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

I have not actively recruited since becoming discouraged by the number, encumbered by the weight, of Sheldon Cooper types the hobby attracted to my home, and to the other normal people; people who left the group to the Sheldon Cooper types I had to shoo away and rebuild like Sisyphus. It was like I was shooting myself in the knee with this project. I admit it now.

I put up a valiant effort. I defended here, as best I could, so that my message "Normal People Wanted For Friendly Get-To-Know-You Games" and "to make friends" could rise above the noise of the alternate message often argued here: "RPGs attract loners exhibiting social retard behaviours." I really tried to attract "quote" normal "unquote" people (being normal myself) but the ratio of people between the two types was too great. I spent way too much time with pedantic rules lawyers lacking imagination and creativity that made me dread game day. I would have left the group too, as I did the group page I started on Facebook, were it not the fact that this was my group. So I tried harder. As a result of the mix of people, I remain friendless: the normal people shun the "quote" weirdos "unquote" associated in their mind forever to role-playing games now and I have no interest to wrestle the throne of king geek from those that remain. In fact, I have distanced myself.

I recall my days enjoying this hobby when camaraderie was more important than rules. Those were days when a player did not have to know every rule just to justify what they wanted to do in a game of imagination, when common sense ruled the day, and players were free to engross themselves in play without someone else interrupting them with an interjection of "meta-game!" clamming them up and breaking their fun in the process. Normal people are not RPG-hooligans and we have better things to do with our leisure time than to argue.

To us, such behaviour is not "quote/unquote" fun.

Good luck.

* In fact, I have distanced myself.

To be honest, this is not hard to do since the geeks are not social towards anyone but themselves and merely kept me around to recruit players for themselves, which is how it turned out.

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


I can't help you with that. If you are looking for a location with a home environment but you do not want to play at home, that's a bit too much of a challenge for me. Unless I am a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionnaire and this is one of the questions, I do not want to deal with it.

I recommend you recruit another player who has a home-like place in which to play. MeetUp.com has a Polish language Warsaw board game group and Facebook has a mixed language group. Good luck.

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

Mark used to be an average student. He was getting along OK with his English and Maths skills until he started to play role-playing games.

Let us take a trip back in time around twenty nine years ago to the year 1985....Since that time Mark has improved off the charts in English, Maths and his ability to communicate in a classroom environment.

[I recall mentioning the benefits of RPGs to a director of language studies in a Warsaw language school, about 2006, and being treated like a Satanist.]

rpgknights.com/pedagogy-rpgs

I remember a task where each of us were given a sheet of paper (or perhaps it was on the black board) and the teacher asked us if we were going to travel to a different planet, say Mars, what on the list of items would we take with us. Apparently the test was one that they used on astronauts in NASA at the time to identify aptitude for ingenuity in the role.

Problem solving here is the skill that is difficult to explain and teach to, but in reality this is what an RPG is all about. An RPG is all about the GM giving the player(s) a situation that is an issue or a problem and the players overcoming that problem with a set of bounds (character statistics, skills, inventory, environment etc.) so using the RPG in this manner is a perfect way to highlight that problem solving is all about using an incremental process of varying smaller skills to come up with a solution.

[This is how I frame the invitation to the game we play - not as a system of rules but as a method of conversational engagement on a neutral topic. Getting acquainted with strangers by observing how they go about problem solving; seeking commonalities through discourse and innovative thought through interaction.]

Interesting article.

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

Or grousing about the quaint, everyday intrusions into our lives by Poland's foreignness with the rest of Europe as evidenced in its people, particularly at work but also in shops; its culture of parochial medieval superstition; its Byzantine bureaucracy and cottage consulting industry of bureaucratic tourism and backhanding; the litigious nature of a nation suffering chronic low self-esteem in its people who wish to one-up their neighbour to appear better than they are without a talent for ambition yet look upon foreigners with suspicion.... This is hardly an exhaustive list of the well-known everyday travails in Poland for foreigners we, expats, like to avoid continuously focusing on. While we empathize with others in our social group, we wish to avoid these topics that go nowhere positive and contribute nothing to our self-betterment.

We do not feel the need to update everyone, Facebook style small chatter, with how well or how poor we are doing. We accept people as they are and start a relationship from there: very unlike the typical Polish line of questions we routinely receive..

Thus the whole concept of such a group is foreign to you, I am sure.

Take you for example:
Do you ever have anything positive to share on this topic?

exhibit A - only because it is funny on Youtube, but not on the street.
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DWynJkN5HbQ

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

I quite agree with you.

The reason I flat out reject gamers is because I cannot tell the normal gamers from the stereotypical gamers. I mentioned I worked up an interview. The best I can do from that interview is sense if someone has any empathy and isn't an axe murderer.

What I cannot do is suss-out someone who is playing me for a fool by saying all the right things I want to hear from a gamer - even agreeing about what I quoted you from AD&D 1e and Gary Gygax (which should put a definitive end to rules lawyers and social misfit behaviours). I find out my mistake along with everyone else, at the table, when it is too late. Then all the work I put into creating a pleasant atmosphere for making friends is threatened and often ruined.

Stereotypes exist for a reason; that reason being there is a grain of truth behind it. If I have to convince people - as I have tried to do on this topic - that RPGs is a harmless and fun way to meet normal people and become friends and 9/10 gamers at my table make others feel uncomfortable and unwelcome I am left with only them. New players feel the stereotypes are confirmed and never return.

And they won't trust you if you say the confirmed stereotype is an anomaly.

At that point it is too late to uninvite those gamers. So I play it safe and do not invite gamers at all. Sorry if you're one of the normal ones. Role-playing games are a lot of fun with the right people.

Now here's something you'll all enjoy! as Rocket J. Squirrel used to say.
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6VuypA17vHs


lifehacker.com/the-surprising-benefits-of-role-playing-games-and-how-1684582789

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


True. Games are at the Game Master's apartment. This brings people into contact in a private space. Knowing where someone lives can be a disadvantage if someone becomes "uninvited" for some reason. Some locations have children - which is why I protect the group's reputation here from wierd comments. Creepiness has been an issue in the past. We had a group of 14 strangers playing together at one time, which had an even split between men and women. Gamers do not have the exclusivity on freekiness on The Internet obviously but The Internet is not invited into someone's living room.

I have an interview process to winnow out people, which I have refined over time.


As you can see from postings before, there is a time requirement for GM preparation (including a first one-on-one game called Blue Booking). Also there is this wiki

inyurl.com/ADD1ePOLAND
specifically for munchkins; from a time when gamers were welcome before their abuse of players and the resulting cycles of destruction/rebuilding/destruction of groups made that policy unrealistic and a waste of time.


Making the rules work according to the desire of the players is the GM's job. The players do not have to learn how to move the levers of play. They just need to know the possible consequences and risk from using their agency. No player should be forced to study a rulebook. A list of spells can be chosen from laminated spell cards and managed by the player as a resource easily without involving the player in too much minutia. People want to play not devote a life to the study of min-maxing.

It is leisure time not work. Surprising how many people will not come back when they feel intimidated by their "comrades," the gamers.


Been there, done that, no longer going to happen. It is about making friends not invigilating or being crowned king of all role-playing. I have had gamers tell me that players do not deserve to play if they cannot master the game. Gamers have told me they feel such players hold them back. This bile makes me sick. Gamers are not at the game to make friends when they think like that. My group is not for gamers.


AGREED.

Thus Role-Play at my table is conducted through player interaction rather than dice mechanics. Gamers have told me this is elitism. Arguments include such logic as a player must be a trial lawyer to play a trial lawyer.... and these unimaginative comfort-zone only gamers are at the wrong game table. And I won't have them.


I have found the question rests not on being labeled a geek or a nerd but whether or not someone is geek or nerd enough. Sad. This comes from the gamers. People who are not up to a gamer's standard are labelled casuals and treated as disinterested. Not the best atmosphere in which to make friends - again, making friends is the goal of my group. Common gamer behaviour is at cross purposes. And few people like them as they retreat from social interaction into their niche hobby elitism.


I am too old to continue reliving past mistakes. Heuristics are necessary. 4 years is enough data gathering to make a decision. No gamers.



mxplx.com/reference/1835/


This link, too, might also relate to your query's impression, why our game seems so very open-ended to you as to be without rules. When I was playing in 1979, this hobby attracted a highly social interaction.

geek-related.com/2013/10/12/rule-zero-over-the-years/

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

Yes, case study method has been around a long time now. Also emergency responders use role-playing as a behavioural aid, to simulate stressful situations. I have no problems with the tool, but I would with the situtation if the trainee behaves like some of the creepy antisocial gamers I have met in Poland....


If they did, actually have Asperger's, I could work well with that situation. I have plenty of empathy for people working to overcome disadvantages left over from having no sympathy whatsoever for people who mock such people by their behaviour.

The stereotype I have witnessed here is based upon 4+ years meeting individual gamers in Poland at my table. These unique snowflakes do not represent the people I came to know through RPGs back home or the people I have met here who were new to the game. It can be that people who pack their rulebooks into their luggage are more predisposed to fit this stereotype than people who are more casual with their play behaviour.

If I take the analogy to a place where non-gamers might understand. The purpose of my group is to meet to become friends, and the game is a way to do that. It's like meeting people in a pub because it is centrally located and inexpensive. However, gamers meet to play a game, condescend upon new players for being either ignorant or Mary Sues or both. Gamers appear to need people only so much as they get their game. The analogy is gamers choose to meet in a pub because they are alcoholics. The people inside the building are secondary to getting their fix.

