Earlier this month I read the book “Just a Geek“, by Wil Wheaton. I’ve been reading his blog on and off for many years, but the last couple of years I kind of lost track of him. Then I came back to his blog last month, remembered how much I enjoyed it, and started watching some of his web series about table-top games, called (appropriately), “Tabletop.”

This show, Tabletop, man it really makes me want to get some friends together and play some of these games. It looks fun. Back in the early 1990s, I ran a D&D game in which my wife and number of friends played. It was great fun, as they were all new to gaming.

The problem with D&D and other traditional RPGs is that they take tremendous amounts of time. That’s a problem for me, at least. I have a lot of other projects. My wife is busy working on a PhD. We can’t take the time to spend hours and hours playing D&D. And of course, I’d have to spend just as much time getting the game ready, as GM, before we even played.

All the time involved in preparing and playing RPGs is directly proportion to lack of physical exercise of the participating human. You rarely see any non-rotund gamers older than 22. So even though I think gaming is fun, it’s not as fun as skateboarding, Aikido, and not being a human sloth.

I should say this now — I say this all with love.  I love the geeks. I don’t care that they’re mostly in pretty bad shape. This isn’t a jock making fun of them, OK? If I had an extra 30 hours of free time per week, I’d be right there with them. Part of the fun of geekdom is the absolute, uncensored, total psycho STOKE that geeks have for their comics, games, movies, etc. I have always been a bit too reserved a person to fully participate in that. I always felt like an interloper in the Geek World, but I still have always appreciated that enthusiasm.

If I’m gonna be extend my sedentary ways from work to home, I’d rather be reading.

Which bring me back to Tabletop. There are some really cool, creative games out there that can be played in about an hour. That is kind of appealing to me. It’s not the same thing as RPGs creativity-wise, but I think it offers some of the same fun experience. In fact, I found a game on the show that I think my nieces and nephews would really enjoy playing. Gonna get it and take it on our next visit. Should be a blast.

I’m going to check for this one particular table-top game at Madness Comics & Games, in Plano, Texas. I am lucky to work and live near this store, and let me just say this, it is the BEST comics/gaming store I’ve ever seen. They have frickin’ everything! And I do mean EVERYTHING. Looking for every one of the Hellboy compilations? They’ve got it. Looking for a place to play your games? They have a HUGE gaming area.

OK, that’s all for now. I need to make a saving-throw, then drink a potion of healing, load all my shit into a back of holding, and get back to work.

Edit!

OK, I was just thinking about gaming, and this came to mind. Maybe I’m just being an old guy — I don’t know. It’s no secret that I’m just not into video games. At our Aikido dojo, which exists within a larger sports facility, I often see a group of about 6-8 little boys sitting in the hall just beyond the entrance, all focused on their tablet computers and video games. It’s kind of funny and weird. First, it’s funny because here’s this little kid gaming posse. It’s kind of cool in that way. They are playing games, which is enjoyable. But damn man, they are all staring a their own screens. so they’re sitting together, which shows the desire of kids to do thing together, but all playing their own games alone. That is kind of sad to me. They should be doing something together. At least it seems like that to me. Whatever.