I Ruined The Roast

I had a plan. Really I did.

I wanted to celebrate this month, which marks my 36th anniversary as a RPGamer, with a sarcastic but ultimately warm-hearted roast of Dungeons and Dragons.

I would make fun of the ol' coot, but ya'know, with love.

Can't bring myself to do it. In more ways than one.

I don't want to be all negative and make fun of Dungeons and Dragons for an entire month. I could, don't get me wrong, there is a lot to heckle. Deep down however, while it may not be my favorite game (or my second favorite...or my fifteenth favorite even), it deserves to be recognized as that which got me started and for that it will always have a special place in my heart.

Now there's not a ton of room in there, so I hope it doesn't mind staying under the stairs in a place not unlike Harry Potter had at the Dursley's. Thanks for understanding D&D. You're a peach.

 

Fantasy Game Concept Art by Evan Lee

The truth of the matter when it all boils down, is that I don't like the game very much anymore.

It's been a long while since I have. While I loved it from about 1977 to 1982-83, once I discovered other RPGs, specifically those that focused on the genres I am more enamoured with such as Science Fiction, Superheroes and Humor/Comedy, I began playing D&D less and less until there was a huge stretch of time when I never ran it at all (and since I generally ran and hardly ever played, if I wasn't run it, it didn't get run). I believe there may have been a short campaign here and there (In the order of 5-7 sessions or so) but I generally left it behind for a long time.

I got back into D&D just before 3rd Edition came out, as I introduced my then wife to gaming. She was already a big fan of fantasy fiction and Anime/Manga but was not a gamer. She took to it instantly and we went to GenCon either that year or the next to be there for the launch of 3E.

She and I played several campaigns, just the two of us and with others but we also played other games. To my surprise and delight she was especially fond of Traveller, Ars Magica and Mutants & Masterminds.

Fast forward to now, I no longer have a reason to play that particular game. No interest in it myself, no special someone who likes it and too many other games I prefer in regards to both mechanics and genre.

Where does that leave me this month? Unknown.

Believe or not, I am in a fantasy mood, although surely it is going to morph into a desire to run my preferred subgenre of fantasy folklore before long.

So now we wait. Wait until my brain, gut and whatever else decides these things figures out what it wants to run and talk about.

Looking forward to their decision.

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