@Shkshkshk @grasshopper_mouse As far as my own media childhood goes:

1. Play some of Square/Squaresoft's various JRPGs from before the Square Enix merger.

2. Watch some awesome cartoons that got tragically cancelled before they could finish. (ABC's "SatAM" Sonic the Hedgehog, Pirates of Dark Water... technically Thundercats 2011 is too late for my childhood, but it's the same idea).

That'll give you a good summary.

@Whidou @Ziggurat @mozz Absolutely this. A "random encounter" can be finding a magical spring, a traveling merchant, a lost child, faeries who invite you to a riddle-game, or any number of other things that don't involve combat.

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Of those:

* A bus stop
* A restaurant
* Maybe a park, I haven't timed it?

There's also a convenience store (with no associated gas station), which while expensive has proven handy in emergencies.

@phase @psion1369 Some of the issue is simply that a lot of people don't have the slightest idea that D&D is a single example in a larger category called TTRPGs.

For most people outside the hobby, "TTRPG" draws a blank stare, and "RPG" conjures thoughts of video games. "Like D&D" gets some superficial comprehension.

And then there are the people who drive the rest of us nuts calling *ANY* TTRPG "D&D", whether it bears any resemblance or not...

@AngryCommieKender As far as I'm aware, that happened far earlier than the era you cited. I've heard that people were calling them "T$R" and "They Sue Regularly" in the early 90s, before the general public exploded onto the Net.

@AngryCommieKender @Susaga Eh, I wouldn't really call TSR's issues in "2.5"/late 2e similar to the issues surrounding the cancellation of the d20 System Trademark License, the 4e GSL, or this past January's OGL debacle. For one thing, the game never officially had an open license before 3e came along. For another, late TSR's woes had more to do with their reach exceeding their grasp.

@Shkshkshk @196 ...If you do that to my old laptop specifically, will that make it less flaky, or is its tendency to freeze these days a hardware problem? 😜

@Flushmaster @copacetic I dunno, there's one WoD game that could be pressed into the MMO mold with some work: Werewolf: the Apocalypse.

Be a furry, shapeshifting, rage-fueled ecoterrorist, tearing apart fomori in the streets at night, raiding Pentex buildings, diving into surreal Umbral landscapes to learn Gifts from spirits, attacking Black Spiral Dancer strongholds...