1)
D&D Library Tales Continued:
For this one, back to 1978. Don Mills Library, North York, Ontario. Asked to run a “Teens” Programme (yes, too long ago for “Young Adult”) that teens would actually attend (up until then: …— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
2)
…Good Grooming = ZERO attendance {surprise! NOT} and First Aid For Babysitters = 1 young lady dragooned there by her parents), I suggested D&D.
“Isn’t that Satanic witchcraft?” Senior librarians asked. “Because NO religious programming.”— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
3)
“Isn’t.”
“All right, but no candles and NO nudity. And a one-shot only, until we see how this goes.”
Darn. So with a heavy heart ;} I prepared a Realms D&D session, the library put out its usual non-existent publicity…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
4)
…and the calls started flooding in. Over 60, and only a few being “concerned citizens” (aka local churches fearing contagious damnation but not admitting who they were over the phone, I suppose because the Devil lurks everywhere).— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
5)
We capped attendance at 12, as I knew I could JUST handle that many players at once, and was counting on some no-shows (I was right: 3, so 9 attendees).
It went WILDLY well. With much laughter, shouted battle-cries, and enough additional…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
6)
…audible mirth and frivolity that library staff took to frequently banging the doors open to “just check if things were all right.”
And soon stationed a very senior librarian outside the doors for security (= to eavesdrop).— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
7)
Who got the fright of her blue-rinsed life when a comely teenaged female player in the jeans and crop-top emblazoned with inappropriate commentary fashion of the day burst out of the auditorium, almost bowling over said security…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
8)
…librarian, into the downstairs hall (then a busy crossroads: bottom of stair down from the ground floor, staffroom door, public washrooms, corridor to cloakroom, furnace room, and Childrens’ Library) while shouting back into the room: …— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
9)
“Don’t you DARE kill the dragon while I’m peeing!”— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019
10)
Postscript: Whereupon the librarian marched thin-lipped to her superior to report grimly: “Witchcraft. I THOUGHT so.”— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019