The Sword and Laser discussion

I just had a weird moment of synchronicity. I was reading the part where Parzival is about to enter (view spoiler)[The Tomb of Horrors (hide spoiler)], but I had to put the book down so I could head home to prepare for this evening's D&D session.

Which got me wondering... are there other pencil and paper RPG players in the group? What do you think about the inclusion of D&D in this book?

I think it's been well done so far. You can tell (as with the other pop culture references) that the author has real respect for nerd culture.

Not for many years now, and Shadowrun was the last PnP RPG I participated in. Was good fun, but RL (Kids, Work etc..), distance and time has since put an end to such pursuits.

I enjoyed the D&D inclusion. It obviously speaks to a certain subculture, and was definitely a phenomena of the 80's (well late 70's). I came into it later than some (in the early 90's) so missed the controversy around it. Obviously as a creation it (D&D) had a massive impact on a lot of early video games including many that were directly licensed. I still have a soft spot for all the old SSI Goldbox games. A lot of the language and abstracts D&D created still permeate amongst many games today (often called RPG elements by those reviewers who like to label such things), and it helped spawn a whole range of literary works (again Tracy & Margaret's Dragonlance also has sentimental spot for me). Anyway it makes a lot of sense in the context of a game designer who grew up in the 80's.

Now I just need to see If I can find my original D&D red box.. hmmm..

I've done casual D&D within the past year. We had a group going for about 3 or 4 months. I was a tiefling warlord.

Skype and 4e work great together. Throw in Maptools or Gametable and you can game away the evenings.

Although I do wish the D&Di online play tool wasn't just in closed Beta.

Yup, I have been playing D&D and other Role Playing games since the original D&D that only went up to level 3. Been a few short breaks over the years but I have more or less played once a week for 30 years. Currently I am lucky enough to be in the play test group of Steve Perrin, the creator of Runequest.

I enjoyed the D&D references in the book, though I haven't played D&D or any other pen and paper RPG in years (mostly due to moving away from friends and having kids). I've heard great things about Maptools and Gametable, but I haven't tried them yet.

Interesting. I never thought about the idea of playing D&D via video chat and other such tools. Though I must admit that sitting in a room with a bowl of chips and a beer (or coke for younger self) was part of the fun for me.

My group just played our first session with one player who had recently moved cross country present via Skype. It worked really well, much better than I had expected. We didn't use any of the online tools, just an external webcam that I could move around whenever it was needed.

I am big fan of PnP roleplaying, though a system that is mostly popular only in Germany called 'Das Schwarze Auge'. I think the English version is called 'The Dark Eye' but never really took off. I therefore sort of understood the general roleplaying hints, but not so much the explicit links to D&D. But I guess there are probably hundreds of references I did not get simply due to being to young and more a child of the 90s than the 80s (born in 1982)...

Nicolai wrote: "I am big fan of PnP roleplaying, though a system that is mostly popular only in Germany called 'Das Schwarze Auge'. I think the English version is called 'The Dark Eye' but never really took off. I..."

I'm also more a child of the 90s, but I had older siblings, so I lived with a lot of the 80s culture referenced.

Somewhat related: Good Old Games (www.gog.com) has a big sale on D&D computer games this weekend. It's not the 80s/90s SSI ones, but some of the late 90s/00s classics like Baldur's Gate. They also include soundtracks for some of them.

@Nicolai: I believe that board games are rather big in Germany, did PnP roleplaying similarly take off?

@Andrew: Yes, they were quite big in the 90s, early 2000s, and they were never as controversial as D&D was in America. I was actually introduced to PnP at 13 or 14 when my mom bought me the basic box for DSA (Das Schwarze Auge) who just saw it in a normal warehouse and thought it was boardgame. So they basically sold it everywhere with the normal boardgames and during high school quite a lot of people played PnP.

Today, though, PnP has quite a demographic problem, I would say. The players left are mostly those my age (25-35), while I guess most of the younger people now just turn to computer games. But board games continue to be popular - hooray for Siedler, Carcassone & Co ;)

I played a lot of RPG games when I was a teenager. My best friends today are still those I made while playing games. Unfortunately, I don't find time to play anymore - we talk about scheduling a session once in a while, but we are all too busy to actually do it.

What did I think about including D&D on the book? I loved it! It was part of what I am today, and it's been inserted into the story by someone that knows what he's talking about. The way the author treats the game in his book makes me proud of having played it on my youth.

I'm a big fan of older D&D modules/versions. I was a DM for a short time for 4th edition, but the players all just wanted to do the next combat for better loot (yes, I was in muchkinland).

