April 16, 2005
Dungeons and Dragons in Romania (1)
I have become a sort of consultant to the Romanian Dungeons and Dragons community here in Bucharest.
There's a whole long backstory here. Short version: I used to play Dungeons and Dragons. Started back in high school, more than 20 years ago. Was on-and-off with it for a long time afterwards. Years might pass without playing, but I always got back to it.
(If you don't know what D&D is... hm, better google it than have me try to explain. It is a geeky hobby. Very geeky. So? I've mostly made peace with my inner geek. I also like birdwatching. What can you do.)
I was running a campaign when we lived in Serbia. (Oh yes, there are D&D players in Serbia. Quite a few of them.) I had to give it up when we moved here. By that time David was joining us, and we were pretty busy. So I put roleplaying games out of my mind.
But I occasionally wondered if there were D&D players here in Romania. I asked around, but nobody seemed to have heard of any. Google showed nothing. Oh, well, I thought. I don't have the time anyway.
But then...
(More in a bit, if people are interested.)
Posted by douglas at April 16, 2005 10:12 PMDo you *really* have to ask?
Posted by: Jim Parish at April 17, 2005 01:26 AMI'm always curious how geeks around the world behave differently from their American counterparts. Sure, lead on MacDoff.
Posted by: Mike Ralls at April 17, 2005 02:34 AMTell, do tell!
Convert them to GURPS Vorkosigan, as soon as it's out.
I will start by making a confession that I am a huge fan of White Wolf (once I get a check cashed, I'm going down the block to pick up the new redaction of the World of Darkness...), but even so, when among academics I often feel a wee bit embarassed mentioning said hobby. And this is in spite of the fact that a great many grad students in medieval studies are gamers.
All of which brings me to my question. Being a part of the Washington Establishment who rubs shoulders with the international elite, do the financiers, technocrats, etc. with whom you come into contact on a daily basis know of this habit of yours? I ask this because I'm rather embarassed for a professor of Old French to find out that I game; I can't imagine the horror that I'd feel if I were meeting a finance minister and s/he found out.
Or is part of coming to terms with the inner geek the ability to have no fear that a foreign minister would also know of your habit?
Posted by: Andrew Reeves at April 17, 2005 10:45 PMI ask this because I'm rather embarassed for a professor of Old French to find out that I game;
It's on my CV. I emphasise a: what I do is rather different in practice from what the 'average' 14-year-old gamer does (this being the average adult's perception) and b: it is excellent experience in problem solving with limited resources, giving examples of potentially violent situations resolved through peaceful means.
Posted by: Errol at April 18, 2005 04:34 AMAndrew, what do you think they do at G-7 meetings? It's Warhammer all the way, baby.
Posted by: Carlos at April 18, 2005 02:51 PM>Andrew, what do you think they do at G-7 meetings? It's Warhammer all the way, baby.
That would make a pretty good Onion article, "G-7 Meeting Wasted Playing Warhammer: "Well, we intended to get down to buisness, but when Canada rolled 3 natural 20's in a row, there was no stopping it."
Posted by: Mike Ralls at April 18, 2005 10:25 PMCan you compare the D&D experience in all thrre places (States vs. Serbia vs. Romania)?
Novak
i didn't really get the point(s), but i just thought that it would me nice for me to say that i'm a romanian D&D player. and i've been here all my life. i didn't bring bring the game with me from the states or such, i simply started playing it here, in romania. i'm not from bucharest, i'm from timisoara (even though 99% of you probably haven't ever heard of it). i just wanna say that if you're a romanian D&D player or if you accidently stumble upon romania, don't despair! there are some players in romania. in timisora (population ~360,000) there are almost 10 players that i know, another almost 10 that i've heard rumors and legends about and i predict that there are even more, maybe even more than 30. and i don't think D&D is a geekish game. i'm sorry for you folks who feel geekish about playing D&D. some advice for you folk: don't listen to what the masses say or think about D&D (or similar games) players. ever tried not giving a f**k?
Posted by: Kelvon at September 1, 2005 05:47 AMHI, I stumbled across this page and the thing that got my attention the most is about dnd in timisoara. I am a stundent here and I have been having an interest in dnd for quite a while, but I couldn't really get my hands on it better until lately.
Right now, I did a little role-playing with a simplified board-game version, but i'm into the real game and I want to get in contact with people who do it here, in Timisoara. How can I do that?
Is there a place, a club or something, or I should just write an email or something?