“Roll the dice to see if I’m getting drunk”

This Thursday D&D night at our place has been cancelled….. *gasp*….. in lieu of celebrating everyone’s favourite March holiday, St. Patrick’s Day.  While I’m not a fan of beer personally, especially when it’s been turned the colour of Slimer the friendly ghost, and I haven’t an ounce of Irish blood in my body, I will probably tag along to whatever beer serving venue is chosen by the brave adventurers that normally come over to our place to share the merriment-if only to be the DD. (Note geeks I said DD not D&D-just to clarify) 

Drinking, or pretending to drink at least, has deep roots in the geek culture so I’ve discovered. This isn’t to say all geeks are hard core drinkers or that they drink at all for that matter but  as often as not, new D&D games tend to begin in a tavern or sorts in some unknown town where the characters all happen to be enjoying a pint of their favourite goblin ale. That is until some sort of mayhem happens to break out causing them to meet and join up on their other-worldly adventure. There is even an entire geek board game called The Red Dragon Inn where D&D type characters spend their time trying to out-gamble and drink one another. Might I add that no actual drinking is involved with this-although I suppose the game could be adapted into a more traditional drinking game although, probably with some not-so-good results.

Although sometimes in D&D I’ve seen things take an entirely different stance with regards to imbibing. After one particularly “spirited” gaming session my husband was DMing (Dungeon Mastering-AKA-running the game) he imposed a strict drink limit on his fellow gamers to make sure the game ran smoother in the future.  D&D requires one to be fully aware of what is going on and it requires some basic math skills, at least the ability to add the dice up, add and subtract etc.  I assume, having never really played, that being tipsy does not aid in this-especially when one is a math-a-phobe like me.

But drinking or “drinking” isn’t the only thing geeks and St. Patrick’s Day has in common. Where else but in a game of D&D can one actually find a leprechaun? (Aside from Ireland and bad horror movies from the 80’s of course…) For those looking to find a leprechaun this week, my husband’s monster manual states that you should look in temperate forests and plains unlike the end of the rainbow myth we’ve all been clearly mislead by. They also tend to flee rather than seek combat and are unlikely to give up their gold.  That’s too bad because I’m sure that would help with the bar tab Thursday night.

Have a very safe and geeky St. Patrick’s Day everyone-whether you DD or D&D .