As I reminisce about how I came upon the fantastic world of Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPG), I can’t help but realize I’ve been playing them for five years now. My first set of notes date all the way back to January 2016. The start of a new year and the beginning of a long journey. Though, I say I’ve been playing TTRPG’s since 2016 I had been listening to and consuming Dungeon’s and Dragons content specifically for years before then. I loved reading fantasy stories and that desire only grew as I got older. There was something compelling about watching or reading stories about foreign lands. Their reality was different but through careful world building and direction I could follow along and experience a piece of what that world had to offer.
The more I delved into the fantasy, the more I learned about the many roleplaying game systems there were. These games enabled people to share their unique worlds with others by allowing them to be a part of it. The task of creating an entire world was daunting, I enjoyed writing but I never thought I’d have the right amount of skill to pull that off. However, that changed when one of my friends casually mentioned they wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons. Up until that point I never had the opportunity or confidence to run games for other people so I kept that hobby to myself. In the end my desire to play overcame the initial anxiety of being the worst. One way or another when that time came, I readied my notes, gathered my friends and we sat down at the table.
I was nervous, so many things could go wrong or they would go to a place where I had nothing prepared. It felt as though I was laying down tracks for a speeding train. Each action another set of tracks placed, barely keeping them from careening off a cliff. I stumbled and scrambled during our breaks to find ways to bring them back together and somehow it worked. The experience was beyond what I was expecting. We played for more than eight hours that day. I’d essentially reached the end of my notes and I found a suitable place to stop. Looking over the table I could sense their weariness. Thoughts began racing through my mind. Did I make a wrong call? Was I boring? Maybe they didn’t like playing and this would be their last game. Obviously, that wasn’t the case or I wouldn’t be mentioning it now but, it’s an irrational fear many game masters have when they run for others. However, to my surprise they had a blast. We also discussed possibly cutting down the length we’d play because regardless of how excited we were eight hours was a bit much. So yes, they were literally tired of me, but only because we played for so long. After that experience I knew TTRPG’s were here to stay. I have a story and now I’m able to share it with the world.
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