Shippensburg Adventure Game Camp
Nearly thirty years ago, there was a summer camp for D&D. Yes that’s right, a summer camp where instead of basket weaving and archery, you played Dungeons & Dragons. I went all five years it ran, three years as a camper and two as a councilor. And yes, it was awesome.
There is about zero information about the Shippensburg D&D camp on the internet, so I agreed to do an interview for posterity’s sake. You can read my write-up for yourself, but be warned, it is an epic tale of 80’s gaming nostalgia:
My Shippensburg Adventure Game Camp Interview
One other camp attendee has already replied to the post. Could there be more? There were about three hundred gamers who went to the camp. They have to be out there somewhere…
CORRECTION: It’s buried somewhere in the comments, but with detective work we verified that the infamous newspaper article was in ’84, not ’85. So it didn’t immediately kill the camp.
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I was also a camper at the D&D camp (’81 & ’82). I was in 5th or 6th grade when I started, so I was one of the youngest kids there.
The first year was my favorite. My DM was a guy named Scott, and he was great. He had a friend named Fred, who thought he could fly. He would jump down stairs with his arms stretched out. If he were to fall out of a desk, he would have his arms stretched out like superman…
Toward the end of the week, Fred took a group of us out into the commons, chose an appropriate little rise, ran toward it and launched himself off of it. He actually flew a few feet, before he landed and clocked his elbow on a rock.
Fred didn’t make it the next year, because he was building a suit of platemail.
I remember Frank Mentzer’s talk. He was giving away prizes during the lecture for answering trivia questions from the manuals, and a kid with a photographic memory won every prize.
I remember the giant invisible weapons battle on the lawn one evening of the first year.
I half-recollect Clash of the Titans. I remember ping pong in the basement of the dorm, and Defender and Robotron in the HUB.
I’ve been staring at the pics for hours trying to recollect as much as I can about the whole experience. I just remember having a great time, and really feeling happy to be around people who shared my interests (I grew up in Central PA, where very few people shared my interests).
Hey Ben,
I have a couple DnD questions for you, about the camp, if you don’t mind. I read the interview, and it’s such a great idea. If you have time, would you email me at norgalis@gmail.com please? Thanks again for your help. If a phone call would be easier, then let me know.
Warm Regards,
Max
@ Todd — Welcome fellow camper! Yeah, the internet was sorely lacking any proof that the Shippensburg camp ever existed, which is one of the reasons I agreed to do the interview when MJ asked.
I think user comments on the original interview were turned off automatically a few weeks after it was posted, but you’re welcome (and encouraged) to add your reflections here. I’d love to hear it, and I think getting more first-hand accounts of Shippensburg is really interesting.
Fantastic recollection, Ben! I was one of those 300 who was there too. (Though I did not then, nor do I now, look like the actors in “300”.) I attended D&D camp from ’82 through ’85 four years total. I believe I was a camper the first two years, a CIT the third year, and a counselor the last. (My memory is rather fuzzy on the details.) I’ve been looking for more evidence of this camp on the web for several years. As soon as I figure out how to comment on your main interview site, I’ll add some of my thoughts and the three group photos I have framed on my wall from each year. (No, they’re not really on the wall – but I do still have them.) Thanks again!
Is it too late for me to go to D&D camp?
:D
Great interview!
There are still D&D camps to this day. I gamed with a guy in Toronto who had gone to D&D camp as a kid.
Thanks for starting this all up. :)