Sharing real world expertise as a gaming resource - AMA

[Peter Von Danzig]

I thought it would be nice to make a thread for people to share real world expertise for game play and game design. I would also like to offer to answer questions on my particular field of expertise, and encourage others to do the same here if they want to.

I am a game designer and an amateur historical researcher, I practiced HEMA for about 20 years, I've published some academic articles on medieval history, and given talks at a couple of universities. My main area of expertise is on late medieval Central Europe, which is to say Holy Roman Empire, Czech and Polish kingdoms, Swiss Confederacy and so on. I also know a bit about nearby districts such as Italy, Flanders, and Scandinavia. In particular I've done a lot of research on fencing books and the martial arts and training done in the period, and on warfare particularly involving urban militias. So I know a bit about sword fighting, medieval war, sieges, raids, feuds etc. as well as the governance and internal social organization of medieval towns, city states, and "Free Cities".

Within the HEMA world, we share a lot of information among one another. I have friends who are translators of the 'fightbook' and have much deeper knowledge than I do on the mysteriesof those books, I have friends who maintain horses and do horse stunts for movies and TV shows, and I can tap their experience when I need to know something about horses or cavalry warfare. I have a friend who is a curator at the Royal Armouries at Leeds and has access to a large number of antique weapons who knows a great deal about kit. I also have a friend who is an ER nurse who can give me a lot of useful information about trauma and medical treatment of wounds and so on, and I have some friends involved in the study of esoteric matters, medieval grimoires and so on, who can offer insight into those subjects. And I have a friend who is a geologist who works in a huge mine, and also likes to explore old abandoned mines for fun. When I need to know about underground spaces, or mining, or the lives of dwarves, I ask him.

So if you ask me a question which relates to any of these topics, it's a fairly good chance I could give you a useful answer in the ballpark of being correct, or at the very least interesting.

I'm sure there are also many others here who also have real world knowledge of matters which RPGs routinely veer into. If you want to answer questions here, please introduce yourself and briefly describe your areas of expertise.

We don't need RPGs (especially fantasy RPGs) to be real, but I have found that sometimes borrowing details, or just the patterns of details, from the real world and mythology can be quite helpful in fleshing out ideas and coming up with clever, engaging scenarios.

If you have a question, ask me anything - if you would like to answer questions, introduce yourself.

 

[E-Rocker]

Hello, I am E-Rocker, a professional public librarian with ~20 years of experience. If folks have questions about that, I'd be happy to answer.

I'm also an amateur long-distance runner with one official half-marathon and ~8 unofficial half-marathons under my belt, so I can also speak to that topic, although not on a professional level.

 

[E-Rocker]

Oh, also, I live in Chicago, and have done since June 2007. I know Chicago's a popular adventure location, so if you have questions about what real-life Chicago is like, I can probably answer those, too.

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

I guess some real world experience is less relevant for gamers than others, though believe it or not they did have librarians in the late medieval world. And I would think long distance running could have some relevance in some circumstances. Like, do you think you could run a half-marathon while carrying some things? How much training did you need to do before you could run 13 miles.

When I was in training in the Army I believe we fairly routinely marched about that far at a pretty fast pace, carrying a rifle, plenty of gear and a heavy pack, and at the end of boot camp we did one that went all day and was supposed to be 20 miles, according to rumor. Hard to say for sure because the D.I.'s always said every march was 3 miles.

Chicago is a really big city, and not everybody lives or has spent time in a large city center. I would think maybe for some cyberpunk, sci fi etc. games Chicago could provide some interesting examples of urban environments.

 

[Dyrnwyn]

Oh, also, I live in Chicago, and have done since June 2007. I know Chicago's a popular adventure location, so if you have questions about what real-life Chicago is like, I can probably answer those, too.

Well, let's get the important questions out of the way:

1. Sox or Cubs?
2. What's your preferred deep-dish pizza restaurant?

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

No hunters or hikers, spelunkers or martial artists around? Soldiers and sailors? Thru hikers? Primitive campers? Archers or archeologists?

 

[E-Rocker]

Well, let's get the important questions out of the way:

1. Sox or Cubs?
2. What's your preferred deep-dish pizza restaurant?

1. My pre-Chicago life was spent mostly in the Seattle area, so... Mariners! Seriously, though, Sox. They have a nicer park and tickets are cheaper.

2. If I'm buying for myself, Giordano's. If I'm buying for my game group, Chicago's, because one of my group can't do gluten and Chicago's has a GF crust that doesn't taste like cardboard.

