lot of older D&D was based on fantasy literature. Nowadays it is based a lot on fantasy shows. Shows tend to cut things like travel time out.Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-7730390448128051842020-10-05T21:05:45.500-04:002020-10-05T21:05:45.500-04:00My only beef about people who are players these da...My only beef about people who are players these days is they are in a super hurry to get from forest A to town B. Whatever happened to the thrill of the adventure? I started playing AD&D during 1989 - so much has indeed changed.Almarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11950871385860760963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-22982443819399641202019-07-25T07:03:46.460-04:002019-07-25T07:03:46.460-04:00People think it was a "have to". I admit...People think it was a "have to". I admit it wasn't, but it was a learned response that was never broken.Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-31296133339230954772019-07-25T00:26:49.413-04:002019-07-25T00:26:49.413-04:00I started playing Basic D&D as a fourth-grader...I started playing Basic D&D as a fourth-grader in 1981. Up through middle school, I was definitely called a nerd and spaz, socially shunned, and one very religious family in our neighborhood wouldn't let their two sons play it with me. But by the time I was in high school, even though I made no effort to hide my hobby, I managed to date quite a few girls and have what I considered to be a pretty normal social life. And I certainly never had to hide my gaming life from females as an adult. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923028416548441363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-73046308074146779122019-07-24T20:32:40.078-04:002019-07-24T20:32:40.078-04:00I have heard the Pre-Satanic Panic gamers had a di...I have heard the Pre-Satanic Panic gamers had a different experience.Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-83924157243926378982019-07-24T20:08:54.684-04:002019-07-24T20:08:54.684-04:00I remember much of this in the news when it happen...I remember much of this in the news when it happened in the 80s. I started in the early 70s, and things were completely different. When I told people about the game back then the response was a universal "Huh??"Horridohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07332069870394112707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-82289570021242323242019-07-24T18:13:33.774-04:002019-07-24T18:13:33.774-04:00Forgot to mention I went to a Presbyterian School ...Forgot to mention I went to a Presbyterian School for 10 years.<br />Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-50152482752653842022019-07-24T18:12:52.748-04:002019-07-24T18:12:52.748-04:00It seems like the reactions varied around the coun...It seems like the reactions varied around the country, I am glad it was such a positive for you!Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-3915768290112647832019-07-24T17:19:35.922-04:002019-07-24T17:19:35.922-04:00I recognize that this is a very anomalous experien...I recognize that this is a very anomalous experience for that time and place.Rob Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791752557408134270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-27037324118828569302019-07-24T17:19:14.873-04:002019-07-24T17:19:14.873-04:00I am the son of a Presbyterian minister, and my ex...I am the son of a Presbyterian minister, and my experience of D&D in the 1980s was an entirely positive one. People did ask my parents if they weren't worried about my playing "that game," and they always replied that the only thing the game seemed to make me do was sit at the dining room table and draw maps with my friends.Rob Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791752557408134270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-31274572807531153422019-07-24T11:45:06.339-04:002019-07-24T11:45:06.339-04:00Different strokes for different folks, I am coming...Different strokes for different folks, I am coming to love Race as Class more because I dislike "builds".<br />Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-48043191434646762652019-07-24T11:33:18.220-04:002019-07-24T11:33:18.220-04:00I played D&D back in the early 80's, and s...I played D&D back in the early 80's, and stuck with it with my group through the various forms up to 4e, which drove me to Pathfinder. 5e is decent, but hard to go back to minimal character expression, which I fear Pathfinder 2 is all about. Currently I play both PF1 and 5e and while different games I have groups for both, and they are both fun for different reasons. I remember when video games were supposed to put the old dice and pencil games out to the pasture, but it never happened, and it never could because the game is only limited by your imagination. That is the best thing about PF and D&D: there is room for everyone, old and young, male and female and everything in between, grognards and newbies. Grab some dice and just play!<br />:=8)The MooCowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11945624497547542842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-16242047563231000922019-07-24T10:55:51.942-04:002019-07-24T10:55:51.942-04:00I think that can be attributed to the "shell ...I think that can be attributed to the "shell shock" a lot of people went through. It made a lot of gamers a bit more isolationist because they had been burned before. I am not saying it was right, but there is a possible reason.