Nerds in the Wild

Setting: Milton’s Cafe in downtown Lawrence, KS. Lunch time. I’m reading a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book while eating scrambled eggs and turkey sausage.

WAITRESS: Is everything delicious?

ME: It’s great, thanks.

WAITRESS: Good! I’ll get you some more water and IS THAT A D&D BOOK?!

ME: Well, kind of. It’s actually the Warhammer RPG. It’s kind of a grubbier, funnier version of D&D fantasy.

WAITRESS: Oh! I’ve heard of it! This is what happens when nerds see game books out in the world.

WAITER, STANDING NEARBY: My younger brother introduced me to Warhammer 40K lore recently and I went down a deep rabbit hole watching videos on YouTube.

WAITRESS, TO WAITER: Have you seen the videos where people play D&D for 24 hours straight?

They walk away, talking about D&D actual play videos.

It’s wild how something that would have gotten me bullied when I was a teen now gets me in fun conversations with complete strangers.

(I originally posted this to Facebook in January, 2025.)