 

[soltakss]

No hunters or hikers, spelunkers or martial artists around? Soldiers and sailors? Thru hikers? Primitive campers? Archers or archeologists?

I worked on an archaeological dig for a couple of years. Let's say it's nothing like it is shown in RPG Games.

Personally, I can talk about writing computer software, running projects and that kind of thing, although if your RPG has that as its core then god help you.

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

So no shootout / swordfights with Nazis or that kinda thing?

 

[AsenRG]

Well...I am an amateur martial artist who likes weapons and grappling (just like in those old fechtbuchs). So you could ask me as well.

Also, I live in SE Europe (and am a journalist), I guess you can ask me how life/society is there as well.

With that out of the way... E E-Rocker how would you comment the library research rules in CoC? What improvements would you make?

 

[Ravenswing]

No hunters or hikers, spelunkers or martial artists around? Soldiers and sailors? Thru hikers? Primitive campers? Archers or archeologists?

Well ... I'm a semi-retired paralegal and amateur medieval historian, focusing on demographics, economics, maritime matters, music and technology (to the point where I took an academic minor in medieval demographics, and take great pride in the blogpost of mine that turns up on the top page of a Google search for the same). Mindful of E-Rocker's sidenote, I'm a native of eastern Massachusetts, which has also been a popular setting for modern adventures.

But here's the rub where hands-on experience goes. Among my hobbies, I'm a lifelong camper, and at a very rough estimate have spent around six or so years of my life living in a tent.

However. I've never not camped without an available vehicle. I've never lived off of forage, fishing or hunting. I've never camped more than five miles or so from a paved road. I've only once had to deal in the field with a serious medical emergency, and I had a paramedic's crash kit for equipment. I've never had to make an emergency shelter for survival. I've never had to rely on improvised tools. I've done almost all of my camp cooking over Coleman stoves. I've only camped for a week's worth in midwinter (although January in northern Maine is not remotely a picnic), and looking back on it, I don't think I have ever in my life camped completely solo. I know how to do all these things, and I expect my experience trumps that of 95% of gamers, but training and book learning is no substitute for genuine experience. I could not with any honesty describe myself as a "primitive camper."

 

[E-Rocker]

With that out of the way... E E-Rocker how would you comment the library research rules in CoC? What improvements would you make?

I'm not familiar with them, but I'm pretty sure we have that book in the library where I work, so I'll check and get back to you.

 

[AsenRG]

I'm not familiar with them, but I'm pretty sure we have that book in the library where I work, so I'll check and get back to you.

That's really suitable for the question...

 

[dragoner]

1. My pre-Chicago life was spent mostly in the Seattle area, so... Mariners! Seriously, though, Sox. They have a nicer park and tickets are cheaper.

2. If I'm buying for myself, Giordano's. If I'm buying for my game group, Chicago's, because one of my group can't do gluten and Chicago's has a GF crust that doesn't taste like cardboard.

To me the real Chicago answers are gravy, no ketchup, old style, and vienna.

 

[Sharrow]

No hunters or hikers, spelunkers or martial artists around? Soldiers and sailors? Thru hikers? Primitive campers? Archers or archeologists?

One time infantier and JNCO and military intelligence NCO, here. Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.

 

[Lofgeornost]

2. If I'm buying for myself, Giordano's. If I'm buying for my game group, Chicago's, because one of my group can't do gluten and Chicago's has a GF crust that doesn't taste like cardboard.

I miss Giordano's--my gaming group used to frequent the one in Hyde Park. I've not found a deep dish pizza to compare to it and even managed to convert my wife (who is a NY-style thin-crust fanatic) when we visited Chicago years ago.

As to the thread topic, I guess I don't have any real-life experience that's very applicable to fantasy games. Book-learning, maybe, but real life, no.

 

[JAMUMU]

I'm JAMUMU. I used to be an academic and educator, and before that I was a barman, and I've been in a lot of street fights, done (and dealt) a lot of drugs and pulled off some vigilante shit. I also used to martial art to a pretty high level, mostly street-fighting and traditional Chinese. Now I live in a castle made of bone and want to steal the kingdom from the rightful Thora Birch. But I keep getting foiled by Thora Hird and Compo from Last of the Summer Wine.

 

[CRKrueger]

Isn’t Chicago big on thin style crust too, as more of an everyday on the go pizza, with the literal casseroles being more of a big meal entree?

