# Playing D&D With Pornstars



## jasin (Dec 15, 2009)

A blog by a guy who's running D&D for a bunch of alt-pornstars and and strippers.

Playing D&D With Porn Stars: Hi
Playing D&D With Porn Stars

Even aside from the novelty value (which is immense: here's a D&D player pornstar on the bridge of the Enterprise ), it's a decent gaming blog.

Links safe for work.


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## tallyrand (Dec 15, 2009)

This guy seems legit...


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 15, 2009)

Don't get me wrong- I don't care what you do for a living if you're sitting at my table- but you know the jokes about burning hands, magic missiles, Bigby's spells, and flaming 2-handed swords as well as fighting purple worms, flesh golems, and assorted oozes just write themselves...


and given the last link
"Boldly going where so many have gone before..."

I hope they have many happy campaigns together.


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## Runestar (Dec 15, 2009)

Wonder if this might end up giving dnd more exposure than all of wotc's advertising campaigns thus far...


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Dec 15, 2009)

Runestar said:


> Wonder if this might end up giving dnd more exposure than all of wotc's advertising campaigns thus far...



I don't know, but trying to jump on the bandwagon with a blog called "Playing D&D with Runestars" might not be as succesful...


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 15, 2009)

Given the way that industry operates- witness _The Sex Files_, listed in his blog- I wonder if when they'll target a production at the gaming community...and what it will be called.

I mean, I can think of more than a few names...but they're not Grandma Friendly.


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## jasin (Dec 15, 2009)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Given the way that industry operates- witness _The Sex Files_, listed in his blog- I wonder if when they'll target a production at the gaming community...



Well, there already is one for WoW; why not? Done well, I think it could be pretty cool.



> and what it will be called.
> 
> I mean, I can think of more than a few names...but they're not Grandma Friendly.



... and we'd best leave it at that.


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## Ambrus (Dec 15, 2009)

This should be a reality show.

Out of curiosity, I wonder whether their games will feature more romantic and intimate PC/NPC relationships than is common or not.


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## Charwoman Gene (Dec 15, 2009)

Ambrus said:


> This should be a reality show.
> 
> Out of curiosity, I wonder whether their games will feature more romantic and intimate PC/NPC relationships than is common or not.




I don't know, my games feature less technical support RP than my real life...


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## Eridanis (Dec 15, 2009)

I've been waiting for insight into Mistwell's new game!


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## shadmere (Dec 15, 2009)

The platinum blonde is pretty hot.  

Seems like the game is an unholy mismash of half a dozen different rulesets, though.  That would be really confusing to keep track of.


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## Ambrus (Dec 15, 2009)

Charwoman Gene said:


> I don't know, my games feature less technical support RP than my real life...



Heh. Now I've got this scene playing out in my head of a wizard character casting a sending spell to get some arcane technical support from the local mage guild. _"Yeah. So I've got this wall of force blocking my way. I can't remember; can I take that down with a dispel magic? The cleric keeps telling me that I need a disintegrate to pull that off..."_


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## Mark Chance (Dec 15, 2009)

Ambrus said:


> Out of curiosity, I wonder whether their games will feature more romantic and intimate PC/NPC relationships than is common or not.




Porn <-----| worlds |-----> Romance


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## Nifft (Dec 15, 2009)

Mark Chance said:


> Porn <-----| worlds |-----> Romance



 You mean they're not really in love with each other?

"_Or the goat?_", -- N


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## jasin (Dec 15, 2009)

shadmere said:


> The platinum blonde is pretty hot.



The platinum/pink/shaved one? Or are you talking about another one?



> Seems like the game is an unholy mismash of half a dozen different rulesets, though.  That would be really confusing to keep track of.



I don't think they care much about the rules. Have you seen their character sheets?


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## Tav_Behemoth (Dec 15, 2009)

jasin said:


> I don't think they care much about the rules.




Yeah, as I was saying in my series-of-blog-posts-about-other-blogs, once you get past the fact that porn stars are a particularly interesting kind of person who hasn't played a lot of D&D, one of the interesting things about Zak S.'s blog is the exploration of how to get new players into the game. His discussion about the "carrot" of giving players characters with awesome powers vs. the "stick" of putting those characters in situations where they may be killed, and which is more motivating to newbies, has definitely sparked further discussion in other communities I'm part of.


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## Grimstaff (Dec 15, 2009)

This is actually a very good and surprisingly prolific blog, and Zak's got an amazing wealth of good ideas. I've been a reader since it opened, and its definitely worth following.


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## jaerdaph (Dec 15, 2009)

Porn stars are *so* much hotter than stewardesses flight attendants!


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## Nifft (Dec 15, 2009)

jaerdaph said:


> Porn stars are *so* much hotter than stewardesses flight attendants!



 Ask about their Frequent F'er program.


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## Mistwell (Dec 15, 2009)

Eridanis said:


> I've been waiting for insight into Mistwell's new game!




Wait, what?


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## mudbunny (Dec 15, 2009)

So I guess the stereotype of fat virgin playing in mom's basement really gets blown out of the water 'cause of this group.


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## jaerdaph (Dec 15, 2009)

nifft said:


> ask about their frequent f'er program.




lol - rotflmao! :d


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## Ambrus (Dec 15, 2009)

mudbunny said:


> So I guess the stereotype of fat virgin playing in mom's basement really gets blown out of the water 'cause of this group.



You sunk my battleship!


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## jaerdaph (Dec 15, 2009)

Eridanis said:


> I've been waiting for insight into Mistwell's new game!




I bet Hygena and her Rolling Pin of Smiting are waiting too...


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## Dragonbait (Dec 15, 2009)

mudbunny said:


> So I guess the stereotype of fat virgin playing in mom's basement really gets blown out of the water 'cause of this group.




After all that hard work I did to establish and perpetuate that stereotype and I'm done in by pornstars.. 

.. Really, I'm not surprised at all.


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## Celtavian (Dec 15, 2009)

*re*

That's awsome. He's playing D&D with pornstars and strippers. What a dream game that is.


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## Mistwell (Dec 15, 2009)

jaerdaph said:


> I bet Hygena and her Rolling Pin of Smiting are waiting too...




Yah, seriously! This has nothin to do with me.  I think he has me confused with someone else.

The "weirdest" set of players I ever planned to DM involved a transgendered woman with her lesbian life partner.  But really, if you knew them, you wouldn't think they were weird at all - beyond being fairly standard geek girls.


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## Obryn (Dec 15, 2009)

Funny enough, one of my players is a manager at a strip club.  And another works there as a bouncer.  I have a nude model in my game, too!

...but yeah, this is way cooler than _my _stories. 

-O


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## mudbunny (Dec 15, 2009)

Celtavian said:


> That's awsome. He's playing D&D with pornstars and strippers. What a dream game that is.




Read the blog. I think that he is a pornstar as well.


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## Mallus (Dec 15, 2009)

mudbunny said:


> I think that he is a pornstar as well.



I _think_ he's also a Yale-educated visual artist whose work includes illustrating what happens on every page of Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow - no, I'm not kidding: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Pictures-Showing-Happens-Pynchons-Gravitys/dp/0977312798/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260904313&sr=8-2]Amazon.com: Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow (9780977312795): Zak Smith, Steve Erickson: Books[/ame].

Quite a career arc... you never where life will take you, do you?


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## Herschel (Dec 15, 2009)

Heck, I was doing that 15 years ago.


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## jasin (Dec 15, 2009)

Obryn said:


> I have a nude model in my game, too!



Anyone we might know of?


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## El Mahdi (Dec 15, 2009)

deleted


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## Obryn (Dec 15, 2009)

jasin said:


> Anyone we might know of?



I doubt it...  She mostly models for relatively-local artistic photographers.   She's got pages on the various model/photog networking sites, but that's about it, AFAIK.  It must go around in my extended group, because a former (male) player was one, too, as well as his then-girlfriend.

-O


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## ProfessorCirno (Dec 15, 2009)

Eh, pornstars are people too.

I've played with a someone who went from working for repo, to towing, to being a bouncer, and then ended up moving to I think Indiana to weld.

Towing was the most dangerous of all those job


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## NewJeffCT (Dec 15, 2009)

on a completely different topic - the old gaming group I was a part of had a guy in it that gamed with them for several years (before I joined) that left that group to join some sort of religious organization - something like a monastery, but I don't think it was a monastery.

So much for D&D being an agent of Satan in his eyes, though.


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## ProfessorCirno (Dec 15, 2009)

Quite frankly, D&D isn't the "Nerds Only!" club a lot of...well, nerds, tend to think it is.  It's popular in a lot of places the stereotypical basement dweller wouldn't think of.  I have a few friends in various branches of the military, and they all have regular games going on in their respective bases or amongst others there.

Nor are pornstars the empty headed bimbos a lot of people think they are, either.


