"Game with Friends or Strangers?" Topic

"Recently someone on my social media feed asked if folks preferred gaming with friends or strangers. It's an interesting question, with the answer often depending on our own gaming preferences, social circumstances, and personalities. I've been gaming more than 40 years and have done my share at tables with friends and strangers. Both experiences gave me headaches and drama…and both provided amazingly fulfilling moments. Each forced me to take a closer look at how we interact over roleplaying games as players and gamemasters, examining what worked and what didn't, determining how best to prepare, and considering how what happens at the table — how we interact with each other — makes everyone feel.

When I first discovered roleplaying games in junior high, back in the early 1980s, we didn't have the vast social reach we have today. We knew fellow gamers from our neighborhood, from our bus ride, and maybe from the hobby store that stocked our games (alas, I did not meet any fellow gamers at my local game store). Back then, when roleplaying games and adventure gaming in general brought on a distinctive stigma (especially in high school and college) it was almost like cultivating a secret society of people "in the know." Eventually, though as I made my way in the world — and society became slightly more accepting of tabletop games — I made gaming friends and converted other friends into gamers…."

Hobby Games Recce

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Armand