<br />Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-51026646700829654912019-07-24T10:06:35.014-04:002019-07-24T10:06:35.014-04:00I just want to preface this by saying that I in no...I just want to preface this by saying that I in no way intend to discount your experiences. I'm truly sorry you had to go through all of this to enjoy your hobby of choice. <br /><br />I merely wish to give an alternate experience. I'm a newer D&D player, despite being too close to 50 years old for comfort. I did play a little bit of 2e in my college days, but that didn't last long.<br /><br />What I found back then -- despite a deep desire on my part to play D&D -- was an "us and them" attitude, whereby if I didn't already know how to play, none of the cognoscenti had the patience to teach me. It was a sort of "read the books and figure it out like we did or GTFO." <br /><br />Without the new reassurance of popularity brought on by 5e, and the welcoming community that surrounds it, I never would have been able to get into the game. <br /><br />So while I definitely remember the Satanic Panic, I remember at someone on the outside looking in, wishing longingly to be part of this thing and being met with gatekeepers at every turn. <br /><br />Again, I recognize that my own experience is far from your own, and I wish I could have found someone like you back in the day to show me the ropes. But if not for this new, more open D&D community, I would still be walking past the RPG shelves at Books-a-Million, eyeing all of those books, and muttering to myself, "That seems like it would be so cool."Optimus Primatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03859538843994420554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-17708361773573232132019-07-24T09:11:29.772-04:002019-07-24T09:11:29.772-04:00Religion at the time had a huge influence. I went ...Religion at the time had a huge influence. I went to a strongly religious school and the Panic was real there, and the programming was strong.<br />Ryan Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05403155803696085747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-31612184237111296392019-07-24T03:24:52.306-04:002019-07-24T03:24:52.306-04:00I definitely lived in the Satanic panic... parents...I definitely lived in the Satanic panic... parents threw out my books when they found them on more than one occasion. Ended up just storing my books at friends houses. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-81038484461705861692019-07-24T01:31:58.479-04:002019-07-24T01:31:58.479-04:00My Mother started going to church soon after I sta...My Mother started going to church soon after I started playing D&D in 1981. She burned all my books after paying me for them. I then moved on to Gamma World and Boot Hill. Those games were fine with her. I guess it was just the D&D stuff. Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12772460521043722307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294540734219357499.post-79065894248414267152019-07-24T00:48:01.889-04:002019-07-24T00:48:01.889-04:00I had similar experiences to you growing up. I fir...I had similar experiences to you growing up. I first learned about D&D while living in a suburb of Salt Lake City, and it quickly became a way to divide people into groups that mirrored religious lines back in the 1980's. I never experienced the satanic panic, oddly enough, but I was very aware of it, but mainly my experience was more along of the lines of the idea that D&D was yet another thing, like reading comics books, being in art class, liking Star Wars and Star Trek, and not being particularly adept at sports, that made me an outsider. In Junior High School, one does not want to be an outsider. One wants to be exactly like everyone else. I was not that kid. <br /><br />I recently answered a question like this on Quora - someone asked "Why is D&D considered 'cool' now?" and I answered that part of the reason is that the people like me who were considered outsiders/dorks/geeks/nerds/whatever as kids are grown up now, have careers, families, and strong social lives (for the most part) and now have the confidence to not be afraid of telling people that we play the game. With that confidence has come more and more people speaking out and acknowledging that they, too, like to play. And on top of all that, you have former geeks who now are involved in pop culture properties like Big Bang Theory and Stranger Things, showing situations of beloved characters playing the game. You also have "celebrities" like Vin Diesel, Stephen Colbert, and Wil Wheaton publicly acknowledging that they play the game. All of this helps to de-mystify it a little bit and make it more part of mainstream culture. Think about something like comic book movies. The MCU has made them a mainstream part of pop culture. If you tell someone "I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy," chances are, you're not considered a geek just because of that. However, 25 years ago, or 40 years ago, you would have been labeling yourself a target for ridicule. <br /><br />My full answer on Quora was much more eloquent: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-D-D-cool-now<br /><br />Cheers!Martin R. Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11672657745232101753noreply@blogger.com