Initial post

Okay, to be fair: I don't drink as much coffee as I used to. But I still drink some.

It's just that Coffee is my screen name on a couple of sites, mainly the Original D&D Discussion.

But back in the day...

When I started regularly playing D&D, back in '83 (it was actually AD&D, but we just called it D&D), we didn't do much of that "character development" or "deep immersion" stuff at the table. The table was for putting out the lead (and even occasionally moving it; it was mostly there to mark the marching order) and rolling the dice. We'd fight and explore and fight and suchlike for several hours. And then we'd pack up our goodies and turn out the lights.

And then, we'd go out for coffee.

This is where the real role-playing occurred. We'd have entire conversations in character. We'd also discuss what happened that evening, what could have gone better, what we did or didn't like. This could go on for another three hours or more if we weren't careful.

There were some of us who had entire histories for our characters, along with family trees and coats of arms and such. And there were others who had to be pointedly asked when they were going to name their characters.

One of these guys was only that way as a player; but he was a pretty darn good DM. He also lived a block away, so I'd frequently go visit him of an evening. And yes, the coffee pot was always on. To this day, if I visit, the first thing he does is grabs me a cup of coffee.

So, yeah, coffee and my roleplaying past are intertwined. That's why I felt it was a good name for a blog about roleplaying.

The other part, the analog part, I stole from Wil Wheaton. Yes, that Wil Wheaton; the one who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He's also a gamer. And it was from his blog that I got the term "analog gamer" for my hobby; it lets those computer gamers know right away that I'm not one of them. I don't have the time or the inclination for computer games (and, for the most part, I don't have the manual dexterity. I get killed immediately in every first person shooter I've ever tried, and the words Real Time Strategy on a game let me know that I'll get slaughtered in a timely fashion by a merciless computer that can execute it's strategic commands faster than I can.)

Don't get me wrong; I'll use computers. I'll even use them as an adjunct to roleplaying. But I don't do computer games, aside from a few versions of Solitaire.

So, there you have it.