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Table Top Role Playing Games

The Worlds I Lose Myself Into

By Anthony DiazPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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My Small DM Station

Table Top Role Playing Games, TTRPGs; the immersive fantasy adventure, space exploration, eldritch horror, or dungeon crawl that has helped people escape to a realm full of options and wonder. I'm talking about, Pathfinder, Star Wars, Warhammer, Starfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and of course, Dungeons and Dragons. There are so many more out there, it is hard to keep track and perhaps pick out a new system to try. These games can be really intimidating if you are new. You see weird shaped dice, sheets with weird numbers, and the math; let us not forget about the math. These types of games were rare in my school growing up on a military base. The popular game of the times at my school was Magic the Gathering. I personally didn't get into the card game Magic. I kind of felt like there was too much into it and you had to carry those cards around everywhere you went. (boy was I in for a surprise when I started playing D&D, we damn near carried a library with us) There wasn't a whole lot of interest in something like D&D at a military DoD school at Camp Lejeune, NC. I had known of its existence in the early 90s because, of all things, an after church conversation about it to another kid my age. He started to tell of this guy named Gary Gygax, and how he created this amazing world and you roll a bunch of dice and you kill a bunch of monsters. Parents were told of its association with the occult and Satanism, otherwise known as The Satanic Panic. Being a hardcore practicing Catholic at the time and being around thirteen years of age; it sparked my interest. It was hard to go to local gaming shops and book stores to research this thing called Dungeons and Dragons; until a friend said that their father, a Naval Corpsman if memory serves me right, had a complete book collection of 2nd Edition D&D that he would be willing to let us read. Furthermore, he said that he was able to find most of the books at the base library, while he was deployed. On one Saturday morning, we, five friends, asked our parents for a ride to the base library, located next to a Burger King, the main military exchange (think shopping mall), and my favorite pizza place, Anthony's Pizza, the most greasy slice of greatness you'll ever have. We all asked the librarian, which now I think about it, was a senior in high school at the time, the sister of our classmate. She was beautiful and intimidating as all hell to talk to. We finally got the words out of our mouths and were led to a section in the middle of the library called "Fiction Games." The size of our base library was nothing to laugh at, it was the size of a small elementary school. I remember they had rooms you could check out and listen to vinyl records, cd's, and watch movies on VHS and laser disc. You could have pizza delivered for private parties in the back. You could even check out Sega, Nintendo, and PC games for up to a month. It was all free to military and us dependents. Well anyway, we found the section "Fiction Games" and it was a magical experience. The first book I pulled off the shelf was a book called Dungeon Master Guide. On the cover was a man in a green wizard robe opening a door. The artwork was incredible. The second book I pulled, Players Handbook; and this one had a long white bearded wizard and it looked like it was somehow controlling a winged creature. We. Were. Hooked. We went to check out these books and to our surprise, we were not old enough to take these books without a parent. Because of the stigma surrounding these books, I think I remember you had to be sixteen or older to check them out. Ridiculous right? Well, we stayed and read as much as we could. We looked at everything that were available to us. We came back multiple times and Xerox copied pages of the books for our game we started. All of this started something in me that I absolutely loved, and that was the art of storytelling. I'm thirty-eight years old and I have the same love for these games as I did when I was fourteen. I have started groups, made new friends; games like Pathfinder, Warhammer, Call of Cthulhu have opened my eyes to new stories and adventures.

So what is it about these games that makes me love them so much? If you take away the game mechanics, the dice rolling, the rules, the points; you are left with a compelling tale. I gravitate towards a great story. Games like Fallout have this deep lore about them that keeps me wanting more. What makes these so amazing is you can take one singular thing and make a complete adventure out of it. You can take a setting and create your own epic; or you can follow a pre-written adventure to the letter. You bring your party along with you. You build up their spirits, you dangle death in front of their eyes, you take away, you give; it is truly a fun experience. And it's all in your mind. This was the first video game. It will always have a special place in my heart. It brought a group of kids together; a group of kids from vastly different backgrounds, forced together by military means playing a game that we all found something to love. I can smell the pizza, soda, and snack foods as I'm writing this.

So now I'm thirty-eight years old and I have a collection of books myself. I have a family game, I run a couple of games online for my friends because of COVID. It takes time, effort, and energy to pull these games off. But that is okay. It's all for the story. I truly love doing this. I will even learn a new game system, just to play with friends. It sounds crazy right? Reading page after page about game mechanics, rule sets, ability modifiers, magic spell components; the list goes on and on. For what, a couple of hours of rolling strange dice and seeing what happens from them? Yeah, that sounds amazing.

My goal? Who wouldn't want to write for Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Choasium, or any other fantasy role playing game systems. Who wouldn't get paid to play a game like this with friends? I bet Matt Mercer and his friends at Critical Role never thought they would be at the level they are right now. Or how about Brennan Mulligan and Dimension 20? The guys at The Glass Cannon Podcast? They say, find what you love and figure out how to get paid for it. I think I'm on the starting line right now. There is opportunity. So if you are on the fence about trying this out with a group of friends. Take my advice and give it a shot. Join a gaming group online through Facebook or Twitter. There is a massive chance that someone is dying to play as well. Go listen to some podcasts about the game. I'll even mention the ones I listen to and watch, it will give you an idea of how the game is played and the type of people who play. Y'all of Cthulhu (Call of Cthulhu), The Glass Cannon Network (Pathfinder, Starfinder, Cyberpunk, Delta Green, Tales From The Loop), Dimension 20 (D&D 5th edition rules homebrew sessions), Critical Role (D&D 5th edition rules homebrew sessions), Dumpstat (D&D all editions how to's and lore) and there are so many more. This thing has seen a huge resurgence and I think it is allowing old school nerds to meet new school players, and that is such an amazing thing. Go find your table and roll some dice. Oh and don't be so hasty about putting your dice in dice jail so quickly, you'll know what I'm talking about real soon. Cheers.

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About the Creator

Anthony Diaz

These things are always so awkward to write. I think I have lived an interesting life so far. I have held a number of different jobs from active duty military to delivery driver; and pretty much a wide range in between. Story time.

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