Do inmates play Dungeons and Dragons? Would they even be allowed to?

>>54437097
>Do inmates play Dungeons and Dragons?

Yes.

>Would they even be allowed to?

If not in maximum security/solitary, yes.

>>54437166
Do you know if it is common?

>>54437191

There are plenty of nerds and people convicted of white collar/non-violent who would have played or have an interest in playing D&D to pass time. It's common enough that people ask about it or discuss it once in a while online.

The thing is, gang groupings and gambling aren't allowed, so you have to use things like paper to replace the dice, and you want to make sure the guards know what you're doing is harmless. They won't bust you for playing Scrabble, but a bunch of similar looking guys hanging out? Gang related. Bunch of guys tossing dice? Contraband and gambling.

>>54437097
An ex con walked in to my lgs once looking to buy some DnD books. Said he played inside and it kept them out of trouble. Seemed cool, but he never came back. Hope he didn't backslide.

>>54437281
>The thing is, gang groupings and gambling aren't allowed, so you have to use things like paper to replace the dice
Doing a session the prisoner way might be fun for a one off.

I know many jails have libraries. I wonder if it would be possible for prisoners to request Dungeons and Dragons player handbooks, monster manuals, and the such.

Prison were not used as a form of punishment in the middle ages. Far too many resources for a feudal society. Their function was simply to ensure that people didn't run away during trials. You had to pay for your own cell. The more money you spent, the better the cell. You were allowed to beg to pay for your cell.

Actual punishments primarily took form in fines. More serious crimes were amputations or executions.The worst, slow, and most elaborated punishments were reserved to traitors.

>>54437097

There are no prisons. It's either fines, slavery, amputation, or execution.

>>54437407
>>54437388
I'm talking about IRL inmates playing Dungeons and Dragons in IRL prisons for fun.

>>54437354

They are allowed to have them if you buy it for them and ship it straight from the publisher. You can't mail it to them from your house. Don't know if they'd have any at the library, the selection of stuff in prison libraries obviously isn't going to be the greatest.

>>54437097
>roll for dexterity
>8
>you drop your soap

>>54437097
Yeah. Some prisons don't let you have dice because gambling is a sin, so they tear up pieces of paper with numbers of them and put them in a bag.

I remember that story passed around years ago of a prison that banned DnD because they thought the prisoners would be acting out 'escape fantasies'

>>54437354
>I know many jails have libraries

Jail libraries and prison education programs took huge cuts in the 80's, the notion of going into Prison and coming out having 'studied' and bettered yourself is an outdated meme. Prisoners don't get jack.

>>54437750
That's interesting. That sure would cost a lot to get all the books but I'm sure a prisoner could use a prison work program to put money toward it. Other prisoners would probably really appreciate it.


>>54437812
If true, that certainly is depressing.

>>54437432
I don't see why not. Just keep the d4s away lest they create caltrops for the prison break.

>>54437830
American prisons are shitty, and we don't really do anything to better them during their time so they come out with no new skills, with the same friends and do the same crimes and go back to the same prison.

A guy on YouTube who has hundreds of rpg related videos and even published a system served a few months. He has some videos talking about it.
The channel I believe is woodwwad. Not the best contebt, he's kind of an oddball.

>>54437830
>that certainly is depressing
The American Criminal justice system in general is depressing

>>54437895
They do learn SOME new skills, actually. Ironically, those skills are 'how to better commit crimes'. Prisons have basically become a huge workshop for criminals to commiserate and pass info around. Most organized crime syndicates do their business from inside prisons.

>>54437895
This is what happens when the penal system is privatized.

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>>54437097
Old news says no.

>>54437097
>every single enemy is a police officer
>the bbeg is the main guard guy who the pcs slay in overly descriptive ways

i am a correctional officer in a max facility and i have barged in on D&D games more than once. i know of at least ten inmates who RPG very often and their campaigns can go on for months or even years.

>>54438373
they even make their own TCGs. idk how they decide which cards are playable or not but i assume introducing new cards comes at a price. probably a couple canteen items.

>>54438373
Know anything about their campaigns?

>>54437097
On some places it will not work well...

There is a story about a rich guy that started bringing drugs to his friends on partys and after some months he become one of the biggest drug dealers on Rio de Janeiro "by accident". He was caught and he wrote a book about his jail time..

Rich guy on jail, but he had nice social skills and more or less everyone liked him.

So his family got Monopoly for him to play with his new "friends" and pass the time... The first game did not even finished because soon or later almost the entire money and cards were stolen from the bank... and they did not return to him even after the game! They just prefer to ruin any possibility of entertaining to accept that yhey should not take any advantage by any means necessary... It is basically a cultural thing, people that have use their survival skills often do not even think to take advantage, stole things or who knows......

so imagine yourself punishing a player after a bad roll, imagine bringing tension to a place like this... sure people do sports and games on jail... but rarely they put time, effort and emotion like people do on a RPG table...