 

[Dyrnwyn]

1. My pre-Chicago life was spent mostly in the Seattle area, so... Mariners! Seriously, though, Sox. They have a nicer park and tickets are cheaper.

2. If I'm buying for myself, Giordano's. If I'm buying for my game group, Chicago's, because one of my group can't do gluten and Chicago's has a GF crust that doesn't taste like cardboard.

Good choices. My SO is from the Chicago area and is a hard-core Sox fan. While I'll concede that the neighborhood around Wrigley has more going on, I agree that the Sox ballpark itself is better. Likewise on Girodano's, though I wouldn't pass up Uno, Lou Malnati's, or others if offered.

 

[E-Rocker]

Isn’t Chicago big on thin style crust too, as more of an everyday on the go pizza, with the literal casseroles being more of a big meal entree?

Yes, tavern-style pizza is definitely A Thing in Chicago, and will inspire arguments animated discussions just as lively as those about deep dish.

My best friend, who is a fellow Seattle-to-Chicago transplant, initially hated the tavern-style pizza, even though it tastes good, because the restaurants cut it in squares. He eventually figured out you can just ask the restaurant to cut it pie-style.

 

[E-Rocker]

Well, let's get the important questions out of the way:

1. Sox or Cubs?
2. What's your preferred deep-dish pizza restaurant?

To me, the real Chicago question is, "Old Style or PBR?"

To which my answer is, "whiskey."

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

Well ... I'm a semi-retired paralegal and amateur medieval historian, focusing on demographics, economics, maritime matters, music and technology (to the point where I took an academic minor in medieval demographics, and take great pride in the blogpost of mine that turns up on the top page of a Google search for the same). Mindful of E-Rocker's sidenote, I'm a native of eastern Massachusetts, which has also been a popular setting for modern adventures.

But here's the rub where hands-on experience goes. Among my hobbies, I'm a lifelong camper, and at a very rough estimate have spent around six or so years of my life living in a tent.

However. I've never not camped without an available vehicle. I've never lived off of forage, fishing or hunting. I've never camped more than five miles or so from a paved road. I've only once had to deal in the field with a serious medical emergency, and I had a paramedic's crash kit for equipment. I've never had to make an emergency shelter for survival. I've never had to rely on improvised tools. I've done almost all of my camp cooking over Coleman stoves. I've only camped for a week's worth in midwinter (although January in northern Maine is not remotely a picnic), and looking back on it, I don't think I have ever in my life camped completely solo. I know how to do all these things, and I expect my experience trumps that of 95% of gamers, but training and book learning is no substitute for genuine experience. I could not with any honesty describe myself as a "primitive camper."

I'm not sure precisely what you are comparing to, but it sounds like you are a pretty hard core camper (a week midwinter in Maine is not a gentle experience). I don't think you need to be a winner of the last season of "Alone" in order to know useful and interesting things about sleeping out in the woods.

Hunting and gathering, making shelters etc. are a different and overlapping skillset. I don't think everyone in the pre-industrial world routinely camped alone with no gear or supplies.

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

I'm not familiar with them, but I'm pretty sure we have that book in the library where I work, so I'll check and get back to you.

In the late medieval world in Northern, Central and Southern Europe, there were small libraries inside churches and convents, taverns and inns, and guild halls. Much larger more formally organized libraries existed in Cathedrals and the largest were in Universities. Booksellers also routinely put out their wares in the marketplaces and also inside taverns (or pubs - hospoda to the Czechs) and inns.

The availability of books spread rapidly in Italy from the 13th Century with the spread of paper mills there, and starting in Central Europe in the 14th Century with the spread of the paper mill north of the Alps, starting with this one just outside of Nuremberg.



The guy who built that mill, Ulman Stromer, was a merchant who bought a lot of paper from Venice. He sent some agents there to try to figure out the mechanisms for the water powered paper mill, and the Venetian council of ten quickly learned about this from their excellent intelligence service. They discussed having the agents and maybe Stromer himself assassinated, but they had been doing business with his family for a long time, and they figured the secret was bound to get out at this point, so they decided instead to come to an arrangement. Stromer agreed to pay them a small percentage of his profits, as a kind of franchise, and they sent him three journeymen familiar with the method of construction of the mill machinery.

