Travel / New Year in Tricity, Poland [9]

Offer free booze.
Get a sponsor.
BAM!
Problem solved. Hire security to keep the hundreds out.

Post Facebook photos or it didn't happen.

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

I am not sure what you mean? No one in our group is a smoker so we can offer you nothing to smoke to fit your needs. We meet for several hours, play the game and share a meal together. Our game is a social platform to engage with and to better understand the thinking of others'. It helps us make friends without making too many snap assumptions or prejudicial judgements about one another.

Have you ever read a book; pictured yourself within a story; and imagined how you might handle a difficult situation[/url]: what might be the consequences of different decisions?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure

Maybe we can start your clarification from that perspective.

I thought this was funny. And since our group plays in an imaginary world like Game of Thrones, I thought I would share it here.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xbEhByk4Icg

Season 4 spoilers: Game of Thrones.
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KNRbV66Q-wo

I am just going to lay this down here:
thehourofplay.wordpress.com

I know that there are people simply reading this topic, and for them I offer that website for interesting further reading.
Next game is last weekend of this month. If you want to engage with others and make new friends, I highly recommend what we do.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

The dice certainly provide an element of drama to the game but so does the story. AD&D 1e is a campaign-based game (i.e. story-based) and much more so than, for example, the distopian theme of Cyberpunk can allow or later editions of D&D. It was for that reason I choose the game to bring people together and create friendships. It is really hard to bring people together and facilitate deep meaningful relationships when everyone is out for themselves (or "just playing their character"). We have real life for that kind of stuff.

You miss the purpose of the group in the comment about individual characters being out of the ordinary. If I say we do not play a game we make friends, would that shift your paradigm? (I mean we play a game but not to play the game. We do it to meet friends.)


It's kind of like playing golf. No one wants the play-by-play announcer on the greens. They want to enjoy their time outside. But you have to remove the competition from the game when it is in reference to our group. This leaves people, strangers when they start, outside of their daily life and working together.

Take a "feeble character," to use your descriptor. Such a character will rely on the other players. (Note I am focused on players, not the characters.) Having a low score in the statistic Intelligence (on paper) reflects dice probability. It does not straightjacket players to playing feeble-mindedly. That is a later invention not the original intention of role-playing. One player in my group is a wizard who has the highest statistic in strength (the maximum number in fact) and his lowest in wisdom. That's just the way it rolled in order.

He can more easily kick in doors and bend bars by the probabilities of success but that does not mean he is a muscle-bound Conan. He still has low Hit Points and his Health Points are a matter for another statistic to determine. The statistic affects the probability of chance but it does not affect the role-play. It effects success of a certain action being checked.

No one meets people by being a robot. I have been to many, many, many, too many business mixers with women in short cocktail dress and men in ostentatious suits and everyone I have met in such circumstances are automatons. They are playing their roles to either look attractive or look successful and deviate from those roles very infrequently, often when in their little corner with people they know, and even then they're usually playing another role. So this group is about being free and being authentic.

The mask of the game helps bring that out, same as the story informs the mechanics. My group really does not need to know the rules to enjoy the game because the game is not the thing. Making friends is the thing. The game gives players a chance to work together and find themselves as friends together. Often times, this translates back to the real world.

Players advance to high levels (survive) by sticking together – an uncommon sight in our real world today. Players good at surviving will reveal something about the player more than the character they play on paper. And, as a story-based game, this process is ongoing.

What a game today! A new person joined us. Six characters went into an area to explore: the woodsman fighter seeking to slay evil, a magic user searching for someone, a thief seeking easy passage to gold, and a cleric recently arrived to town on a mission for his Community. They were joined by a Half-Elven cleric, whom the woodsman had rescued from the clutches of a racist Elven lynch mob, and an Elven fighter returned from border patrol to his mother after his brothers had been killed, subsequently employed by the woodsman with the promise to care for the mother should this man die.

There was a period of getting to know the new person who had arrived into town before setting off to explore the ruins. Once there they navigated into a trap and were surprised by slings and spears. A pitched battle ensued with the thief hanging back the entire time.

Out of spells the magic user rushed into the fry as the Elven fighter fell to dire weasels and was consumed. The cleric, too, fell to the slings of dogmen as he stood along side the woodsman. Grasping two swords and blind with fury, the woodsman swung at the dogmen that rushed him, at first beheading two that stood before him but then, blinded by rage, missing his mark. He stumbled nearly dropping both swords but recovering them, each in the opposite hand. Spear pierced him repeatedly while he fought valiantly to shrug off the blows and deliver death to his enemies. The new party member also joined in the fray, pelted repeatedly by stones while the magic user directed an unseen force clutching a torch to burn individual dogmen. When the magic user, suffering a grievous bleeding wound, fell beside the Half-Elven cleric, the cleric reached out to him from where he lay near unconsciousness with a weasel breathing down atop him and asked divine favour to heal the magic user before passing out from his own wounds.

Now the new party member and the woodsman faced the onslaught. Dogmen were laying on the ground everywhere and one of the weasels lay in death tremors from the wizard's consecrated blade. Swinging wildly, the woodsman brought both swords down on the head of the dire weasel delivering severe punishment for the life of the Elven fighter.

Bloodied and enrage, the weasel made ready leap at the woodsman. The Human cleric swung at the weasel and missed. Quickly the woodsman recovered his speed and slew the last of the dogmen before falling onto the weasel striking the weasel and sinking his blade deep into the creatures hide forcing it down with his weight.

And the battle was done. The Human cleric worked to bandage the Half-Elven cleric and both he and the woodsman tended to the wounds of the magic user. The thief remained hidden and safe throughout. But one of their number, the Elven fighter, had died the death of a hero at the side of his comrades. The woodsman would have to fulfill his contract.

It was an intense finale to our game today. Players relied on each other assisting as best they knew how, reacting to the fortunes of the dice. Say what you will about imagining things but there is something real that gets shared when others come to your aid even if the experience is just make-believe. The characters, and the players, became a tighter unit.

I found this episode of Freaks and Geeks today. I think the episode represents a balanced view of what we, 4 men and one woman, do; and the type of fun we have getting to know each other through our stated actions and risk taking.

In the meantime, maybe you would care for a film favourite of D&D players everywhere?

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

Hi,

You're thinking Unearthed Arcana for the Cavalier class.
We use the spells from the Player's Handbook, but I am going to broaden that to include close to everything from 1st edition.

