Folk DnD
Jan 09, 2024
Folk DnD.
Folk: as in folk art.
DnD: as in the popular game that became synonymous with tabletop roleplaying.
I really like this expression that I picked up from Questing Beast. You can see the man himself explain it in the video below.
It expresses the joy of the game that has long since diverged from any one brand, rule system or otherwise. It underlines that what is important is how it is played at home around the thousand kitchen tables, discord servers and basements where it is played. Not what some public megacorp thinks you should buy or play!
The culture and memories that are created there. Those homebrew rules blooming out of years and years of gaming experience and the joy of experimentation. The unprofessional folk art created by friends for their own sake documenting some epic event, or commemorating a fallen comrade. Art created just for a few people who were there, not intended for wider audience, for profit or anything else. Art created for five friends. Just for the utterly human urge to create art. It is about those retold stories of the grand battles, taking risk and having a merry old time.
I can still recall battles of old we fought as kids more than twenty years ago in a boy’s room somewhere in southern Sweden. Remembering the comradery, the bravery and the excitement. I still play with some of the people I did back then. Boys then, men now.
Pour a libation to your fallen player characters and to Folk DnD.