Unpainted Lead: Skirmish in Public Day

One of our biggest flaws as a gaming community is our hermit nature towards society. We feel obligated to keep our hobbies in home and secret from those “that wouldn’t understand,” or openly mock those who haven’t figured it out. Only amongst other geeks do we feel free to openly speak of our excitement for a new card game expansions, give one another heads ups on new games, discuss changes in a comic’s current retcon, or mention anything Joss Whedon. It has become so ingrained into our minds that the real world shuns us so much we must remain exiled to our local comic and hobby shops never realizing the truth.

Perhaps it’s the internet, perhaps it’s the current box office blockbusters, but there are a whole lot more people out there that like what we like than anyone has ever realized. Are we naïve enough to think that box office numbers for comic book based movies are only from the people who’ve read the comics seeing them? Open your eyes my fellow geeks, nerds, dorks, gamers, otaku, grognards, bronies, whovians, trekies, furries, wizards, jedi, etc, there are more people out there that want to know more, but don’t know where to start, or need a friend to guide them.

Let’s open the door for them so that they may see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Skirmish in Public Day, started out as just for tabletop wargamers to play for others to see, but now I invite all gamers of all game genres to join in and demonstrate what we’ve been doing all these years behind shut doors (Eww…Not that! Dirty minded reader, I swear…). This is your opportunity to show your passion for games. We’ve already seen many celebrities come out about being gamers. Even a new successful web series called TableTop hosted by the dork lord himself, Wil Wheaton, showcases the emotional spectrum garnered from gaming from the crushing defeat to the glorious victory and every hurdle in between.

We are going to show the true social nature of tabletop gaming on August 8th, Skirmish in Public Day, Grognards, Wargamers, LARPers, Trading Card Gamers, and Role-Players alike are encouraged to play a skirmish in a public.

This is much like the great Read an RPG Book in Public Week, but it will be a day that gamers bring games to restaurants, malls, libraries, parks, etc. and show off the fun and strategy involved in the tabletop hobby.

For veteran gamers, I add the challenge to try a new game you’ve never played before for this day. I’ll do my best to present you guys with great games to try out, but I am only one man and there are many games to choose from. Let me know in the comments below if there’s a game you think would work great for Skirmish in Public Day and I’ll do my best to showcase it for everyone here.

To track as well as to invite others to join, I’ve made an Event page on Facebook. Spread the word and when the day comes around I want to see pictures and hear stories of your Skirmish in Public Day.

Tabletop gaming was never meant to be a solo activity, it is an adventure in social interaction and your quest is to find some more opponents!

Are you game?