Will you always play DnD?
I want to tell you all about a couple of conversations I’ve had lately.
The first one is an ongoing discussion with my friend Randy. Randy and I tend to have these big idea discussions about D&D, about our group of friends, and about our lives. One discussion revolved around whether the people you play D&D with are your friends, or whether they are just the guys you play a game with (like a softball league, for example). That ongoing discussion tool us the better part of three years; by the time we came to a real conclusion, it was a moot point because all of the people we played D&D with were, without question, our friends by that point.
Randy and Me, deep in discussion. I’m the one with the hat. 
photo credit: ohhector
Anyways, that’s not one of the conversations I wanted to tell you about. That one was free.
The conversation Randy and I have been having for about six or eight months is this: Do you ever see yourself stopping D&D? If so, at what age? 50? 60? Will you be a 70 year-old man playing D&D? I think we’ve both, at this point, answered “No, I don’t see myself stopping. I might stop buying new stuff, but I won’t stop playing. I’ll be rolling dice as long as I can lift them.”
“I just rolled a nat 20, Bitches!” (Age-progression photo. You can tell, I still have the hat.) photo credit: Thomas Tribe
The other conversation I’ve had was with another D&D player. He’s decided to retire. He’s done, ready to move on. He wants to do some other things, and the 4E Malaise has really gotten to him. My suggestion was to wait until the 4E hype dies down and we all know whether we’re going 4E or not. He didn’t seem especially interested.
so, here’s my questions for you all today: Will you ever stop playing D&D, or will you retire? If not age, what would make you retire?
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15 Responses to “Will you always play DnD?”
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I asked myself that very question but not for the same reasons. About 10 years ago (I was 25) I was thinking that at a certain I would have to grow up, stop playing games and do adult stuff like work disgusting long hours and do grown up stuff like have dinners on Friday with Friends and stuff…
Well 8 years and 1 and 1/2 burnout later the answer is a resounding NO. Adult gaming is part of my life. It’s my Golf, my Poker Night with friends, my Softball league.
So yeah, I’ll go on playing D&D (any version that catches my fancy) or any other game that comes up and meets all our needs as adult gamers.
Good Post man!
The Chatty DM’s last blog post..Mini-trope: The Crowning Moment of a Character
I hope to continue playing D&D. I hope if I ever have kids that I can get them into it too and make it a family event.
Kimmie’s last blog post..Busy Kimmie
Just can’t see it happening…
I’m with Boffo…no stop til I drop….but the malaise has a been a real bummer.
True passions never die away. My passion is martial arts; I can still see myself sparring in my twilight years and beyond.
Barbara
Barbara Ling (aka Owlbert)’s last blog post..Turbo-charge your blog with the ultimate of beverages for free!
@ Chatty - I’m with ya. I’m also 35! When’s your birthday? I’m 9/12. Bet you’re older! Sorry, feeling feisty tonite.
@ Kimmie - I’ve got three daughters and we all play regularly. My middle daughter, especially, loves D&D; the oldest plays, but is more into fantasy novels. She about peed when she met Ed Greenwood at GenCon!
@Shekaka - For those of you who don’t know, this is the famous Randy. Wave to the people, Randy!
@ Barbara - Thankya for stopping in. I like what you’re saying about passion here.
Excellent comments, everyone! Anyone else out there?
The DM’s last blog post..Will you always play DnD?
I’ll roleplay till grave and beyond. At least till the grave. D&D maybe, roleplaying certainly.
Roleplaying is a sufficiently large part of my life so that I can’t really imagine life without it.
Tommi’s last blog post..Filtering
I’ve gamed since some point int he early 80’s. I don’t know exactly when. I’m 32 now, have 3 kids, and each of them owns their own PHB and a sizeable assortment of dice and miniatures. I work for Reaper Miniatures, a decidedly-gaming oriented employer.
Gaming is more to me than just a hobby. It’s the way I relieve stress — some people escape with drugs, or alcohol, or various other addictions. My friends and I eat pizza and drink cokes and roll funny-shaped dice that confuse and scare my in-laws. and in the end, we’re better people for it.
Am I going to quit gaming? I may pause while my group reconfigures, loses members and gains them, or decides what to play next (4E or not 4E, that is the Question) but As long as I can find a group and still read the dice, I will play. Even on haiatus, I still define myself as a gamer.
I am shopping for a retirement home with a big enough table for a grid map!
Trask
I haven’t had a regular tabletop gaming group for a while (2+ yrs). My desire hasn’t faded, though. I imagine when I retire from the desk job, I’ll be one of those old guys who sits in the park and rolls the dice with his friends.
Kameron’s last blog post..D&D 6E: A Digital Tale
Never Say Die thats how I play and will continue to play D&D. As long as I have friends that play with laughter and have A great time.
I guess Reaperbryan pretty much summed up my feelings. While I’ll take a break now and then gaming is in my blood.
How else would I be able to juggle D&D twice a month, EQ 40+ hrs a week, LoTRO spuratically (lifetime membership), a loving relationship with my spouse (omg that woman is a saint), keep slightly less than what I’d like contact with friends, and a steady job?
Till I can’t pick up the dice or afford someone to toss them for me I says. Even then there is still Everway.
Although I’m down the 2 games per month… grr ready to play theme ongoing in my posts it seems.
But you get the point.
Apis
@Tommi - I like that… playing D&D in the afterlife. Neat concept.
@ReaperBrian - That’s true. Even when we’re not playing, we’re still gamers. It is, in many ways, a lifestyle.
@Trask - Just use the 4E virtual tabletop. Of course, you’ll need a huge screen…
@Kam - neat picture, I like the whole park thing. It sounds odd to us because D&D is a relatively new game; hasn’t been around nearly as long as chess, so we’ve not seen old guys playing it in the park yet.
@Greenman - well said.
@Apis (g) - Tru dat. And don’t worry, we’ll start up again soon enough.
The DM’s last blog post..Game Masters Day - Better Late Than Never!
[...] I hear that over and over again. Folks that take a few years off, sometimes as much as a decade, always wind up playing again. For my part, I think I’ll always be playing RPGs. [...]
I am married and plan on having kids in the next few years. I will teach them how to play DnD or something similar. I hope they enjoy the games I teach them so the spirit of the game lives on.
p.s. I’ve read the 4th Ed. players manual and will not be going to 4th Ed. It’s lost the creativity.
I am 38 and have no plans to quit playing. I hope that when I get too old to roll the dice I can hit a button on a small device to randomize a set of virtual dice