Part 1 of 1, by Jay Watamaniuk
The holidays are upon us and I usually get very reflective on how I have spent my year. I’m a gamer and I am very fortunate that so much of my free time and work time centers around gaming. I have played several tabletop games, several live games and many, many video games this past year. Participating in a story takes many forms when it comes to gaming, and in defiance of what is considered ‘normal’ in society, I have found myself in some pretty bizarre situations – all to tell damn fine story.
20 Things I Have Done in the Name of Gaming
1. Bought the occasional holiday gift according to what a friend’s character would like
2. Kept playing D&D when the power went out one evening and we had only one reliable flashlight
3. Refused to listen to a certain song for years because it reminded me of a particularly sad game
4. Drove 697.2 km (433.2 miles) to play a game for one evening
5. Got mad at someone in real life for something they did in character to another character
6. Bought dice instead of food
7. After two years of living in Japan, I discovered a gaming store in my city and promptly spent a week’s pay
8. Made an entire SCA-certified Roman suit of armor out of black puck board and leather…which I wore when promoting Dragon Age at GenCon and PAX.
9. Watched Boondock Saints over and over until I could speak in a passable Irish accent. I did something similar for a Cuban, Russian and Scottish accent to varying degrees of success
10. Rehearsed a speech for a tabletop game of a villain with a particular piece of music so that his dramatic conclusion had a suitable dramatic accompaniment
11. Made movies posters for particularly excellent games I played using Photoshop
12. Met my stunning girlfriend while crouching on the floor dressed in a black hood and filthy rags for a medieval game
13. While bored in Thailand I created from scratch an entire monopoly board complete with houses, hotels, money, player pieces, Chance and Community Chest and property cards
14. Camped in a small tent in the rain for a weekend to play a game. Camped at the same place, in the same small tent, the next year and it snowed
15. Played a chain smoker as a real-life die-hard non-smoker. I don’t recommended it
16. Hid in the woods dressed as a tree monster complete with a bark mask, in the dead of winter when it was -25 Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit) at 1:30am
17. Painstakingly created a detailed blueprint of my friend’s three story house in the woods
18. Played in the same D&D campaign for 13 years
19. Wore a multicolored, ruffled sleeve mambo shirt and through the magic of technology had salsa music playing out of my pants
20. Got a job working at a company that makes video games
All true, and reams more not listed. All of us who have spent many hours playing games of all kinds have a vast list of gaming-related behavior that seem upon reflection like madness. I would not have it any other way. In fact I recently found myself in yet another bizarro situation. I wouldn’t change that for the world.
I hope you spend your holidays being part of a damn fine story.
Jay Watamaniuk has lived in such faraway and make-believe places like Thailand, Greece and Japan but has always returned back to Edmonton, Canada to put down some roots and to avoid the fricken’ huge insects that lived in those places. He has been BioWare’s Community Manager for over 7 years and has never once- not once- dressed up like a pirate at work. Shameful.
Tags: costume, humor, not serious, watamaniuk
December 19, 2008 at 5:28 am |
I remember a couple, but not as drastic as wearing tree outfits in the dead of winter.
*During my PnP days, I used to play a recurring character, which I’ve tried to recreate (sometimes to great lenghts) across every computer RPG that allowed for racial customization. Charismatic Dwarven Paladins need some love, too.
*I once spent half a month’s pay in a couple of Dragon magazines, the Dungeon Master’s book for D&D 3.0 and a Call of Cthulhu board game. When I got home I realized I had no friend to play with. The Cthulhu box is still shrinkwrapped, and the Old Ones inside torment my soul to this day.
*I’ve come up with at least twenty videogame projects, complete with design documents, artwork, dialogues and gameplay structure. None of them ever saw the light of day.
*Ever tried introducing videogames to your girlfriend? More than likely. Ever found yourself telling your girlfriend that you would go to bed in about 5 minutes because you had to kill the dreaded Lord Evil McNasty? Probably. Ever found yourself in the opposite situation, with your girlfriend telling you she would go to bed just as soon as she finished a Puzzle Quest or Audiosurf level? I have.