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


It is insulting to processing differences when people choose to adopt anti-social behaviour typically associated with a real disorder. It's demeaning to the people who suffer. It's like someone using foul language laughing about Tourette's syndrome when the Tourette's behaviour exists due to personal choice and not disorder. In fact, the insult is in the behaviours chosen.

Lots of studies use Role-Playing Games to assist patients with Autism spectrum disordersto overcome behaviours identified with the illness.
rpgresearch.com/blog/using-role-playing-games-for-autism-spectrum-participants

Then people who do not have the medical diagnosis but present the symptoms at the table because they feel they can play an autistic-like character for laughs is insulting. The guy who insults the women at the table but claims misogyny is only part of his role-play and not part of his true nature is doing the same thing. This anti-social behaviour appears to predominate the role-playing gamers, accustomed to getting away with it, rather than people playing RPGs for the first time who are prone to self-represent (i.e be themselves, relaxed) and display greater courtesy, politeness and friendship towards others at the game table.

To answer: Aspergers becomes an insult when people choose to adopt maladaptive social behaviours of their own free will, thereby belittling the people with a credible diagnosis for the disorder (who, not surprisingly because they are sufferers, attempt to be better behaved than the role-players who emulate them in-character for a laugh).

And that makes me angry. I have no time for it. I am non-supportive of it. It has been frequently enough demonstrated to be a reliable stereotype in the last 4+ years to inform the current policy of my group. No experienced role-players. Period.

vice.com/read/notallroleplayers-a-history-of-rapey-dungeon-masters?fb_comment_id=fbc_768833629826812_768886849821490_768886849821490

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


Which is why the group remains for expats...


I no longer welcome experienced gamers. The group's purpose is for forming friendships not to be an Aspergers community support. I suggest the Facebook group to find the gamer community. facebook.com/#!/groups/114651881879023/

Good luck.

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

I thought this was funny:
7 Fun Ways to Make Your Desk Job More Like a Role-Playing Game by Dorkly (courtesy of laughingsquid - what is dead may never die)

dorkly.com/post/64848/7-fun-ways-to-make-your-desk-job-more-like-an-rpg


- Robert M Geraci is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY. He is the author of Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality (Oxford 2010)

SOURCE:

religiondispatches.org/monstrous-futures-dungeons-dragons-harbinger-of-the-none-generation-turns-40

Yes, these meetings continue to bring together strangers making friends between people a long way from home.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xGVC6-Bohqk

The shared fantasy of the game we use to meet people is not based on the real world because it is more enjoyable and places us more at a distance from our daily concerns of living and working in a foreign country. It puts us all on the same level.

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

LinkedIn.com's co-founder remarks upon his social experience and role-playing.
sg.news.yahoo/video/reid-hoffman-dungeons-dragons-obsession-181802992.html

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

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=COJDIR9TczM

Let's go on a quest!
and step away from the mundane stereotypes of being foreign in Poland.
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CC7OFAoGpvY

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


Were a simple, sincere question asked....

So your simple and sincere answer is: no.


This does not preclude you from playing whatever dress-up sexual game at your table you wish to engage in. Only I would exclude you from my table as this is not the welcome I wish to convey to strangers. You're not making that connection for some reason.

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


You need to be mature to understand or it is hopeless, and it would just pull this thread way off-topic to explain.
You appear clueless about making people feel uncomfortable by discussing your sexual interests. And frankly, for the general record of this topic, you are the type of person I avoid.

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


If that went over your head, you're not very tall.


Education:
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fExrstN8TEg


Hey Ozi Dan.
The game (running since the beginning of this topic) is focused on politics, genocide, and an epic battle. The players have come up from 1st level, learning the story and game as they go and forming a tight bond together as people. They have made NPC allies from whom they unravel the story, which they share with new players as the new players arrive. It is a group activity very much focused on what Terry Brooks explains is his personal motivation for writing. Our group culture fits to that.

There have been several people from this forum who have expressed an interest, all of whom I have met. Some have joined our group. Some I have directed to a gaming group that broke from our group. Someone here introduced me to the term Sheldon Cooper types, and they want to play a system strategically rather than associate through a shared story. I send such persons to the other group. Looking through this one topic I can recall several names: Aaron, Daniel, Lauren, Ryan, Lonsdale, Nestor, and many others besides. In fact, this topic has supplied two groups with players. The raison d'etre of our game is to make local friends using the game to get to know the other players. I tend to welcome new people over gamers as an easy shortcut to lessen confusion about what I mean by that.

My memories of playing in a regular game with my group (DM Dave K, Andy P, Louis G, Paul K, Hugh E, and Mike K) remind me of them more than of their characters - I cannot recall their character names. I do recall specific events that occurred within the game and how these were handled. The discussions we, as players, shared about how to resolve in-game problems and puzzles are a particular highlight. My interactions I had with these persons resolving in game conundrums when I was younger helped me form my critical thinking. Having been in Poland without any real mental challenge (or intellectual stimulation) for 13+ years, I look forward to stretching myself through this activity; a benefit I receive in-game with my current friends. Plus it is nice to have a regular meeting scheduled with friends - easier to schedule when meetings are arranged around friendship rather than around an activity in my experience. I think the resulting friendship is what makes our group successful more so than knowing the rules.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

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


Touché


Making individuals feel uncomfortable in a group would be counterproductive to the reason the group exists: to make friends. Leveling up Mr. Wizard is not the point to the group.


Just trying to stay up with yours.

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

I am sure you can find something to suit your taste in almost anything. I am sure there are sexual deviant pedos posing as English teachers who seek out doe-eyed underage pupils for private tuition; a common enough occurrence in the world, which I am sure supports the highly unimaginative plotlines for the uncreative, talentless adult video market.

Just to disabuse you of misconceptions, Roger5, people no more dress up to play a tabletop role-playing game than they would to play Call of Duty on their computer or dress as bankers to play Monopoly. The difference in role-playing games to either a computer game or a board game is the higher human element between players that affects the rules. There is more spontaneous creative thinking and teamwork involved alongside the whole idea of collectively imagining everyone in the story.

Imagining the events and empathizing with the main character in role-playing is much like reading for pleasure, except the players are the main characters and the story is fluid.

The purpose of our role-playing group is for expatriates to meet other normal expatriates they might otherwise not meet through sports or drinking and create new, lasting friendships between such folks in a fun setting.

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


There are some ordeals one never forgets. The class on Victorian Novels is one of those for me. I had 4 other classes of literature to also read for. Reading Dickens was excruciating full of meaningless minutia that had some meaning hidden within the dungheaps no one in that class had any time to properly digest.

To wit, I quoteth the wisdom of The Bard two centuries before:
brevity is the soul of wit.- Hamlet: Act 2, Scene 2

The number of novels for that one class was 14. Not 13 and not 15. But the number was 14. The weeks of study for that one class were 13. Not 12. And not 14 UNLESS this was the number of novels to be read and confused with the number of weeks to read them which was 1 week less than the novels to be read. [I do not forget this Holy Hand Grenade!]



Then you do not know these authors, with the exception of Cornwell, in their genre of historical fiction? Pity. They are good, award winning authors and have written some books for grown ups, like yourself. Cornwell's Winter King is highly regarded I am sure you know.

Like they say, some men are born with a hairy mustache while others cultivate them over a period of time. Who is to say which soup strainer is better kept, eh?

Here is a funny throw back to 1995, you might appreciate for its humour:
youtu.be/2fPgIIB67bw

And another something funny for its truth:
youtu.be/SVaD8rouJn0

Here is one author's perspective I think is a good juxtaposition with the Wilde quote:
"Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it." ― Lloyd Alexander
goodreads.com/author/show/8924.Lloyd_Alexander

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

Well, if the functions on this forum would work properly, I would not be scrambling to correct problems on a timer. This was originally meant to be simply a quoted image. Then it turned into more of a hassle. The delete button got a little wilde at the end.Thanks for correcting that. I was never a fan of Wilde's, however I do recognise his wit.

As for a literary repertoire, mine gravitates towards Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Hammett. I took a specialisation in the Romantics at university so there are those in my background obviously (Tennyson, Keats, Percy & Mary Shelley, Stoker, etc.). I never much cared for the Victorian novelists - though reading 14 novels in one autumn semester, and most of those the prolific penny-paid Dickens, has much to do with my apathy there for this group. I am more into the expats in Paris surrounding figures like Sylvia Beach and Gertrude Stein for their contemporary writing style.

Let's see: the fantasy genre? Pratt is derivative crap lifted up with all the strength characters that are, to my exposure, two-dimensional can muster. David Eddings' formulaic works are better, especially the first work, The Belgariad, more so than the later ones. John M Ford's The Dragon Waiting is a very good read as are the first three Ice and Fire novels by George Martin. Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Chronicles provokes an interesting reading in its twist. Poul Anderson's stories reveal his background as a storyteller full of Norse mythology. I particularly like his Broken Sword but his Three Hearts and Three Lions, I have yet to read but it is on my list, is lauded. In front of me is Bernard Cornwell's The Winter King and I am currently reading Mary Stewart's Merlin books, which I find very well written as far as I have read. If we toss in the old standard, Rosemary Sutcliff's King Arthur Trilogy, the above list doubles for a who's who in historical fiction - Pratt and Eddings excused. No doubt you have heard of some of them?

