Quote from: flyerfan1991;705035Actually, it does depend in what part of Ohio.  SW Ohio is heavily Catholic, as is the farming region North of Dayton.  SW Ohio is also much more politically conservative than NE Ohio, which has an impact in how personalities such as television evangelists are perceived.

From my naive un-American perspective I'd have thought that Catholics and Televangelists would not mix at all?

Quote from: S'mon;705081From my naive un-American perspective I'd have thought that Catholics and Televangelists would not mix at all?

It's kind of weird how that works out.

Typically you'd not expect their paths to cross, but during the late 70s-mid 80s there wasn't a Catholic "presence" on television/cable.  There might have been the odd locally produced show, but nothing on the level of Bishop Fulton Sheen's radio and television shows back in the day.  Therefore, you'd see some Catholic parents --especially those around the borders of the Bible Belt-- taking cues from the burgeoning field of televangelism.  My parents, for example, used to take notes on what rock bands were considered "Satanic" and then cross reference with my own cassette collection.  So, when the Satanic Panic hit, it was natural that this sort of thing would be picked up by those who would watch the 700 Club.

From the mid-80s onward, Catholics got their own cable network --EWTN-- so the groups didn't mix as much, but the damage had already been done.

Quote from: S'mon;705081From my naive un-American perspective I'd have thought that Catholics and Televangelists would not mix at all?

Technically they don't, since Catholics are pagans to evangelical "Chrustians"; but there are differences even in Catholics, like the separation between Germans and Irish.

The chap running the game is Albie Fiorie, one of the great unsung heroes of the early days of D&D in the UK. He wrote about D&D very early on in the mid-seventies when he was the editor of Game & Puzzles magazine. He went on to be become the editor of White Dwarf in the early days, as well as do the graphic design for things like the Dungeon Floor Plans and board games that GW published back in the late seventies and early eighties, and he was responsible for putting together the AD&D Fiend Folio based on articles that appeared in WD.  Several of his adventures were published in WD, and are well worth checking out if you can track them down.

I was lucky enough to play in some of his games, and he was easily one of the best and most imaginative GMs I've ever met. He had a quirky sense of humor; I can remember that early in our career exploring one of his dungeons, we were approached by a shifty figure who sold us some magic potions. He'd usually be around near the entrance when we entered the dungeon, appearing with a whispered "Psssst" to sell us some potions.  These were pretty minor things – they would cure a few HPs damage, or give you +1 to hit for a fight, that kind of thing – but they didn't cost much, so we'd always buy a few.

Then, after a few games, Albie let us know that the we were getting strange cravings for the potions, and our stats started to go down if we didn't drink at least one during the session. Strangely, the price of the potions started to go up by quite a bit at this point, and often our helpful dealer would only have potions that took away the craving, and gave no benefit in return! An early lesson in the perils of addiction, and that you should always very carefully look a gift horse in the mouth...

Quote from: TristramEvans;704753The part with 'frothers'

ALL OF THE DRUGS. ALL OF THE TIME.

...wait, no other SLA players here? If "frother" was an actual gamer slang term back then, it just makes the joke funnier.

"Frother" isn't a bit of slang I've heard before, but it's a useful enough term.

Thing is, I don't think it's even a regional deal.  It's a matter of what kind of environment the FLGS has going.  Back in the early days, I patronized two FLGSs in the Boston area.  I never encountered "frothing" at one; at the other, it was pretty common.  Were I to speculate, three decades and more down the line, I imagine the dividing line was that the first FLGS was owned by a traditional board gamer and the counterman wasn't a gamer; the management and staff of the other were solidly RPGers and wargamers.  A good part of the time, the latter store's staffers were part of the frothing, and I was standing around -- purchases in hand -- tapping my feet, waiting to be served while the cashier was burbling on about his invincible character or that cool session last month.

If that second store wasn't in walking distance of my college and had a better selection, I doubt I'd ever have patronized it as much as I did.

