What countries have you visited?

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:37 am

What countries, what was the purpose of the visit, how'd you enjoy it?

If applicable, did you find out anything about tabletop roleplaying communities there?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:54 am

Canada, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium.

Just visiting. Not a lot of time for RPGs, though I hunted up some books in London.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:39 am

Hrm.

Let's see. Started out in Australia but have been too...

Spain
Italy
Greece
Turkey
Jordan
Malta (a lot)
Singapore
Thailand
China
Yugoslavia (back when it existed)

Technically I have also been in Britain, France, and Sri Lanka. But non stop train rides and airport stop overs is cheating.

I would kinda like to still see Egypt, Venezuela and Mexico. And maybe some bits and pieces of Brazil, Peru and, well, much of South America.

edit: oooh ooh, and Easter Island. Or would it be too depressing?

As an avid horticulturist with relevant special interests, I wouldn't mind visiting the swamps of North America, but I'm not keen on air port harassment and everything else in North America, which generally rates as less of a tourist draw than the swamps.

I would go back to a lot of the countries I've been to, but Turkey gets a high ranking as arguably the coolest over all tourist spot. China WOULD win, but the traffic and pollution offset the sheer awesomeness.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 3:55 pm

I'm from the US and have only been to Canada, and just to travel from Michigan to New York.

I'd like to go to Germany some time.

sabs · Post by **sabs** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 3:59 pm

France, Germany, Belgium, US, Canada, Spain, Italy, Monaco.

Post by **fbmf** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:11 pm

I'm from Texas.

I've been to Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, the Caymans, a few places in the Yucatan (Mexico), and the Bahamas.

All of this traveling was done as part of vacation cruises. I enjoyed all but Jamaica.

I know nothing about the TTRPG community in any of those places.

Game On,
fbmf

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:14 pm

France, Italy and Denmark.
Did not enjoy it much, because i am not a big fan of traveling <.<

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:13 pm

US of A - born and lived. If you're reading this board, you probably have an idea about the TTRPG community here. If not, then GenCon is the place to start, although for the folks I usually game with, the slightly-smaller Origins tends to be a bigger draw due to being so much closer. In a similar manner, DragonCon is the big regional gaming Con for The South.
If you're local to the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area, I can point you to some of the various university game clubs, shops and some folks that live around here, although I know a lot fewer such folks than I used to.

Canada - I spent less than an hour mini tour as part of a trip to Niagra Falls. Can't say I learnt anything about gaming in Canada as a result of that trip.

England - Fall semester of 1991 I was an exchange student in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Played a lot of rather nonsensical 2e D&D and rfits games with kids at South Warwickshire College of Further Education, The program included a number of "cultural" weekend trips to various places around England, and I made a point to visit Orc's Nest[ during the London trips. I did not stay in touch with any of those guys after the term was over.

France - during the semester break, took a sightseeing trip to Paris. Did notice game books and manga sold in more mass-market retailers than the were in the US at that time, but this has changed in the past 20 years.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:57 pm

fbmf wrote:I'm from Texas.

This made me laugh

I've been to Canada--skiiing, woo! Also Austria, Germany, and a tiny bit of Italy--ruins and museums, woo! Finally, Turkey--humidity and more ruins and museums, woo!

EDIT: Also, I got a friend of mine to give the Zlodej + Theurge handbook for DrD+. I can't read Czech, but I love it.

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:23 pm

I grew up in Virginia (there are two types of people in the world. Virginians, and everyone else).

I've been to Canada, and I've visited Sweden. I'm friends with candians who are gamers but I've never visited them on their home turf. Didn't have a lot of free time when I went to Sweden.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:58 pm

I've been to England, India, Canada (I think, I was a kid when we went to Niagra Falls) and one place that could have been it's own country, the Conch Republic, if it wasn't for the fact that a stale loaf of cuban bread is not really a proper weapon against the US Navy.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 12:20 am

...You Lost Me wrote:
fbmf wrote:I'm from Texas.
This made me laugh

It felt oddly appropriate to me.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 1:31 am

I'm from the US; I've been to 41/50 states; and I've visited Canada, Mexico, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Kenya, and Tanzania. I did not seek out gamers in any of those places.

Post by **fbmf** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 1:56 am

Kaelik wrote:
...You Lost Me wrote:
fbmf wrote:I'm from Texas.
This made me laugh
It felt oddly appropriate to me.

I don't get it. Why is it (A) worthy of a laugh, and (B) oddly appropriate?

Game On,
fbmf

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:01 am

Australia, the U.S. and Canada in that order; though I had a layover in NZ once, where I was sprayed with some kind of pesticide.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:05 am

Well, for people outside the US of A, the distinctions between the states can be fuzzy, and us Yanks identifying as "Texan" or "Pennsylvanian" instead of "American" can seem odd since we have a common culture, language and currency.

Hicks · Post by **Hicks** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:58 am

USA- born in Oakland California, raised in Tennessee; been to Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Washington. As far as I'm concerned, everything is bigger in Texas, including their freakishly huge bug problem; at night you can't see what walls are made of because of the writhing sheet of bugs attached to them. Oklahoma is both the best and worst state in the union, as all the roads are shit and Oklahoma city decided to make its freeway out of mirrors, but that's because everywhere besides Oklahoma city is an Indian Nation, and you can seriously buy guns and katanas for $20 at any gas station. As an aside, go see the grand canyon before you die; it's like a mountain range in reverse.

Canada- I've only ever been in the south west corner while on tour in a boy's choir. Vancouver seemed pretty nice.

Equador- So when I was 3 or so my parents divorced and my mom had the bright idea to wisk my two year old brother and I away from my father, family, first world medicine, culture, and everything else red, white, and awesome to live in a third world country with friends she made as a missionary a decade before. Turns out you can empty your piggy bank right now and live quite comfortably as a leech boumcing from friend to friend in a third world society until your nest egg dries up in eight or so months and you realize are a broke single white woman with two helpless kids in a foreign and violent land with no skills or education or support stateside from a missionary organization because that was ten years ago and if you don't beg grandma and gramps for airfare you might wind up as a soulless prostitute just to feed your kids in a third world country bereft of father, family, medicine, culture, and everything else red, white, and awesome for raising toddlers. It's amazing how much I remember for being so young; probably has something to do with dicisions as crazy as they are horrible being made to traumatically separate a child from family, but whatever.

EDIT: for those of you outside the states, America is huge. Texas by itself is nearly as big as central europe, and Alaska is nearly as big as the continental united states. Yes, our currency, interstate highway system, and federal government are powerful unifying agents, but the states are not provinces; many of them were sovereign governments (California, Texas, The original 13 colonies) and all states are autonomously governed by their own constitutional government that is unique to that state. We call ourselves a melting pot because American "culture" is all over the place, and that's not including all the crazy we import from other cultures.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:13 am

fbmf wrote:
I don't get it. Why is it (A) worthy of a laugh, and (B) oddly appropriate?

Game On,
fbmf

Well, at least where I live, there are a lot of jokes from Texans and non-Texans alike that Republic of Texas is its own country (in fact, I think its constitution states that it may secede from the USA any time it wants), so when you brought up where you came from, I chuckled, because it's like you're from a foreign country!

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:49 am

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore (though I don't consider it a country but rather a festering boil on the face of SE Asia), Cambodia, Vietnam.

Canada where I was born and the US but they're basically the same country in the sense of culture and how little I'd want to ever live in either of them again.

Thailand apparently has some groups. Singapore does and so does the Philippines. As far as I know Vietnam's community consists of my friends and I, though we have met stray gamers from time to time who are sans group. As our last campaign ran its course a year ago and we've only had a few one offs since, I guess none. Never checked in Africa though I'd be surprised if South Africa didn't have something

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:17 pm

I'm from New Jersey, currently stuck in Alabama. Not counting airport stopovers, I've been to three other countries.

Egypt - To perform customs inspections of returning US soldiers. - A horrible land of filth. The water is so contaminated, one of my men got diarrhea from taking a shower. Everyone's seen this picture of the Pyramids. What you can't see is the ocean of litter, camel dung, beggers and tourists that swarm the area. What you would see if they moved the camera slightly to the left or right is the urban sprawl of Cairo. Periodic gunfire and explosions.

Kuwait - To get acclimated, do last minute training, and await paperwork - Preheat your oven to 150 degrees F. Take your hairdryer, set it to high and point it at your face while standing in front of your oven on loose dust or dirt. Same water problems as Egypt.

Iraq - To protect instructors teaching local sheriffs how to use red tape and bureaucracy to run things instead of a religious good-ol'-boy system. - Same problems as Egypt, plus the whole country was built by Michael Bay. Everything WILL explode, no warning, no exceptions. The locals were the most giving people I've ever met -- for Christmas, a holiday they don't even celebrate -- they sent us over 40 rockets and mortar rounds, slightly used.