Just got back from the latest chapter in the Savage Worlds game I’m running. It’s straight fantasy, knights and orcs and dwarves and elves and such, and we’re having a lot of fun with it.

Savage Worlds is a generic system that can be used for “any” genre, but is best for those of cinematic or high adventure style. It’s a roleplaying game (rpg), which means each player (except the game-master/referee) creates an imaginary hero and plays it the way an actor would play a character in an improv. When a character attempts something, whether it be shooting someone or picking a lock or piloting a plane through the gap between two redwoods, the player rolls dice to determine success or failure. The gamemaster (GM) creates the situations the players’ characters face, and acts out the roles of enemies and other characters the players’ characters might encounter.

And yes, it’s like Dungeons & Dragons, but better.

D&D and roleplaying games in general are often thought of as geeky pursuits, like learning Klingon or dressing like Chewbacca to hit on pasty-faced chicks in way-too-little chainmail. And there is some crossover in such activities, because roleplaying games are a form of escape, like may activities considered geeky.

It’s not a huge deal, but it is odd that you can paint yourself blue and holler half-naked in the cold at a football game, or obsess about stamps or coins, or follow reality TV shows religiously, or read every Jackie Collins novel, and a certain level of normality is still assumed. Play an rpg, though, and you’re an unwashed loser without social skills. Even though it’s more of a creative, intellectual, social activity than most things people do to pass their spare time…

Their loss. For me, this game is a much-needed social outlet, a hedge against the hours of solo time I spend, and thus against depression and loneliness. And it’s great fun.

I’m planning to run the fantasy game a few months, then when the over-arching plotline is resolved, I’ll start a new game. That one will be pirates. Really lookin’ forward to that.

Anyway, I’ll discuss the gaming here and there, in among the political bitching and whatnot.