[FRIAM] quickening

[Nick Thompson]

Thanks, Glen.  On reflection I did know what D and D was, but was confused by its pairing with the word campaign.  

Also, I thought Dungeons and Dragons died years ago.  The last time I saw D and D it was a reference to Dick and Dorothea in SWALLLOWS AND AMAZONS.  

 I think I still don't understand the constraints that make the game possible.   Just to put it bluntly, what keeps me from declaring that you all catch the plague and I win.  Anyway, I shouldn't trouble you with this, when I am sure that Wikipedia will firehose me with information, if I need more than you have already provided. 

By the way, I keep hearing programs on NPR that suggest that 5G will eliminate life as we know it.  Do you agree? 

Nick 

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/


-----Original Message-----
From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of u?l? ?
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2019 7:02 PM
To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] quickening

8^) Since Jon didn't answer this directly, I'll stab at it. D&D is Dungeons and Dragons. It's a medieval/fantasy role-playing game where people draw up characters and interact within the bounds of a (fairly complicated) set of schema. The free variables in the schema can be filled by finer-grained rules or dice rolls. A Dungeon Master assembles the schema into a world that's then explored (and fleshed out) by the players.

And while many of the people who play it resemble Gollum, Jon's point is important, the world is co-constructed by the players. So, the wider mix of people playing, the more interesting the world. E.g. During the time I played it as a kid, I went through stints in band, cross country, weight lifting, and tae kwon do, over and above my schoolwork. So, most of the campaigns I played in required significant open space where I could physically demonstrate the various violent acts my character was supposed to carry out.

I remember one argument vividly. A cavalry rider tried to poke me with his spear and I told the DM that I deflect it into the ground so that it would stick. I maintained that if successful, the rider would:

1) lose the spear,
2) get knocked off the horse,
3) break the spear,
4) or have to "roll a 20" and manage to ride by and deftly pull the spear out of the ground before attacking again.

The DM (who sucked at math/physics, couldn't fight, and who eventually became a copyright lawyer) disagreed with all of that. He claimed that my guy (on foot) wouldn't be able to knock the spear downward at all. I could only dodge. We argued about that for hours. I lost because ... well ... he was the DM and he defines the physics in his world. Pffft.

In college, a few of us continued the collaborative fiction by snail mail, writing a few pages of the cumulative story and passing it on, round-robin style. It was quite difficult because most of us (players) didn't like the other players' characters. So, while the document was in your hands you could write in embarrassing events that would happen to the other characters and they'd have to write in graceful recoveries.

On 9/12/19 10:55 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> What on earth is a D and D campaign?

--
☣ uǝlƃ

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