Dear Reporter,
As a Dungeon Master (DM) for close to ten years now I feel that I am uniquely qualified to respond to the article “The Secret Society of Pen and Paper Geekdom.” My first response is of course to this word “secret.” Now I am sure that Reporter has excellent writers and journalists on staff, and yet none of you could discover the club here on the RIT campus that supports all of the players of Dungeons and Dragons at RIT. The Rochester Wargamers Association and Guild is one of the three largest clubs on campus, and one of the most active. We have weekly meetings every Tuesday night, and often met on Saturdays as well for various special activities. We offer tutorial games for people who have never played, as well as numerous games for those experienced players. It is a great social experience, and I have met many friends at RWAG with whom I can socialize without a twenty sided dice.

Second I would like to refute this idea that D&D is some kind of mainstream geek game similar to World of Warcraft. When was the last time you wished life was a bit simpler? That the good guys and the bad guys would be easy to tell apart, and that when the bad guys did something you could do battle and the winner would get their way. When was the last time you wished you could be the hero and get the girl in the end? That is the core of the role-playing game. It is being someone else for a few hours, acting out all those emotions and desires that are simply incompatible with the real world in a harmless way. Even more it is the ultimate outlet for creativity. You get to create from the ground up a completely different identity. Do you want to be the small shy guy who always seems to pull a miracle out of his hat, or the tall stunning warrior who’s very presence makes members of the opposite sex swoon. It’s all there, and with a good DM you can explore an imaginary world with this alternate personality, and enjoy doing it. There really is no similarity at all between D&D and WoW. In World of Warcraft you create a profile, an avatar with certain looks and a set of numbers and abilities corresponding to that avatar. In Dungeons and Dragons you create a person, and then make up a set of numbers to represent that person in the game. The “mechanics” or dice rolling is used only to allow for failure, and to simulate reality. While WoW is a quest for standings, power, and a fun way to blow off steam, Dungeons and Dragons is a quest for a concept, a history, and a story. Dungeons and Dragons is a game that can only truly be played by those creative enough to step outside of themselves for a time and see what they could become without the rules and constraints of the real world.

There are many people who play D&D who have been called geeks, nerds, dorks, etc. by those stupid enough to judge an activity without actually trying it first. And even worse there are many people within the D&D community who treat the game as a collection of rules to manipulate in order to achieve the same goals as those sought in WOW. But what most people don't understand is that this unilateral search for more and more power is simply not what D&D is really about. At its heart is is a game that can be used both as an outlet for the stresses of the world, a social gathering, and a creative outlet. It is not limited to "geeks," and should you give it a try you would be amazed at how open the D&D community really is. We are not a group of dirty, annoying, overweight, caffeine pumped nerds. We are a group of normal looking, average people who have chosen to go outside stereotypes and unleash our creativity.

Finally I would like to comment on the idea that D&D is limited to Pen and Paper. This is entirely untrue, thanks to advances in technology a larger and larger percentage of Dungeons and Dragons games are going online. Chat programs like AIM, webcams and microphones, and even the massive forums used often for blogging or chatting have been used to create surprisingly large and robust communities. The best known and, in my opinion, the most successful of these online communities is known as DNDOnlineGames.com. Commonly called DNDOG, it is a massive roleplaying site that offers space for any Roleplaying Game you could wish to play, from D&D to Gurps to World of Darkness, all in a text format. Called Play by Post these games take place everyday with players leaving posts similar to a Facebook wall, that tell what their characters are doing, and include any dice rolls electronically. The site is a hotbed of creativity, and the site staff is without a doubt the most dedicated group of people you could ask for. And best of all, the service is free. Anyone can sign up with a ten second registration process, and begin playing immediately. The site even offers games with guaranteed admission for anyone who has never played Dungeons and Dragons before, or who have never played online before.

So to all those who are fine with being close minded, with just being yourself everyday, for those of you who have no desire to be the hero and would rather watch James Bond "almost" lose yet again, continue on with your lives and forget about this offering. But for those of you who consider yourselves open minded, who don't mind the rest of society snubbing their noses because you can tell the difference between an orc and a goblin, stop by the SAU cafeteria some Tuesday night. Take a seat at some table, and prepare to have the experience of a lifetime. Have fun using your mind, a pencil, and a couple dice. It will be an experience you will never forget.

A man who creates Worlds,
Benjamin Jilson
Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2nd year

Dear Reporter,
I work in Wallace Library, and am just dropping a brief note of praise for the aesthetics of the latest (10/03/08) issue of Reporter.

I really appreciate the graphics of this issue, including the interior layout. In addition, I want to point out the illustrations on the following pages as being especially appealing to me:

1. Front Cover (love the style, concept and colors); 2. Pages 16-19 (nice spread; good illustration and interesting use of color

The magazine is off to a strong start in 2008-'09. I wish you all the best and want you to know that some of us older dorks appreciate the hard work and extra effort this type of publication requires.

Best wishes,
Robert Chandler
Marketing Communications Specialist, RIT Libraries