Was playing Dungeons & Dragons really a big deal in the 80s?

[CmdrShep2154]

Were Dungeons and Dragons players feared? If people found out you played DnD would they avoid you?



In the 80s if a community found out a football playing son of an important politician or some other powerful person liked sci fi space opera and his popular cheerleader daughter liked Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien how would the community react?

[Rudkobing]

cheerleaders. It had to be cheerleaders.

[Forgettable]

I knew it would eventually come back to cheerleaders.

[oxymoronic]

i have yet to know one person that has played DnD in my entire life. or at least they never disclosed it. sounds kinda cool if i was high as fuck and bored as fuck. but to really be bored in 2017 is being lazy.

[Mormolyce]

Were Dungeons and Dragons players feared? If people found out you played DnD would they avoid you?

In the 80s if a community found out a football playing son of an important politician or some other powerful person liked sci fi space opera and his popular cheerleader daughter liked Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien how would the community react?

Yeah that would be a pretty major blow to your social status, the idea of a footballer playing D&D was pretty much unthinkable back then.

[Theodarzna]

Seriously what happened man? Did someone turn you down for the prom?

[breadisfunny]

i played a dark elf cheerleader priest. GO LOLTH!

[Theinquisition]

Hmmmph, oddly enough many of my fellow soliders played DND while deployed as a way to pass down time.

[Super Kami Dende]

Yeah that would be a pretty major blow to your social status, the idea of a footballer playing D&D was pretty much unthinkable back then.

Still was in the 90's and early 2000's. it being "cool" or mainstream to be a Nerd is a relatively new thing. I had many friends that played DnD with me and a Child that immediately quit once we hit high school and started teasing the same group of people he played with for still playing.

popularity ruins things.

[melodramocracy]

I didn't think so, but can only speak from my own very small circle growing up. Tried to get folks into it, and couldn't.

D&D can be fun, but it requires 100% buy in from everyone involved, and sometimes finding a group like that is way tougher than you might think.

[Mormolyce]

Still was in the 90's and early 2000's. it being "cool" or mainstream to be a Nerd is a relatively new thing. I had many friends that played DnD with me and a Child that immediately quit once we hit high school and started teasing the same group of people he played with for still playing.

popularity ruins things.

Yeah even once the stigma on "nerds" was starting to abate, D&D was a special level of nerdiness that took a looooong time to escape the sweaty neckbeard image.

[Rexosaurus]

Yeah that was definitely still a thing even in the mid 2000's. I remember how secretive some of my friends were when they convinced me to play with them. Though I don't think they appreciated how I played since I never got invited back

[CmdrShep2154]

Yeah that would be a pretty major blow to your social status, the idea of a footballer playing D&D was pretty much unthinkable back then.

How offended would people be if they made a teen movie set in the 80s where a British Army Cadet visits an American High School on an exchange program. He is attractive, athletic, and intelligent. He is guaranteed a high ranking position in the British Army after graduation. He also happens to be a big fan of Tolkien and Starship Troopers. By the end of the movie he steals the jock's blonde girlfriend and introduces her to fantasy.


These musical pieces would feature in the movie.



Or set the movie in the 90s so this song can be included!


And for the credits!

[Deleted]

How offended would people be if they made a teen movie set in the 80s where a British Army Cadet visits an American High School on an exchange program. He is attractive, athletic, and intelligent. He is guaranteed a high ranking position in the British Army after graduation. He also happens to be a big fan of Tolkien and Starship Troopers. By the end of the movie he steals the jock's blonde girlfriend and introduces her to fantasy.
<snip>

This thread becomes weirder and weirder

[Theodarzna]

This thread becomes weirder and weirder

Its like a film stereotype from a decade ago is gaining sentience and making threads.

[Xargoth6634]

I'm in my mid 30's and never played D&D during my teen years (90s), despite the fact that my friends and I were pretty nerdy and held video game RPG nights (where we'd set up a bunch of tvs and consoles and play, with a computer where we'd take turns playing HoMM or whatever the new Civ game was), played M:tG, etc. For some reason we just never got interested in D&D...it seemed pretty boring and way too time-consuming. I did have a friend who had created his own pen-and-paper RPG my first time in college and I went to a few sessions that he DM'd. He was a terrible storyteller, his maps were bad, and the game was just terrible so it didn't take long for me to peace out. I can see how it'd be cool for the right kind of person with a good DM, but I didn't see how it'd have any appeal for me at all, and still don't. I certainly wouldn't knock people for playing, but I'd politely decline if anyone ever invited me these days.

EDIT: Almost forgot, but obligatory:

[Karamaru]

The so called stigma that was attached to the game was never really a thing in this country most just knew it from the marvel cartoon at the time not the demon worshipping hysteria the US had in the 70s

I played a lot of ADnD in my teens in the 2000s and the games can go from standard fantasy to hilariously wacky hijinx it all depends on the DM the group also post game bickering is the best part.

[The One Percent]

Played a ton of DnD on my first deployment. Had nothing else to do and it was more interesting than the same card games over and fucking over.

Also, many writers and actors have DnD in their background. Roleplaying, unsurprisingly, is really good training for those professions.

Finally, girls who play DnD are the ones that you'll remember the sex with when your life is flashing before your eyes at the end. Something about the hobby attracts the real freaks.

[Zmaniac17]

Also, many writers and actors have DnD in their background. Roleplaying, unsurprisingly, is really good training for those professions.

This makes me think of HarmonQuest tv show. It's awesome to see someone like Dan Harmon improving a character. Very funny too. Critical Role is also great.

Also was surprising to learn that Vin Diesel is a DND player. Joe Manganiello too.

[Mormolyce]

I mean I could link you some of TSR's advertisements for D&D. I played since the 90s and damn those ads creeped me out.


This was for Gencon. Who on earth thought this was a good idea? I mean Dragon 4 had rules for orgies. Yes, as early as that they felt compelled to give you dice tables for the consequences of having orgies.

Roll for gonorrhea!

Man that poster is so 90s...