Stromer built his mill and within five years, Nuremberg became a center of wood-block printing (of everything from playing cards, to pamphlets, psalm books, to erotica and popular fiction, and handbills sometimes used for propaganda between individuals or families). More mills quickly appeared in dozens of cities, and artists in Central Europe started experimenting with ways of making prints of their work, starting with wood blocks, then copper plates, dry point and other methods. By the mid 15th Century Gutenberg had developed his movable type press, making book printing highly profitable. By the end of the 15th Century, the Gutenberg press had spread to over 500 towns, with over 30,000 books printed, of which roughly 27,500 have been preserved in 550,000 copies.

Venice, always agile in commerce, became the largest book printer in Europe by 1500, thus benefitting from their earlier decision not to kill Stromer.


These are all the towns with printing presses by 1500, the size of the circle indicates the number of books printed. Books printed before 1500 are called incunabla.

Also by the end of the 15th Century, another Nuremberg merchant named Anton Koberger commissioned artists and scholars (led by Hartmann Schedel) to write and illustrate a massive book called the Nuremberg Chronicle, which was kind of a combined world history and atlas, which featured paintings of hundreds of towns around Europe and the Middle East, including the depiction of Nuremberg posted above, with the Stromer paper mill in the bottom right corner. They printed 1,500 copies of this in (international) Latin, and 1,000 in German, making a nice profit. 400 Latin and 300 German copies survive today in various libraries around the world.

 

[Teotwawki]

I've been (in somewhat reverse order) a former uni professor; individual tutor of English as non-primary language; story/line editor; attainer of higher degrees in astrogeology, literature, and cultural studies; aimless world traveller; survivor of genocide and the longest military siege in modern history; participant in a party in Berlin in 1989 that literally tore the wall off the city; Southern Slav in Soviet Poland; Serbian/Turkish raised in lax Orthodoxy and Islam; and a life-long servant to our feline overlords.

And I might not have had the most interesting (in the philosophical sense) life of those commonly at our game table.

 

[Teotwawki]

To me, the real Chicago question is,

From my few years in Chicago (Rogers Park/Evanston & the Loop), the real question was Do you know the three street names that rhyme with female anatomy?

And since I am female, it is somehow more culturally acceptable--if no less bawdy--to answer that.

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

I've been (in somewhat reverse order) a former uni professor; individual tutor of English as non-primary language; story/line editor; attainer of higher degrees in astrogeology, literature, and cultural studies; aimless world traveller; survivor of genocide and the longest military siege in modern history; participant in a party in Berlin in 1989 that literally tore the wall off the city; Southern Slav in Soviet Poland; and a life-long servant to our feline overlords.

And I might not have had the most interesting (in the philosophical sense) life of those commonly at our game table.

I think you might have some very interesting stories to tell, although we don't always want to share such heavy duty experiences with those who can't fully understand them.

I'd be glad to learn anything you'd want to share about astrogeology (I'm not even certain what that means, but it sounds interesting!), and what kind of literature you studied. And the other experiences if you wanted to share.

On the level of teaching English, you might find this a little bit interesting - it's from early 16th Century Basel, and it was painted by the brother of Hans Holbein, who sadly died at a young age of illness.





This is a sign, front and back, that Ambrosius Holbein painted for a reading teacher in Basel in 1516. The sign reads the same on both sides, and the message is, I find, rather touching:

"Anyone can learn to read and write, irrespective of whether he or she is a burgher, an apprentice artisan, a woman, maid, boy, or girl. If, despite all the effort they should fail, slow learners would have nothing to pay."

 

[Teotwawki]

astrogeology (I'm not even certain what that means, but it sounds interesting!),

Broadly, it's the geological study of non-terrestrial bodies. More specifically in my study, it's bolides and bolide events; comets &meteors and their impacts. I have a deep fascination with end of the world and eschatological events of any kind.

As I just discovered moments ago, if you google "Chicxulub" then a bolide flies across the screen and jiggles the search page when it impacts.

 

[AsenRG]

I think you might have some very interesting stories to tell, although we don't always want to share such heavy duty experiences with those who can't fully understand them.

I'd be glad to learn anything you'd want to share about astrogeology (I'm not even certain what that means, but it sounds interesting!), and what kind of literature you studied. And the other experiences if you wanted to share.

On the level of teaching English, you might find this a little bit interesting - it's from early 16th Century Basel, and it was painted by the brother of Hans Holbein, who sadly died at a young age of illness.

