D&D revival

As a kid I got into D&D.  I started with the basic (red) box and got the expert (blue) box next.  Those were nice but I quickly decided I wanted to play AD&D.  I worked my butt off shoveling snow to earn the money to get the books.  One of my good friends and I would get together and try to figure out how we wanted to play.  I spent the better part of a year taking my D&D books everywhere I might have time to read. Yes, I was that nerd.

Back in the day, only nerds played D&D.  Often you were ridiculed for playing or talking about it.  Add it to the long list of nerd activities we participated in.  mostly we didn’t care and liked being nerds.  But you knew you were an outsider.

As I got older and had more friends, we moved into other role-playing systems because of what the group wanted to do.  Once we all got jobs and started actually hanging out with girls we were dating, we played less and less frequently. We stopped all together in our late 20s.  I missed revs 2 through 4.  From what I’ve heard it wasn’t a big loss.

When the new 5th edition came out I conveniently started to have more time.  The new rules are much simpler than AD&D and clarify a lot of things.  The modules are soooo much better than the old classics.  Those still hold a bit of nostalgic fondness but the new ones introduce a whole world and fleshed out scenarios to save time.  The old ones really were just dungeon crawls for the most part.

Today it seems that its cool to play.  Big Bang Theory, Stranger Things and the number of celebrities coming out that say they play has helped.  The marketing has been great.  The game stores hosting games makes it easier than ever to find a group to play with.  More people playing means that WoTC has more money and incentive to build great content.  You can get all kinds of new material on the Internet.  You can even find troves of videos on YouTube that teach you to play and you can even watch people play to get a feel for the game.

Every year we go to GenCon and maybe Origins; the big game fairs.  We get to see the new stuff coming out and hang out in a community of people that all love gaming.  Its still a big nerd-fest but the attendance by “non-nerds" is off the charts.  More and more people know about it and some are actually jealous when I tell them we are going.  The kids love it and I love sharing that with them.

Its easier to let your geek flag fly now than it ever was for me growing up.  Even in a school of smart, often nerdy, kids it was hard to really let it fly.  I spent a lot of time as a kid hanging by myself because it was easier than being the socially awkward kid that got picked on.  Its different now.  I’m glad that my kids don’t need to work to hide who they are.

D&D with the kids

When I was a kid I loved AD&D.  I’m glad that the kids are now old enough to play and they asked to be able to play.

I started a group with my 3 oldest, a couple of their friends and a couple of parents.  We get together every other week to play.  It’s awesome. Everyone is having a good time and we just hang out, eat pizza and have a blast for a couple of hours.  They are really starting to get it and gradually working into actually role playing their characters.

As a kid someone else was always the DM.  Now its my turn.  Its way more fun than I had thought as a kid.  Having a bit of maturity and experience definitely helps.

We are running into a point in our campaign where we are going to get to choose a couple of different ways to go.  I can’t wait to see what they do next.

my 40s

When I turned 40 I wrote about all of the things that happened during my 30s.  It was a great way to look back on the decade.  So much happened; not the least of which was getting married and becoming a father.
As I turn 49 and look back over my 40s, there is arguably more that happened:

• became a father for the 4th time
• became an uncle 5 times
• ran a 1/2 marathon
• cycling
• rode 1000s of miles
• rode on the Indy 500 track
• started racing bikes
• wrecked my bike at 40mph and spent 18 months dealing with a single tiny broken bone
• stoped racing bikes
• had surgery 4 times for various sports related injuries
• started wearing bi-focals
• changed jobs a couple of times
• went to India
• was best man for my friend
• presented at a conference
• had multiple op-eds published
• became much more involved with the kids school
• became a scout leader
• became disillusioned  about the state of politics, then
• ran for office and learned a ton
• became an activist
• was offered a position on the board of a non-profit
• spoke at a protest
• knocked 1000s of doors for various causes
• became a precinct executive
• ran a voter registration drive
• marched in a bunch of parades
• started going to GenCon again
• started playing D&D with my kids
• sold a house and bought a new one
• went to Disney World twice
• got to give Chewbacca a bro-hug
• attended my 30 year high school reunion
• kids started moving from elementary school into their high school
• reconnected with a lot of old classmates and friends
• accepted that I need to deal with my depression and sought professional help

I think that’s a pretty impressive list and it doesn’t even represent everything.  There is still one year left in my 40s and I need to figure out what isn’t on my list...