- Joined
- Feb 25, 2015
[powerlevel]All the characters in this show are based on people I've observed based on people I've gamed with in Montenegro, Estonia, Finland, Austria, but mostly the US.[/powerlevel] The board game culture is damn near universal. Every person in here (save Aidan) is based on someone I've met.
Board game culture is ever increasing because as people get older, they are finding they hate the grind of MMOs and just want to sit down.
In Montenegro and the US, I've witnessed the "Happily middle-aged married couple both in-character and out-of-character". They would be, for the most part, considered somewhat unattractive. They met an "open world" gaming table, and they hit it off. Childless and proud. Sufferers of DM's spouse syndrome where the party would be saved by deus ex machina if the spouse made a horrible roll that would have doomed anyone else.
So, these people aren't that much of caricatures. I've seen a variant of them everywhere, and I'll bet anyone who regularly games in a public place has seen them, too.
Aiden is the only unique character for me. [powerlevel]My uncle is gay[/powerlevel], he's not very feminine, but in my country that's fine. Whatever. Bring booze. That's why I'm mostly keeping hands off Aiden's development. I can suggest some psychological impulses that happen for everyone, but as far as what a trans person truly goes through in life, I leave it up to our resident trans people.
"Stephen" I met in Tallinn, Estonia. Like people with magic cards, he had a binder that was all anime DVDs. If he had the chance, such as when I was sitting and drinking, he would take that moment to sit down by me and start turning the pages slowly. At random ones he'd ask me, "Have I seen this one? What about this one?" I was way too damn polite (and probably drunk), so I humored him. Truly a nice guy, but given the right opportunity, BLAM, anime and Japanese culture references. He was attempting to learn Japanese, but could only teach me the syntax and proper pronunciation of the r/l sound. I met a similar person in the US, though he lacked the binder. He offered me any anime I wanted from his external hard drive, which he carried around with his laptop so he could crawl into a corner when not playing magic or Yu-Gi-Oh and watch them. I think one time he came in wearing a pair of geta.
"Chris" is a gamer I met... everywhere. I mean, in every country. I would buy whatever game, or sit down at open tables for board games, and there'd be that one guy who was always twitchy, waiting for his turn. On everyone else's turn, he'd announce how they could win or lose. "Well, you're in a difficult spot unless you roll a 5, then you would move there and I could do very little to stop you because the odds of me stopping you are very low." He'd also go and move your pawn for in a game. I chalk it up for him thinking it's polite, but he doesn't realize it's not really. I picked up a starter box for Warmachine, and I assembled the models and got in a starter game. He knew every one of my models stats, abilities, and their story fluff, and whenever I'd pick up a model, he would announce them. "Now remember you have only a five inch control area, so in order to give your Warjacks focus, they must be within that area." 'You told me this every turn...' "I have you by the ropes, because I have a range 12 cannon, and I know I have that much distance. My ranged attack value is 5, but I forfeited my action for +2, so I have an effective 7..." Numbers, numbers, numbers. But he was still a good guy. Nice to play with it you could turn off the number speeches.
"Frank" I met here in the US. He literally was drugged beyond belief. Back was giving problems? He had a pocket full of oxy and muscle relaxers. PTSD? He had a pill for that. Social anxiety? Have some klonazepam. He would be half-dozing during the game when he was not directly involved in a scene. If someone would roll a dice, he'd immediately snap out, grab one of his dice and roll it, then go, "What're we rolling for? I got a 16." He was rolling for his stealth check, don't worry, Frank.
"Gloria" I met in Finland, Austria, and of course, the US. She was a fantastic person in all incarnations, and in Austria, she always had a plate of brownies for us during gaming. She had children that had long since moved away. So she started finding that she preferred gaming over the usual "old people" things, and hung out because she always had a longing for fantasy stuff. The American version seemed to suffer the pangs of white guilt, and would slip tie-ins with Native American treatment, "I know the orcs are evil, but one game, but I want to play a full orc and make people realize that my kind are just... misunderstood, and that we have ways of doing things that may surprise even the clerics of mankind."
"Hayden" is also a US phenomenon. The Scottish weeaboo. Wears kilts, talks about how superior the claymore is, has gotten into fights with the Japan weebs about medieval weaponry. Amazingly doesn't drink a lick of alcohol.
Board game culture is ever increasing because as people get older, they are finding they hate the grind of MMOs and just want to sit down.
In Montenegro and the US, I've witnessed the "Happily middle-aged married couple both in-character and out-of-character". They would be, for the most part, considered somewhat unattractive. They met an "open world" gaming table, and they hit it off. Childless and proud. Sufferers of DM's spouse syndrome where the party would be saved by deus ex machina if the spouse made a horrible roll that would have doomed anyone else.
So, these people aren't that much of caricatures. I've seen a variant of them everywhere, and I'll bet anyone who regularly games in a public place has seen them, too.
Aiden is the only unique character for me. [powerlevel]My uncle is gay[/powerlevel], he's not very feminine, but in my country that's fine. Whatever. Bring booze. That's why I'm mostly keeping hands off Aiden's development. I can suggest some psychological impulses that happen for everyone, but as far as what a trans person truly goes through in life, I leave it up to our resident trans people.
She did sign a card of Gen Zed though! I'm just waiting for my phone to recharge as I used up my entire battery to record the damned thing. Some things that you miss due to the recording dying are: