On Juggling of Interests…
Thanks to a pretty crazy work and personal life schedule, I had lapsed in the task of reading my fellow D&D related blogs. I headed over to Musings of a Chatty DM after a brief conversation with Phil on Friday to find a wealth of very interesting posts outlining Magic: the Gathering and a few of his other pursuits, and it got me to thinking about the other nerdy pursuits that conflict with my D&D habit.
Dealing with Shared Pursuits
We are blessed to have a very close-knit D&D crew around here in StupidRanger-ville, so it should not surprise everyone that many of our non-D&D pursuits are similar.
Most of us are nerds first, and regularly descend into any of several nerdy pursuits: movies, computer/video games, programming, etc. Several group members (including Stupid Ranger herself) are literary and fantasy nerds, opting for the Dead Tree version of fantasy and adventure.
This interesting melting-pot of interests can often lead to distraction, however many times it leads our D&D sessions into some interesting new areas because of the different exposure. I have drawn inspiration from various video game sources, I know at least one of our group likes to draw elements from motion pictures to weave into his campaigns. It should seem rather obvious how the literary buffs in our group get their fix, and I believe that most D&D folks are at least in some part theater nerds.
Embrace it!
Our focus may not remain on adventuring 100% of the time. For me, motivation often wanders aimlessly from task to task and nothing really seems to stick. I often find with enough distraction, eventually a gong sounds in my head (I’m very auditory for some reason), the sky parts, and inspiration strikes. Then, the ideas just flow easily… sometimes it takes making the effort to explore your other interests to truly inspire you in a new and different way.
So this week I challenge you to identify an area of your own personal nerdiness and give it some extra attention. You might find some real value in the change of pace!
Yeah, I just started playing Neverwinter Nights (the PC computer game) again last night. Its been years since I’ve played a computer game. Having children will do that…Anyway, I’m back on the path to nurture my inner-geek.
~AoB
Geeky hobbies are so cool…. I’m having a hard time spending ‘quality time’ with them!….
So I’m making my family join them instead.
My Wife watches Heroes and BSG.
My 6 year old son Plays the Wii, Pokemon CCG and Warcraft II with me.
My 4 year old daughter likes to watch me play Wow and imitates the dance Emos preety well…. She does a wicked Undead male impression!
I’m so getting Rock Band later and we’ll have the Chattydad’s band!
Rock Band / GH are big favorites around these parts. (I just finished the Hard solo tour for guitars over the weekend and now I’m stuck on that damnable Smashing Pumpkins song on Expert.)
I wholeheartedly support inviting your family into your vortex of nerdery. Efreak and I frequently partake of the Guitar Hero and watch Heroes and BSG, and hopefully our soon-to-arrive son will want to be a big giant nerd just like Dad!
I wonder if any Xbox360 games are rated I for infants?