View attachment 58105

View attachment 58107

This is a sign, front and back, that Ambrosius Holbein painted for a reading teacher in Basel in 1516. The sign reads the same on both sides, and the message is, I find, rather touching:

"Anyone can learn to read and write, irrespective of whether he or she is a burgher, an apprentice artisan, a woman, maid, boy, or girl. If, despite all the effort they should fail, slow learners would have nothing to pay."

So this is how they said "no matter how much you suck in life, you can still learn to read and write" back at the time?

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

Broadly, it's the geological study of non-terrestrial bodies. More specifically in my study, it's bolides and bolide events; comets &meteors and their impacts. I have a deep fascination with end of the world and eschatological events of any kind.

As I just discovered moments ago, if you google "Chicxulub" then a bolide flies across the screen and jiggles the search page when it impacts.

That worked, quite amusing. And way less scary than the original impact.

So speaking in terms of "Expanse" type (relatively) near term real life Science Fiction, do you think they are going to find useful metals on 16 Psyche? How soon is the 'commercial space age' going to be upon us? How many M-type asteroids are out there? How many can they get to with current (or near future) technology?

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

So this is how they said "no matter how much you suck in life, you can still learn to read and write" back at the time?

I think he's saying, if you are too 'slow' to learn to read even from this excellent teacher, you'll get your money back.

Basel was a University town and a place with a high level of literacy, literacy was kind of needed for work. It was normal to send invoices and receipts and so on. In the second painting you can see two guys dressed as artisans trying pretty intensively (from their body language) to learn to read. I imagine it was pretty stressful to not have at least vernacular literacy if you were a burgher. For a peasant it would be perhaps more aspirational in terms of social mobility.

 

[Fenris-77]

I have a degree in Medieval History and a bunch of post-degree work in Medieval English Lit. I Also have a BEd and have been a teacher for 7 years. I also have many years in kitchen as a cook and chef, and have been practicing and coaching martial arts on and off for 30-odd years. I also have a solid, let's call it 'game level' understanding of forensics and police procedure, mostly acquired through gaming, media and a significant amount of research done for gaming reasons. This seems like a fun thread.

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

I have a degree in Medieval History and a bunch of post-degree work in Medieval English Lit. I Also have a BEd and have been a teacher for 7 years. I also have many years in kitchen as a cook and chef, and have been practicing and coaching martial arts on and off for 30-odd years. I also have a solid, let's call it 'game level' understanding of forensics and police procedure, mostly acquired through gaming, media and a significant amount of research done for gaming reasons. This seems like a fun thread.

Any specific time period or region on the medieval history ?

Which martial art?

Forensics etc. is very helpful to know about I think, especially for certain games (CoC comes to mind!)

 

[Fenris-77]

Any specific time period or region on the medieval history ?

Which martial art?

Forensics etc. is very helpful to know about I think, especially for certain games (CoC comes to mind!)

My focus in terms of the period is late Roman and then late medieval, although I'm pretty well read generally.

Ive taken about 7 or 8 different martial arts, but Judo has been the one I always come back to coaching-wise. Ive spent rather a lot of time integrating various striking forms into the most useful no-gi judo forms though.

 

[Silverlion]

I'm just a guy who loves comics (all eras except Dark Age), writing novels and games, studying folklore, and who draws a little. My knowledge is mostly esoteric geek stuff.

 

[Teotwawki]

...do you think they are going to find useful metals on 16 Psyche? How soon is the 'commercial space age' going to be upon us? How many M-type asteroids are out there? How many can they get to with current (or near future) technology?

1) Yes, absolutely. But mining them is, of course, problematic due to financial/political/military issues.

2) Conservative academic answer: too many variables to casually hypothesize. Optimistic academic answer: "a generation or two".
Personal answer: we (bipedal terrestrials) haven't gotten our shit together on this dirtball, so "commercial" space age is probably not in the foreseeable. Billionaire space tourism, maybe, but commercially available to even the moderately wealthy, let alone any kind of middle-class, will really only be possible when there's significant financial gain to be had for para-terrestrial corporations.

3) About 3 dozen. Most recent information I know of (possibly a bit out of date) is that M-type astroids make up about 4% of named astroids in this galaxy, far fewer than the chondrite or stone asteroids.