This video reminded me of two things: first, how GW was once totally awesome and not a shit-soaked crap-factory.
Second, LARPers were fucking lame right from the very beginning.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Glazer;705101The chap running the game is Albie Fiorie, one of the great unsung heroes of the early days of D&D in the UK. He wrote about D&D very early on in the mid-seventies when he was the editor of Game & Puzzles magazine. He went on to be become the editor of White Dwarf in the early days, as well as do the graphic design for things like the Dungeon Floor Plans and board games that GW published back in the late seventies and early eighties, and he was responsible for putting together the AD&D Fiend Folio based on articles that appeared in WD.  Several of his adventures were published in WD, and are well worth checking out if you can track them down.

I also got a kick out of seeing that name. All we were missing were a Don Turnbull or Graeme Morris for a complete who's who of UK gaming at the time.

I loved he almost board gamey element of gradually revealing the dungeon as you explored it.

With regard to the number of women in the video, this being a TV program I wouldn't be surprised if the producers tried to get as many woman gamers as possible onto the screen to broaden the appeal.

Wondering why the boxes of stuff shown in the beginning is infinitely more compelling than the crap I see in the gaming store now...

Quote from: Fiasco;705790With regard to the number of women in the video, this being a TV program I wouldn't be surprised if the producers tried to get as many woman gamers as possible onto the screen to broaden the appeal.

Take note that a-lot of the gals shown are in the LARP segment. LARPs tend to attract a fair share of women. One of the big non-Vamp ones local might be close to 50/50. Not sure.

I think they just filmed a-lot of people and used the ones who signed the waiver and could articulate well enough to get across what they were saying, and looked interesting. Fairly standard. Ive been in two documentary interview sessions.

Quote from: TristramEvans;704753THIS is pure liquid nostalgic.

I audibly groaned when I saw some of the awesome classic products on the shelves.

The part with 'frothers' (gamers who stop by game shops to talk about their characters) is hilarious. The games workshop guy was spot on when he said 'its like someone describing a movie to you that you have no interest in seeing'.

One surprising thing was the  amount of girl gamers featured. For a hobby that was supposedly in a patriarchal dark age until the SJWs came along to war for inclusion, this news report doesn't seem to paint that picture.

As a woman let me give you a hint...right before WW there was Palladium Fantasy, lots of females in that player base. But honestly it wasn't until VtM and with it LARP on a large scale did women really come into the hobby in significant numbers. Which was the very late'80's and early'90's.

Quote from: Marleycat;705951As a woman let me give you a hint...right before WW there was Palladium Fantasy, lots of females in that player base.

I'm not familiar with that game. Was there a reason that one in particular attracted a large female fanbase?

Quote from: TristramEvans;705952I'm not familiar with that game. Was there a reason that one in particular attracted a large female fanbase?

Like myself I think female gamers tend to prefer horror and fantasy with horror themes. Hence Palladium Fantasy basically Dnd with horror overtones. The game pulled no punches about magic or paths therein or demons/devils unlike it's contemporary 2e.

It's alignment system was well explained in modern terms and allowed for moral ambiguity just like any White Wolf game. Which is key for any horror/fantasy-horror not in the slasher/slapstick genre.

Quote from: Marleycat;705954Like myself I think female gamers tend to prefer horror and fantasy with horror themes. Hence Palladium Fantasy basically Dnd with horror overtones. The game pulled no punches about magic or paths therein or demons/devils unlike it's contemporary 2e.

It's alignment system was well explained in modern terms and allowed for moral ambiguity just like any White Wolf game. Which is key for any horror/fantasy-horror not in the slasher/slapstick genre.

I just figured that the reason why V:tM did so well was that the fires of interest were stoked by the Anne Rice vampire novels.

Quote from: flyerfan1991;705956I just figured that the reason why V:tM did so well was that the fires of interest were stoked by the Anne Rice vampire novels.

Not to be mean but what took you so long? They are the perfect example of fantasy/horror.