Most characters are Mary Sues, at 3D6 in order. So bad stats are part of the game's challenge to overcome. Obviously, class restrictions are another. There is no choice in where to put stats rolling in order. The challenge is to do with what you have. Recent issues of the game paint this character generation along with resource management (arrows, magic components, encumbrance) like a penalty but it is really a part of the game same as Challenge Ratings (CR) are for video game designers. People who have never played before really get this. They have read books and seen films and have a whole pop culture to reference when they sit down to play this game. A scene can be described in very vivid and scary terms and they get jumpy and they work as a team then because they understand the gravitas of their characters' situation - they are not separate from their characters. Players used to playing with CR tend not to rely as much on their own imagination and tend to Meta-Game their Player Skills down the toilet. Ask anyone on this forum to describe a vampire, for example, and they could do it to different levels of success. Ask a player used to playing with CR to do it, and they grab some dice. [Rather pathetic that, IMHO.] Their rationale is that their character would not know it...

You know, in a world of fantasy and mythology, it is going to be their character that is just plain stupid.... and that sort of Meta Game cries out for CR protection...

Anyways, people on this forum won't understand this conversation unless they have played; and I do not want to attract some Internet Sheldon Cooper to us so we all get into a Geek-Cred-titty-slapping because the troll is reading my opinion on CR. But it's rather obvious and something I repeatedly see from new-to-the-hobby players: they get into story; they listen and are curious about descriptions; they look at all options including retreat; they do not use a battle mat (I do not use a mat or minis); and they interact like normal people rather than like some dysfunctional group of neurotic muppets.

rdinn.com/comic.php?comicid=15

I like your idea of that double 20 on 2D20s. Adds unique value to your game. I run a political and deadly game (I compare it to Game ofThrones) in AD&D 1e. I have critical tables I am working on for natural 1 and 20. I have also created a system that allows a Health Point system (range 1-8) based off the CON stat that gets effected by the crits. It's way more deadly a game when max health is 8 and -1 health is dead. We still use hit points for the abstract. But crits get real.

Anyways, the purpose of our game is for getting to know other people and make friends between expats in Poland. Our game is a tool for meeting people, rather than being the reason itself.

----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
Classic Example of what does not happen in a Player Skill game, courtesy of Reddit/r/rpg:

[this is funny unless you're playing in this type of game - bad language ahead because it is The Internet.]

My friend emailed me this session recap from a mutual friends game. I had a hearty lol.
"so i told you about how killen is stuck in some kind of dungeons and dragons limbo, playing with some of the most tepid human beings to ever grace the diagnosis of aspergers ever, right?

Well, about an hour after you called me and told me about that hook-up, killen calls me to tell me about how his THIRD CHARACTER THIS CAMPAIGN just died last night.

oh boy.
"Well, we killed these monsters, right, and then we got the deck of many things." RED FLAG.
So first things first, Rick, captain career player, the guy who can't go ten minutes without popping open a splat book and looking something up, actually does something interesting. He goes for the power draw and just beefs a handful of cards off the top... and actually does ok.

first card. free 10,000 xp. bossy.

The Shadow, please keep in mind the 100 word limit when posting links.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]


Okay. This attack does not represent the kind of people we are on so many levels....

The best part about meeting strangers using this game (and not all expats are love & light, for sure) is that everyone works together on a task inside a shared story. It can be a simple task or a complicated one, and it has to be described in language. So there is allot of listening. And allot of observing. How do the players treat each other? How do the players react to the pressure of the situation? What sort of skill do they bring to problem solving? How do they handle the roll of the dice when risk is involved? Do they take gallant chances or are they conservative? It's a wide open game and with an imagi*native Games Master, the situations described are endless. Players engaged in the depth of my game tend to relax their guard and reflect who they are. The "professional players" - we call (dice) roll players - never relax, never invest themselves and often tend to argue rules so, ultimately, this is not a game for them. New people get along together without allot of personal baggage creating drama. In fact, players tend to let their real life go while they play and I challenge all of them the best I can through the use of language.

We have other interests and hobbies and usually a rich work life. But the game is our way to put our heads together and work as a team despite the diversity of culture at the table. That's why I am always welcoming people and always recruiting, and why our group is a success the last 3 years, despite meeting some "professionals" along the way. It is fun and encourages the development of real life relationships.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

Good afternoon to you!
We play AD&D 1e with modifications; more abstract than simulation but deadly "old school." 3D6 in a row. Player Skill is important (something lost in later iterations) and, starting at 1st-level, I encourage players to simply play themselves without a backstory. The group has a game in progress so I have no reason to fish for ideas from players at the start and I attract people who have never played before simply because my game is so low key and "system-less." Backgrounds can come into the game naturally. Muchkins are without a net and min-maxers find the combination of 3D6 in a row and no skills/feats frustrating. So I end up with mainstream ("normal") people new-to-the-hobby who come together to discuss personal attitudes, values and philosophy in the context of playing a team game. Their experience with each other and the game is direct without the rules mitiagating (Meta-Gaming) the conversation becaue new players do not know all the rules - which is how AD&D 1e was written to be played.

Also, when the game is broken out of the "Geek locker room funk" jailhouse, more women are drawn to the game and the players whose characters participate in its story. It's easier to stay in-character and have a fun time together when discussions about whether or not Hirelings deserve a portion of XP flies over the head of players rather than consume their thoughts.

We have sessions between 5 - 8 hours, depending on scheduling and including dinner.

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

A new player in the game we had today and a new player for next game. Very happy about that as a large group is a fun group, especially when they try to figure out the mystery and chat each other up in character. Next game the mystery deepens as the secrets within the castle get revealed. (But what the players do with the data they receive, and what information they create from the data, will be interesting for me to watch.) What does a duck's head erased, an owl feather and a radiant eye arranged as a heraldric sigil actually mean...? And whose sigil is this?

I am looking forward to how the players interpret the situation.

So yesterday was our May game, given the many events in our May schedules: holidays, christenings, communions, and a wedding in another country later this week, to round out May. It was a good game. After the usual chatter that happens when people have not seen each other for a month, the group continued their exploration of the ruin. It was not long before they found the missing Wilder, Devon Wilde. Only they did not realise it was him because he was in the form of a giant rat, and attended to by a large group of giant rats. A battle ensued with the rats, and to cut a long story short, the players won - though two of the characters were taken to the brink of death and unconsciousness. Luckily the two clerics had two healing spells between them. The muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger magic user of our group charged into the battle with his consecrated dagger as the last rat fell. It was time to return to the town, with their haul of coin and booty after ridding the ruin of a sizable Goblin raiding force, their over-large two black wolves and now this giant rat with a ring and magic that chased the fighter around with a powerful and very deadly fireball. In fact the final blows upon the large rat happened just as the fireball was to envelope (can cook to a cinder) the fighter. And as the fighter was going over the body of the rat, the illusion disappeared and the body became that of a man. The ring was removed and so was a purchase order for 100 swords to be delivered to a buyer in/near the village - issued by Stanis of Safeton from the town of Narwell along the Wild Coast (a neighbouring country of bushwhackers, highwaymen and nobles).

