So its no surprise to me or anyone else I know, but I'm a nerd, geek, a semi-tech savvy delver into all things cast off from the rigorous judge-me-nows of society. As further evidence of this I submit one of my more recent excursions in to that-which-spawns-conventions, Dungeons & Dragons.
[Ok, no more hyphenated descriptions, lol]
I've always known about it. Whether the normees out there want to admit it or know, they have too. It's typically seen as people playing it in their basement or backyards in full fantasy-spoof regalia and keeping a strict sense of pseudo-parliamentarian procedures to simply tell a story. Said situation is more closely tied to LARPers (Live Action Role Playing).
I'm taking about the improvisational (only one person the DungeonMaster aka author truly knows what's going to happen) experience of getting together with friends periodically and just experience a different, animated twist on a story whether you prefer reading, movies, video games, etc. Artists of whatever discipline bring their own unique experiences and descriptors to a story. If you remember the "Choose your own adventure" storybooks, its similar to those except you get input from multiple people and absolutely anything can and will happen in these games. You could take just the exact same 3 people, present them with 3 successive, recurring fights (3 fights, same situation every time) and they can very easily come out completely different.
DnD (D&D, AD&D, or ADnD) utilizes a d20 (20-sided dice or a icosahedron) system that adds the random effect or 'life-element' to the game since nothing is ideal or perfect in life. But more than that is an outlet for creative juices to flow. I, myself, am very dedicated to the creation and speculation part of an idea, but I typically lack follow-through to complete one. This gives me an arena where not only myself, but others have/had similar problems and can offer constructive criticism when needed or merely a wall to bounce around ideas. And yes, some of my friends who play are taking/encouraging me to attend a convention in the future to see what they're like.
I won't even try though would wish luck to anyone trying to find all the DnD references throughout pop culture. Any fantasy game (video or otherwise) is loosely based on it, Futurama dedicated an entire movie to it (Bender's Game). And many Hollywood celebrities admit to having/still playing the game. Most shocking of them is Vin Diesel (see YouTube for many different interviews about this).
I am currently on my first character and look forward to developing him as he levels up through the campaign my friends and I are done. No details as I'm still hammering our names, background, etc for a sketch, but I will tell you he is currently a lvl 2 Dwarven Bard.
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