Molrak.com
Daily Digital Wanderlust

I played my first meatspace game of dnd in eons last night for Halloween. It was a room full of 6 dorks (3 greasy guys, 2 chicks, and myself), and it was actually pretty darn fun! I had contemplated movie additions after the session ended, but half the group was getting tired or had stuff to get done before bed, so we called it a night, but it was easily a most enjoyable and entertaining night. We cleared out a couple of dungeon rooms, watched the idiot monk die in our party, and had problems putting down a flaming skull. We probably would have done a lot more had I arrived earlier (I had to set up my character).

So ya… I’m a dork. Or is it geek? Definitely not nerd…

1000 Blank White cards (often abbreviated as 1kBWC) is quite possibly the most creative card game ever invented. At its heart is a blank white deck of cards, originally developed using flash cards. The game spread from Madison at the University of Wisconsin to many other universities, including Harvard (from where it first hit the net).

To play, a group of players sit down with a blank cards and try to make the most creative ideas for cards that they can think of. Points are often given or taken depending on the card–for example, you could make a card that says, “Your continued denial of global warming”, showing a person melting beneath a hot sun, and then subtract a million points. The points are kept track mainly for fun, as the point of the game is to create the most original cards, rather than scoring. Cards can also be created to counteract other cards–for example, “Rocket ship takes you to a colony on Mars, thus preventing any global warming damage, earn +1 billion points”. Some groups with fully developed introduce the concept of a ’suck box’, where cards that don’t live up to the standards of the group are sent to sleep until they’re occasionally drawn back for reintroduction into the main deck.

Once an adequate deck is built up with my gaming crew, I’ll start posting them on the blog. Until then, here are some useful 1kbwc links:

• Wikipedia’s article on 1kBWC is the best general overview on the subject, including a brief history and rule guidelines.
• A geocities site on 1kBWC where I first discovered the phenomenon, including a good introduction to the game with examples.
• The Seattle Electric Grimmeldeck, which has an excellent online 1kBWC deck from which it draws random cards.
• 1kBWC in Boston, which includes the option to browse cards by subject and text.
• 1000 blank white cards on trouserarousal, the internet hub of 1kBWC.