Epic Nerd Camp
This year, I attended Epic Nerd Camp, an adult summer camp for likeminded geeks and gamers at Camp Ramblewood in Maryland. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, even though two of my family members have been attending since its foundation and profusely swore that I would love it. Well, I’m not sure if it’s just simple human nature to be skeptical or if I’m more of a stick-in-the-mud kind of guy, but I was worried that I wouldn’t have fun. More likely, I wouldn’t let myself have fun. You see, I’m thirty-seven, and I’m married with two children. I’ve never taken vacations without my family, and to spend this kind of time away from them felt very selfish, to me. I was worried that by taking this time for myself, I’d be letting them down, or maybe, I was letting myself down regarding the expectations I have for me. A whole host of worries and concerns grew before the trip, and I almost let them get to me. That’s right, I almost dropped out before going.
Now that months have passed and I’ve had time to really ruminate on the whole process, I can say now with absolute certainty I’m truly glad I went. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in recent years. I let go of my regular stress and concerns, and I adopted an overwhelming sense of curiosity and joy.
I had been playing tabletop RPGs weekly for the last seven years of my life, and so I was really looking forward to the RPGs. They did not disappoint. Pathfinder was a delightful romp in the world of Golarion while role playing as a tin wizard. Dread was stressful and fun, as always, as I tried to survive a cursed mining town (spoiler: I didn’t). Fiasco was a wild ride being a delinquent in Los Angeles, who really deserved much worse than where he ended up. Final Girl was fun trying on numerous hats while being chased by cryptids at Epic Nerd Camp.
Honestly, the highlight game for me was one that I didn’t even want to play. It was offered as an extra game towards the end of the trip, and I was not sure I would really get into the more serious horror aspects of it. Ten Candles is an intense game where there are ten candles lit, you play in the dark, and as you fail—the candles go out one-by-one. When the last candle goes out, all the player characters die. Everyone at the table really played their hearts out, and we all engaged with the depressing realities of the end of the world with an almost undying hope—a hope that is so necessary for life, in general.
Shout out to the person who never played tabletop RPGs before but totally brought the lion’s share of exceptional drama. I don’t want to name them here, so I will refer to them as S. S really brought me in with the amount of buy-in they had for the story, and at several points, they broke down into tears over the tragedy their character went through. It was extremely emotional and impactful, and it gave me so much to work with as a player. I would have never expected to have such a chilling and heart wrenching time playing a game with people I didn’t even know, but it worked. It was like magic.
What I didn’t think I would enjoy as much was the other people at camp. I was incredibly wrong. I couldn’t tell you how many people I met because it was so many. Everyone was welcoming and kind. I could wake up in the morning and spend all day gaming or chatting with folks from all over, with varied backgrounds, and it never grew tiresome. It really opened my mind up to the possibilities when people are given space to create and share without worry of judgement. Everyone should really be able to experience that at least once in their lives, and it completely makes sense to me why so many people come back to camp. It’s a place that you can truly be yourself. That might sound tired or cheesy, but it’s true.
There is so much more I could write about, but I think I will stop there. I’m so grateful that I was able to go to this gem of a place. I hope to go back, again.