dungeons and dragons

Ginny and Jeff in front of
Ginny's new workbench


I remember finding out about Dungeons and Dragons the first time while reading an issue of Games magazine. I was so thrilled by the idea that I immediately it ordered a copy by mail and then planted myself but the front door waiting for the postman.

Of course, I didn't know anyone else who was interested in the game, so when the game finally arrived, I used my own family as guinea pigs. Didn't really know what I was doing, and made the story up as it went along. Partway through the game, my parents put an end to the session because my little brother and sister were getting too scared. Can't remember exactly what the story was about, but I do remember it involved vampires and caves and coffins, and that I was scaring myself all little as well. We never played it again. :-(

In high-school, I heard that the war games club was starting to experiment with D&D. Excited, I attended an after-school session. I was the only girl, and although they welcomed haveme, it was clear that I was putting a crimp in their style. The dungeon master kept apologizing when it anything particularly violent occurred, or when anyone used strong language.

Frustrated, I never went back again.

During University (now why would ViaVoice Want to put the capital at the beginning of the word "University"?), a number of my friends played D&D, and I joined several campaigns. My first character ever was a magic user named Rowena, in a campaign run by Tom West, who is now married to my friend Michelle Sagara. My next was a hobbit thief named Charity, in a campaign run by my friend Andy (who posts in Blatherchat as "aiabx").

So Jeff and I have been teaching Sara and Annie the basics of D&D. The first few times, Jeff and Sara and Annie each described their character and character name to me, and then I would make up the story involving their characters, giving them options on what to do along the way. The girls love this game. My main challenge is not making a story too scary (does that sound familiar?). In my last "Campaign", the villains name was Baba Ganouche, a nasty old witch who liked to eat squirrels and poison children.

On Sunday night, Annie asked if she could be the dungeon master. She prepared a map, and sat in the corner of the room with her map hidden inside a picture book, reminding me uncannily of when Tom and Andy used to hide behind their screens while doing their dungeon master thing in the old days.

Survey: Have you ever been involved in a role-playing game? What kind? Do you still role-play?

(typed with ViaVoice; please excuse typos I've missed)

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