Lately, my geekiest endeavor has been in playing Dungeons and Dragons with The Tenor and some of his coworkers.
D&D is one of those games that has been around for decades, that I was always interested in, but growing up wasn't allowed to play for...er, reasons (thanks a lot Dobson...). But in 2009 when I first met my adopted big bros the VERY first night I met them, Jay had a game going. I didn't hear a lot of the narrative but the flint and metal in my brain struck. It took a while, and about three different games (one of those being an attempt at 3.5v) before this fourth campaign to kick off.
Our first game didn't even get to a campaign. Mind you, this was a 3.5 game and we spent SO MUCH time creating our characters. Which is not a bad thing. But if you're like me when it comes to avatars like even in Rock Band, you know you want to get your details out and on paper. This group was made up of some friends I went to church with back in CA (not all churchgoers are sour lemons). It was fun and we'd have beer and coffee while working on our stories together.
My 3.5v and 5.0v Player's Handbooks
via me
But then we moved, and my next group was through one of my managers. He did the voices of the NPCs and had LotR scores playing as EPIC AF background music. Our first mission was based on the 5.0 kick off story which in my second game we later repeated. What was interesting about those two games was how different they were approached by the Dungeon Master (DM-person telling the story to those participating; aka The Game's God as what they say: goes!) and those of us who played. The Tenor and I had a different ways of handling the situation per game. Its also a behavioral scientists dream to watch and play this game I think as so many people will approach the same situation a different way! While one is the "preferred method" there isn't a right or wrong way...kind of like in life on many of it's situations.
Last/lately is our current campaign which had a slightly rocky start as all our characters were somewhat lone wolf archetypes in various forms. I'm going to go ahead and say: DON'T MAKE A LONE WOLF! Don't be that person. If your character is scared of people because they've been hurt (like my character) it can work as long as your stay mission oriented. Lone Wolfs/Lone Wolves (I think the former is technically most correct) are boring and make the missions hard to accomplish. But since then, we've fixed it. Each of us are Loners, brought together by "the cause" (see the mission). As I said this group was brought together via my husbands coworkers...though I'm hoping to get another lady in the game!
Finding your group can be easy. Some great places to start:
work
church
Starbucks flyers (post them, or you might some!)
roll20.net (where you can set up an online game with your blogging buddies)
Geek Girl Brunch
friends from game stores
anywhere honestly! Just get a group going.
As for places to play most/many comic and hobby shops have tables and rooms that you can check out to set up a game. Additionally reserving a room at a library or coffee shop works as well (as long as you mind your P's and Q's for those around you). Just be sure that if you're not playing in a home to be a good customer too.
Have you been looking to play Dungeons and Dragons? Have you played before? What was your favorite campaign like? If you haven't played, are you interested, and what help do you need in getting started?