4) A peopled mission would probably be possible, but likely still far too risky at current tech level. But a precise answer involves a field of science I'm not up to date with. An automated mission is more likely, but given the recent Mars rovers, such an idea is more attractive and inherently more difficult (known problems are clearer from the Mars Rover experience) . My first educated guess would be the significant difference in gravity is a major issue. Mars' is roughly a third of Terra's, and most asteroids have a fraction of what is on Mars. If divisive politics were removed form the equation and/or there was another Kennedyesque moonshot decade, humans could be colonizing Mars in short order (but not necessarily commercial flight). All the puzzle pieces are there, however putting them together might take a while. But my working knowledge of such is inadequate in regards to human space travel; the Husband might know more in this regard, not due to academic study, but from growing up in a neighborhood of von Braun's scientists.

 

[TheSaint]

I ran nuclear power plants on submarines for six years. (MM2 (SS), 1987-1993, in case anyone wants more detail). I've been an avid target shooter for fifty years now, so I know my way around firearms. I reload my own ammunition. I don't come around all that often, so if it seems like I'm ignoring your question just be patient.

 

[Raleel]

Comp scientist. Cyber security expert, smattering of languages, smattering of martial arts, avid hiker and mountain biker, avid traveler, cook, can sing fairly well. I do well in our dystopian cyberpunk future.

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

1) Yes, absolutely. But mining them is, of course, problematic due to financial/political/military issues.

2) Conservative academic answer: too many variables to casually hypothesize. Optimistic academic answer: "a generation or two".
Personal answer: we (bipedal terrestrials) haven't gotten our shit together on this dirtball, so "commercial" space age is probably not in the foreseeable. Billionaire space tourism, maybe, but commercially available to even the moderately wealthy, let alone any kind of middle-class, will really only be possible when there's significant financial gain to be had for para-terrestrial corporations.

3) About 3 dozen. Most recent information I know of (possibly a bit out of date) is that M-type astroids make up about 4% of named astroids in this galaxy, far fewer than the chondrite or stone asteroids.

4) A peopled mission would probably be possible, but likely still far too risky at current tech level. But a precise answer involves a field of science I'm not up to date with. An automated mission is more likely, but given the recent Mars rovers, such an idea is more attractive and inherently more difficult (known problems are clearer from the Mars Rover experience) . My first educated guess would be the significant difference in gravity is a major issue. Mars' is roughly a third of Terra's, and most asteroids have a fraction of what is on Mars. If divisive politics were removed form the equation and/or there was another Kennedyesque moonshot decade, humans could be colonizing Mars in short order (but not necessarily commercial flight). All the puzzle pieces are there, however putting them together might take a while. But my working knowledge of such is inadequate in regards to human space travel; the Husband might know more in this regard, not due to academic study, but from growing up in a neighborhood of von Braun's scientists.

Thanks! By "commercial space age" what I mean, at least initially, is the automated mining of maybe say, platinum, iron, rare earth metals or whatever they can find, maybe taken back to the moon for processing, again by automated vehicles. You raise a good point about the difficulties of operating on a planetoid with a micro gravity environment. But my (admittedly unqualified) guess is that they will be doing this soon.

Three dozen in the whole solar system or three dozen of those currently identified?

Mars seems quite tough because it's so far away and yet doesn't seem to offer much more than the moon. The atmosphere is so thin it offers very little protection from solar and cosmic radiation. If they wanted to put people on Mars, wouldn't they need to live underground?

What military issues do you see around asteroid mining? The existing rivalries on earth spreading into space or something more than that?

 

[Peter Von Danzig]

Comp scientist. Cyber security expert, smattering of languages, smattering of martial arts, avid hiker and mountain biker, avid traveler, cook, can sing fairly well. I do well in our dystopian cyberpunk future.

Hurricane Katrina cured me of all my dystopian future fantasies. Nobody ever showed how boring and uncomfortable it is.

 

[SmallbutVicious]

I've been (in somewhat reverse order) a former uni professor; individual tutor of English as non-primary language; story/line editor; attainer of higher degrees in astrogeology, literature, and cultural studies; aimless world traveller; survivor of genocide and the longest military siege in modern history; participant in a party in Berlin in 1989 that literally tore the wall off the city; Southern Slav in Soviet Poland; Serbian/Turkish raised in lax Orthodoxy and Islam; and a life-long servant to our feline overlords.

And I might not have had the most interesting (in the philosophical sense) life of those commonly at our game table.

I actually have a computer game about the siege of Sarajevo, but found that I couldn't bring myself to really play it. Post-apocalyptic survival games can be fun, but a game based on some fictional nonsense about zombies, or whatever, has a very different feel to one based on real events.

And while I've happily played games based on real life wars, in those you're typically playing a soldier or a general. Gamifying the life of a civilian just trying to survive felt oddly exploitative.