Curious about the US? Ask a Dane.

[runequester]

I thought maybe this would be fun: As a Scandinavian (Dane) nerd who has lived for 20 years in the United States, what kind of questions do you have that you always meant to ask, either about nerd culture or life in general?
It's probably best to avoid too many political questions, though I am happy to answer if someone wants something explained.

For a bit of reference, I have lived in Vermont, Oregon and Michigan and visited 10ish other states, so a wide enough range of impressions.

You are welcome to ask in English or Swedish, I can read the latter okay, but if it's a really detailed question, English might be better. I'll respond in English since writing Swedish is rather tough. (You know us danes can barely speak our own language let alone a different one).

 

[Frederik J. Jensen]

Have you seen bike lanes and side walks? Have you tried taking public transportation outside San Francisco & New York? Do you own a gun? When did you last send/receive a cheque?

Do you have a regular play group? If yes, how many of these have a passport? And have been outside US/in Europe?

I have visited USA several times, always a remarkable experience.

 

[Frederik J. Jensen]

Oh, and it sounds like you still identify yourself as Dane even after 20 years in the US. Do you have a Danish passport? Do you introduce yourself as a Dane to new people you meet?

 

[runequester]

Cheers!

Have you seen bike lanes and side walks?

Bike lanes in Portland Oregon yes, it's quite good. Out here in the mid-west it's not very common. Side walks are generally common that I've seen.

Have you tried taking public transportation outside San Francisco & New York?

In big cities, its usually passable-to-decent. I;ve used it in Chigaco, Grand Rapids and Portland. Suburbs, small towns and rural its either very poor or completely non-existent. I don't know that I ever saw a bus in Vermont other than the yellow school buses.

Do you own a gun?

I do not. Out of my personal friends circle, one person does for sure (Handgun) and we know people that hunt and thus keep hunting rifles. I don't know anyone with a real stockpile though.

When did you last send/receive a cheque?

A month or so ago. Absolutely hate the damn things and American companies still swear by them, though it's slowly been phased out in favor of online payments.

Do you have a regular play group? If yes, how many of these have a passport? And have been outside US/in Europe?

Im part of a few groups.
Many have visited Canada or Mexico. One couple we game with is very cosmopolitan and has traveled extensively, a few have never travelled.
Owning a passport is not especially common from my impression.

At the prior place I worked, I'd say most have not travelled and of those who have, Mexico or Canada would be the most common (for fairly obvious reasons, especially if you live near the border).

 

[runequester]

Oh, and it sounds like you still identify yourself as Dane even after 20 years in the US. Do you have a Danish passport? Do you introduce yourself as a Dane to new people you meet?

In truth, I'm not sure if I feel specifically Danish OR American these days. Some days I feel both. I do try to read danish novels and so on, in order to not feel completely yankified

I still have my passport and "Sygesikringskort" but the passport is expired by now. I don't usually bring it up unless it's part of conversation. My accent sounds very much like west-coast American, so people don't typically notice unless they are used to being around foreigners.

 

[Magnus Seter]

MODERERING

På rollspel.nu har vi inte något OT-forum där en sån här allmän "fråga mig om allt"-tråd passar. Detta är en konsekvens av tidigare forumkultur, vilket också betyder att vi är väldigt snabba på att styra bort Off Topic från alla olika forum. Vi vill att alla underforum handlar om det de ska handla om.

Det här forumet handlar om "ej direkt rollspelsrelaterad kultur, med vilket vi menar litteratur, film, musik, tidningar, bloggar och så vidare." Var vänliga att hålla frågor och svar inom det området. Generell Off Topic om lite vad som helst undanbedes. Om önskan att prata om det är jättestark kan det tas på vår Discord-kanal, mer info här.

Som vanligt, om ni har några frågor om en moderering, posta dem på rollspel.nu-forumet. Inga svar på modereringar ska ske i tråden.

Tack på förhand

/Magnus

 

[runequester]

My apologies!

 

[Mogger]

The gaming scene in US, is it dominated by D&D or do you actually see people play, say, Free League games every now and then?

 

[runequester]

The gaming scene in US, is it dominated by D&D or do you actually see people play, say, Free League games every now and then?

Online it is like 99% D&D. In person, there's some more variation but D&D is still the overwhelming answer. You do get a lot of White Wolf types hiding out as well. They never really went away. If you talk to an older gaming group, there's almost always some Rifts fans in there.
If you talk to people who are new to RPG culture (usually getting interested from Stranger Things or things like that) they absolutely understand "roleplaying" to mean "D&D".

If you go to a big book store, their gaming shelf will be D&D, Pathfinder and Star Wars, with a few indie games stocked (My local book store inexplicably has several copies of Zweihander).
Proper gaming store you can of course find everything, including some imports, but the tendency is towards American games. I haven't been to one since the pandemic, but with the high shipping costs right now, I imagine that'll continue to be the case.

I'd say you are probably more likely to find Kult on a store shelf than a Free League game, but anecdotally, my friend circle has several FL fans.