Me and D&D · 1:54pm Apr 8th, 2014
I think I was around 8 or 9 when my older brother first brought home a Dungeons and Dragons rulebook. In true pirates of the Philippines style, he brought home the photocopied version one of his friends made for him. Of course, he brought it home so he could play it with me and our younger brother.
One would think that, since he was the most knowledgeable of the rules at that time, he'd be the dungeon master while me and our youngest would be the players. But, as early as back then, our eldest has to be the superstar. He has to be the lead character who saves the day, gets the treasure, and wins the heart of the fair maiden. The DM, despite being the most powerful player at the table, especially because he's the most powerful player on the table, doesn't do those things. The DM threatens the day, gives away the treasure, and comes up with the stats for the fair maiden...along with everyone else who's not a player. So the job fell to me, mostly because I was the one most amenable to spending the extra time preparing a bunch of stuff before the session even began. I got the photocopied rulebook, studied it reluctantly and we had our first campaign.
This was the earlier version of D&D, the time when "elf" was a character class, not a race, and the only available alignments were lawful, neutral, and chaotic. We played for a while and I threw every fantasy cliche at my brothers before we moved on. We eventually stopped playing the tabletop game, but encountered it elsewhere: Eye of the Beholder, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale...the game was always in our periphery, even though we never touched that moldering stack of photocopied rules again.
I was in third year high school when I encountered the tabletop game again. A classmate and friend introduced me to version 3. I got interested again, even bought the three core rulebooks so I can read without relying on his materials. I got to be a player this time along with my other friends. I liked being just a player. Sure you're at your DM's mercy, but you can be more invested in your one character and take joy in gaining every advantage you can scrape together. Slowly building your character with XP you earned and equipment you wrested from a nasty dungeon crawl is more satisfying than going through the list of magical items in the DM's Handbook and picking out the ones you like.
There were genuine moments of fun and levity. But there were also times when the game stopped being fun. A friend eventually got pissed and stopped playing for a while. As I look back to it, our DM was a good friend and a likeable guy, but he was pretty terrible at being a DM. He was a little too happy to hand our asses to us and was far more engrossed in introducing his next monster (which was always several CRs higher than appropriate). When summer vacation rolled along, and our DM had choir duties, I found myself surrounded by the rest of the playing group being asked to take over.
So I was back in the DM spot, and it was for a sullen group tired of running killer dungeons and re-rolling characters. I've never DMed a v3 campaign and I had to find a balance between killing them in the next encounter and making them hunt rats in someone's basement. I think I did alright. By the next school year, the group wanted me to DM. I didn't mind either. As fun as being a player was, I did develop a love for crafting a campaign and watching players run through them. You don't get to be the superstar, but it's immensely satisfying to close a session with everyone happy and looking forward to the next.
Our old DM bowed out gracefully: no angry confrontation, no litany of "crimes". He just found something else to do. That was the last year I played the game (and it was the year 3.5 showed up). College loomed ahead, everyone moved to different universities and got swamped by work. No more time for campaigns.
I never liked how mainstream media often portrayed D&D as the game of choice for the stereotype nerds. And, of course, the DM was the king nerd: the guy at the center of the table with the fancy screen, all the figurines, a stack of rulebooks and the delusions of grandeur, constantly threatening his players and laughing as they die another horrible death at his expertly crafted dungeon. Not at all some guy just trying to facilitate a good game, often having to fudge rolls to spare players because player deaths tend to bog down the campaign and leave people frustrated. Or you get hilarious and moronic shit like THIS.
I miss DMing sometimes. I think its part of the reason I write fanfics: the old DM need to create lore and run established characters through them. I doubt I'll ever play the game again: v4 or whatever's out these days, but I still enjoy seeing the lore seep into so many stories. When I see the old names; the Abyssal Lords, the Lords of the Nine, the various planes, I tend to to get a little nostalgic. Hell, I was about to stop watching the first episode of MLP: FiM when the manticore jumped out and Rarity kicked its face.
