Gaming. Part 1

So it has been quite some time since I made a point to write anything. This is not entirely due to laziness. In fact I've been quite busy. Between resuming my studies at a University, to being a full time dad. Life is fairly busy these days, but I still get the opportunity to indulge in my hobbies. My hobbies are numerous, ranging from reading and writing, to cooking. However, there is one hobby that I hold nearest and dearest to my heart, gaming.

Ever since I was a very young child, I've had a fascination with games. I enjoy a multitude of board games, and have spent more hours than I'd care to admit playing video games. Truly though, my true love when it comes to games would have to be table top role-playing games. I remember watching my dad play Dungeons and Dragons with his friends when I was just a kid. I pestered that group mercilessly, sometimes getting to throw dice for my dad, who was the dungeon master. Usually though, they'd start playing after I was sent to bed.

When I was a kid, I didn't know there were other games out there. D&D was the only game I saw my dad play. It was sort of our gateway "drug" to the card game Magic: The Gathering. While I was a child I asked for the various game core books for my birthday and for Christmas presents. Here I was, a seven and eight year old kid with the core rulebooks for 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, and I ate them up. These days I struggle to find the time to read a sourcebook for a game from cover to cover. For AD&D, I probably would have been able to cite page numbers for rules. I could still do THAC0 right now if need be. For those of you who missed that reference... it's an obscure rule that many view as something from the dark ages of table top rpgs.

Fast forward to middle school. I wanted to play roleplaying games, but it just wasn't happening. I was that kid who'd sit at the lunch table at school and play Magic with a couple other kids. Besides my best friend Ben, I'm not sure I could tell you anyone else's name that sat at that table. I could describe to you their gaming behaviors, but not tell you their names. This collectible card gaming wasn't scratching my itch however. I wanted something different.

So I discussed it with my parents, and made arrangements to have some friends come over and play. None of them had played before, though most of them had heard of it. I took the time to create characters for everyone. It was middle school, so I left the roleplaying up to them and kind of vague. We all sat down to play one Saturday and I launched into a pre-written adventure called "House on Harrow Hill."

That was probably one of the most dismal failures of my entire life. For a long time I blamed the players, but... it was partly my fault as a brand new DM. I let things get under my skin I should have brushed off. I let a disruptive player take control of the table and drag the entire group into a plot vacuum. I think, given my experience now, I could have handled that differently. However it spelled doom for that group. Hardly anyone had fun, and it became a running gag whenever people didn't want to do something. Someone could suggest something and the reply would be "...or we could play D&D again."

I played a couple other games during High School, but not many. I got involved in a few electronic games while I was attending Job Corps and while I was in college. At that time e-games were a nightmare. Voice chat was garbage, so you mostly used instant messaging clients. They were fun times, and some stories that I can still remember but again... I was gaming with strangers, and wasn't establishing friendships.

So with all these failed attempts to play, many people in my life have asked why I love this hobby. Why is this something I'm so invested in? My wife was pretty stunned to hear me tell her the other day, that if I could get a core gaming group that was playing regularly I'd more than likely all but give up video games. How can I have this level of love for a game when I've had so many bad experiences?

The truth is, it's about the story and the interaction. In my heart, I'm a storyteller. Ask anyone I've gamed with, and they'll tell you I'm a very story driven gamer and game master. I'm not a huge fan of the combat simulation. It has it's place, sure. I know the thrill of a critical hit, and I know the bitter taste of a botch. Combat deserves it's place in a story, for sure. It needs to be cinematic and dynamic however. I don't want to spend hours doing it. I want to get in, mix it up, tell an awesome story about what happened in it... and then move on.

That being said, there was a time in my life when I'd given up on roleplaying games. It was after a miserably failed instant messenger based campaign.The guy who was the game master had brought his girlfriend in. She wasn't really very interested in playing, but wanted to spend time with him. One of the rules was, her brother got to play. Her brother was, to put it bluntly, a total tool. In just a few sessions, he torched an ancient forest that was home to the elves we were supposed to protect. He defiled the ancient burial ground of a sacred religious order, and he slaughtered a town because an innkeeper was rude to him. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he turned on the party and killed us all. In our sleep!

I was fed up. Too many failures, too many disappointments. Maybe role playing games weren't for me. I was convinced there wasn't a group out there I could make it work with. That all changed though, when I became close friends with a man named Shriane Dream Phoenixx. Here was a man who was every bit the storyteller I was. Here was a man who ate, drank, slept and breathed this stuff. This man helped to rekindle my love for roleplaying games. He also helped me see there were games outside of Dungeons and Dragons.

Someone once told me that a blog should be just a quick "scoop" of info. So, loyal readers, we'll continue this in part 2. Until then, goodnight, and good luck.