I was first introduced to Dungeons and Dragons in the spring of 1981 or maybe a bit earlier; I started my first campaign in the summer of 1981, and I’m sure it will surprise absolutely no one to hear that I rapidly began filling up notebooks with additions, modifications, and what I thought of as corrections to the game system; by the early ’90s the game I was running for my players had diverged so much from the “official” system (was it 2nd edition then? I wasn’t really paying attention) that they could only barely be considered the same game. When Grace and I became roommates early in 1998, I was delighted to discover that she had played a little herself and was eager to expand on that experience. Matt, too, enjoyed it, and I was happy to run a solo game for him as well. But eventually, life intervened as it is wont to do; by the late Oughts we rarely got the chance, and by the early teens we had let it lapse altogether. It wasn’t for lack of desire; it was just that I was so busy with everything from blogging and activism to trying to build a house to dealing with financial disaster to going through a divorce and moving to Washington, that I simply didn’t have the energy. Those who have never played may be unaware that the game takes a lot of preparation on the part of Game Master (AKA “Dungeon Master”) – creating a world and everything in it, and preparing adventures for the players to enjoy – and I had precious little creative energy to spare. Oh, sure, some people enjoy running premade adventures created by others, but to me that was as unsatisfying as a TV dinner, and besides those were created in a version of the system I couldn’t even have recognized. By the late Teens I was really missing all the fun; I considered starting a new game several times, but things just never came together. Then finally this winter, I brought it up to Grace again, and she was enthusiastic; around mid-January we started playing every Sunday, and though neither of us is young any more, we can still recapture a little of the youthful joy of fantastic adventures in a magical land of imagination.
Diary #662
March 7, 2023 by Maggie McNeill
No surprise to me that those with a happy adjustment to the difference between fantasy and reality find this in all forms of play.
I think you’re onto something there. I love fantasy in my play and in my entertainment, and because I can get my fill of it from those sources, I’m not tempted to impose fantastical interpretations onto real life.
I haven’t played for over twenty five years for all the reasons you mention, but when I ran a game or any of my friends did, we all modified the rules to some extent. I think it’s common for the creative sorts of people attracted to such a game to want to apply their creativity to more than just the areas defined by the rules.
Oh torture me some more will you, to speak of greatness and high adventure. Just to post the title of the game is saying “beetlejuice” three times to make me appear. Now i wont sleep for weeks properly. Oh you Maggie… eyes narrow… And to show the holy bible of the game, first edition Dungeon Masters guide in the picture.Is like you standing four feet away and i cant reach out and touch you. Ohhhhh Maggie… eyes still narrowed…. Torture torture torture…… 😉