Get in character, roll the dice and make up stories; this student club thrives
It’s like improv theater meets dice
The pressure was on.
A pretend hoodlum named Specs led a crew that was out to steal imagined luxury cars from a fictional gangster named Mike Razor.
Specs sat at a table in an unused Northeastern University classroom on a recent Saturday, shaking dice in his hand as six other players looked on.
He mimicked the voice of the 1930s movie gangster James Cagney, and wished for a high roll. His companions laughed and one said he sounded like Bugs Bunny. He laughed too.
Three numbered cubes spilled across the game table.
A two. A one. A three.
The roll fails, announced the game master Casper Smith, 21, a senior from Austin, Texas, studying physics and music, who refereed the game.
Specs – a.k.a. Ari Kass-Amsterdam, 22, a senior studying psychology and marketing from Westchester, New York – crashed the vehicle inside a Buc-ee’s truckstop and restaurant, the game’s imagined setting.
Ohs and boos erupted from the table.
Welcome to Northeastern University Tabletop Role-playing Society, or NUTRS. It’s one of more than 600 clubs at the school’s Boston campus, which range from debate and fossil collection to riding unicycles on the quad – first-timers are welcome.
At NUTRS, gamers act collectively playing out scenarios in their imaginations. The story evolves as each takes a turn. Some gamers even stand up to pantomime their actions, or draw their actions on a whiteboard.
They sit around a table with the game master at one end.
The game master decides on a scenario, such as are the players going to be characters in a fantasy game playing elves and wizards fighting monsters. Or in other games, they play as robots or gangsters. Sometimes figurines are used to represent characters.
Dice are used to determine actions and outcomes.
Think of it as improv theater meets dice. The role-playing games or RPGs have been around for more than 50 years, where players used just graph paper, pencils, and statistics sheets. – and sometimes little painted figurines.
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RPGs started with the release of the game Dungeons & Dragons, or DnD, which was loosely based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, explained Smith. Players often dress as wizards or elves or other characters as they work collectively to slay dragons in search of treasure. Games can last hours to months.
She often plays a hobbit, noting that “I’m small” like the Tolkien-based creature, as she stands only five-foot-tall. Plus half-an-inch, she added.
Smith explained that the games themselves help her as she also works on a gaming minor at the university’s College of Arts, Media and Design. She hopes for a job in the industry.
“Fingers crossed,” she said.
On the recent game day, there were 19 student players, six pizzas and three tables on the Boston campus.
Games played that day included one with cyborgs in a dystopian future, another on an Earth occupied by space aliens with ill-intentions, and Smith’s group of gangsters playing what she titled, “One Last Heist.”
In her adventure, everyone is a criminal and adopts special skills such as being a con man, the muscle or a get-away driver.
But what’s the appeal to 1970s dice games at a time of virtual reality and interactive video games?
“It feels like we’re sitting around a campfire, telling stories, making it up as we go along,” said “Johnny the Grifter,” or mechanical engineering sophomore Andres Phillips Vazquez, 19, from Westfield, New Jersey.
“I’m shy in real life, but here I can pretend to be cocky,” Vazquez said. “I can be anything or anyone. It’s a good break from homework.”
After about two hours, the adventure ended with mixed results for the crew. What few luxury cars they could steal were smashed. Johnny the Grifter’s car exploded for some reason. Ultimately, they made off with only one Buc-ee’s cash register.
Smith, as game master, rolls to tell the group what’s in the till.
“Oh, it’s $300. Split it up and better luck next time,” she said.
The players groaned and shrugged.