DMing has likely shaped my story-crafting more than all the creative-writing classes I took in college. Along the way, I've met some nice people, and have fond memories of reading, preparing, and setting up the next campaign. I owe the game a lot. I think pop culture does too.
Ya, I still find myself in front of a DnD group weekly(as a player). I've tried DMing and I'm not very good. I still enjoy it. The social aspect and bad rolls more than anything.
That... explains a lot about you. And chick tracts are awful. And stupidly funny at the same time. And they make me sad.
It explains why Upheaval feels like the greatest version of 3.5 edition DnD ponies ever written. I used to play 2nd, 3rd, and 3.5 on both ends of the table, and so I know how you feel. Reading your stories reminds me a lot of how much fun world building is. Taking a mythology and letting it expand and grow. Creating nations, cities, histories, wars, gods, and dungeons from nothing. It's why I love fantasy so much. Science fiction. Alternative history. It's why I love RPG's so much. Neverwinter nights, KOTOR, Icewind Tale, the Witcher, Dragon Age. They all bring back good memories.
And you do too. You bring back and show the greatness that fantasy writing and epic storytelling brings. Never forget that. Because I'll remind you every damn time.
I've never played DnD, sad to say. It's not that I'm not interested, but that I'm in a small town with lots of people who really are stereotypical backwater townspeople.
I'd likely give it a good try if given a chance. Hell, maybe I'd have a chance to develop my writing skills
I was always more into Shadowrun myself, probably because I watched Blade Runner too much in High school. Funny enough my roommate has a inside connection with "Wizards of the Coast", so a bunch of my pals are currently running a campaign using the 5th edition rules
Mainstream media stereotyping aside, I never ran into much stigma for being an avid dice roller. I would like to think we have moved beyond such things as culture, but humanity has poor track record for letting things go.
i tend to play more of pathfinder closer to 3.5 but i have played a some of other ones (BESM being one of the main ones) could never get in to 4.0 though but maybe because it wasn't my first system and haven't played WoW either.
I love D&D!
I really enjoy playing as a character, but I too enjoy DMing. I haven't actually DMed in a while...but I wouldn't mind taking a wack at it again. I've some ideas and I think I could pull a decent campaign together.
For fans of DnD or if you just need more Rollplay in your Life or as something to listen to in the Background. I highly recommend the RollPlay Series on Youtube on ItmeJP Channel.
What has started as 1 Series Feb 18 2013 has evolved into multiple Series with vast amount of contend.
The Series that started it all for me
RollPlay The Original = 3 Season 39 Weeks
RollPlay is a weekly Dungeons and Dragons 2.5E campaign with iNcontroL(SC2 Pro), LivinPink(SC2), Ryan Moore(MLG Admin), and JP McDaniel(Contend Creator) with Dungeon Master Neal Erickson (SC2 Ratings).
Rollplay Original
RollPlay Solum The continuation of the original currently running Week 13 Part 6
Rollplay Solum
RollPlay Ehbon + the reboot of Ehbon at Week 9 is a Series were JP plays the DM on board are Root_Catz (SC2 Pro) Neal Erickson, Ryan Moore and KaithlyN.
RollPlay Ehbon
week 9 reboot Ehbon Week 9 Reboot
RollPlay Dark Heresy a Dark Heresy campaign Warhammer 40k Universe with iNcontroL, TotalBiscuit, djWHEAT, and JP McDaniel with Game Master Steven Lumpkin.(WH40k Dev) The show that goes on the slowest but the wait is worth it.
RollPlay Dark Heresy
Rollplay R&D is the fourth and final show of the series. It features Luperza, djWHEAT, JP, and Steven Lumpkin in an ever-changing table-top campaign and guests!
Rollplay R&D Season 1
The whole thing is as close to a professional Rollplay Setup as you can get and I highly recommend you check it out.
I will point you towards DnDeviants on deviantart.com; the place where DMs and fantasy artists go to dispense good advice and post awesome pictures and modules. I have personally contributed at least 4 or 5 blog entries with advice for starting DMs. It's a great place to get inspired. I know I've pulled at least one monster from the bestiary there.