And on that note, I can list Beowulf in the same genre as well as The Bible. I have not turned to the bookcase behind me where I am typing, which includes the well-known Arthur Golden as well as (perhaps) the lesser-known Robyn Young (also historical fiction). Role-playing, regardless of genre, has a rich history based in literature, which includes, but is not solely based on, the likes of Pratt. I think my above list of fantasy writers tends to prove the point. I have only listed my favourites that spring to mind.

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

A man is least himself when he talks in his own person. But give him a mask and he will tell you the truth - Oscar Wild

• 
  manisleasthimself.jpg
  

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

I have too, and I will not defend against the reality that underlies that very colourful and salient stereotype - except to note how it stands apart from all the players I have ever known who play role-playing games, like noticing a black spot on a white T-shirt. I know other people who do not forget there exists an interactive and social dynamic between collaborative-minded players in this activity unlike any board game. These are such persons who are emotionally available and mindful with whom to make friends.

That being the purpose of the gathering, the Sheldon Cooper stereotypes that do exist are unwelcome. No recruitment happens on "gamer" websites/events for this reason. Normative, socialized people enjoy playing this game together and make better friends to be honest. youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_gV7KIkqXoM


There are real people playing this game around a modest table, and not all of them the "highlifers" that you evidence a very pernicious attitude towards in your assumption, which normal expats are wary and weary of; and with whom we do not want to be associated quite frankly. IMHO, your comment represents the local opportunist who is drawn to the rich foreigner; fails to find a fool to part with his money; and is forever bitter for the experience. I feel a little sorry for you dream-less muggles who muddle through life trying to take advantage of whatever scrap you can find.

The pretext of the game invites players to discuss ideas and develop mutual, respectful regard for one another without falling into whining, gossip or name-calling. How many of your 2,600 anonymous postings to others here, sobieski, display this very attitude we avoid when face-to-face around a table with a neutral team task to conceive and verbally perform.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f6T98ogLMlU
Better you stick to your sausage grills with your salt of the earth types hanging out at Wolumen flea markets, in Pruszków with the family and friends, and enjoying your libatious and licentious gossip.


I do not know any good reason why anyone should feel intimidated by either you or sobieski. The two of you appear to live and troll on Polish Forums as your copious postings and their content demonstrate. Likewise, I see no good argument why anyone should feel flattered by your random presence on topics you have no interest in where you both choose to incite argument and negativity as your contribution against your own boredom.

Read a book rather than be bored:

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

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

I am not sure what you consider to be weird....

A couple of weeks ago we (my mates and I) had a terrific send off to Dan (a four year member of our role-playing group). He was promoted to his employer's head office in Berlin. He moved at the beginning of March and will be followed by his Dutch wife in a couple of weeks. They will celebrate their 1st anniversary in May. We attended their wedding in Rotterdam.

Our send off was not at a pub. Our get together - mostly couples and young families - and do things economically. We cooked dishes and brought them together for dinner. Not only did we control our environment, we had some dancing and loud music, but we also kept more money in our pockets. It was a raucous good time, which the neighbours were good sports about.

We live throughout Warsaw so we get to see different sights when we visit each other.

A few weeks ago we had a Game of Thrones party. The DVDs were released and, since most of us are into it, we had a viewing party of The Red Wedding episode. We discussed the books and the show and had light discussion like that.

We have also engaged in topics as diverse as philosophy and world politics. In fact, since we bring our experience into the games we play, we have these discussions on a regular basis discussing ideas over things and people.

We had two baby showers this year and one wedding. One of our group met an Estonian woman and we attended their civil ceremony. Two years ago this summer, we had another member of our group wed and we got to celebrate with them.

Everyone has a birthday so parties happen often.

We do the Museum Night as a group and other outings - usually stuff not involving the exchange of money. We're a pretty creative bunch, of course, so we're not bored with each other.

We're also a close-knit group. As you can well imagine, we have gotten to know each other fairly well through the choices we make in the role-playing and by the fact that we have fun together; and always welcome new people into our circle. Role-playing allows social information to pass along informally like other games of trust do, such as:

oliveremberton.com/2014/how-to-connect-deeply-with-anyone-in-5-minutes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokology
partygamecentral.com/gametmpstd.php?gnm=408
ehow.co.uk/info_8105933_fun-psychology-games.html

So considering we're all strangers in a foreign land, our relationship together as a group is pretty special and a unique thing we enjoy together, brought together and shaped through our role-playing activity. We're not trapped in our marriages, clinging to one person or hanging off a barstool. I credit our activity of role-playing for binding this group together.

Just for a bit of fun, I thought I would include a little high brow humour related to what we get up to in some of our game discussions.

