Ethnographic Essay Research

[rojam2]

I have an Ethnographic Research essay due for my English class. We had to pick a subculture that we were not personally a part of and then write a paper about our experiences. The three main focus's for ethnography are: Artifacts, Language, and Rituals.

I'm doing my essay on "Dungeon Crawlers" because I'm not a part of them but I'm close to them a lot because I live in the game design learning community.

All I ask is that, if you consider yourself a part of this subculture, you give me some info about the DnD nights and that sort of thing including the artifacts, language, and rituals you use. Think broad with the 3 focus's like artifacts = game board or rituals = how to play the game language: phrases or words associated with the game.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. If there's any forums or that sort of thing you guys read that have to do with these types of games, if you could point me towards those, that would be great.

[Reg]

Artifacts: Mountain Dew
Language: Elven
Rituals: Roll them bones.

[Stir]

Ehm...
You're doing your paper on 'dungeon crawlers,' and then specify 'DnD-nights.' The two are hardly the same; while a roguelike computer game can easily qualify as a 'dungeon crawler,' most games of DnD do not qualify as such at all. Also, 'DnD' is not a genre; it's a brand. Dungeons and Dragons. The irony is that most games of DnD incormorate neither dungeons nor dragons.
So from your post, you are narrowing down your survey to 'Dungeons and Dragons system Dungeon Crawling sessions.'
You might want to look at what you actually want to know, and especially about what.

So here's my summary:
Artifacts: 1 die, 1 pencil, 1 eraser, 3 sheets of paper, 1 hexagon gridmap, 1 rulebook.
Language: English, Dutch, Dutch English Standard with some other languages mixed in, depending on in-game situation.
Rituals: Interactive storytelling, 'Be A Team Player.'

[rojam2]

Ehm...
You're doing your paper on 'dungeon crawlers,' and then specify 'DnD-nights.' The two are hardly the same; while a roguelike computer game can easily qualify as a 'dungeon crawler,' most games of DnD do not qualify as such at all. Also, 'DnD' is not a genre; it's a brand. Dungeons and Dragons. The irony is that most games of DnD incormorate neither dungeons nor dragons.
So from your post, you are narrowing down your survey to 'Dungeons and Dragons system Dungeon Crawling sessions.'
You might want to look at what you actually want to know, and especially about what.

So here's my summary:
Artifacts: 1 die, 1 pencil, 1 eraser, 3 sheets of paper, 1 hexagon gridmap, 1 rulebook.
Language: English, Dutch, Dutch English Standard with some other languages mixed in, depending on in-game situation.
Rituals: Interactive storytelling, 'Be A Team Player.'

I was just using DnD as an example because there is a student organization at my school named: "Dungeon Crawlers" and one of their main games is DnD. I didn't mean for it to come off as DnD only.

[vizzle]

You're probably best off sitting in on a few DnD nights and observing while people are playing.

[Gothicshark]

Items of ritual:

I personally collect unusual dice, and I have a ritual to finding dice that like to roll 20's.
I always like to, build a mini for my character. ie games workshop. (there are other makers of these figures, but the round bases from GW are perfect.)
Game Mats, all hail the hex pattern game mat.

Rituals observed:
I have two videos I must watch before any new game.

Stephen Lynch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgOB7VWjlSQ
Dead Ale Wives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vChEPj0dXXk

After the game has started I have a dice ritual for finding dice which will be used that day.
I roll all my (30 of them) d20's any d20 that rolls 15 or greater I keep, then I roll all these any of the d20's roll 16 or higher I keep, usually this leaves me 3 to 4 d20s for the game.

Sacrifices during D&D:

It use to be Mt. Dew and Pizza, although the last campaign it had become Monsters and Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs.

---------- Post added 2012-09-15 at 11:59 AM ----------

I was just using DnD as an example because there is a student organization at my school named: "Dungeon Crawlers" and one of their main games is DnD. I didn't mean for it to come off as DnD only.

I should point out if they are playing Pathfinders, Iron Heroes, Exalted, Champions, White Wolf, Classic TSR, Cyberpunk, D20, GURPS, or any of a long list of games They are all known as D&D to the unenlightened. To the enlighten you can call them Pen aNd Paper(PNP) or Table Top RPG.

[rojam2]

Items of ritual:

I personally collect unusual dice, and I have a ritual to finding dice that like to roll 20's.
I always like to, build a mini for my character. ie games workshop. (there are other makers of these figures, but the round bases from GW are perfect.)
Game Mats, all hail the hex pattern game mat.

Rituals observed:
I have two videos I must watch before any new game.

Stephen Lynch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgOB7VWjlSQ
Dead Ale Wives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vChEPj0dXXk

After the game has started I have a dice ritual for finding dice which will be used that day.
I roll all my (30 of them) d20's any d20 that rolls 15 or greater I keep, then I roll all these any of the d20's roll 16 or higher I keep, usually this leaves me 3 to 4 d20s for the game.

Sacrifices during D&D:

It use to be Mt. Dew and Pizza, although the last campaign it had become Monsters and Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs.

---------- Post added 2012-09-15 at 11:59 AM ----------



I should point out if they are playing Pathfinders, Iron Heroes, Exalted, Champions, White Wolf, Classic TSR, Cyberpunk, D20, GURPS, or any of a long list of games They are all known as D&D to the unenlightened. To the enlighten you can call them Pen aNd Paper(PNP) or Table Top RPG.

Thanks, this helps a lot

[rojam2]

I edited my first post but i meant languages as in game terms or lingo, not actual languages

---------- Post added 2012-09-16 at 05:31 PM ----------

You're probably best off sitting in on a few DnD nights and observing while people are playing.

I would have done that but my paper is due tomorrow and they don't play until wednesday