One of the players was from Narwell and knew of Stanis and his reputation and filled in the other players including the story of a box that had gone missing, for which Stanis was looking for trackers to find and return to him.

Returned to the village, the fighter and the party went to visit a crippled fighter, also of the wild and from the local area. He recognised the cloak the fighter was now wearing had once belonged to Devon Wilde. And so the story of Devon Wilde came out: a local fixer that acted as a middleman between various sellers, particularly Stanis of Safeton. Stanis is a low level kind of dealer who has a grander picture of himself: always a man of bigger plans. Why he left Safeton is anyone's guess. The players brought the purchase order to the fighter's attention with the question could the weapons be destined for the castle, bought by the former occupants that were forcibly evicted 6 months ago. The fighter looked at it and remarked the order was dated 3 months ago - by that time the castle was a ruin and it's former occupants staked. So something is afoot.

There was a discussion about payment for training. The two fighters are trained for the forest and share much in common. The player needs more training to progress to discipline his ability so was asking his one-legged colleague for that training. A price was set: 4000 in silver. It is steep. However this fighter, a Ranger, is a legend in the area - a scout for the Elven army in the Elven country of Celene and a ********** owner in Narwell of the Wild Coast, also a good source of rumours. So the party resolved to continue their explorations for gold - or at least silver - within the bowels of the ruin.

Deciding to kill some time while they rest up and pick up two sets of armour the following week, the players bring the purchase order to the attention of the town Reeve (mayor) who is quite disconcerted. Arming a rebellion (three months ago!) while he was responsible and without any kind of local bailiff to keep order is not happy news for him. He promises to send word immediately to the Baron. This is a serious development - more serious than a simple Goblin problem. The word returns that the baron will be returning to the village to have an audience with the players and hopefully get to the bottom of this purchase order.

So with the revelation that the Goblin's Rat God was the long time missing Druid, Devon Wilde, will the party be able to unravel the plot to bring illicit weapons into the Baron's lands? The ring "Lingua" seems to work as a universal translator but more uncertain is the question why it would be found on the hand of the Goblin's rat god. Was Devon a prisoner? Who was his jailer? Who was his contact in the village? To whom were the weapons intended? Does this relate to "the box" stolen from the Wild Coast? Will the players be able to keep peace until the Baron - and one can assume the Baron's armed force - return?

This is how we meet people through our game's activity: the group is presented with a puzzle; they listen to each other discuss options; and I see how they envision the story and what part they play in solving it. The dice means nothing is certain and it keeps everyone freewheeling as a team. It does not require players with experience; and anyone who wants to meet others by discussing something besides work, sports, politics and religion is welcome. Afterwards, in separate groups, we went to watch The Great Gatsby film and visit the free night at the museums as friends bound by imagined tasks and no longer total strangers.

Life / Men in Poland in the forest? Just men? [133]

I know why. But I always know why. So that should not be surprising to anyone.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

I am going to go out on a limb here and assume this would not be your first experience with role-playing and that you are aware of the all the types. The particular game I lead is more focussed on players' skill rather than "pure acting" as in say Monsterhearts or Apocalypse World. There are other RPG-styles within the group but I am responsible for the OSR style AD&D 1e particularly as a method to meet people by getting to know them through their stated actions and beliefs. We do not rely on disarming traps, for a vivd example, by rolling dice but by a verbal description of disarming a trap.

That may be a slight over statement but it is useful to know. Players new-to-the-hobby tend to be happier with this style than players with experience in Pathfinder, for example. It is worth noting.

Shoot me a message when you can finally use the private message feature.

So the game, and its story, continues tomorrow afternoon. I am looking forward to it.

Also looking forward to our night out on Monday at Sala Kongresowa for the Gregorian chant troupe. That should be a hoot too.

The game continues tomorrow....

FOREIGNERS MAKING FRIENDS IN WARSAW

Remember high school, that place we had to go 5 days out of 7? Remember all the friendships we made back then, making plans to just hang out? Remember just hanging out? Remember when life was less self-monitoring and how easy it was to make friends when there was no pressure and social barriers were less concrete? Remember how you laughed at the jokes that might embarrass you, especially in the company of your professional colleagues today - the new place we go 5 days out of 7?

Well, short of going back in time, how do you make those close friends in later life? Those people you met and became close with in the good old days still exist. The difficulty is finding them and having a nurturing environment to grow the bond.

I have an answer for that in Warsaw.

Every two weeks, for the past three years, a group of us foreigners get together to play a tabletop role-playing game in English. You do not need to know all rules to play. This game is our platform to explore the attitudes and beliefs of strangers within a story where we imagine ourselves together. We come together first as strangers but, as we play, we become friends. We even start to share friendly camaraderie creating inside-humour and rekindling the embers of the social freedom we enjoyed in high school.

So make it a date to join us, regularly. It costs you nothing to join in but your time; and even that won't be a cost to you once you start to enjoy the group and reap the benefits of having close friends. It does take time but the time passes in friendly company.

For our partners, typically local natives, who do not participate in our tabletop role-playing game meetings, we have a Widow's Club where they all get to know each other and do things together. We also have private parties, cinema outings and shared trips together around this country. But it begins with us getting to know strangers through the attitudes and beliefs they express in our relaxed game before the door opens wider.

Nothing will change from your side of the computer monitor - or it would have already.

More information on benefits of role-playing:

An example of tabletop role-playing games - courtesy of Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher, from Star Trek: The Next Generation):

This is a real easy activity to get to know someone.
"I was amazed by how quickly the students picked up the game," Gilsdorf said. "A few of them seemed hesitant at first, but within the first 30 minutes, the groups really got into playing their characters - hobbits, dwarves, wizards. Before long, they began exploring the dungeon,battling orcs and trolls, casting spells and coming up with some really inventive solutions to the puzzles and traps I'd created. I was impressed by how much fun they seemed to be having."

Brittani Ivan class of '16, was among the D&D novices that took part in the game.

"I didn't know how you created a character, or even how game play worked. I vaguely knew there were lots of dice," said Ivan, who decided to be a "reckless, relentless elfin warrior."

However, Ivan threw herself into the game and was quickly hooked.

'I didn't want the game to end at the end of the night - I wanted to argue with the elf king and storm off to the next grand adventure right then and there. I was part of a fellowship on a life-or-death quest for three hours, and I lived every minute of it," she said.