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## Armadillo (Dec 15, 2009)

Tav_Behemoth said:


> Yeah, as I was saying in my series-of-blog-posts-about-other-blogs, once you get past the fact that porn stars are a particularly interesting kind of person who hasn't played a lot of D&D, one of the interesting things about Zak S.'s blog is the exploration of how to get new players into the game. His discussion about the "carrot" of giving players characters with awesome powers vs. the "stick" of putting those characters in situations where they may be killed, and which is more motivating to newbies, has definitely sparked further discussion in other communities I'm part of.




This was particularly insightful.  I loved the discussion of the distinctions between a Fighter and a Barbarian.  A Fighter involves lots of choices as to weapons and fighting styles.  A Barbarian hits things with their axe and must decide only if it is time to rage.  Plus, Barbarians are Metal.


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## El Mahdi (Dec 15, 2009)

deleted


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## Mistwell (Dec 16, 2009)

ProfessorCirno said:


> Nor are pornstars the empty headed bimbos a lot of people think they are, either.




An awful lot are, though.  Our company happens to be in the porn capital of the world (Chatsworth, CA), and they go to local restaurants.  A lot of them (male and female) are dumb as rocks.  Some are not I am sure, but I suspect that is more the exception than the rule.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 16, 2009)

Just for the record, I played for 3 years with Chris Carter.

...just not the one who wrote X-files.  This guy was a 330lb bouncer at a local strip club.

Lots of good stories from Chris.


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## Desdichado (Dec 16, 2009)

mudbunny said:


> Read the blog. I think that he is a pornstar as well.



He did say something about knowing them from work, but that doesn't mean he's a star.  

He could be the key grip.  Ha!  Key grip!

Maybe he's the fluffer on set.


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## Wik (Dec 16, 2009)

The funny thing about this blog is, in a lot of ways, it reminds me of an old campaign I ran.  Granted, I didn't play with porn stars... but I did play with an entirely female group (except, obviously, for myself...  ).  A lot of what he describes (the blood lusting PC, the super-easy character sheet, and the "can I play that?" player) were regular occurences in my games with an all-female party.

Also, read a bit of the blog.  Yeah, the guy's in porn.  

http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-am-pretty-sure-im-only-one-whos-ever.html


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## Particle_Man (Dec 16, 2009)

I guess the players could have a unique insight into the d20 *Book of Erotic Fantasy*.


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## Achan hiArusa (Dec 19, 2009)

mudbunny said:


> So I guess the stereotype of fat virgin playing in mom's basement really gets blown out of the water 'cause of this group.




<.< Yeah, because I live in an apartment that I pay for myself.


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## coyote6 (Dec 20, 2009)

NewJeffCT said:


> on a completely different topic - the old gaming group I was a part of had a guy in it that gamed with them for several years (before I joined) that left that group to join some sort of religious organization - something like a monastery, but I don't think it was a monastery.
> 
> So much for D&D being an agent of Satan in his eyes, though.




When I was ~12-14, the gaming club I played AD&D with was run by students from a local Christian high school. They had a couple of teachers as players, too -- and the school's teachers were all members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers. One of 'em ran the wiliest, most devious PC cleric I ever gamed with.


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## Cyronax (Dec 20, 2009)

The dude has a picture of Sasha Grey (look her up on wiki ... trust me ... she's a renaissance woman who happens to be a (major) pornstar) whom he just met out at some hang out. This guy seems totally for real.  

Its great that D&D draws all kinds. Close-to-mainstream feels like a strange place to be after the crap D&D went through when I was younger.


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## megamania (Dec 20, 2009)

DnD is for all ages and occupations.


About ten years ago I had a player in the group that was a male stripper.  In college my wife roomed with a stripper and was a friend to another one.


Its not THAT uncommon.


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## Wik (Dec 20, 2009)

Cyronax said:


> The dude has a picture of Sasha Grey (look her up on wiki ... trust me ... she's a renaissance woman who happens to be a (major) pornstar) whom he just met out at some hang out. This guy seems totally for real.




Yeah.  I actually had a girlfriend who was in LOVE with Sasha Grey (and yeah, she's a gorgeous woman).  Won't go into the details here, but I'm in love with Sasha Grey, too, because she helped put "ideas" in my girlfriend's head.    I was suprised as hell to find out that she's now acting in "real" movies, though.

_EDIT:  Realized I forgot to actually put the moral of the story in here, after all this time walking down "dirty memory lane".    So, here it is:  _

Yeah, a lot of these people have just as much capacity for gaming as anyone else.  Maybe more so, since we all know RPGs are a venue for people with sub par acting skills, which is something we share with the adult entertainmenet market.  

Also, yeah, I've played with some weird players.  Like the guy who was actually a sociopath (like, really) and had some very arbitray rules the group had to follow.  Or, more on topic, I once gamed with a guy who, roughly around the few times he gamed, came out as "bi" and then, a year or so later, wound up doing all sorts of, um, adult videos with an all-male cast.  Then there was the girl who insisted on playing topless (it was weird, and not in a good way).  