*I’ve replayed the original Fallouts to get every possible endgame permutation. That goes for both male and female characters, as well as “good” and “evil”.
*I’ve cried when playing Planescape: Torment.
*During NWN’s earlier days, I played NWN online and wrote a series of articles detailing my experiences with other gameworlds and players. One morning the computer killed itself and took the articles with it.
December 19, 2008 at 10:33 am |
Ah the eternal girlfriend and video games gamble. Sometimes you luck out and she can kick your butt at Soul Caliber and loves Final Fantasy and sometimes she stares at you like you have a third eye when you mention Pipboy3000. Alas.
Sounds like you and my brother have the OCD completionist thing going on. He finished BGII 8 times (he works at BioWare as well but this was certainly above and beyond). The final time he completed the whole thing with a solo rogue. Madness
I loves me my Dragon Magazine. I recall meeting friend downtown at a gaming store called the The Hobbit and picking up a copy of Dragon Magazine. Seemed amazing to my 13 year oldness that an entire magazine could be about D&D.
December 22, 2008 at 1:12 am |
This list had me roaring. It brought to mind the times when my wife and I would play at friends’ houses until 1 and 2 in the morning…later on weekends! She could vent to me about her dice being cold and wanting more and I’d put her in our car and head to the shops, no questions asked. Those were the days.
December 22, 2008 at 8:58 am |
I think we all have seen dice flung across the room, removed from the game table with salad tongs and binned, kissed by a ‘lucky’ friend, buying new dice and keeping them in their package until you have a dice crisis and on and on. Ah the crazy keeps us all warm.
December 26, 2008 at 9:18 am |
Haha, great stuff, Jay! My favorite is #16… here we were thinking moose and winter wolves were all we had to worry about when we came to Edmonton!
December 30, 2008 at 9:18 am |
Alex! We like to keep people on their toes.
January 7, 2009 at 3:20 am |
ahhh… so I’m not the only one addicted to photoshop, somehow I feel better… I think a Photoshop Anonymous is in order. and the long nights of D&D (or AD&D) with flashlights and candles. the girlfriend vs. videogames conflict… taking home a wounded black stray cat to turn him into an “animal companion” (anyway, after taking him to the vet and curing his wounds the poor thing really is grateful). dressing in a robot costume made out of cardboard boxes for a cyberpunk live RPG… *sigh* I can only hope this next year is gonna be the same, or better! happy new year everyone! best wishes! game on, game hard
January 7, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
Amen brother.
January 10, 2009 at 9:36 am |
Is there a photo of that Roman suit of armour?
January 10, 2009 at 10:58 am |
I believe there is. Not a great one of the armor but it comes with a babe for free to compensate (the photo not the armor).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29079113@N03/2830735569/in/set-72157607131355213/
January 14, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
“2. Kept playing D&D when the power went out one evening and we had only one reliable flashlight ”
My gaming group don’t have this problem as we use candles as our only light source when we play DnD.
Oh and I can’t help myself from imagining almost every movie I see like it where a P&P session.
And I have once thought to myself that I didn’t have enough points in charisma to speak to a certain girl.
I was ashamed when I realized that I was doing it.
January 14, 2009 at 4:52 pm |
I recall seeing Pitch Black and thinking’ Damn this would be a great one-shot tabletop session plot’. D&D by candle light eh? That takes the atmosphere up a notch. I should write something up on using music as well- very common with my friends.
Dave Gaider ran a Firefly campaign a while back and started each session by playing the theme song like it was an episode. Got us right into it.
January 15, 2009 at 12:46 pm |
Yeah we use music too.
I have been using candles for every RPG I have ever played outside a convention (and I’ve used it in most sessions there too), so I got really surprised when I realized that it wasn’t as common as I thought it was.
August 27, 2009 at 4:45 am |
You got my full respect. Your life seems to be awesome, keep it up!
I envy you for many of your experiences
Internet high five!
September 1, 2009 at 10:49 am |
I think I will get a t-shirt that says. ‘My life is awesome. Puddy sez so’
August 27, 2009 at 9:36 pm |
You are the coolest person evar.
September 1, 2009 at 10:50 am |