Reverb Gamers? Okay, I'll bite.

I had planned on doing this back in January, but as I'm easily distracted by shiny things it got swept up into the ether until now. Q2 is still something resembling the beginning of the year, right?

Anyway, over at Atlas Games, there was a challenge thrown down. You can see the full list of questions HERE. It's my goal to answer a few of these at sporadic intervals before the end of the month. Woo! Progress! (Trigger Warning: There's a fucktonne of cursing in one of my answers.)


Prompt 1: What was your first roleplaying experience? Who introduced you to it? How did that introduction shape the gamer you've become?

The year was... well... I don't rightly remember. 1992, maybe. I was either in fourth or fifth grade. My friend Christian said he found this really cool book in a box in his attic. It had a demon on it and it was full of ridiculous, nonsensical maths. We used both recesses every day for a month trying to puzzle out how the hell this made any sense at all. Finally, during a sleep-over, we explored the attic and found a companion book with a big bronze-y statue with glowing eyes. It still didn't make any sense, but we were closer to figuring things out.

Since we were both completely inexperienced with the game and had no idea what any of this odd notation meant, we just decided to play. Since it was Christian's Dad's book, he decided that he should be DM. I played a Human Thief named Dek. The game started off, like a lot of games did back then, with my character trapped in a prison. I made my way out, and was accosted by guards. This is where things got a bit squiffy.

We had no idea what the crap 1d2 or 1d4 meant. We juggled it back and forth before coming to the obvious conclusion that d must be shorthand for divided-by. So a punch did 1 divided-by 2 damage. A dagger did 1 divided-by 4 damage. Why a fist did twice as much damage as a knife, we had no idea. The bad guys stats said they were armed with a Club (1 - 6 damage). This made even less sense. How did they do negative 5 damage per hit? Were they magical clubs of healing? Dek made it out that dungeon alive after about three weeks of playing five days/week.

Then, as happened a lot in those days, I stayed over at Christian's house again. He'd finally figured it out, with the help of his dad. 1d4 meant a four-sided die. The eureka moment. Everything else basically clicked from there. No wonder those Longswords did so little damage in that prison.

I think those first few months shaped me quite a lot. They made me that-guy-who-figures-out-new-systems. It also left me very naive compared to a lot of my fellow gamers. I had no idea there was a demonic stigma against gamers until I got to High School.

Prompt 2: What is it about gaming that you enjoy the most? Why do you game? Is it the adrenaline rush, the social aspect, or something else?

I enjoy clubbing the rules over the head and taking them home. I enjoy figuring out new ways that rules interact that the designers didn't intend. I'm that guy that every player loves to have on their side, because I can usually help everyone squeeze out that last bit of efficiency.

It's also a good excuse for me to hang out with my friends. Say what you want about shared tragedy or sports camaraderie; people who game together learn more about each other than they'd ever hoped (or ever wanted to, really).

Prompt 3: What kind of gamer are you? Rules Lawyer, Munchkin/Power Gamer, Lurker, Storyteller/Method Actor, or something else? (Search "types of gamer" for more ideas!) How does this affect the kinds of games you play? For example, maybe you prefer crunchy rules-heavy systems to more theatrical rules-light ones.

I'm a Rules Lawyer, through an through. I commit the rules to memory, I roll them around in my head, and I use them to the advantage of my fellow players (as well as the DM; I can't begin to count the number of times that one of my DMs has asked me how a rules subsystem works when they're unsure). Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of Those Guys. I don't beat people over the head with the rules. Never will you hear me utter things like "You can't DO that! The Rules say X!".

What you will hear me say are things like "Oh! Awesome idea! Let's see how we can make that happen. I think I remember a Skill Perk and an Alternate Class Feature that'll let you accomplish that much easier than the build you've currently put together. Hand me that Advanced Player's Guide...". I can make the Rules sing like a virtuoso.

On the other side of the coin, I'm also a Storyteller. I love to make up complicated backstories and improvisational stuff while DMing. Unlike a lot of Storytellers, though, I don't disregard the rules when they become inconvenient. Working my masterpiece story into the rules is part of the fun.

I'll play anything, but I do tend to prefer modular games like the various flavors of d20 System. I've also found a recent liking for more Rules Medium games like Marvel Heroic Roleplay, if only because it gives me a lot of room to stretch my creative muscles while at the same time figuring out which power sets, limits, etc. are best used to describe a particular character.

Prompt 4: Are you a "closet gamer?" Have you ever hidden the fact that you're a gamer from your co-workers, friends, family, or significant other? Why or why not? How did they react if they found out?

Oh, closet gamers. I really am trying to write this paragraph without vitriol, but closet gamers piss me right the hell off. It seems antithetical to the spirit of the hobby in general. I can't think that there's ever been a point in my life (after I started gaming, at least) that I hid my hobby from those around me; especially those I care about. That just... I don't... What kind of irrational thought process is that? "Oh, I'm a gamer, but people will judge me for it. Oh woe! Oh sorrow!" What the fuck, man? Seriously? We're *still* having this conversation?

I hear from a lot of people that they can't out themselves as gamers because of their job or their religion or their whateverbullshitexcuse. I can't abide that. Being a gamer isn't like being a part of the Tea Party or the Young Republicans or some other thing one should be ashamed to belong to. It's like being Agnostic. Anyone who is going to judge me for my choice to be a gamer can fuck right the hell off anyway. I don't need that kind of stress.

It's twenty-fucking-twelve. If people have a problem with you rolling dice in your dining room, then they need to grow the hell up and learn to stay out of your damn business. Maybe they shouldn't spend every Sunday drinking cheap-ass beer and watching grown men have a sissy slap-fight over a piece of pig leather.

Now that my rage has subsided, let's continue.

Prompt 5: Have you ever introduced a child to gaming, or played a game with a young person? How is gaming with kids different than gaming with adults?

A married couple I'm friends with has a son named Brezlin. I first ran a game including him back in 2007. He was 7 years old. I made a rules-light version of D&D 4E based on Star Wars Saga edition and whatever little tid-bits had been released to the public at that point (read: not a lot). He played a Barbarian. Very simple, very visceral, very childlike.

There were four other players. One, Brezlin's mother, was stressed out due to two of the other players. We'll call them Nichelle and Nike. Nichelle hated kids, but generally tolerated their presence. Nike was a curmudgeon. He didn't like a lot of people. The other player was a happy-go-lucky guy who is probably one of the best dad's you'll ever meet.

Anyway, gaming with kids isn't very different from gaming with adults; only that the subject matter shouldn't be quite as dark and the rules should be slightly less archaic. Games with dice pools seem to be a bad idea, but then again kids love rolling a lot of dice. So long as they can do calculations rather speedily, it's all good.

The trick seems to be that, when gaming with kids, make sure that the rest of the people in the group aren't anti-children. If they can adopt a light-hearted mindset like they had at that age, the game goes much smoother.

I've played in games with Brezlin every few years since then. He and his parents are regular players in my Dark Sun game. Now that he's into the Tween years, he's starting to get a better grasp on the slightly more complex rules systems. It's been an interesting journey.

He still likes Barbarians, though. I blame Adventure Time.

Well, that's all for this time, cohorts. Tune in sometime later this week when I'll probably be stream-of-consciousnessing at you some more. Woo!

-J