A hobby for everyone

So I've got this setup I call "Choose your adventure" and I go to odd places trying to convince people to try out tabletop RPGs.

Part of this is going to Geek Retreat in Birmingham once a month. This has been a bit like pulling teeth so far - and I certainly don't intend to post about every one of my visits.  However, something happened today which was a bit special.

When I got there, it was a bit busier than it has been recently. It seems to be attracting lots of regulars in the late teens/early twenties bracket. Lots of Card games being played - mainly Magic - the gathering. There was an RPG going on. I heard later that they were playing "The Actual Cannibal Shia LeBoeuf" RPG but I suspect they must have been playing something else as well. I know (from refereeing it myself) that TACSLB doesn't take very long to play. (If you want more details ask.)

A couple of guys showed an interest in my set-up, especially my Dr Who stuff (based on my Code of the Spacelanes rules). They were joined by Sam, the owner, and a couple of Magic players. They requested a one hour demo with pregens as the Magic players couldn't go too long without getting another fix of their CCG. The game was gonzo fun with one of the players rolling a double and deciding that the Tardis had ended up in the Year 3000 in a world that worshipped "Busted". So what if the cybernetically preserved Busted when try appeared (Charlie, James and Oliver, apparently) had the same stats as Soloman and his robots (my original antagonists)? The players didn't notice and everyone had a fun time.

But then it was back to "Billy no mates" time. And I was considering knocking the rest of the day on the head and - possibly - not coming back to the store on spec again.

Then an older lady (I feel cheeky saying that - she was younger than me) came in with a teenage French boy. He was staying with her to improve his English. He was a gaming nerd and she'd brought him into town to visit Games Workshop. They'd referred them to Geek Retreat (after he'd bought some Necrophids-?- Warhammer 40K figures.) I was trying to chat to him about RPGs when I noticed two very young girls (early teens?) wandering around the store looking lost. I asked if they wanted to try a game like D&D and one of their faces lit up. She said she'd always wanted to try the game. She twisted her sister's(?) arm into playing. The French teacher decided that her charge wasn't ready to take full part in the game yet but she decided to play herself and sort of involve him through a running commentary.

So I had a table of all female players who'd never played before, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and decades apart in ages, with a French lurker. I was so pleased to have a full range of genders and cultural types available as pregens. The game was an absolute joy. It was only Matt Colville's "the Delian Tomb" played using The Black Hack but it was great. The older French teacher played very tactically, and the younger girls were on the edge of their seats with excitement. It was one of those games where they rolled badly and things got very tense.

Then a dad (30s or 40s - very working class) turned up with his son (7/8 ish?), who'd just wandered in, asked to join in. It was the most diverse table I'd ever had. None had ever played before. And they all just joined in together and had a fantastic time. The French student is going to be coming back as part of his training. The dad is going to play the games with his son to try and wean him off the PlayStation. AND he's coming back to Geek Retreat, without his son, but with a mate to play more. I don't know if the two girls were converts. I think one of them was. But THAT'S why I'm doing what I do. The simplest dungeon in the world using the simplest D&D rules bringing together a group of people of different ages, genders etc. who'd never played before all laughing and playing together.

This truly is a hobby for everyone.