XP Rolls

Does the world need another gaming blog written by a guy old enough to remember Dungeons & Dragons’ rise in the 70s? Probably not, but here I am anyway, answering the nonexistent call.

My journey is a little different from most, since I didn’t try out role-playing games (RPGs) until I was 60, well past those formative years where we sort ourselves into tribes. I’d already had my midlife crisis in which I suddenly needed to learn to play guitar and obsessed over that for many years, so not exactly sure why, 10 years later I needed another hobby. If I think long enough to unpack, it could have something to do with some of the D&D mainstreaming via TV shows like Stranger Things or the 2023 D&D movie, which was surprisingly fun.

Digging deeper, though, my newfound curiosity ties back to last spring, when my older brother, Brett, passed away. We hadn’t been close in years, but I was asked to say something about him at his funeral. I’d known him longer than anyone else in my family, but my memories were complicated – we fought often – and confined to the first 20ish years of our lives.

He started playing D&D around ’78 and my grandfather would drive him across town to drop him off at the local game shop, a weathered cinder block building with a hand-painted sign out front. He’d come home and show me his notebooks full of statistics, logged rolls, map scribbles. He’d show me a handful of dice – all different and all useless to play any games I knew of. He’d try to explain the mechanics and it all sounded so… unfun. Math? Random dice rolls could dictate whether I was smart enough to solve a puzzle? Inelegant maps drawn on graph paper? Blech.

Further, I went to a magnet high school, where being nerdy was a prerequisite for admission. The LARPers and Gamers there were a deep cut class unto themselves, calling each other “Lord” and “Lady” in the hallways, or fighting on the school’s lawn in homemade armor with wooden swords. I wasn’t cool, but I was still aware enough to steer clear of those “beat me up” shenanigans.

But then you get older and you feel the tug. And one of the great things about growing older is not caring too deeply about what’s cool or not. Instead, “could that be fun?” guides your actions more. And last fall I started wondering “would I like playing D&D like Brett did?” and I did. The collaborative storytelling nature of RPGs reminds me of a brief stint doing improv comedy. I hated it because it was so hard and unpredictable, but I also loved it and it could be pretty magical when everyone clicked. In the 6 months since I started, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of RPGs and figured I’d document the experience for other late bloomers and curious.

My focus will be around three main areas:

1. Learning to play TTRPGs. Not just D&D, since that was just the starting point and the rabbit hole goes much deeper and becomes a warren of interconnected burrows. My initial games led to D&D-like games (looking at you, Dragonbane, Shadowdark and Old School), Sci-Fi Horror (Mothership), and more recently has led to games that are more gestural and story-driven, where I honestly just marvel at the prose like the growing Bastionland empire and Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast. These all use different mechanics, bring in a range of design goals and systems.
2. Reading and reviewing adventures. I have more time to read than actually play, and there are smarter, more experienced people reviewing games (Nova’s Bathtub Reviews, for instance), but I like the opportunity to highlight things I’ve found and loved.
3. Writing for RPGs. Someday soon, I’d like to try writing my own, after I get a bit more seasoning. But for now, I’m loving my weekly game with friends and reading everything I can get my hands on.

More later. I have a game to prep for.