Think about how many times people argued with you when you was a DM like they were a bit angry... Prision is not a place to let people angry.

>>54438430
they have been playing this werewolf one for a while and it became an issue for intel because of all the clan names and 'territories' looked like gang lit. so intel shook down a bunch of dudes and took all their notes relating to the game. sent clan leaders to seg. i lold

>>54438461
They get their stuff back?

>>54438459
most inmates who play RPGs are pedophiles and they get along well because they have no one else to socialize with. ive never had any real issues over that sort of thing with any inmates. its mostly straight up gambling that gets guys hurt. and predatory loans dont help.

>>54437281
How do they roll? Do they make like a bingo box with a bunch of pieces of papers with numbers written on them or something?

Or do they actually make paper dices?

>>54438475
i wasnt involved directly, but i imagine intel kept the notes.

>>54438529
I bet they used them in their own campaigns

>>54438512
ive seen paper dice and even paper chess pieces. they use jelly as glue and coat them with god knows what to make them hard and keep them from folding.

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>>54437786
Some prisoners build paper spinners. Works for most other board games, too (pic related).

I've also heard stories of people modding D&D to work without dice. You can use things like Rock-Paper-Scissors or "Guess what number I'm thinking of" to resolve conflicts. For damage, you can use the dice's average instead of rolling.

>>54437750
Some inmates just end up playing the game from memory. Obviously, the DM needs to have a pretty good rules knowledge, and be good at improv and making rulings. But D&D players can usually get away with just reading off their character sheet.

>>54437812
Why should they come better educated?

Shouldn’t prison break their spirits? You know like in those japanese hentais, except it doesn’t make them cockslaves, but ideal citizens.

>>54438635
an angry depressed person with nothing to lose and no options doesn't make an ideal citizen

They're literally better off in Prison at that point

>>54438687

Shit really?

>>54437281
I read a choose your own adventure that had a random number table you'd close your eyes and poke with your eraser. Whatever you got was your result. Thats what I'd use. Either that or 20 pieces of paper with numbers on them in a hat.

>>54438635
That's literally the point of having a library with many books, so they can study, become better educated, and get a real job that isn't busting rims off some hooptie, and becoming an ideal citizen
all taking the education away does is ensure they'll be back soon, which is great for private prisons that profiteer off the prisoners, but terrible for everybody else, rich and poor alike

>>54438373
>last session for this campaign
>DM gets let out on parole

>>54437191
There was a fantastic thread about this very subject maybe a year ago. There was input from Anons who were in jail and ran games. You can probably find it if you dig through /tg/ archives enough.

I recall one anon told about how he ran a group for a few inmates and a guard. They were decent players. There was something about dice being paraphernalia, so they used paper and numbers drawn out of box instead.

>>54438635
No, it should make the angry, more violent, and leave them with no other option than to go back to crime. That way you can get them back in prison for more of that sweet free prison labor!

>>54438635
That's not how people work, anon

>>54440462
Yeah, you gotta neg them a little bit before you mindbreak them, otherwise they'll have too much self-confidence to be mindbroken

>>54437191
depends on the prison

>>54439932
>There was something about dice being paraphernalia, so they used paper and numbers drawn out of box instead.
Until just now, I had actually forgotten that the principle use of dice is actually intended to be gambling.

>>54437097
>your characters all start in a prison.
Wat do?

>>54442028
Wait for the government to pick me up for a suicidal mission to save the world.

>>54442028
Wait for the emperor to convieniently need to use my cell as a secret escape route from assassins

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>>54442082
>yfw it's actually in the cell of the guy next to you

>>54442028
So all dungeons of the penal variety are made of paper machie in tabletops. Give your best prison break story. Or, if you have one, your best story where you DIDNT instantly break out, either due to being thwarted or a plot arc occurring behind bars.
I only really have one time I got tossed in the cells, due to botched social rolls leading to me being accused of attempted poisoning (I wasn't dosing the king with poison, it was aphrodisiacs). I had the "very fortunate coincidence" that there was a set of lockpicks and a broken spoon from a previous occupant hidden behind a loose stone. The poor sap didn't have the skills to use the lockpicks he managed to smuggle in, and tried to dig his way out to no avail. Life is convenient when you have magic to cause coincidences to supply you with whatever mundane tool you happen to need.

It varies by facility, state, local federal as to what all is allowed.

D6 are pretty much universally banned due to crap being a common gambling game.

Joseph Goodman mentioned on the Spellburn pod cast whenever they put surveys in Adventure modules that the majority filled out and returned were from inmates.

>>54437097
No, go back to breaking rocks douchebag.