Dungeons & Dragons: An Educational RPG
the-artifice.com/dungeons-dragons-educational-rpg

"Yet, there are still those among the general population that consider the game a waste of time, a form of devil worship, or even a game that entices the players into insanity, leaving them unable to distinguish reality from imagination. Those who have never played sometimes stereotype the players as pale-skinned fiends in the basement of their parents' home constantly snacking on chips and drinking soda. But there are many positive aspects to the game that many choose to reject and never evaluate Dungeons & Dragons for what it really is - an educational experience."

While I skip the game's benefits of reading and writing because no one wants/needs to read volumes of rules they do not need to know to have fun - just play yourself and it will work itself out - Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Teamwork bring strangers closer together through in-game collaboration. It's how people directly get to know each other, indirectly.

• 
  Dungeons & Discourse
  

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


I am no longer with the group of, shall we say, "dedicated" players, Lon. I have left them and their rules arguments behind. They were spoiling the friendly relaxed atmosphere for making friends and I wasn't having any fun with them (or becoming friends with them to be honest). The new-to-the-hobby people are a different matter and they're fun people.They do not have the bad habits or system gaols that keep new people away from the game. I try to keep the two types separate. This is key to the enjoyment of the interaction and the friendly companionship of the people who play. Everyone is better off that way.

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


Thank you for your constructive comment and the opportunity to clarify what might not be apparent to some people. Tabletop role-playing games are a very good way to make friends. Consider it like a bi-weekly personality quiz game of: What would you do if...? Certainly some people can mask themselves for a short time at a bar or when they have other extenuating circumstances constantly around them, like over The Internet for example; but no one can keep such fascades up forever. During the role-playing, when the whole focus is on what will you do, it is almost impossible. There is too much player interaction and cross-interaction for it.

So the tall and the short of it is that you get to know strangers -- people 1) you have never met before, 2) who come from different backgrounds, and 3) a variety of cultural upbringings -- and through their expression of thoughts and attitudes you do get to know them in a relatively short time. And from this start you can develop friendships with persons you choose.

I always thought it was very, very poor to go to a bar hoping to pick up someone, but I am sure that is done. This is not the style of meeting people that my role-playing games promote. Plus it is fun. People tend to lose their fascades when they lose themselves having fun.

You might enjoy this article, isthatu: morrisonmp.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/everything-is-an-argument


Scroll down to the post on Dr. Joyce Brothers, to find more goodness about the benefits of RPGs.
2warpstoneptune.wordpress.com/category/r-i-p

You can listen to her interview here: neilmckenty.com/2013/02/21/dungeons-and-dragons-and-other-family-activities-discussed-with-dr-joyce-brothers

It might be of interest to people who condescend on role-playing games and douchebags who dismiss films like Star Wars. (Check out how Roger Ebert handles that - scroll further down.) Enjoy!

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

youtu.be/hJAGxAeV7YU

My group is a good way to make friends for all the reasons quoted in the article.
SOURCE: twinsburgbulletin.com/news%20local/2014/02/06/humanity-learned-at-d-and-d-group-is-no-fantasy

Humanity learned at 'D and D' group is no fantasy


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Role-playing is used not only to teach language or interpersonal "people skills" but other skills such as those needed in emergency response.
source: fultonsun.com/news/2014/feb/20/dungeons-disasters

Disaster role-play exercise helps William Woods University improve preparedness, safety plan

"I feel like I'm playing a giant game of Dungeons & Dragons," said William Woods University Behavioral and Social Science Chair Shawn Hull as he jotted down statistics on a pad of paper".

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness." - C.S. Lewis

SOURCE: telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10631898/What-Dungeons-and-Dragons-can-teach-us-about-life.html


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Everything I Needed to Know about Marketing I learned Playing D&D

I thought this business presentation was interesting... It is making the rounds on social media.
slideshare.net/fullscreen/wrttnwrd/everything-i-needed-to-know-about-marketing-i-learned-playing-dungeons-and-dragons/2

At the same time I started playing D&D, I was transitioning into a new job as CEO of Kickstarter. I initially started playing to hang out with the Kickstarter team. Over time the game has become much more. Here are three things I've learned playing D&D....

medium/editors-picks/24b4cc17def4

Why we play in a fantasy world and not in a "real" world...
youtu.be/YS5-ayYTMiQ

The concept of this satire is fantasy people play "real" people, and I have a laugh at their reactions. This seems to be the right topic, about a friendly activity group encouraging friendship in a foreign country, to share a harmless sense of humour - as well as being appropriate to a forum.

youtu.be/0aaM2EfTVs8

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

Sorry. I know of one other group that plays in English led by a German fellow but in Lodz.
If you play without worry about rules, just concentrating on imagining and asking questions so you can visualize what is described in your mind (a good practice on its own), you will find you are surrounded by a social group of listeners who make good friends.

