Getting to know each other, Gaming groups, oddities, habits, shops. Options

[JongWK]

After almost a year in the 'Shock, I've come to know many fellow gamers. Some I know better, some not. I've also seen some flame wars erupt when they could have been avoided, basically by knowing each other a little more.

So, to promote a better understanding between gamers (please, save the Nobel Prize for later ;)), I'm starting this thread to know about local gaming communities. Like, how many people play in your area, what do you play and where and (of course), any odd bit of information that is worth our collective laugh.

I'll lead by the example:

I'm GMing 2 groups, one for d20 and another for Shadowrun. The d20 groups fluctuates between 4-5 members, while the SR has 5. I tend to play at a friend's house (d20) or, in Shadowrun's case, at a local RPG pub called Botch!.

The pub is solely dedicated to the RPG & hobby community and is celebrating its firts anniversary tomorrow (a toast to them and their 60-hours long celebrations!). Every time I go there, I can find no less than 20-30 gamers role-playing D&D, SR or whatever (the pub has a sizable library, some gamers actually leave a few core books to help others). The Pub also has the virtue to attract female gamers into a female-friendly environment :P ("see?, you're not alone"), thus helping to reduce the gender disparity.

The RPG community here in Uruguay has grown over the years, I'd say it has certainly more than 1000 gamers, an estimation we did a few years ago. We've managed to get support from the Ministry of Education and Culture's National Youth Institute, so we've ran a few "Conventions" in their building since last year. Maybe 150 people isn't a GenCon, but hey, things are growing. :)

And as for the odd bit of freakdom: Back in 1996, I went with my highschool to Bariloche (a popular sky resort in southern Argentina). While everybody was thinking on snow/skying/discos/chocolates/booze/girls/boys (not necessarily in that exact order, mind you :)), I walked down the main street until I found a small tattoo/comic shop :wobble:. Alas, they had no RPGs (just a few packs from a "Magic card game"... no decks either), but they had a lone set of dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and a shiny red d20.

Yes, I traveled 30 hours across half the South American continent to buy my first set of dice. :rotfl:

Ok, your turn now. :talker: