Recently Caleb ( @TheCalebG) and I were talking with some of our Patrons about how they got started in Role Playing Games and thought it would be fun to have them write a post for us about that. We didn’t ask them to specifically talk about how we [The Rpg Academy] were a part of their exposure but each of them did and it was really awesome to hear how we’ve influenced their entrance into this great hobby because that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.
So, with that out of the way, here is the third of these posts:
I’ve been playing games my entire life. It started with computer games in the 80s when I was a kid, and the screen dominated most of my gaming life through my teens and twenties. I would play a few board or card games here and there, but I enjoyed having a controller in my hand most of the time. By the time I neared my mid-30s though, those games seemed to all be repeats of something I’d already tried. Sure GTA V was awesome, but I didn’t want to play another FPS and didn’t have the time for epic third-person adventure games.
As my life slowed down, we started to play more table-top games. We started with the basics; Catan, Ticket to Ride, and even the occasional game of Risk. Then we graduated to more complex games, the ones that had you place random rooms on the board and complete a story. We really enjoyed the cooperative games where some or all of us would work together towards a common goal. Then, Scott discovered The RPG Academy and thought that we would have fun playing real role playing games.
Obviously I had heard of D&D, and I had even played an RPG called Werewolf once when I was in college. Scott, Melissa and I had been friends for years and tended to think alike in many ways. Maybe it would be fun to do hang out while taking in the persona of a hero to accomplish a goal. Plus, casting spells and hitting people with swords is always fun!
Scott bought some books, and we read up on the D&D 5E rules, and it just made sense to me. The idea of rolling to determine the outcome of a choice fit well with many other games, and seemed like a good way to merge reality and gaming; “I think I can do this, but nothing in life is a guarantee”. The spells sounded exciting and very cinematic. Shatter to create a thunderous blast in an area, Hellish Rebuke to engulf someone who has damaged me in flame, and Mage Hand to tap someone on the shoulder to make them look at some innocent bystander. I was hooked on Warlocks!
When we prepared to play our first game, I have to admit I was nervous. I felt like I knew the rules well enough to understand how the stats and rolls would work, and how to fight, but I wasn’t sure if I could actually become my character and immerse myself in the world. There are very few games that I had played that encouraged or even allowed you to think and act like the character you are controlling. The thing that helped the most was sitting in the living room with my friends and discussing who our characters were. We each came up with pieces of a backstory for our PCs, and helped each other flesh them out and make them interesting and coherent. We discussed where they came from and what drove them, and eventually came to a reason for us to know each other that fit very well with our personalities. We spent a few hours talking about ourselves (during this discussion was the first time I started to actually think like my character Rorix) and this immersion really got me invested in playing. Really knowing your character is an integral part to enjoying D&D; if it feels like *you* are playing; you enjoy it that much more.
We started by playing the starting quest that came with the D&D 5E set. The first couple sessions were a little rough, especially in hindsight. We missed a number of obvious clues about what to do, we took very inefficient paths, and almost died several times. However, Scott was a great first-time GM. He let us do what we wanted, didn’t give anything away by trying to make us follow the path laid out by the book, and worked with us when we didn’t understand the rules. These first games took a long time to complete with both the players and the GM learning the rules, but I think they really helped to solidify my enjoyment because I felt like we were making it our own. We discussed why the rules did what they did, we helped each other understand how they affected our individual characters, and the GM would tell us about things we missed after we were past the point that we could do them so we could learn from our mistakes. I credit this first learning session with teaching me to search every corpse, talk to all named NPCs, and trust your gut when someone seems suspicious.
I was hooked. I listened to actual play podcasts. I read the entire Player’s Handbook. I created another character, a fighter named Flint. I looked through the items to find equipment that would not only be useful, but that I thought my characters would actually use. Then, we started talking to Michael at The RPG Academy and got into a game that he would run for us. For me, this is when it changed from a little game that I played with my friends into a epic movie with me and my two best friends as the main characters.
The setup of this new game was one of the most enjoyable parts. We got together with Michael and had a similar discussion to the one I had with my friends when we first started this D&D journey. We discussed the backstory, created NPCs that our PCs knew, and even helped flesh out the town where the adventure would take place. We were involved a lot in the top layer of the story, but the fact that the GM developed numerous layers (some of which we still haven’t peeled off) to the story is what really makes it great.
I have been playing Parker, the Bard, for about 6 sessions so far, and every time I encounter something I didn’t expect. From living rock monsters to shapeshifters to a mysterious puzzle inside a towering rod in the ocean, playing this game makes me feel like I’m a hero in an epic fantasy realm. No other genre of games gives you this feeling of becoming another person, this power to control an entire world. While your character is mortal, his actions are only bound by your own imagination, and, I suppose, whatever limitations your GM places on you and the world you play in. Where else can you say what someone will do, and they actually do it?
~Jason, @23rdian23
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