2018: The Year of Gaming!

So I've been gaming for a long time. I was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in 1979. I was 8 years old (same age as my son, Lars — whom I've been trying to get interested in RPGs, but no dice yet. He's more "Minecraftian" at this point.) and it blew my f'in mind. I remember going to some local stationary store with my grandmother (yes, things like that once existed) and for some reason they also had a bizarre hobby/gaming section. And there it stood in all of it's glory — the Monster Manual. I grabbed it immediately and fling it open ... the first thing I saw was the illustration of THE EYE OF THE DEEP staring right back at me ... and I was completely mesmerized. Up to that point I loved bizarre shit — myths + monsters, sci-fi, aliens, creatures from the black lagoons — and I had an overly active imagination, which just fueled this new "fire" known as roleplaying games.

Needless to say I my grandmother bought me that book that day (I guess she also saw the fire in my eyes), and I still have the damn thing. I don't think I put that manual down for a year. I was totally fascinated, and was dying to actually PLAY the game, but I didn't know anyone my age who had ever heard about it (and I really didn't know the rules, per se). Eventually that year one of my parent's friend's older kids saw me reading the MM and was like, "Right on, little dude!" He agreed to teach me how to play the game, and let me sit on a few impromptu sessions with his friends while listening to Rush and Sabbath. Needless to say, I never looked back...

Well, almost 40 years later, I still absolutely love the game — and gaming in general — but I found I'm still a total "purist" when it comes to most RPGs. With D&D, I never advanced past 2nd edition rules (even some of them are a bit questionable). When TSR was losing market share, they decided to change shit up with the entire concept of the game — I can only guess as a way to increase retention while building a newer audience — by making characters ridiculously powerful and basically lifted game restrictions around a lot of things that (in my mind) ruined the game and make it way too "Mall Metal/Hot Topic" for my liking. From a business perspective, in some ways I understood ... I just didn't like it. Over the years I stuck to the old rules — the only rules, in my opinion — and enough people did as well, so I've been able to continually play (mostly sporadically) and still keep that fire I had for the game ever since that Monster Manual moment.

One of the best things around gaming for this long is that I've made some amazing friends who share that passion — and that's pretty priceless — especially since I'm not the biggest fan of humans as time has gone by. We suck, but the games allow for a much-needed "level-setting" of humanity's imagination and creativity where we can pretend for a moment and transcend the insanity around us.

In 2016-17, I tried to run my most recent in-person campaign (which wasn't really a true "campaign" in that it was more a series of adventures using the same party, just without a single mission), but scheduling and bandwidth were a continual problem. Things dwindled and eventually fell apart. It wasn't for lack of trying — 2017 was a bitch of a year for everyone I know. It wasn't in the stars...

So I'm calling 2018 the "Year of Gaming" in order to make up for last year. For the first time I've gotten involved in a bunch of remote/online D&D sessions with (for the most part) complete strangers from around the globe. This time as a player — usually I'm the DM, but it was time to take a break from the "heavy lifting" for a bit. Initially, I was a little hesitant. What should I expect? But it's been great, and it's again "relit" that fire. I'm also considering attending some area gaming conferences, which was never on the bill. I always thought they were way too "nerdy" ... but screw it, I am total nerd — who am I kidding? I'm cool with that. It's all good... Even last week I posted a map (from a recent online session) I had illustrated one weekend morning just because I love illustrating, shared it in the Holmes Basic Google+ community on a suggestion, and now it's going to be part of an adventure being played at the NTRPGCon in Dallas this year. That is pretty awesome and completely unexpected.

Needless to say, I think we all need to have a bit more fun this year to make up for last year ... and gaming is an incredible vehicle for it!