Travel / Cozy and inexpensive pub/bar in Warsaw [9]


True enough about role-playing games. Good way to meet and understand people, make them a little less strange. Shame no one wants to host. That would be ideal: controlled prices and controlled surroundings. So long as the 15 - 20 are reasonable and not a55h0les nothing should be broken. Might even have help washing dishes.

Travel / Cozy and inexpensive pub/bar in Warsaw [9]

Well, for strictly economic reasons if not for many others, there is no better place than your own flat for a party. That's one of the things we do to keep expenses down. We have an activity group we use to meet other people (that would be the role-playing group on this forum) so we're hardly left out of the Papparazzi Bar scene - places locals go to meet foreigners with flash.

Or Papparazzi used to be one of those places. I have been away from bar scene since giving up business networking. But with 20 regular people (plus their significant others) and new people coming to one of our three group activity meetings, we're hardly stuck for meeting people. One couple met and are planning their marriage for next year. So 10 - 15 of you should be no problem to double that in a few months and then that number to double again.

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

I have been asked: How does playing a role-playing game help meeting people?
The simple answer is within in the form and the response of the player group. A role-playing game is a game without any set answer just one set goal: to survive. There is no finish line, no end game, and no control of the board to monopolize. There are only challenges to overcome and challenges for players to agree to undertake.

It is very free form. The leader of the game, a dispassionate player who creates the challenges for the players in secret, describes what a player can see, hear, taste, smell and touch. He describes this data for a player to analyze and interpret. Players respond to this game leader and build upon the challenges by adding to the information they share at the table. Do they act together? Do they double-cross one another? Do they play with passion? Are they helpful in a scrum? Do they withhold data only they know?

This can all be blamed on playing a character-type much in the way someone in customer service might say, “That’s not my job.” This is a valid way to play the game and it is left to the player’s choice. There is no one to say how to play this game, unlike a tactical game of chess or a competitive sport like football. Rules exist to present a framework for understanding the risk in a game situation not to limit player interaction or imagination.

So “playing a character” can be a mask through which a player’s character can be interpreted. And through the interaction within the game, players will get acquainted with one other. Playing an ELF, for example, is mediated through the player’s interpretation of an ELF. So no matter what the excuse for player actions, the player cannot claim to be an ELF his or her self. Same as being a THEIF or a MAGIC USER does not transform a player into a cat burglar or a magician. What is clearly on display is the player’s interpretation of what is ELF or a THIEF or a MAGIC USER.

And that says allot about someone too.

But the most exciting part of the game, and the most revealing of its player, is how they overcome their own limitations. In Dungeons and Dragons, players have six statistics that reflect risk. Other games have a similar base ability function, which interacts with the mathematics of risk. These are random rolls that we call character generation. In D&D, these base abilities have a numeric average in the range of 3 – 18. The higher the number, the better the odds for the player.

So if a player plays a character with a base ability of 6 “Strength,” or base ability of 18, how they choose to play that character will reflect the player’s choices. These base statistics can reflect things in our real world experience. To prove a point, I will suggest a few vivid examples of real world challenges that attest to a “character” from which you may extrapolate their opposite: learning difficulties, naivety, clumsiness, poor health, poor leadership and physical weakness. These do not dictate how a player chooses to play their character. That choice, that reflection of character, never leaves the player. On the one-hand, the player’s abstract reasoning supporting a physically weak swordsman can be a compelling story at a table of fellow travelers but the risk of failure for the individual is greater. There is an implied collaborative success within this player’s choice. On the other hand, risk being an element of every game, a player may choose to limit their exposure to risk by choosing to play swordsmen only IF the ability score is high and the character is physically strong. This implies a specialized choice that reflects upon the player, not his or her fictitious avatar.

Is one way better than the other? That’s not the point. The point in how the player chooses what his or her character chooses to become is the window through which the player may be observed. It is a kind of layman’s Rorschach test. The game does not limit any player’s display of courage, cowardice, perseverance, impatience, team spirit, or individuality through their character. The player brings all that with them to the table.

And that’s how you get to know someone by playing with them for an hour rather than having a conversation with them – to paraphrase Socrates.

Classifieds / Al Anon meetings in English in Warsaw, Poland [8]


Nothing beats the spirit better than looking out at a brick wall while smoking your last fag after having taped up the window seals and turned up the gas. Or being isolated with a problem in a foreign country... same thing. CtB and bring your book time, IMHO. Isn't that a paraphrase of Socrates?

Closed meetings will be able to direct you to open support meetings for friends and family members.

Do not worry about the lack of updates. This. is. Poland. (boot) Go through the contact list: warsawaa.org

The Shadow /knows/.

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

What the social activity actually looks like...

Thom is new to Poland, having arrived from Myanmar with his family for work 6-months ago. Back home, Tom had a social network apart from his family; friends he has known many years. However, for the last months, Thom finds himself almost exclusively with his family or with work colleagues, usually discussing work. It is quite a strain on Thom and his family. Thom speaks Burmese at home, English at work and is surrounded by the foreign culture. It is a situation that is really only appreciated when being experienced.

Thom is also ZenDair, The Adventurer every other week when he plays a role in a group of people who share his experience of Poland. Thom and the other players work together in their different roles as a group to overcome verbalized obstacles and challenges in a story-like game. The players match their wits with puzzles and situations that hardly resemble their real day-to-day concerns of life abroad, helping each other in shared fantastic and idealized situations.

Thom has met a few people, and their personalities, through the veil of role-playing games. Valerie always offers a positive suggestion displaying a wide range of interests; Jerry engages with problems and enjoys the conversational aspects of role-playing; Sam is a staunch activist as is the character he portrays in the game; Dillon expresses himself with difficulty but through the indirect medium of his character makes great efforts to play through his own challenges. Desmond is a person who likes to take action and Charlie is overly concerned with how a rule works and its application.

Whether or not Thom spends time outside the game world with any of the other players or not, the game offers an escape from the daily trials of being a foreigner and the opportunity to quickly assess a new social network.

That is what this social activity looks like.

• 
  RPG_Table.jpg
  

Travel / Is there a healthy expats scene in Poland? (drinks, food, golf, etc.) [143]


You can rely on co-workers and/or pubs for making friends. You will certainly find lots of Polish friends with whom to practice your English. You have been given directions down a few of these avenues already. They were not roads I wanted to travel . I found my social circle within a group centred on playing role games. This is a close-knit group of about 50 men and women from a variety of backgrounds ranging from student to executive management - more heavily weighted towards working professionals in their mid-thirties. Many have kids (one of whom, the student, plays with us). There is a LinkedIn group for those with a LinkedIn profile to business network (gamification is a new buzzword connected to our games) and there is a Facebook group promoting the more social aspects of our group: facebook.com/#!/groups/114651881879023/

It is fun, relaxed and let's you see beyond the persona projected by the stranger you meet.

We play a game in each other's homes that challenges its players to overcome stressful situations as a team using nothing more than language. The group is comprised of expats from around the world and there are several games going simultaneously. Their thematic settings follow literary genres like Lovecraftian investigative horror, Heinleinian science fiction, Tolkien medieval fantasy, or hard-boiled detective in a Mickey Spillane vein. Players play as major characters in these spontaneous collaborative stories and have to deal with a story unfolding around them. Listening to people express how they deal with situations is a fair representation of how they think as well as their system of values. It is the best short cut to actually getting to know someone I have found as a foreigner. I am an introvert and rather discriminating with people I let into my life so this works well for me.

Using the group as a springboard of people who have interacted together lets ad hoc get-togethers happen. People holiday together, go to watch films, visit museums, throw parties or whatever. There is also a group for the spouses of the 50 game players - usually they go shopping or lend each other books or do informal charity work. There is a great variety within a large group as you can imagine. As always, there are people in a group you will like more than others. The purpose of role-playing is to find those people faster than by hanging out with co-workers or visiting Patrick's Pub.

My game is full at the moment but the group continues to grow and there may be other players who will start new games. You'll just have to throw your hat into the ring if you're interested. I can certainly say there is a very healthy expat community here.

• 
  Why Just Hang Out When You Can Get To Know People?
  

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

Role Playing means getting to know people through collaborative teamwork and listening to your neighbour.

• 
  before roll playing took over....
  

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

Listen to Tolkien - writer, Great War veteran and professor.

After we have seen Skyfall and while we're anticipating The Great Gatsby now in May, we have the next movie for the list of movie nights.

Seems tailor made for inside laughs. (Yeah, we don't like those guys either.)
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eiz95K1ngiI

It cannot be said enough, the appeal of our group is broad. A fun game that lets you understand other players' thinking and get to know them. This article points that out.

The last game of 2012 was played and we've had our Christmas party. Like all our group get togethers, we met at someone's home in Warsaw and tasted cuisine from China, Norway, Venezuela, Holland, Canada, Greece and Kaziksan. Christmas Day will have a group of us go to the movies for The Hobbit - of course. Then there is the annual new year's eve party.

We start up again on 5 January. We have a new person to Warsaw joining us so if you want to join us, now is a good time.

Merry Christmas!

Well, one of our players has left Poland to return home to further her career prospects so today was a little sad as we "retired" her character. It is funny how you can become attached to some people just through their interaction in a game. She played a friendly character just like her personality: helpful, inquisitive, and a problem-solver. All good attributes for even a wizard or an accountant.

So we have another place at the table so soon for an English speaking expat who wants to meet other expats. And the story continues.

• 
  It's worth noting here.. ...
  

Life / Strange "creatures" on duty - public parking in Warsaw [7]


Back home we called this business racketeering. In Polish culture, this combinuja behaviour is considered entrepreneurship. It has precident in the '50s America with the selling of street insurance to make sure nothing bad happened to you or your property. Kind of an offer you cannot refuse. It is not so sophisticated in Poland, although try to tell a shop keeper that and you will hear a different story.

Do not pay these low-lifes who cannot even take care of themselves in their own country the slightest attention and, hopefully, they will crawl back under the rock from which they emerged. Poland does not realise what an eyesore they are and, rather than combat the social problems that have these (poor) people on the street taking money for nothing, their government would rather line its own pockets, fiddle and diddle each other. (Nothing changed since long before the days of Pan Tadeusz.)

Learn the ropes of Polish culture, friend. That's more important to you as a foreigner than the local dialect of the language.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]


Consider your situation were you to leave your friends and all that was familiar to become a stranger in a foreign country where the culture and language was - for the most part - limited to within its national borders. It is not so easy to read the character of the local people, or the characters of other foreigners for that matter, when you have little context.

You could arrive as the spouse caring for the house or as the breadwinner promoted to a developing emerging market by your career aspirations. You might find that your focus, as either spouse or breadwinner, centers on inviting business peers to dinner. You might realize this is a communal effort that extends from workplace to your kids' international schoolhouse, soliciting invitations to a specific social strata of people who are actually potential business contacts.

Consider the role-playing from that perspective....

You might arrive to your job in a foreign country without a spouse. After reading the advertisements in the local guides and foreign language press, you might decide to visit an establishment because of its allure to foreigners, or you may be curious about the flash mob scene, as a way to meet strangers. You may soon find yourself surrounded by an over-abundance of job seekers and assorted salespeople.

Consider the role-playing within role-playing going on in such meetings....

A locally situated p1ss artist who floats from one employer to another, seeking a job rather than following a career, will always have a much easier time meeting people. The success of these people is anchored in the social element. But associating with p1ss artists can get tiresome as such roles quickly play themselves out.

You may be the only person I have every come across who has never role-played - what we tabletop role players would call LARP (live action role-playing). At least, at our meeting, we agree the situation we role-play is fantastic and, perhaps because of this, we tend to role-play ourselves in character. You may think of what I am describing as a kind of "IQ Test" for empathy, morality and values.


This is a very incisive observation about our gathering of people! Plenty of times humour fills the room as we look upon ourselves with a kind of distance we do not usually experience when we role-play in our real life settings. Strangers become friends sooner by getting to know each other under these circumstances and then, sobieski is correct: we also meet up for a shared drink, dinner and activities together.

I am closing the door on new joiners to my game today. I have tried my level best to meet with new people and prepare their characters so they can join the game but it is too time consuming for me to continue that at this time. I still have the responsibility for creating the story, handout materials, visual designs of coats of arms etc., but I need some time for myself. The main group returns to play on Saturday and having today, tomorrow and Friday to meet someone new, create a character with them and then meet them again to play a short game before they join the main group is now impossible to manage time-wise. So, until further notice, the door to my game is shut.

The general group, however, is large enough (40+ people!) that it supports three other games being played parallel to mine. These games are less accessible to those new-to-the-hobby (i.e. people who are not min-maxers, rules lawyers and munchkin lovers or who know to what those terms refer). These are elitist, competitive games unlike the social and story emphasis of my collaborative game. I would be happy to forward people to those games but, here's the catch, you MUST be an experienced wargamer. So Private Message me the name of games you have played and I will pass along your eMail to the other gamers. But it goes without saying that if these guys are not interested they will not have the courtesy to contact you.

