awake
Day 26 - What hobbies go well with RPGs?
An interesting question for the day. Several come to mind, to be honest.
First off, there is writing. In some ways, this is a no-brainer, simply because the knowledge of how to craft a narrative, and understanding different elements of story structure would be useful to someone who is running or plans to run a roleplaying game, regardless of genre.
Second up is reading. Reading is a hobby that goes well with gaming. Reading provides gamers with ideas that can be turned into characters, plots, adventures, seeds of ideas in a roleplaying game setting. It works both ways: seeing an interesting concept or something in a roleplaying game can lead to researching said concept or subject, and learning something new. Always a good idea. Needless to say, science fields of research and subjects of interest in the scientific fields are always something that gamers can get involved with.
History is also a good hobby to have, as the events of history can make for great inspiration in roleplaying games. the old adage of truth being stranger than fiction definitely applies here, and can make for great fodder and fuel the imagination for gaming purposes.
The fourth hobby that goes well with rpgs is arts & crafts. This includes drawing, painting, sculpting, woodworking, and other crafts that involve creating things. In gaming this ranges from creating miniature figures or terrain, painting said miniatures and terrain. This also extends to scrapbooking (and writing up in loving detail the adventures of one's gaming group or individual character), as well as crocheting. The latter is someething I've never done personally, though I've sewn up holes in my socks and the like, but have you seen some of the intricate dice bags out there? Incredible!
And finally, there's cooking. Yes, I said cooking... While I'm not as creative at this for the purposes of gaming as some folks I know are, cooking can be a great hobby that ties in with roleplaying gaming. Aside from the benefits of home-made snacks and the like, food at the gaming table (at certain times) lends to good social interaction and the ability to gab for a bit, cementing social connections.
That's pretty much all I can think of in this respect, but I expect there are other folks out there who will have more interesting answers for this question than I do.