At CTY, the administration beleives that RPGs are bad. So any D&D books and other material is forbidden. Luckily, a group of us was sufficiently geeky enough to play by memory, using only some index cards and smuggled dice. What ensued was the most hilarious campaign I have ever been in.
The cast is pretty hilarious by itself. We decided that in order to counter our lack of rulebooks, we would be as rediculous as possible (though that may have happened regardless of whether or not we had rulebooks). I am a halfling druid hermit, who gave up a useful companion for five squirrels. We also have a half-goblin "savant" transmuter with a clock obsession, a dwarf rogue alcoholic stereotypically named "Axebeard Alestone". The only normal one was the elf ranger, who was constantly being buffed by both me and the wizard so that his already formidable 18STR became 26 almost every encounter. Can you spell brick? Not to mention all the randomly generated scores overpowered most of us, except me, so that they were forced to relinquish points to me so I could boost my underpowered 8s and 10s.
Add to that the setting and events. They were simple enough, really, we were on a near-Oerth type demiplane, asked by a council of mages to locate the plane's draconic creator and find out why magic was building up on the plane. On the way, we managed to alienate the humans, fall on the wrong side of the gnomes, and get into trouble with the local dwarves (popular, huh). A few days in, the half-goblin accidentally activated what I am guessing was some transmutation-based rod of wonder or something and got turned into a female half elf. This greatly pleased the ranger, and the rest of us for that matter because without the CHA penalty, her new charisma was 18. This pissed off the player, though, because he hates elves and especially half elves. The ensuing RP involved him begging every magic user we came across to turn him back, even though most of them had no idea what (s)he was talking about.
We didn't have enough time to finish, but there was talk of it continuing online, possably Paizo, so you may well see more.
... i AM SCARED!ahahahaha sounds neat though
My first instinct was to think that CTY referred to a county jail, but I'm probably off the mark.
What's CTY?
So did you actually bring the books and they said to put them away, or are they so scared of D&D that in orientation they added, "and for the love of Christ, DON'T BRING D&D BOOKS!"?
Weird that a center for talented youth wouldn't let people play D&D. You have to be pretty talented to pick up on the rules.
The Center for Talented Youth at John Hopkins thinks RPGs are bad?
That's insane. What is this world coming to? You think they would want to foster creative thought.
Oh, they are fostering creative thought. They've allowed these students to creatively find their way around the rules in order to play their game anyways.
I'm just glad that the guy who was responsible for the shooting at VT didn't play D&D. I was watching all the news bulletins thinking that if he played D&D, every school would ban D&D. (Cuz it would have obviously have been the source of all of his troubles.)
A shame really. I bet $50 that they'd be OK with a Hero book...
So did you actually bring the books and they said to put them away, or are they so scared of D&D that in orientation they added, "and for the love of Christ, DON'T BRING D&D BOOKS!"?
D&D books was a specific example in the "RPG Material" bit of the forbidden items section. Right under Magic the Gathering and other TCGs. Allegedly we weren't supposed to bring anything that would cut us off from socializing with the rest of the campers, feeling that nerds with something to do other than talk to each other would sit in isolation or something (they didn't allow laptops either, which is why you are all getting this thread after the fact). Some would have, actually, but D&D requires multiple people so I'm not sure what that has to do with that.
Also, there was a rumor I heard that at one point a group of kids skipped class to play D&D. If that is true, I might understand its banning, but I'd be more shocked that anyone would skip class at CTY (we're all nerds and the classes are actually interesting.)
A shame really. I bet $50 that they'd be OK with a Hero book...
Nope. No RPGs.
A shame really. I bet $50 that they'd be OK with a Hero book...Nope. No RPGs.
Even more sad. Hero has some of the most complex rules, next to Vehicle combat in GURPS. Never played Rolemaster, but I hear they have some beefy rules as well.
A university banning RPGs and certain books? That's just insane. Aren't universities supposed to be bastions of inclusiveness and free speech?
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...Allegedly we weren't supposed to bring anything that would cut us off from socializing with the rest of the campers, feeling that nerds with something to do other than talk to each other would sit in isolation or something...
Actually, I both understand and agree with this. Gamers are a clique just like sk8rz (cool uban slang-use, huh?). Sometimes we need a little help to get us out of the trenches and into the sunlight with the other commoners (nongamers).
The Center for Talented Youth at John Hopkins thinks RPGs are bad?
That's insane. What is this world coming to? You think they would want to foster creative thought.
Congrats on circumnavigating the system and developing what sounds like a fun and imaginative game.
Banning fun activities is just preparation for attending JHU as an undergrad.