My game resumes for the winter in 72 hours but I am sealing the group until further notice. Have a great long winter!

Okay, so I see this forum is having issues with its features. Nice. Nothing says welcome home quite like broken..

This video was posted on Youtube today and has garnered almost 800 comments at this moment. If you take a look at it (perhaps a moderator can fix this feature?) you may see some of the rationale behind meeting strangers and developing friendships through a role-playing game.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

D&D is a role-playing game. It is a game where you, as a player, play a role inside a story with other players. It is a conversation starter. It is problem solving. It is a good verbal work out and a fine way to meet other people. At the game you have a character name, a list of possessions you carry and visual description of yourself written on a piece of paper. This is something you work on before playing the game. It is your persona. Depending on the story genre, you can play a detective, a housewife, a slave, an adventuring hero... basically anything you fancy within the story. One player, usually me, creates the story world around players. The players interact, react and act on data I provide, which you imagine. The point is you can change the world by your actions together with the other players.

Like any other game, this one is challenging, has risk involved and it is fun. Player skill is basically how people think, and they express themselves collaboratively within the story. Unlike other games, role-playing has no board, no counter pieces, is not competitive. It creates experiences that are imagined but which form a bond between players who go through the adventures together, working together just like in other team building exercises.

Examples of games:

Steal Away Jordan
Call of Cthulhu
And, of course, D&D (Dungeons and Dragons):

No experience is necessary or required. But I have to meet new players to create their character before they can attend the game.

Our table is allot like the way it is presented in this commercial. Sucks that the Youtube link function does not seem to work.. Try the link below to leave this site and go to Youtube to watch it.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TJdT52EsGIU

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

Hi.

I am so far away from "those types" I have no idea who a "Sheldon Cooper" is. And I am not Googling.

You're very right about the different nationalities presenting themselves in game. The Sheldon Cooper types present a specific gamer culture... but normal people bring their own lives to the table. I enjoy inflicting ethical and moral decision-making on the players and watching what they do with the problem and how they rationalise through it. Is homicide ever justifiable? And if it is, perhaps not justified but expediently beneficial, what happens to the players characters according to law? It's the old question about Hitler: knowing what we know today, were you to travel back in time when he was a POW during WW1, would you shoot him? How would you handle the situation regards the law courts: run, accept punishment..? Would murdering Hitler even have an impact on later events: delaying or accelerating them maybe? Do we have agency or are we simple living a predetermined life?

I guess it is possible to sit around a living room and have these discussions once a fortnight but I think it would be rather boring after a while - even annoying. Play it in a game and vary the situations and the experience is changed. Beats all hell out of the questions: "Why did you come to Poland? Do you like Poland? Do you have a job and make money? Are you planning to stay in Poland.....? All of which tell me nothing about the person besides the bored, sometimes rehearsed answers.

Playing D&D With prn Stars a blog about playing role-playing games describes our default play style: Picaresque

"So this is what a D&D party so often is: not a group of people necessarily destined to grow and change and bend to conform to Principles of Drama, but a group of people who demonstrate, with infinite variation, how you can get through life by enacting different styles of being week after week in different short stories.

And what styles are these? These are styles that emerge organically from the psychologies of the people playing them, and styles that, from a distance all look like "pulp fantasy" but, on further insepction, reveal shades of differences in tactics and role-playing that are really differences in outlook. And when you put these differences in outlook together in a crowded matrix of poorly-lit 10x10 rooms for a few months, you get drama. And comedy. And it's all a surprise. And it's fun."

Just thought I would share this with the gamers who read these posts. Our game is definitely much more about meeting people than it is about anything else.

So a documentary about the origins of D&D is being put together and the tailer makes it look like a thorough bit of journalism. The same as ENRON was not about the energy industry, this documentary is not about the game per se. Of course, you can learn much about the energy industry from ENRON so I assume you can learn something about the game from this film which is more for anyone interested in something besides moving army men on a battle mat game board or rolling dice as "play actors," who can conceptualize how such a game can affect group dynamics. In short: The Sheldon Coopers will find this boring. Normal people might find this fascinating.

Here is the kickstarter for it - the place whee the trailer can be seen:

And if anyone wants to meet other foreigners, you know our Dungeons and Dragons group is especially created for that kind of group dynamic.

10 Business Lessons I Learned from Playing Dungeons & Dragons

javaworld.com/community/node/3156

"I played in standard D&D and other created-worlds (such as Harn), but mainly I played in independently-created universes, at the whim of a particular dungeonmaster (DM).

I got real jobs as a result of playing D&D, one of them directly. One DM hired both my husband and me after we'd played in his universe for five months, because D&D is a great way to find out how someone solves problems and copes with stress. However, in this post I'm not talking about people-networking but rather gaming skills that map to real life."

The author is talking about "Old School" role-playing... It is worth a read and will disabuse the belief that role-playing games are strickly dice rolling and rules arguments. Our group is Old School. We bathe.

Giving this a bump because there is a game on Saturday 22 September, and I might be able to include one more person if I have a chance to prepare them a few days beforehand.

New intakes this month stand at four. That's pretty awesome for one month, particularly a September. The larger group meets on a date in October, not yet determined because not all the players have returned to Warsaw.

Remember, if you want to join us, experience is un-necessary. You do need to meet me so you can be prepared to play at the game; and once you are prepared it will take me a few days to include you. It's not the sort of thing you show up for fresh off the street.

The next date looks chosen as Saturday 15 October. I have time to prepare more players before that time but I think I will close off my game group (20 people!) after that because it gets to be too much work for me accommodating and preparing new players who drop in.

Players of these games play a role in a story, and the in-game conversations are quite lively, making this an interesting method to get to know people indirectly. But it also takes time to prepare new players because I have to work with them to create a story character on top of what I do with the main group. I want to have a break from that over the balance of the fall and winter months.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

A podcast in California, recently launched to uncover the coolness quotient of pop culture, tried to define role-playing games. It's an good outsider looking in view with interviews jump cut into the mix like the best of public radio in the States. It is decidedly unBBC. But I thought to pass along this podcast since the topic is friendly to "normal people" ie. non-gamers. Our group is not a hobbyist-activity group and this is a better introduction to role-playing than a niche hobby podcast, of which there are many. I encourage "normal people" to consider meeting others through role-playing games as an alternative to, and a complement of, whatever else exists.

densepop.com/dense-pop-episode-01-dungeons-and-dragons

In our teens and 20s, there are few things as important (or integral) to the enjoyment we derive from life as our friendships. When you're in your 20s, weekends are a whirlwind of activity spent laughing and joking with a group of friends, mainly about something you did together last weekend. This may not be the case in our 30s, 40s and beyond.

ca.shine.yahoo/best-friends-thing-past-age-30-160000686.html

Making Friends, and rebuilding an expat's social circle in Poland is what brought this group together. It is the focus of the Greyhawk game.