Just remember the group is the biggest RULE in the game and not a rulebook. Picking your group is more important than picking any specific game to play. A bad group can spoil your experience. An a55hole in the game (claiming to play an a55hole, as is the usual excuse) will be an a55hole in life. Do not spend your time with an a55hole even if that is the only group in your area. That is little known but really good advice. I do not allow a55holes into my game. I welcome players who are new to the hobby. And that's why my group grows and people socialize.

People have said to me that they do not have enough imagination to play role-playing games.
Now imagine a world without music, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, automobiles, aeroplanes, mobiles, space travel, computers, ingenuity, innovation, problem solving, reasoning, critical thinking.... etc, etc.

Frankly, that is more scary to me than any game that needs a little imagination and language proficiency to play.
youtu.be/iYo86GHocgc

YOU TUBE FEATURE ON THIS FORUM BOARD DOES NOT WORK
SO HERE IS THE LINK:

youtu.be/v7wSG5EIl5k

Love / Fresh, wholesome country lass in Poland - getting married and going back to the US [167]


I could probably tell you but you wouldn't understand. I am not going to waste my time with a guest Troll either.

I suspect the guy is looking for someone with similar roots as he but a lot less material. You know, like the man said: Polish, innocent, virtuous, etc. That's a product of upbringing with a value beyond rubies, friend.

Love / Fresh, wholesome country lass in Poland - getting married and going back to the US [167]


Mentality.
Communist born or free born. There is a difference in his mind, I guarantee that. Also, children may be an issue. Men like kids too.

Yes, yes, he is 50 and having children is a responsibility not to be taken lightly and all that. But not having kids may not have been his choice. I am willing to say there is more involved here than a piece of meat. Though that did not seem to be the idea of the women I got to know here. They were attracted to foreigners because they believed it would be a good time and nothing more - pinning that on a foreigner mentality they could never hope to understand. None of them, the ones without a self-worth greater than their T&A, are worth a damn. They are certainly not what a mature-thinking man wants to marry.

Just the fact this has to be spelt out speaks volumes.

Love / Fresh, wholesome country lass in Poland - getting married and going back to the US [167]

Polonius3

People need to cut you some slack.
I was in the same situation. I arrived in Poland at 34 to find just what this guy is looking for. I could have tried the States - but I feared I was looking at some kind of marriage arranged by the parents of a 12 year old (to take place when I would be 40, for example).

People thought all I was here to do was dip my wick. And those were all the candidates I ever found. I had pull being not half bad looking and somewhat smart. So my experience is not a success story, but I can empathize with the naivety, hope and sincerity of your friend. Maybe I am the only one that can. The people around here seem to have "swallowed all knowledge" as they say.

Few of them are worth a farthing. Sadly that's the truth The Shadow knows. I thought you might like to have at least one voice of understanding.

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


I sure do. Glad you enjoyed it. You may like the Freaks and Geeks episode too - with a young James Franco. The Community episode when they play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is also a good depiction of the game. In that episode, there is an underlying humanistic theme as the players deal with an interpersonal issue through their play. Very much how the fiction of our game works for facilitating friendship between people who are/were otherwise strangers.

I am not sure too much skill is involved, although thank you for the compliment. I guess it is more like practice. The new player and I had a short game on Thursday evening. He travelled 2 months in that game and I used parts of Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara in my story: even going so far as to have his travel companion named and described within the Shannara story. He and I played a little bit together before he joined us today so he could get the feel for the dice and I gave him some information about the world the other players did not know (like the movement of the monster army to the south). He also chose to come from a slave owning country of pirates, and we had an open discussion about his attitudes (player? character? I make no distinction in the game) towards slavery. And we decided how he/his religion feels on the matter - a potential conversation between the players at a later date as will be the conversation between he, being a gnostic cleric, and the other cleric who serves a God. Not the kind of talk people rush to discuss at a bar meet up but stuff we regularly get the chance to discuss because the setting is a fantasy world. There is some comfort in that distance.

I imagine it as following the native speaker rule: have the students talking more than the native. And if they talk amongst themselves, more the better. The game outlines can be like lesson plans, but less rigid because there is no final exam.

Really, who wouldn't get their adrenaline up playing a game of imagination that puts you and a table of strangers into the centre of such action?

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

American Public Broadcasting network, PBS, did a short video on Dungeons and Dragons. Our group emphasizes the social aspects of getting acquainted with others through the situations presented throughout the game.

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_7DOzBtadMk#at=204
Moderator, something is wrong with the video posting function (again).

for the time being... the url is ok

A post from Johanna "Joc" Koljonenat the LinkedIn group for business social networking through common ground hobby:

It is worth reposting. It has an important message about the value and flexibility of role-playing games.

Well, educational RPGs is very established in some countries, so you're clearly onto something here! Poland and Italy have already been mentioned, I'll throw in some Scandinavian references!

