From Ren Fairs to Restaurants to Roleplaying
This is me. The one in the middle. Hi. My name is Stephanie. Nice to meet you. My path took a turn when I started performing at renaissance festivals. Because of the people I met and the friends I made, I learned all kinds of strange and useful things. It’s funny how one day you are auditioning to be part of the street cast at a ren fair hoping that you are “cool” enough to hang with the Rennies and the next thing you know, more than 25 years have passed and you are starting a blog about roleplaying games and other nerdy stuff.
Never Too Old to Play
I learned that just because you are an adult, it doesn’t mean you have to stop playing pretend. There used to be a group of Star Trek cosplayers who came to the fair every year pretending they were on holodeck adventures. This was back in the 90’s when we didn’t even really have a word for cosplaying yet. They weren’t getting paid. They weren’t performers. They were just friends out having fun. As someone who was always the weird kid sitting in their backyard reading Lord of the Rings, it gave me hope that I could stay weird without becoming a shut in loner.
I met my husband Kevin at the renaissance festival. Together over the years we have performed at other ren fairs, cosplayed, attended conventions, hosted convention panels, played roleplaying games with our friends, opened a nerd-themed restaurant, and now- started a blog to talk about it all.
Dare to Suck
I learned that it is OK to just go for something even if it might fail. For 3 brilliant years before the world slipped into an alternate timeline in 2020, Kevin and I were the owners of Waypoint 6 Tavern and Geekery in Largo, FL. In a sea of sports bars, we strived to be a nerd haven. Instead of football or hockey, we played Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. We hosted trivia nights, bands, and even a couple of weddings.
And then it all fell apart with the lockdown. We had to chose whether to extend our lease for another 3 years without knowing when we would be open again or shut it down. It was tough to admit but there was no way we could keep paying rent (and utilities, license renewals, service contracts, etc.) if we weren’t making money so we had to sell it all and lock the doors forever.
I did not take it well. During the lockdown when other people learned to bake bread and crochet or whatever they did to pass the time, I became a bit of an internet troll. I started fights with strangers in news comment sections for fun. No throwaway comment was left without being fact checked along with links and probably a demeaning meme. To put it mildly, I did not make the world a better place for a few months. It took getting a hobby and a bit of self-restraint to get of the dopamine rollercoaster of internet arguments.
Gamers and Con Rats
Along with creating our own Star Wars costuming fan club (http://www.outerrimguilds.org), we started playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends weekly. It was my first time playing and I was hooked. The act of collaborative storytelling gave me the creative outlet that I was missing after the tavern closed. Dressing up as Star Wars characters at charity events and conventions is fun, but there is only so much you can do in those environments. At those events, we can do little improv bits just like the old ren fair days but they are individual interactions. A game campaign is a sustained story that you build bit by bit with everyone involved.
Now we are looking forward. Sure some of it sucked, but at least now we have stories to tell. What is the point of having all these experiences, if they don’t get shared. I want to take everything that everyone in my gaming group has learned (from improv, performing, cosplay, roleplaying, and life) and put it out for others to learn from too. Maybe we can be those weird adults showing the weird kids it is OK to still be themselves.
I hope you stick around as we share roleplaying tips, reviews, recipes from Waypoint 6 Tavern, and all sorts of useful stuff.
Stephanie – Lead Goblin of the Owlbear Lair