Oh!  And the guy who, after playing for 12 hours straight, actually had problems staying in the real world - I vaguely remember something about him trying to cast a sleep spell and then realizing sleep spells don't work in the real world.  Which was kind of funny, but also super sad.  

Point is, I don't think a porn star would really even be my weirdest player at this point.  Definitely on my top five, though.


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## Cyronax (Dec 20, 2009)

Wik said:


> Yeah.  I actually had a girlfriend who was in LOVE with Sasha Grey (and yeah, she's a gorgeous woman).  Won't go into the details here, but I'm in love with Sasha Grey, too, because she helped put "ideas" in my girlfriend's head.    I was suprised as hell to find out that she's now acting in "real" movies, though.
> 
> _EDIT:  Realized I forgot to actually put the moral of the story in here, after all this time walking down "dirty memory lane".    So, here it is:  _
> 
> ...





I played with someone who also veered too much into the fantasy world ... I think she was some wannabe Wicca. Unfortunately she didn't actually take the time to learn what that religion was actually about and was just one of those people who delve faux-pagan just to be brats. 

Wik,

I had a similar experience with a girlfriend liking another specific (female) pornstar. It wasn't Sasha Grey, since it was a few years ago. 

Not to veer too far off topic, but I guess this thread is really a discussion about unusual players. So I have to ask, why did the sociopath admit to being a sociopath?? From what I've read, sociopaths either consciously with-hold admitting that aspect to acquaintances in order to manipulate people better. OR ... the sociopath doesn't know they're a sociopath and just comes across like a prick to most people. 

And what were the 'arbitrary' rules he or she concocted. Gaming with Sociopaths practically deserves its own thread!    



C.I.D.


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## Wik (Dec 20, 2009)

Cyronax said:


> Not to veer too far off topic, but I guess this thread is really a discussion about unusual players. So I have to ask, why did the sociopath admit to being a sociopath?? From what I've read, sociopaths either consciously with-hold admitting that aspect to acquaintances in order to manipulate people better. OR ... the sociopath doesn't know they're a sociopath and just comes across like a prick to most people.




First off, we always assumed he was just kind of a dink, until a few years later, when a friend of mine (who knew him better) sort of dropped the details.  Mostly because no one could deal with the guy anymore.  

As it relates to gaming, though, yeah, he had a few odd rules, such as:

1)  If he was GMing, you couldn't play a thief.  If you did play a thief (ie, they weren't barred in his campaign), you would die.  Painfully.

2)  He had the monster manuals memorized.  To the point where I remember throwing a fight where there were giant crocodiles and regular crocodiles fighting the PCs, and he was able to tell everyone the ACs of both monsters.  And knew their hit dice.  And, if as a GM I varied from what was detailed in the book, he'd FREAK OUT.  Like, curse and start hitting stuff.  Also, he refused to switch to 3e when it came out because he didn't want to have to memorize a new rule book (I think the last time I saw him was around 2 years after 3e's release, so I don't have any new info).

3)  Stupid players were not tolerated.  If you did something stupid in game, you got a tongue lashing.

4)  Excessive "Role-Players" were the target of scorn.  Not that it came up much in our groups (we were never hardcore RPers, but when it did happen, he got angry).  

5)  World details were a big thing.  If you were playing a pubbed campaign setting, you had to follow canon.  Which got kind of funny.  We were running a 2e Forgotten Realms game, and I set my game near Sembia, which was at the time declared "DM's playground - this area won't be touched by game designers!".  Because I had free reign, I made the place my own.  Only to have the character act strangely - because he was playing with HIS version of Sembia in mind, and was refusing to admit the changes I had made were accurate.  So he was acting with his version of Sembia in mind until I changed things to fit his "vision".  

Yeah, there were a few others, but I really can't remember them all.  I do remember he had a house rule of "if you kill it, you get all the XP" which bugged the hell out of me (you more or less competed with teammates for kills).  And I also know he was actually pretty fine until eighth grade (all of these stories are from either the last years of high school, or a year or two after) - around 8th grade was when he tried to slit his wrists.  With safety scissors.  Which was kind of funny.


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## catsclaw227 (Dec 20, 2009)

I've gamed with a couple of porn stars before.  One I roomed with back in the early 90's (she was trying to live the double life, and had moved from Chatsworth -- as earlier stated, the porn capital -- to Westlake Village an entirely different place).

The other was my GF, who became a porn star about 6 months after we broke up.