A fun start is to google Østerskov Efterskole, which is a Danish boarding school for tenth graders where the entirety of the curriculum is taught through rpg and larp modules designed for the purpose. There are a few articles in English in the Knutepunkt anthologies (like the one linked my Michal above) and, I suspect, other places online.

There is a smattering of academic papers out there evaluating educational rpgs too if you're into that but the gist is, if the games are reasonably well designed, they work well on everyone and exceptionally well for some students (typically including kids who aren't normally into reading or research).

When it comes to edu-larp, which is to say (since the term "larp" means different things in different countries) really any kind of systems-light rpg where the players don't tend to talk of their characters in the third person, there is a LOT of solid design knowledge out there. The book everyone says is best is called "Playing the Learning Game" and a lot of the stuff should be applicable to tabletop as well:

lulu.com/shop/martin-eckhoff-andresen/playing-the-learning-game/paperback/product-20063701.html

I think it's published by Norwegian Fantasiforbundet. They also run an international Larp-Writer Summer School in Lithuania specifically on the skills of designing edu-larps (I teach there, I should say). The European Edu-larp network is here: edu-larp.org

In Sweden, rpg is an established part of edu-gaming. The Gothenburg Region which gathers the municipalities of the country's second-largest city has its own design studio which also makes rpgs. Don't know what they're called now, used to be called GRUL. A private company which works with edu-rpgs in schools in many Swedish cities is called LajvVerkstaden, they should have some English material available (and their talent contributed to the above book).

Designwise, I find the greatest tension is not between fun and learning at all: it's that the games must typically be very easy to run, and (if the target audience is schools for instance) that the participants haven't chosen to play, they're being forced to participate. Indirectly, that means the games should be very fun indeed, if by fun we mean engaging. What they don't have to be necessarily is light and entertaining. Edu-rpgs are great for handling darker topics in age-appropriate ways and obviously, if you're teaching civil rights history or something like that there's no reason for it to be conventionally "fun". But it has to be really exciting and awful and allowing for meaningful choices with potentially terrible consequences. If you're teaching math though, it better be about something exhilarating like, uh, space ship navigation or something.

Btw - in Europe, or at least the Nordic countries, educational rpgs of the type you describe are quite often commissioned by museums. I think if you want to develop games of this type a partnership with an institution like that would be a good path to funding! Good luck - as you can tell I pretty much love this stuff. Wish more of it had been around when I was in school :D

Studies of Postpartum Depression indicate high risk factors for expatriates to develop clinical depression: anxiety; low level of social support; lack of family & roots. Factors not often considered when a job is offered abroad.

cbc.ca/player/News/TV%20Shows/The%20National/ID/2399667714

How 'Dungeons & Dragons' Saved My Life

The headline is not exaggerated. I can attest to it from my own experience. Enjoy this read, and consider what you're missing in your expat's arsenal to make new friends.

huffingtonpost.com/levi-a-miles/how-dungeons-dragons-saved-life_b_4735303.html

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


The game is based upon the players' choices. We have an implicit contract to play a political game. That's because I am a fan of Game of Thrones and want to have some political intrigue - maybe even civil war in the game. But the players roam where they choose. So to answer your question it varies.

This scenario, a ruin at an international trading crossroads, was created by me. So more work for me. However, one player has come to the Elven lands (think of it as Westeros for Game of Thrones reference) to buy a technology for his Spiritual "Community" 8 weeks journey back west. Trade has been stopped because large monsters have been plaguing the trade route (no doubt with some political motivation). Another player had been sent to administer to a senior member of her clerical order and got caught up with the other players. The thief followed the trail of her sister - finding bloody entrails and a small personal effect only today. The wizard has been sent by his master in search of this missing thief, meeting her sister and the woodsman. So there are many directions the story can follow and I react to what the players direct in this regard.

And there is the intrigue going on with this ruin. In the last game we played a couple of weeks ago, a person of interest in the east was discovered. This was the person the sister of the thief was searching for. Only he was magicked into the shape of a large rat and, when defeated by the players, was released from the magic and revealed in his true form. They found a purchase order for a large delivery of weapons - something strictly forbidden in the Elven feudal lands. Someone has intentions of arming a mob force it seems and the question is who - no recipient was listed on the P.O. and the one person who could have spoken, the person changed into a voiceless animal, is now dead. Perhaps double crossed..... Maybe the players will look into this?

In any event, their good works have been recognised by the local authority. And the noble is returning from the war in the south with a small but effective force of men to take charge of the situation personally and, potentially, reward the players. So I am prepared for this, and for the person who received the weapons to make some enquiries about what the players know, of course....

Sometimes the players react to the story, viewing it as a mystery I present. Sometimes I react to the players and the spontaneous actions they present to me. It all depends.