>>54442082
it was written in the stars, anon

>>54437097
My brother in law was in prison for drug charges, he said one day he saw dudes of all different races and gangs sitting together (a very strange sight to see if you're in prison), he went up and ask what was going on and they told him they were playing D&D. He told me "it was the only time in prison I saw a white dude, a black dude, and a Mexican all sitting together"

They used note cards for dice rolls, they would write the number on one side and then shuffle the deck like playing cards, then draw the top card for their "roll"

>>54442769
>They used note cards for dice rolls, they would write the number on one side and then shuffle the deck like playing cards, then draw the top card for their "roll"
That's honestly probably the best way to get anyone into tabletop games. A lot of people associate polyhedral dice with weird nerd stuff, but everyone's played Uno.

>>54437097
Yeah. Not sure about the dice stuff some people have mentioned, but my father was in for three years (got out late-2012) in Ohio. Said he played D&D there more than he had in the rest of his life combined. When he decided to stop they kept pestering him to come back.

The only thing about it, he said, was that they always wanted to run an evil campaign. Go figure. Best you could get away with was a neutral character, which is what he usually went with (he was in for child support). Said one time they made gay jokes about the guy that owned the books and his boyfriend, so he got all pissy and wouldn't let them play anymore so they had to get new books.

Besides D&D, the Warcraft card game was really popular, and Magic is effectively a form of currency. An AB member stole some of his shit once, but he managed to chase him down and beat the shit out of him; guy told the other AB members, they started sending guys at my dad, he had to pay them off. Used all his magic cards and some money from family to do it. Father is white, for the record, so never think Aryan Brotherhood is anything more than a petty prison gang like every other, just with a white flavor.

If you want to read some funny first hand accounts of prison D&D, read this article.

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/16/i-am-fully-capable-of-entertaining-myself-in-prison-for-decades-if-need-be/

>>54444536
>the Warcraft card game was really popular
...huh.

Yes and sometimes, respectively.
Some prisons have banned it for using dice (and therefore being likened to gambling). Others have banned it for nofunallowed reasons, using the excuse of it creating "escape fantasies" to justify it.

>>54444863
Yep. Was strange to me, too. When I was younger I was a big Warcraft fan, though, and particularly of Thrall. I had (and still have, actually) the book Lord of The Clans, which I let him borrow since despite being a late-30's construction worker that taught martial arts on the side, he was a massive nerd and a weeab to boot. Has his fuckin' D&D ranger tattoo'd on his arm. Anyway, he said he kept the card of Thrall because it reminded him of me.

>>54438537
>intel was playing hunters

>>54437892
Anon, you don't fashion d4s into caltrops. They already are.

>>54445330
Is that meta-gaming or PvP...?

>>54437830
>If true, that certainly is depressing.
Prisoner reformation isn't a thing that actually works.

Most men stop being criminals a bit after turning 27.
But that's a hormonal thing, not a societal one.

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Hello
Served 8 months in prison

Yes we do play D N D

>>54445476
Giving prisoners career opportunities that aren't just "more crime, but try not to be caught this time" and not just chucking them back into the real world cold turkey works pretty often.

>>54437388
Occasionally they used corporal punishments like whipping or humiliation like the stockades.

I'd actually prefer to be whipped than pay fines, actually. Lets me pay my other bills that way.

>>54438635
Unfortunately, prisons tend to be filled with criminals and sending a criminal in with other criminals tends to create better criminals.

Broken people also make terrible citizens. They're suckers for addiction and peer pressure.

>>54445476

Yeah, no. When you isolate a man from the outside world for a good chunk of his years and then try and shove him back into society with the same skill set he left with, it's just a recipe for recidivism.

>>54442028
Play some D&D about guys that are in prison

>>54446775
>Lets me pay my other bills that way.
Kink porn is a thing anon and they always look for new faces

>>54438635
How does punishing them and making them hate the state a good idea? Prison as punishment doesn't even work. Rehabilitation is way morw effective

>>54448989
I would prefer my taxes were used in forcing inmates to play D&D than rehabilitation.

D&D in prison should be mandatory.

>>54449065
Whoever's able to level a character up and survive the Tomb of Horrors gets time taken off their sentence.

>>54445905
How was your prison campaign?

>>54437097
I heard they're allowed to play board games but they're not allowed dice, so they have to get creative in how they make their own.

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>there are people that get better game groups in prison than I do in the free world

>>54444623
>Nobody reads it

>>54450956
I did read it

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>>54449460
Basically we where all Jack sparrow
But with more rape / genocide and long drawn out combat when our GM loved to go...
>"AH HA! you thought you killed everyone SURPRISE reinforcements!"

>>54441362
underrated

>>54442225
Hope that guy doesn't join the Dark Brotherhood.

>>54449997
If you do pic related, your will have players real soon

>>54449997
no job to get in the way. no wife or kids interfering. if it's not meal, inspection, yard or lights out, you could game constantly, since there's fuck all else to do.

man, sounds like a paradise. They'd probably even let me RP an elf slut and suck them all off under the table.

truly a blessed life.

>>54454929
But would they play as Paladins or Chaotic Stupid?