New players always welcome. No experience necessary.

There is a type of Asperger's gamer that does not play-well with others that is not particularly welcome in our group of people looking to make connections and new friends. They are the well-known stereotypical, anti-social, Min-Maxed argumentative, condescending, competitive rule-slaves whom like to lord over their experience. These guys, more suited to video gaming, are sung about in parody:

(Because of spamming issues you may not post outgoing links or certain characters. You may remove "http" This rule is applied to all Guests and registered members who have posted less than 2 useful messages.) So you know what to do next.....

://t.co/otsHsmLZ

You will evidence the obvious in our group: that most people who actually like to play a social game together, rather than shout into a microphone-headset in front of a computer monitor, are friendly. But check out the song anyway. It is a sardonic anathema to jerks. You might have to have played an RPG to appreciate it though. Sorry about that.

By the way, the song is from the same guys who made the music for a commercial for Levi-Strauss/Dockers, which aired during Super Bowl XLIV.

I am always wondering to myself about the success of our group. I mean not everyone is a geek or even a Dungeons & Dragons "hobbyist." Most people are just plain, well... normal. We have had two engagements and one marriage (this past month) happen in the group. Saturday we are going to the movies (again). Last weekend, 4 couples went away to Zakopane together. We play D&D and we do other things together. Perhaps using the role-playing to test out how others behave or react in a given circumstance or, maybe, testing ourselves out through the process. When the game session ends, everyone is back to their normal, safe, selves. But some of that wall, that social barrier we put up around strangers, is removed.

If you're like me, wondering, or if you look down your nose at role-playing games (it's okay to admit it - maybe it is not for you), here is a post to think about.

"I truly believe that games like D&D help round out our social skills..." 12most.com/2012/07/31/life-lessons-playing-dungeons-and-dragons

"I have only been playing Dungeons & Dragons for a short time. My learning was greatly accelerated by a family member who owns 1st editions books.

Once you learn the basic rules then you can feel free to jump into any imaginary world. There is a great deal to learn from games of this type where the focus is on cooperation and not competition. The following is how I have applied those lessons to my life."

1. Teamwork
2. Looks are deceiving
3. Conflict is not a bad thing
4. Random chance is real
5. More numbers than 10
6. Everything has a use
7. Sometimes failing is entertaining
8. It only takes one good roll
9. Stupid can be brilliant
10. Charisma helps
11. Leadership is a skill
12. Games are not just for kids

Read the full article at:

12most.com/2012/07/31/life-lessons-playing-dungeons-and-dragons

"...positive social development across childhood and adolescence requires investments beyond development of the academic curriculum."

== Childhood Social Relationships Key to Adult Happiness ==
Article written by guest writer Rin Mitchell
ARTICLE: bigthink.com/ideafeed/childhood-social-relationships-key-to-adult-happiness

from SOURCE:

Positive social relationships in childhood and adolescence are key to adult well-being, according to Associate Professor Craig Olsson from Deakin University and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia, and his colleagues. In contrast, academic achievement appears to have little effect on adult well-being. The exploratory work, looking at the child and adolescent origins of well-being in adulthood, is published online in Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies.

medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-early-relationships-brainpower-key-adult.html

Maybe it is not /so/ important to link the RPGs hobby to anything more than what it already does: bring neighbourhood kids and teens together regularly to cope in simulated situations presented as a game at a table? And quite possibly this can also be replicated within the expat community. Away from their home networks, they can build a new local network of friends through the same child-like social exploration?

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

So... we're underground, in natural caverns that were reinforced by an Elven army with a pile of dead little lizard dog things and their large weasel pets around us. Up ahead is the cavern where all these thing came out of. What's next...?

This is the event of the week for our group in Warsaw. We don't dress up or anything like that in the game. Everything is imagined and verbally described. So this is a great opportunity to actually touch what we have been describing for the 2.5 years.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=byZ6lkFmtmk

We will be back to playing next weekend. "To the Battle!"

Next game is 19 May.

Continuing the adventures of a group of medieval adventurers who are in way over their heads.

Players do not need to know rules, and no prior experience is required to enjoy the game.
Just contact me if you want to try it out before the next game.

Summer hiatus. People on holidays and travelling means we stop the story and restart in October, when everyone is back.
(And we pick up some more players in the summer, introducing them to the game, to play with everyone back in the fall.)

Until then, a few California hipsters got together and explained role-playing - the greatest game of all time - for your enjoyment. @10:00 - 13:00
From Kriegspiel, invented in the 19th century, to H. G. Wells in 1913, to Gary Gygax Dungeon Master in 1970-ish, the trajectory of how the game came to be:

densepop.com/dense-pop-episode-01-dungeons-and-dragons

Dropping a few names:
RobinWilliamsBillGatesVinDielselNathanFillionAsiaCareraWilWeatonBustaR hymes....etc

I heard about it because one of my peeps, now in California, is interviewed on the podcast.
Yes, role-playing opens doors everywhere and builds social networks.... not only for hipsters.

Anways, 30 minutes and it's a nice listen.

Classifieds / hangin' out in Warsaw [5]

You can always Private Message me.... by clicking on my profile name "The Shadow"

I am off to the group now. I have a story to prepare/organize ahead of the game.

Classifieds / hangin' out in Warsaw [5]

Well, our group is getting together tomorrow afternoon for about 5 hours and, again, next week to see the Battle of the Nations.

Our group is a group of Dungeons and Dragons role-players in Warsaw - you get to look at a person's personality that way. And have a good time too pretending to be someone else through verbal imagery. It's for expats only. And it's an international group of English speakers.

We don't only role-play together, of course. But we meet people that way first, then decide if we want to be seen in public with them. ;-D

...see, by your post above, it appears you don't actually have a profile to interact with here. Being disenguine would rule you out from meeting us. We're pretty interactive people. Just saying.

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

Giving this a bump!

Our role-playing games group is a great method to meet new people and spend some quality down time getting to know them. One of the best ways I know of to build a positive social circle using social skills in a non-traditional setting.

You do not need to know a bunch of rules before you begin to play. This game is for those looking to participate in an activity that exercises the mind as well as group creativity surrounded by people in a fun, friendly atmosphere.

Great for expats who are introverts and non-geeks.

PM me for more info.

I came across this old quote about Dungeons and Dragons (applicable to role-playing in general) and thought I would include it here especially for people who have never played such a game or in answer to those who just don't get the appeal.