I also gamed with a group (totally unrelated) where being heterosexual was the minority and it was one of the best groups I ever gamed with.  Lawyers, Actors and generally all white collar professionals.  I really loved that group.

On a sadder note, I hooked up with a good friend from High School after I returned from college.  We gamed for a few years and then around 26yrs old, while we were still gaming every other week, he slowly developed schizophrenia and after about 2 years was unable to interact socially anymore.   It was terribly sad, and his descent into madness was reflected in his characters, and during the last year he could only play solo or with one other friend without freaking out once in a while.  Very sad, but I imagine it would have been worth more than one dissertation to have been a part of those 2 years of gaming.


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## Wik (Dec 20, 2009)

catsclaw227 said:


> On a sadder note, I gamed with a good gamer friend from High School that after I returned from college.   We gamed for a few years and then around 26yrs old, we were still gaming every other week, he slowly developed schizophrenia and after about 2 years was unable to interact socially anymore.   It was terribly sad, and his descent into madness was reflected in his characters, and the last year he could only play solo or with one other friend without freaking out once in a while.  Very sad, but I imagine it woud have been worth more than one dissertation to have been a part of those 2 years of gaming.




Dude.  It is pretty sad stuff, eh?  Watching a friend kind of go off the deep end while you game can be sad.  Eventually, you have to make the call as a GM (and a human being) on whether gaming is something that is good for this person.  And good for yourself. 

Reminds me of another gamer friend of mine.  He wound up doing a LOT of drugs in the last few years of high school, and was so crazy on drugs that the last I saw of him, he actually needed drugs to be any semblance of normal.  He had this creepy stare (as in, he wouldn't blink) accompanied with a half smile that made your skin crawl.  Before he got all weird, he was fun to game with, though.  We wound up no longer associating with him after a few bad incidents we heard about.  I vaguely recall there being police involved.  

Can't believe I didn't mention this guy in my roll of odd gamers I've gamed with.


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## Cyronax (Dec 21, 2009)

Outside of faux-Wicca girl, 

I once DMed for some people that preferred Adventure Paths (as in 'we always win/know the way') to Sandbox-style (i.e. the  NPCs have their own agenda regardless of PCs/world feel real). I quite gaming with them due to our differences ... (after 4 years). 

One of those players was a male and would only play females for an undisclosed reason. Most, if not all, of his characters were strikder-ish types (in 3.x) that had angsty emo-style backgrounds. 

Anyway, all of your experiences sound much more intense. I'd love to hear more. Its interesting reading. 

C.I.D.


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## Wik (Dec 21, 2009)

I imagine someone will post that "creepy players" thread in a few minutes, to put the stories here to shame.  Like, the Brazilian Death Squad and all that jazz.    Wish I had the link.


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## jasin (Jan 22, 2010)

Cyronax said:


> The dude has a picture of Sasha Grey (look her up on wiki ... trust me ... she's a renaissance woman who happens to be a (major) pornstar) whom he just met out at some hang out.



And now she started playing with them.


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## Nifft (Jan 22, 2010)

Regarding that secret project he's being mysterious about... [sblock]...if they were to make a D&D porn movie, it *can't* be worse than the D&D movies which have been made already.[/sblock]

Cheers, -- N


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## Mallus (Jan 22, 2010)

Pornstars aside, the site rapidly became me and my group's favorite RPG blog. It's some really insightful and amusing writing about D&D/gaming. 

(and unlike blogs like, say, Grognardia --a site which the pornstar guy admires quite a bit-- his blog can discuss fairly pretentious topics with a lot humor and unpretentious-ness )


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## TheWyrd (Jan 23, 2010)

I started following the blog a month ago or so. I'm sure the hook has helped me, but this is one of the few grognard style writings that I can stomach. Most other ones turn me off completely with the sheer bitterness that seems inherent in the writing. It think for me there is also a big difference between someone who plays old school because that's the way they've always played and someone clued in to the spirit of kit bashing.


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## Runestar (Jan 24, 2010)

I can no longer look at tittivilus the same way again, not after how it apparently inspired them to come up with a healing goddess with huge breasts. 

And yes, I am jealous I didn't come up with it first.


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## I'm A Banana (Jan 24, 2010)

I like it.

Reminds me somewhat of a lot of my college experience playing, where there were lots of new people, and lots of ladies. Current job and casual opportunities are not conducive to meeting people who would be down with rolling some dice.

I like the old-schooliness, and he makes some good points. He seems to have a similar style to my DMing, just more AD&D-ized. 

Favorite post is probably this one, which addresses snack food in a Gygaxian style. YES!


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