I miss playing D&D with my high school group of friends. Our games were always in the shared-story-with-rules mode.

I can't remember who mentioned it to me first, but it's kind of sad that the term "RPG" today means leveling and point progression and not storytelling.

I love it. I DM'ed that module! Everyone died, but I used it as a source for years. Ready Player One is not unlike a D&D adventure.

Trying to DM as a 41 year-old is different than when I was a teen and in my early twenties, as I recently found out, but I've found my story telling muscles are a little better now. That might be a side effect of being America's Favorite Lower Mid List Urban Fantasy Author, though.

I also like the inclusion of D&D into Lev Grossman's The Magiciansand The Magician King. I working on a magic system in a contemporary set book due out next year, and I'm leaning towards a nod to D&D with it. There's a gamer geek character in it, which is probably me "writing what you know". :P

I'm looking forward to RPO as any author who owns a Delorean and shows up to signings in ECTO-1 can't be all bad!

I like when authors include a D&D-style adventuring party in their books, as a kind of commentary on how the typical D&D party would work in the "real" world. For example, in Perdido Street Station there's a group of adventurers who come to town to find quests and loot. They are not noble do-gooders—they're more like your typical D&D party: a little bloodthirsty and questing after fame and fortune.

GRRM includes a through-the-looking-glass version of a D&D party in the Song of Dice and Pyre too. Vargo Hoat's brave companions include a fighter/barbarian (Zollo), a priest (Utt), a wizard (Qyburn), etc. http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/...

@Nicolai: Interesting about the changing demographic. A mate has competed in the world championships for Catan there a couple of times and indicated that board games were still rather popular there.

I'm curious what people thought of the (recent-ish) Community episode portrayal of D&D and the rumour that NBC were not a fan of (tried to kill) said episode (http://io9.com/5810498/did-you-hear-a...)

I played a lot of 3rd ed D&D and Whitewolf games in college, 1999 to about 2002 ish. I haven't been able to make a time commitment since, but substitue in board games for my geek fix.

@Andrew: I've only seen a handful of episodes of Community, but that was one of them and I loved it.

Nathan wrote: "@Andrew: I've only seen a handful of episodes of Community, but that was one of them and I loved it."

Yeah I actually ended up watching more of the series after seeing that episode that caught my interest. Thought it was really well done, and portrayed it with honesty rather than jumping to say a representation of the fantasy world with the actors. I also found it interesting that there was still a stigma that made the studio uncomfortable.

I am a full on PnP player and game master. I've even run the original S2: Tomb of Horrors, but never had the opportunity to get my characters murdered spectacularly in it.

The responsibilities of work and family have definitely but a limiter on my gaming time, but as a group my circle still finds time to game occasionally.

I am a D&D DM and have been playing it since AD&D 2E. I enjoyed all of the references in the book to D&D (I may have cheered at the Tomb of Horrors reference ...). It always makes me happy when D&D gets included since I have many fond memories of playing it back in the day.

I play D&D in three groups that regularly meet about once a month. I mostly play 3.5 - love the game.

Been playing since elementary school (with seniors at that time) - and onward to college. I had a consistent group (+ and - over the years) from 2002 to 2010 in a single extended D&D campaign (occasionally breaking for other systems).

Then life grew on us and we stopped playing to sporadic levels for hee past 2 years. I'm feeling VERY nostalgic now :)

I've been playing since 1st edition (before it was called 1st edition ;-) ) ... mostly play Pathfinder now.

I enjoyed all the D&D references but wasn't surprised they were in there: it was pretty big in the 1980s.

Having finished the book last month I can appreciate the D&D reference. The module in question is one that most D&D players from back then will be familiar with. It's always had the reputation as being one of the most dangerous and deadly dungeons.

My group and I played this module in an extended session over a New Years Eve/Day. We started about 7pm on New Years Eve, took a break to go to the pub for the rollover to the new year and then played through until about noon on New Years Day. Fun times.

I grew up on the original D&D red and blue boxes, AD&D 1 & 2, and Palladium rpgs. It lead to me reading the entire Dragonlance series (among my earliest "grownup" novels). I have played a variety of rpgs from time to time since, but have never found the camaraderie of my high school group. These days, I mostly play board and card games, as I don't need a reliable regular group for those.

For those looking for online PnP utilities, a recent issue of Knights of the Dinner Table magazine had an article about them.

I always wanted to play D&D but never had the opportunity. As nerdy my friends are, they're just not that kind of nerdy. Alas. :(

Alas indeed. They can be a lot of fun. If you ever want to try terpkristin (or anyone else) there are frequently organized play events hosted at your Friendly Local Game Store. See here:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx...