The violent nerd movement has suffered a serious setback. Yesterday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Dungeons & Dragons ban in Wisconsin prisons. According to court records, prison officials were concerned that inmates were forming a “gang” around the fantasy role-playing game.

The suit was brought to federal court by Kevin Singer, an inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree homocide at Wisconsin’s Waupun prison. In 2004, officials confiscated Singer’s collection of game manuals and other nerd paraphernalia, as well as 96 pages of dungeonmaster’s notes.

This is one of the most subtle travesties to Mankind’s freedoms I have seen, and I can confirm its validity, as I had a cousin that just got out of prison after four years. He was able to play games the first few years, but they started cracking down on gaming later, D&D specifically but all were looked at with suspicion, and some were denied being sent to prisoners because they contained specifically violent or “informative” wording, so I ended up with a Vietnam roleplaying game, because it talked about killing other people or something totally ridiculous.

I remember they went through, at least leafing, the pages I sent him, and some just got kept with no explanation as to why, and some people’s RPG books (some of which cost over $40 USD) just disappeared into the ether after being “examined for violations” by the guards. He couldn’t have dice, they kept the DM’s guide in a homemade bound paper “book” that was actually hand-copied bible verses – ingenious. Most amusingly to me, the Call of Cthulhu game, about ancient tentacled alien gods plunging from the stars to be freed from their tombs by human sacrifice, and enslaving mankind and casting spells to wither and sicken people, never really had any trouble being in there. Go figure.

I could go into a longer observation about this kind of ignorant mindset, but the long and short of it is, these prisoners are still HUMAN, even the worst ones (well maybe not the WORST, worst ones), and our mind and imagination is one of the few things we have that is truly our own and unable to be regulated or restricted, and I agree channeling these prisoners’ anti-social habits into gaming IS therapeutic, my cousin saw and experienced this first hand, and to deny them this escapism and outlet is perhaps the worst possible decision that could be made, for society and them. All of the gamers in there were the more intelligent, philosophical and thoughtful types, mostly amiable and laid-back. So of course the system wants THAT to stop. Brilliant.

The Group

I’ve posted in various places on some variation of this topic. I personally feel intelligence and analytical or strategic or just knowledge and abstract skills in general, are a constant question mark in roleplaying games.

I can be a personally physically weak player but have a high strength character, but even if I try to play him as Superman, his stats and dice rolls will likely put a quick end to that. There is no real way to argue that – if your Str is 3 out of 20, there’s little room for argument, as Str and other similar and somewhat blatant and concrete aspects of a person, usually physical, are pretty obvious, to anyone. Endurance and Agility or Speed can be measured or estimated or classified, though it might take some effort and trials and stuff, to the point you could fairly accurately map what CON 14 means, in real world terms, because it’s objective and empirical. A player who is very strong himself, but has a low Str character might feel constrained when his character keeps failing his rolls, but he also can’t argue much – Str 3 is Str 3.

Intelligence, Memory, Deduction, Wisdom, Willpower and related skills such as Forensics, Invention, Science, Archaeology and similar things present a particularly sticky wicket. The typical happening is that players will bring in their real world knowledge, sometimes known as metagaming, either to intentionally sabotage or sidestep an in-game obstacle, or just because they consider their idea common sense, and usually the players’ contribution is just general or so broadly applicable that the character could believably be familiar with such things.

In this way, regardless of attribute stat or skill score, because of player knowledge of Ancient Laplander Horticulture or military experience in exactly how fast someone can break down or assemble a particular rifle, how far they go, how heavy they are, etc. then they are able to circumvent or “skate” on some problems that should be at least unlikely to be easily solved by the PCs, yet thanks to “player intervention”, the day is saved.

Players who are NOT as well versed in the things their characters are, are at a disadvantage, because though they may have Engineering 19, if the player themselves don’t know how to apply it, then it’s like they don’t have it – the player cannot necessarily be blamed or expected to be able to know anything about engineering, not enough to come up with appropriate uses or applications of the character’s skill – yet the people who DO know such things, AND have similarly skilled characters, are REALLY potent, and easily tend to outshine other players and characters, sometimes unfairly.

The funny thing, in a way, this very factor is THE Damoclesian consideration – it’s a ROLEPLAYING game, so you are very much expected to play a role of someone who is not you, usually with different skills, abilities and knowledge, as that is the very point – it is essentially being an improv actor, without a script. At the same time, it is this aspect that allows us to develop these qualities, and become encouraged and inspired and evolve some of these things in which we have deficits, and the skills and stats which are superior to our own personal ones allow us to obtain the OTHER side of roleplaying, which is ESCAPISM, being someone else, with other properties, and being able to feel a sense of accomplishment when our 19 Int Wizard casts Fireball and takes out 5 orcs, which obviously we can’t do – I don’t know what ingredients or words or hand motions would be needed for that, but it’s “coded” into the game and just “happens” because that’s the virtue of the RPG and the type of character I chose.

And I feel this applies equally for social attributes and skills, and I’ve always had problems with most games’ handling of these aspects. I may not be very good at Bartering, or Fast Talk or even Seduction, but if my character has it at high levels, it should be fairly academic as long as my make my rolls, right? Wrong, because I STILL have to come up with at least basic scenarios, quips, topics, approaches and conversation, in order to get the GM to apply my stats. Some people simply aren’t up to or even ABLE to rise to that challenge; I know, as someone who has social issues – maybe I’d like to play a Don Juan type, but I really wouldn’t know how in real life, yet I’m expected to exhibit this knowledge in game?

And alternately, if I know all kinds of things about computers, and a scene comes up where computer knowledge is required, but my character doesn’t have HAVE a related skill, what do I do? I know the group needs this, it may even be vital or required, and nobody else may be able to make their rolls, if they have any – where does my responsibility lie? Do I break the Fourth Wall and start geeking out about tracing the ground wire and setting the jumpers on the hard drive and making sure the memory is seated? That would definitely work, and might even give me a special situational roll because the GM was impressed with my attempt or solution, even though I had no appropriate skill, usually because my idea was creative, and I AM “playing a role”, even though it is technically not the one the character is considered to include.

Or do I stay clammed up and shrug apologetically and say “Sorry guys, my character’s a dog trainer, he doesn’t even have a PC”? and then the base blows up and we all die and the evil space gods take over the world? But generally, I’ll just instinctively bring to bear what I know, from whatever source, because that’s just how we think – we’re presented with a situation or problem, and we rack our brains for some way to solve it, and come up with plans – whether or not our character has any such faculty to know such things is mostly irrelevant.

LARPs are an interesting example of some of these problems, and though I hate to be stereotypical, I think the quintessential situation is the player who isn’t very good socially, or very generally physically attractive, but they have a character with a top notch score in those areas, and if they make their rolls or however that LARP resolves things, they can influence, charm or seduce an NPC or even another player/character – that player/character then has to act as though that person actually DOES possess these qualities and their actions DID succeed… I could tell even before I read the horror stories that this type of thing can easily lead to some very uncomfortable situations.

So in the case of a player’s character being dumb as a post, but being played like a PhD., the player playing his musclebound mouth-breather like Sherlock Holmes is a tight rope to walk – I’d hope the GM would rein that in and say “Come on man, you know Og the Barbarian would have no concept of advanced military tactics or ancient Sumerian” or “You talk a good game but your character’s Charisma of 6 says differently and you stumble over your words”, no matter how compelling the player’s effort, because he is supposed to be roleplaying his specific documented character, not just “A role” which can be whatever you want.

But as I said, we play games for entertainment, escapism and fun, so it is hard to harshly deny someone success or an impressive demonstration, because we are supposed to look and feel like heroes, people out of the ordinary, doing things most other people just can’t match – and yet, if there are players feeling left out that just aren’t getting to participate, either from bad rolls, lack of personal ability, or being overshadowed by more active, experienced players, it can quickly become NOT fun for them.

If I’m not having fun – why play? And I tend to look at it as the RPG truism that has developed: No gaming is better than bad gaming.

Even if you’re a player or GM who doesn’t do a whole lot with tabletop figures, minis  and tactics and such, the world of free (and commercial) paper miniatures and models can be an incredible resource, whether used in game or simply studied and skimmed through to give you some sort of concrete visual  idea of what a “tavern” or “inn” looks like and how best to describe it, and inspire new ideas, etc. Also, although this article mainly addresses fairly standard fantasy game tropes, free (and commercial) minis and models are available for just about any genre: westerns, sci-fi, horror, modern, superhero, pulp, action, etc.

Paper miniatures are usually of people, animals, NPCs and monsters and other living creatures, and fairly simple vertical (standing up) ,flat (though sometimes triangular or pyrimidal) bits of strong cardstock or paper, decorated with pictures of adventurers, monsters, etc., sitting in a supporting base, usually also paper or cardstock though some people use other materials or objects for bases.

Minis are useful for representing player-characters and everyone and everything else they encounter, and can help keep track of where everyone is in relation to everyone and everything else, in a significant area or encounter or dungeon, combat being one of the most common situations where miniatures are brought out.

Depending on the level of  realism and rules used, minis may also be set on “battlemats” or other area maps marked with squares or hexes, with particular rules similar to those of board or wargames used for movement, natural and man-made obstacles and features, lne-of-sight and similar consderation and tactics, though some groups choose to instead use a simpler improvised method of arbitrating movement and such, by measuring distances between minis to some other object or location with a ruler, tape measure or string, and determining how many feet or yards or meters is represented by each inch or millimeter or other measurement equivelancy – still other groups “handwave” (fudge) most movement, not concerning themselves with it  unless it is vitally important to the encounter or activity, but using minis to just clarify in everybody’s minds where things and persons are in relation to one another.

Obviously, in most any of these cases, one very important thing to keep in mind is SCALE – having a 3 inch tall character and a half inch tall cow doesn’t help visualization and understanding of the scene very well.

Models tend to be representations of structures, fences, vehicles and sometimes large animals or other misceallaneous objects such as furniture, barrels, tents, campfires and such, all also being usually “stand up” similar to minis but often composed of patterns that are cut out and folded together and glued or taped to form a much more three-dimensional model, from simple cubes or rectangles to intricate designs with curves and windows and arcs, boxes with lids, some models looking similar to origami – they are definitely works of art, both in the actual ink art and the creativity that came up with the pattern that would be able to turn a simple piece of paper or cardstock into such impressively representative 3d models.

The same goes for “tiles”, flat 2D representations that minis and buildings and such sit on, so commonly the “floor” in RPGs, from dungeon stones to wilderness textures to interior building floors, which can simply provide interesting environmental scenery or ever represent particular movement penalties and obstacles, etc.

Again, the same goes for maps and floor plans, from individual buildings to dungeons to towns and up to entire nations or countries, and finally out to the whole game world, and I suppose if you wanted to take it further, the world’s location in space, as there some free star maps and rules for creating entire solar systems. Although most world and nation maps will be dependent upon the setting and campaign used in a game, and may require you to use those that are included in that particular game’s resources, dungeon, wilderness, building and some “generic” town maps can be universally inserted into any campaign or setting.

Below are some good resources for various free downloadable paper minis, models, maps and tiles.

One Monk: http://onemonk.com/Home.html (commercial and free)

Warrenton Area Game Club Showcase: http://home.earthlink.net/~wagc/paper.htm

Junior General: http://www.juniorgeneral.org

Tampa Bay Gaming Assoc:  http://www.angelfire.com/games4/tbga/freegames.html

SS42: http://www.ss42.com/toys.html

100 Exceptional Free Paper Models: http://www.creativecloseup.com/100-exceptional-free-paper-models-and-toys (amazing)

Lower Hudson Valley Paper Model E-Gift Shop: http://jleslie48.com/gallery_models.html

Papercraft World: http://papercraft-world.blogspot.com/

Currell Graphics Card Models: http://www.currell.net/models/mod_free.htm

Free Paper Model Kits: http://www.buildyourownchicago.com/free.html

Wrigley Field Paper Model: http://www.papertoys.com/wrigley-field.htm

FreePaperToys.Com: http://www.freepapertoys.com/

Incredible-Adventures.Com: http://www.incredible-adventures.com/paperplanes.html

Wikipedia Article on Paper Models: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papercraft

My Paper Model: http://www.mypapermodel.com/

Paper Replika: http://paper-replika.com/index.php/Instructions/

PaperToys.Com: http://www.papertoys.com/

PaperModelz.Info: http://www.papermodelz.info/

Dewantoro.Net: http://www.dewantoro.net/2009/01/02/various-furniture-collection-3d-model/

CardModelers.Org: http://www.cardmodelers.org/download.html

Frankenpaper.Com: http://www.frankenpaper.com/

Free Paper Model Ships: http://www.modelshipsadvice.com/ar/free-paper-model-ships.php

Paper Model Webring: http://i.webring.com/hub?ring=papermodelwebrin

BigShotToyWorks.Com: http://www.bigshottoyworks.com/2007/07/19/free-paper-model-of-all-city-style-blank-nyc-subway-car/

Artists Helping Children – Paper Folding Models: http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/paperfoldingmodelskidsartscraftsideas.html

PaperInside.Com: http://paperinside.com/munster-koach/

SpaceCraftKits: http://spacecraftkits.com/free.html

MWG’s Free Paper Models: http://www.miniaturewargaming.com/index.php/forums/viewforum/48/

Haunted Dimensions: http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index301.html

NASA Paper Models: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/kids/papermodels.cfm

Airplane Collectible: http://www.airplane-collectible-best-net-resource.com/paper-airplane-model.html

Blogflux: http://topsites.blogflux.com/tag/paper+model (index of more paper model sites)

Papercraft Models: http://www.artofprogramming.net/resources/paper_craft.html

WordPress Free Paper Models: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/free-paper-models/

JazJaz: http://www.jazjaz.net/2008/02/100-free-paper-models-and-toy-designs.html

Associated Content Free Printable Paper Model Cars: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1524296/free_printable_paper_model_cars.html?cat=24

Demo.Com: http://www.demo.com.hk/papermodel.htm

Wikipedia Cardboard Engineering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardboard_engineering

Canon Papercraft: http://cp.c-ij.com/en/

Yamaha Papercrafts: http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/index.html

Paperkraft.Net: http://paperkraft.blogspot.com/

Nintendo Papercraft: http://www.nintendopapercraft.com/

Google Search for Paper Models, the rest: http://www.google.com/#q=%2Bfree+%22paper+MODEL%22&hl=en&start=50&sa=N&fp=JJ2lHziMUzc

Besides these, there are many companies that make quality paper minis and sell them over the internet, usually  through RPG online stores like RPGNow and DriveThruRPG, or in the case of an RPG company, from their own websites. You’ll find the occasional few free minis at such places but when you get into this level of quality and effort, you’ll find the majority will have to be purchased.

The Real Price of Gold
By Brook Larmer
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/gold/larmer-text/3
For all of its allure, gold’s human and environmental toll has never been so steep. Part of the challenge, as well as the fascination, is that there is so little of it. In all of history, only 161,000 tons of gold have been mined, barely enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools. More than half of that has been extracted in the past 50 years. Now the world’s richest deposits are fast being depleted, and new discoveries are rare. Gone are the hundred-mile-long gold reefs in South Africa or cherry-size nuggets in California. Most of the gold left to mine exists as traces buried in remote and fragile corners of the globe. It’s an invitation to destruction. But there is no shortage of miners, big and small, who are willing to accept.

I recall there being a well-known assertion in gaming circles that in any one group’s tabletop RPG fantasy campaign lasting a year, they would encounter and maybe even amass something like 10x the real world historical total of gold ever mined, silver and copper and such probably following this trend. Maybe dragon hoards are from that aforementioned gold from the earth’s crust they mine themselves.

As bountiful as RPG’s make it seem, in reality, gold was used for currency in the form of crowns, nobles, sovereigns and the like, but these were fairly rare, comparatively, as usually only the upper classes and trade merchants and royalty had any need or cause to even SEE a gold coin, everybody else dealt in silver shillings and pennies, or similar systems for different cultures, so even then gold was extremely scarce and was worth an awful lot, and wasn’t the “base” coin for familiar monetary systems – silver was, with a troy pound of silver being where the British Pound and lb. abbreviation comes from, originating from the ancient Libre coin.

A gold Crown was worth about 5 silver shillings, a golden Noble about 10 and a golden Sovereign worth a whole pound (373g) of silver. Considering cows and other expensive livestock and tools still only cost in the mid-silver range, and a skilled farmer or laborer being lucky to earn 1 pound per year and a knight only earning maybe up to 7 pounds per year, it is easy to see even in the case of wages, gold never entered into common use, as it would be too easy to lose or have a Sovereign stolen, and most gold coins couldn’t be easily “broken” to pay for items costing less than a pound sterling or major fraction thereof – they were really just impractical for 90% of at least the feudal era.

In our group, we generally give 100-150 XP (WFRP) to everyone that played, which keeps everyone fairly happy and consistent, with the possibility of a bit more XP for a PC that accomplshed an outstanding feat of some kind, including superb roleplaying. Generally, since we play infrequently anyway, if one of us usual active players misses a session, unless that PC is way, way behind or there is some other solid reason not to, the GM just awards our PC the same XP the others got in the session, maybe with a slight penalty. Although technically not fair to the other PC’s, it is really more of a game-balance and player fairness issue.

Player fairness-wise, if the player HAD been in the session, he would have gotten the usual XP (omitting death etc), and we generally assume a person’s reason for missing is solid and unavoidable, so we feel like the PC shouldn’t be “punished” for something the player couldn’t help – we handwave the PC’s absence as having personal matters to attend to, refreshing skills, working on the side, etc.

It could be argued this retroactive proxy awarding could be “abused” but really, if a player is intentionally going to NOT show up to play and just soak up XP the other players indirectly earned for him, and isn’t actually missing getting to play, then I’d be inclined to think he wasn’t that into the game anyway. What kind of strategy is that, to miss sessions just to get XP? That’s not actually playing at all, that’s helping develop an NPC, which I guess isn’t necessarily bad so in a way there might be no reason to give a player/PC an ultimatum or take drastic action. If the PC is just going to hang out in town or even accompany the party but be useless/ineffective, chances are he is going to CONTINUE to do that for the forseeable future, so if it becomes an expected occurrence, it really shouldn’t affect anything since nobody would be relying on him anyway – with the exception of the GM using the PC as a resource to be kidnapped or provide a vitally useful skill or ability the party needs right at the moment, which I think is well within the GM’s rights if the PC isn’t being played much anyway; like I said, it’s an NPC but one that wouldn’t directly or willfully involve himself in any of the activity, which means he might get XP but miss out on any treasure or coins or possibly social standing upgrades – unless the GM or other players take pity or feel there is a reason to do so.

In the case of someone who only shows up every month or longer, then not only is there no reason to award XP to him, but might actually be a much better idea to just give him a suitable NPC (or turn his PC completely into one) he can play when he is available to play, but otherwise fully returns to GM control in his absence. You’re more or less just letting the player “drop in” from time to time and enjoy a game, because really, he wouldn’t remember what was going on last time or what concept he had of his PC, and would probably just want to make up a new one anyway, so that can be avoided; if the GM decides to have the “player” loaner NPC killed or turn evil or something likely not in keeping with the player’s wishes, you just pull out a new pregen and hand it to the player or have him roll up a new PC when he shows up – it’s not like there is really going to be a significant difference in the session, as the player is just “filling in” and could do it in any body, honestly. Most of these “new PC each time the player finally shows up again” ideas would also prevent the need for the GM to keep track of XP and such for the PC – it would be easier to just hand out an NPC or let the player roll up a new character with XP/advances to match the rest of the party. This could lead to the player not wanting to play at all, or to being more dedicated to showing up, or at least being able to try out a number of different careers and develop personalities and roleplaying specific to each. Make sure, obviously, whatever you decide on, talk to that player first, don’t just spring it on him out of the blue, just explain the problem and obstacle the situation is, and the available options and which you feel is best, maybe a compromise can be reached between the GM and player.

As noted, giving “free” XP to only occasionally missing PC’s is also for game-balance, so if the player DOES decide to play again or is only able to show up infrequently, his PC will have been developing alongside the rest of the party, allowing him to step back into place without being woefully behind and feeling worthless, no “Level 1 Fighter joins the 15th Level group” frustration, it will just be assumed to have been in the background. He will be somewhat out of the loop, but not enough to make a vast difference or not be able to come back from if he is suddenly able to become a usual active player.

Overally, our primary single reason for these XP ideas is because we try to remember that the point of gaming is to get your friends together and have fun doing something creative and a little unusual, so there’s no reason to put on the badge and punish people for missing some games, assuming you want them to be there – don’t alienate them or make them feel bad for missing, just greet them happily when they are able to make it, it IS “just a game” and just having it consistent and fun, to us, is more important than scheduled oblgations and punitive measures for people that don’t tow the line – why put extra stress or worry on someone if you’re just playing a game, you know? Poeple can show up, as regulars or as a rare once-in-a-blue-moon player, and still be able to sit down and feel welcome and be included in the fun at an equitable level of PC ability because doing otherwise would most likely not be very enjoyable and probably wouldn’t encourage the player to double his efforts to attend the next session, if he can expect more of the same.

Obviously if you have a real problem with a player and whatever you’re doing is just “not worth it anymore”, if none of the above ideas work, the outfinger pointed towards the door is always an option as well.

I and my friend and GM (I occasionally take turns GMing) were discussing the rest of our gaming group, which consist of his 14yr old step-son and 18yr old nephew and their 1 or 2 friends each.

Besides Assassin’s Creed, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and shoot-em-ups, the kids spend a lot of their time on WoW, one of them is on it constantly for like 9-10 hours at a time and even had to quit in the middle of our last 4 hr tabletop session to go sleep. They “roleplay” constantly in the chat window on WoW, are guild members, do all the social stuff, can type and speak some of the WoW languages fluently, plan out skill trees and calculate weapon stats and “best builds” and such and keep track of experience totals, thousands of locations and quests. But get them at a table, and though they all LIKE playing, suddenly become confused mutes.

I know they know how to roleplay, freeform at least. I know they know what character concept, background and immersion in personalities are, how to act out and play different types of people with their own likes and quirks. I know a lot of them could recite the entire mythology of WoW from both sides, tell you all the notable heroes, battles and geographical landmarks and areas from the entire universe, plus spells and magic items and costs and level advancements.

I also know they’ve all played a few times or more, have a good grounding in WFRP dice, combat, weapons and armor, stats and to a lesser degree, skills and how they work. Either myself or my friend also play with the other person running, and help advise and answer questions, and demonstrate roleplaying different attitudes and schemes and plans, come up with outside the box ideas and approaches to situations and puzzles and using different techniques and game mechanics.

But at the table, if and when they’re paying attention and not quoting the latest Family Guy episode while the game is going on (I know the answer to that is to tell them to shut up), they just seem absolutely at a loss of what to do, either when nothing is going on, or when something is obviously up and needing a response. They don’t plan or puzzle things through, develop an idea of how the story is going and anticipate possible solutions or problems or want to spend any time or thought developing their characters or HQ or NPC henchmen or mounts – they only vaguely skim through the equipment lists. I have even made sure to stay a subordinate character when I play, and help out with whatever the others do most of the time, occasionally interjecting to do something a little heroic just to see if the others pick up on it.

We are somewhat baffled by their lackluster response and effort, not from a performance “should have done better” point of view, but that they don’t or can’t or aren’t getting “into” the game more, paying more attention or thinking more, without prompting, they don’t roleplay social interactions or make speeches or give descriptive and relevant examples of how they are using a skill to accomplish something. We may not be the best GM or player, but me and my friend have been playing since ’80 and ’87 so I’d like to think we have at least minimal enough experience to have a basic grasp of at least one interpretation of “how to roleplay” and can somewhat impart some bit of that to others.

The two exceptions to this are that one of the step-son’s PC is Mayor and has a wife and made sure to tell the GM he was trying to get his wife pregnant every now and then for a handful of sessions, and the other is the nephew, who I give credit to, for roleplaying his weird circus-performer/brothel owner almost entirely through notes to the GM for the whole campaign so far, and eventually pledging himself to Chaos and betraying the rest of us to our main Chaos Warrior nemesis during a session.

While I like they have some things they can get into, these seem… rather indicative more of where their mindsets are at as players and their preoccupations and rebelliousness, rather than picking up on the cooperative “party” or heroic aspects, which I agree aren’t entirely necessary to play a game, but would be nice to at least give them a taste of.

Are we reading too much into it? Is it just their ages and lack of experience, even with other roleplayers present? I don’t want to sound like I’m griping or trying to force them into something, but while I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in them being a more “able” group to play with, we would like to help instill in them or help them develop a genuine interest and appreciation in the creative and social and educational aspect of roleplaying games.

Does their experience and familiarity with the way console and computer and MMORPG games work, and the requirements made by those games, influence the kids’ expectations/disappointments/frustrations with tabletop face-to-face games?

Any advice? Thanks for any replies.

A podcast of Wil “Wesley Crusher” Wheaton plays the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game, with the guys from Penny Arcade and PvP webcomics.

http://media.gleemax.com/podcasts/DnD_PAPVP2_ep1.mp3

Tutorial: How To Play A Tabletop Roleplaying Game