Botia: A D&D Story

I’ve been playing video games for most of my life. Mainly RPGs, because of the escapism, immersion, stories, visuals, etc. I always got a kick out of the games that gave me more freedom to control my characters’ actions and decisions. If you’re curious, some of my favourite RPGs are: Oblivion, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, and Divinity: Original Sin II. There are tons more I have enjoyed over the years, but those ones stand out for me. But then, I turned my attention towards Dungeons and Dragons. When I really got into learning about D&D, I realized that it’s the perfect RPG. I know that long time fans of the game will be rolling their eyes at this, but I only just learned about how colossal D&D’s influence has been all throughout gaming culture, and I realized that it is the epitome of this gaming genre.

I had always heard of D&D in passing, but I only decided to give it a try a couple of years ago. I took on the role of Dungeon Master, for which the preparation was much akin to studying for some kind of intensive course at a university. But I love it; the preparation, the worldbuilding, running the campaign, and so on. Playing with a couple of friends and my sister has made for a lighthearted campaign so far, but the campaign is not without some dark and interesting twists and turns.

The immersion is unbelievable; the joy of orchestrating the open world that I created -- and seeing my friends experience it through their characters -- is so gratifying. After a few months, upon noticing how plots and characters naturally develop, I had a thought: What if I were to turn our sessions into episodic stories and write them in prose as we go along? Players are rewarded for acting consistently as per their character descriptions and backgrounds, so seeing them react in character to different challenges throughout the campaign helped me envision the campaign becoming a real narrative. It’s been great fun writing up the campaign so far, and my friends and I have enjoyed reading through some of their characters’ escapades in this medium.

Over time, I came to the conclusion that I want to publish the stories somewhere, and Vocal seems like the perfect platform to do so! I don’t really have any expectations for where it’ll go. Instead, I just hope some of you have as much fun reading through these stories as my friends and I have had. My idea is to release sections as our campaign progresses. It’s still unfinished, and I only have a very vague sense of where the general plot is going, so I’ll be just as eager as any possible readers may be to see what happens next.

Anyway, this post is just for some background context before I begin posting the actual campaign. I plan to start uploading parts of the campaign in the coming week. Even though we started the campaign a couple of years ago, life has made it difficult to keep a regular playing schedule. Also, as all D&D players know, it can be hard to find the time for everyone to be able to commit a few hours of their day considering each person’s unique life situation.

Note: due to the improvised nature of how the story develops, I can’t promise that the plots and character development will be the most consistent in the world, but I’ll be tinkering to make sure nothing glaring gets through! These episodic stories are not intended to be taken too seriously. Enjoy them at face value with some essential snacks in hand.