In a society that conditions people to compete, and rewards those who compete successfully, Dungeons & Dragons is countercultural; its project, when you think about it in these terms, is almost utopian.[22] Show people how to have a good time, a mind-blowing, life-changing, all-night-long good time, by cooperating with each other! And perhaps D&D is socially unacceptable because it encourages its players to drop out of the world of competition, in which the popular people win, and to tune in to another world, where things work differently, and everyone wins (or dies) together.... The great thing about old-fashioned, paper-and-pencil D&D was that it straddled the virtual world and the real one: when the game was over, the dungeons and dragons went back to their notebooks, but you got to keep your friends.

[22]Not unlike the New Games, which emerged circa 1966 as a mode of resistance to the Vietnam War (which was a "game" conditioned by the zero-sum mentality of the Cold War, but which, in the instance, both sides seemed to be losing), and persist as a way of encouraging kids to think cooperatively. It's a pity that New Games are even less cool than D&D these days.

NEXT GAME IS TOMORROW AT ANNA'S - the film director. Looking forward to seeing Dusty again. ;-)
If you want to join us, don't hesitate to PM. Newcomers are always welcome.

I am closing the door on new joiners to my game today. I have tried my level best to meet with new people and prepare their characters so they can join the game but it is too time consuming for me to continue that at this time. I still have the responsibility for creating the story, handout materials, visual designs of coats of arms etc., but I need some time for myself. The main group returns to play on Saturday and having today, tomorrow and Friday to meet someone new, create a character with them and then meet them again to play a short game before they join the main group is now impossible to manage timewise. So, until further notice, the door to my game is shut.

The general group, however, is large enough (40+ people!) that it supports three other games being played parallel to mine. These games are less accessible to those new-to-the-hobby (i.e. people who are not min-maxers, rules lawyers and munchkin lovers or who know to what those terms refer). These are elitist tournament level fests unlike the social and story emphasis of my game. I would be happy to forward people to those games but, here's the catch, you MUST be an experienced wargamer. So Private Message me the name of games you have played and I will pass along your eMail to the other gamers. But it goes without saying that if these guys are not interested they will not have the courtesy to contact you.

My game resumes for the winter in 72 hours but I am sealing the group until further notice. Have a great winter!

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

Just giving this Thread a bump since Ryan is in the Pathfinder group that starts up this weekend... I play a Cleric-type fellow in this game but I won't get started in it until after my move is complete in November. This is a more by-the-book type of gaming group and the GM has closed admissions to it. So if you're not in it now, you won't be until the group drops a member... I think that might happen in March 2012 when someone's contract expires. Life of expats.

My game is still, and remains, open to new players - especially people who have never played. Just bring a pencil and eraser to my game and dice if you have them.

BUMP

Holiday Friday at 14:00 at my home. I expect 8/10 players, including two new players who created characters this week past.
Next game will be Sunday 27 November at 12:00. Sharp.

2012 and two new American players are getting set to join the party and figure out the politics of the Elven lands. W007! And kill a bunch of Orcs, etc.,

I was thinking about creating a blog for the players as it might be interesting to read about their stories, as they develop.

Anyway, just giving this topic a bump since it needs to stay up on the forum otherwise people think it is not ongoing or something. Like always, new players always welcome. The group is a good way to create a social circle without having to visit bars, and gets people away from the everyday challenges of being an expat.

Classifieds / D&D Group for Expats in Warsaw needs one more player... [69]

We would be a poor group not to exist anymore - since August... LOL Actually, we have been a group that has been steadily growing for the past two years. Lots of expats not interested in the usual get-togethers and wanting to meet people like themselves. D&D seems to fit that bill, attracting both men and women.

As I mentioned in my PM, I am without Internet - and you are real lucky to catch me tonight at a friend's house. I won't have Internet until December at the earliest.

Give me a call and we can see about how to integrate you into the group in time for the next game.

And if anyone else is interested, check out the Facebook Group Page. Not all our members are on Facebook but we keep a page open there for scheduling. ... and, of course, to let people know there is a group that won't disappear any time soon. If you're not on Facebook, you can always try to contact me but that will be difficult until the new year.

And we may have a movie night coming up to bring together our TWO gaming groups.

youtu.be/38an1IAG1TA

Yes, we're still here: bringing foreigners together through the power of imagination for the last 2 years (or so).

And, I am still Dark. But I do check in occasionally. The group has grown to a score of people and two games groups on alternating weekends. Newbs and casuals always welcomed.

Classifieds / Warsaw (PL) Tabletop Role Playing Game Group for Expats Only. D&D Fortnightly [87]

@antheads
I just picked up the Vorheim: Total City Kit. I Hit It With My Axe (the game played by prn stars guys) plays this city. It looks a sweet resource I may use in my game! Designed by an American who got stuck in Finland (?). I like those success stories.

The game continues. ... but I am without Internet. So I cannot check on your replies. The next game is 4 weeks away from Saturday.... and new players need to be prepared.... and I am without Internet until Late NOVEMBER. [Yeah, I am not giving out my phone number here. LMAO]

Maybe a player who is online here can take over the duty of collecting responses? New people will need to be co-ordinated with the DM; me or the other guy yet to be named.

See you on this forum when mt Internet access returns.

Classifieds / Board game group -Wrocław (Psie Pole) [7]

Hi Brian,

I don't know any board gamers in Wroclaw, and the ones I know are into the competitive ones you mentioned. Not to say they would not be into other board games but travelling from Warsaw to Wroclaw might definitely be one too far for them. There is a Warsaw board game group on Facebook - if you're on there - and they may be able to help you find others. Just a note: Ad-hoc won't work, IMHO.

If time is your objection to RPGs, and *importantly* you can manage your schedule to set aside some time for yourself, you might try episodic games of RPGs. Many 90-minute games are promoted in the USA and Western Europe at retail stores. This tells me there is a possibility to play even 90-minutes. (I am not into episodes but prefer whole campaign story arcs myself.) Lots of tactical tabletop wargames are promoted at RPG stores in Poland, where the locals confuse RPGs with wargaming. You might want to hang a sign there too. Few Poles actually role-playing in English I have noticed, FWIW. They speak in mechanics rather than in character - very much like playing with Data from Star Trek.

Great way to practice English for the proficiency-level student. You also might want to consider mixing business with pleasure if you can be a Game Master and time is too short.

Good luck.


Thanks for the plug, Wroclaw.
Nice to see the Thread gets noticed and read. I appreciate that.
Good idea to contact us even if we're not an exact match. We do have contact with "others" too. LOL
Cheers!