Skip to content

Southern Fried Science

Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS

Tag: Dungeons and dragons

Taking Initiative: My 2023 year in environmental education, outreach, and activism

Posted on January 19, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Taking Initiative: My 2023 year in environmental education, outreach, and activism
Education

2023 was a year of endings. I closed several projects and spent a lot of time, behind the scenes, laying the foundation for project I hope will have an impact in 2024. I don’t really think of myself as a science communications person anymore. We are activists, working to achieve specific science-informed policy outcomes. We … Read More “Taking Initiative: My 2023 year in environmental education, outreach, and activism” »

Come to the geek side of #scicomm: Marine science education by Dungeons & Dragons

Posted on February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 By Chris Parsons
Uncategorized

A couple of years ago, several of the people organizing the International Marine Conservation Congress let slip in their planning discussions that they played Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). There are many of us of a certain age that remember fondly playing in our youth, some of us have kids who are now getting of an age where we can, in turn, teach them how to play, and some were drawn in by the surge in Youtube and podcast shows like the hugely popular “Critical Role” where literally millions of people turn in to watch a bunch of nerds play Dungeons and Dragons … and have fun.

This led to the idea of playing a game at the conference. After more discussion, perhaps helped by a few drinks, the idea was spawned that perhaps we could make this game marine-themed and educational? Maybe even play this game in front of an audience at the conference? Perhaps even record it and share it online…?!

Read More “Come to the geek side of #scicomm: Marine science education by Dungeons & Dragons” »

Why do wizards go adventuring ? Or …. you thought that your tenure requirements were tough?!

Posted on February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 By Chris Parsons
Academic life, Popular Culture

Something that has been bothering me for a while, is why do wizards go adventuring?

Source: ClipArtLord.com

Now if you are a big geek like me, you’ll know that practically every adventuring party has a wizard. But these wizards are incredibly unprepared for exploring dungeons and have a shockingly high mortality rate. In the dungeons and dragons* of my youth, a starting wizard had a mere 1 to 4 hit points and was equipped with dagger (or is they were luck a staff). Did these budding Gandalfs get armor? Of course not, they faced ogres and basilisks in the fantasy equivalent of sweat pants.

The statistics of a starting wizard meant that they could easily be killed by a house cat. Also they had just one spell. Cast “light” so that your party could see in a cave, and you were done for the day. If you had the most destructive spell of the first level wizard, you would fire a “magic missile” that always hit, but did a miserable 2 to 5 (1d4+1)  points of damage. So if  jumped by  above mentioned angry house cat, you literally had a 50/50 chance of killing it before it killed you**.

So why do all these highly educated, highly intelligent wizards leave their ivory (or mithril) towers and trudge through cold, dank dungeons with groups of characters that generally make the knights in Monty Python and the Holy Grail look like Seal Team 6  in comparison?

Why does every early career academic pursue elusive gold and put their common sense and lives on the line? Why…? To get tenure of course…

Read More “Why do wizards go adventuring ? Or …. you thought that your tenure requirements were tough?!” »

Posts pagination

Previous 1 2

Popular Posts

Shark scientists want their research to help save threatened species, but don’t know how. Our new paper can help.Shark scientists want their research to help save threatened species, but don’t know how. Our new paper can help.December 1, 2025David Shiffman
Norway and Cook Islands put their deep-sea mining plans on pause.Norway and Cook Islands put their deep-sea mining plans on pause.December 3, 2025Andrew Thaler
What Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryWhat Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryJuly 2, 2025David Shiffman
The Trouble with Teacup PigsThe Trouble with Teacup PigsOctober 14, 2012Andrew Thaler
What we know we don't know: impacts of deep-sea mining on whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, and other migratory species.What we know we don't know: impacts of deep-sea mining on whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, and other migratory species.November 20, 2025Andrew Thaler
2025: My year in writing, public speaking, and media interviews2025: My year in writing, public speaking, and media interviewsDecember 3, 2025David Shiffman
Urea and Shark OsmoregulationUrea and Shark OsmoregulationNovember 15, 2010David Shiffman
Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryShark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryAugust 10, 2014Michelle Jewell
How tiny satellites are tracking marine wildlifeDecember 1, 2025Andrew Thaler
Build a dirt cheap, tough-as-nails field computer in a Pelican caseBuild a dirt cheap, tough-as-nails field computer in a Pelican caseJuly 21, 2015Andrew Thaler
Subscribe to our RSS Feed for updates whenever new articles are published.

We recommend Feedly for RSS management. It's like Google Reader, except it still exists.

Southern Fried Science

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS


If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign.

Copyright © 2025 Southern Fried Science.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown