Ethan Gilsdorf’s “Why ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Is Good for You (In Real Life)”
You may never have given any thought to the benefits of playing ‘D&D,’ but writer and former GeekDad contributor Ethan Gilsdorf has thought about it. A lot.
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Tag: Ethan Gilsdorf
Happy Birthday, Alan Rickman and Anthony Daniels!
Picture a world where the man inside the C-3PO suit, and the man providing his voice, is Alan Rickman.
Continue ReadingThe Lord of the Rings “Could Have Used Some Editing”: Viggo Mortensen Speaks (Again)
“It’s more than just ‘I love Legolas.’ OK, in some cases maybe it’s only that,” jokes Viggo Mortensen on the popularity of The Lord of the Rings. “There’s something very profound about those stories.” Then he continues, “They could have …
Continue ReadingHappy Birthday, Alan Rickman and Anthony Daniels!
Picture a world where the man inside the C-3PO suit, and the man providing his voice, is Alan Rickman. Now imagine a warped universe where Anthony Daniels plays not just endless spin-offs of his famous golden protocol droid designed to serve humans, but …
Continue ReadingA Wrecking Ball for Writer’s Block: The Storymatic Creates Stories
Ever wish you had something to write about when your brain goes dead? The Storymatic is here to the rescue. Part writing prompt, part teaching tool, part parlor game, The Storymatic is a clever little box packed with 500+ cards. Open the …
Continue ReadingCovers of AD&D Reprint Rulebooks Released
As previously reported by GeekDad’s MJ Harnish, Wizards of the Coast announced last month that, as a fundraiser for the Gygax Memorial Fund, they’d be releasing reprints of the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Monster Manual. They’re coming out in …
Continue ReadingWait — Atlantis Doesn’t Exist After All (Again)?
Updated seafloor imaging on Google Earth cleans up the artifacts that had people worked up about finding the lost continent.
Continue ReadingWhy the New Star Wars Volkswagen Super Bowl Ad Is a Travesty
I was excited as the next Star Wars fan to get a sneak peek this week of the new “The Dog Strikes Back” Volkswagen ad that’s set to debut at the Super Bowl. Like the big hit of last year, “The …
Continue ReadingWant to Write a Lot? Go for a Walk, Just Like Bilbo
People sometimes ask if I have advice about writing. What works? What tips and tricks can you teach me? “Do you know what you’re going to say before you sit down to say it?” they ask. “Do you know where …
Continue ReadingLost Movie Found: We Played D&D in the 1980s
Recently, I uncovered this movie — one that I hadn’t seen in probably 30 years. Yes, this is an actual (and silent) movie from a real Dungeons & Dragons session, shot by me, on a Super 8 camera, in Lee, …
Continue ReadingUnknown Tolkien Letter Falls Out of Book
As reported on TheOneRing.net and elsewhere, a handwritten note written by J.R.R. Tolkien that he’d addressed to a couple he and his wife Edith had met on an unfortunate holiday just sold to an anonymous internet bidder for £1,700, or about $2,700. …
Continue ReadingMemoir Recounts Youthful Quest for Meaning in D&D, Comics, Zeppelin
Growing up in the suburbs of Boston, and raised on secular Judaism, Cocoa Puffs and Gilligan’s Island, Peter Bebergal found himself on a quest. A spiritual quest that, as a teen, led him through comic books, Dungeons & Dragons and …
Continue ReadingMake-A-Wish Makes a Castle
So what if the expression is a cliché? For one small-town kid suffering from a disease, dreams — even medieval-themed dreams of knighthood, chivalry and adventure — do come true. As reported by WMUR, a New Hampshire TV station, a …
Continue ReadingMitt Romney as a D&D Character? NYC Show Celebrates Art and Gaming
New show in NYC will celebrate the effect of Dungeons & Dragons on art and culture.
Continue ReadingPerambuLit: A Choose Your Own Audio Story
Ever since I devoured all those Choose Your Own Adventure books — mine were actually Endless Quest books put out by the folks who gave us Dungeons & Dragons — I’ve been intrigued by the idea of interactive storytelling. Here was …
Continue ReadingD&D Poems — Starring the Umber Hulk, Gelatinous Cube and Girls
The muse has hit me like a vorpal sword. I’ve been working on some poems for an upcoming comedy performance and it was impossible to resist the temptation to …
Continue ReadingDungeons & Dragons Saved My Life
Summer makes me nostalgic. Why? Because these long, boiling days of June remind me of my first time. Yep, that’s right. I was a virgin. And summer is when I lost it. I played Dungeons & Dragons for the first …
Continue ReadingGroovy Lord of the Rings Stickers Unearthed
I attended the recent 3rd Conference on Middle-earth (in Westford, Massachusetts) where I listened to talks on blond elf imagery and debates on how to adapt The Hobbit into one movie or two movies (and the wisdom of that latter …
Continue ReadingClassic Video Game Competition Returns to Funspot (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)
If you’re a 30- or 40-something geek like me, you probably played video games as a kid. Not on the personal computer, which in the 70s and 80s was only in its infancy. I mean the big, hulking, stand-up video …
Continue ReadingGeek Dons Chain Mail, Makes Fool of Self
When I was a kid and deathly bored in the summer, I’d make movies. I borrowed a Super 8 movie camera from my mom (she was a teacher and used it in her classroom) and I took to the woods …
Continue ReadingClassic Video Game Competition Returns to Funspot
If you’re a 30- or 40-something geek like me, you probably played video games as a kid. Not on the personal computer, which in the 70s and 80s was only in its infancy. I mean the big, hulking, stand-up video …
Continue ReadingWinners of the Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks Contest with Ethan Gilsdorf
Sorry for the delay in this folks, but we can officially announce the winners of our Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks poetry contest. The most excellent Ethan Gilsdorf helped us narrow down the poems, but we had to pick five. Each of our winners receives an autographed copy of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks! Congrats […]
Continue ReadingFantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks Contest Deadline Extended!
We’ve got some great poems entered in our contest for a chance to win one of five copies of Ethan Gilsdorf’s book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. And good news if you’ve not yet entered: we’re extending the deadline until this Friday, November 19th! You can read the whole article, and interview, with Ethan here. […]
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Geek Author Ethan Gilsdorf Talks Names, Games, and Giveaways!
Ethan Gilsdorf is the celebrated geek author of the very awesome book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. It’s the sort of book that, if you’re a lifelong geek like me, you can’t put down. The book chronicles Ethan’s life as a young geek, his escape from his roots, and then his return. From Tolkien to […]
Continue ReadingGeek Author Ethan Gilsdorf Talks Games, Names, and Giveaways!
Ethan Gilsdorf is the celebrated geek author of the very awesome book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. It’s the sort of book that, if you’re a lifelong geek like me, you can’t put down. The book chronicles Ethan’s life as …
Continue ReadingWin Signed Copy of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Author Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Pequot Press and Froobi.com have teamed up to offer a special opportunity to win one of 10 free autographed copies of Gilsdorf’s critically-acclaimed book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role …
Continue ReadingDon’t Try to Escape Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
When writer Ethan Gilsdorf was twelve years old, he spent his time at home avoiding the Momster, a fearsome creature that had replaced his mother after her brain aneurysm. His only escape from the hell of his homelife was Dungeons …
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